taylor things

Beyond Method #6

2011-12-16T09:28:00.001-08:00

The post by Meredith Farkas on eBooks and libraries was timely and informative. We will probably add ebooks to our library collection at sometime in the future (not in the near future). The information in the post will help us explain the problems and issues with providing ebooks for library patrons.
I looked up A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and the Divine Comedy by Dante. I could not figure out which which file to select if I had a Kindle. The various files all work on a computer or an Ipad. Since I do not have a Kindle, I could not check to see which file might work on the Kindle. The basic HTML version of the text was easy to read. I downloaded "A Christmas Carol The original manuscript." It was easy to read on my computer. Here is the file: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/30368/30368-h/30368-h.htm. This version includes pritures and images of scanned original pages. I'm not sure if this file would work on a Kindle.

Beyond Method #5

2011-12-14T15:02:00.000-08:00

I signed up for Goodreads. It is a nice tool. I think that using Goodreads and/or LibraryThing as readers advisory tool would work, but it would require staff time to add a sufficent number of book titles in order for it to be an effective reader's advisory tool. Some of our patrons would like one of the services for their own perosnal bookshelf to keep track of what books and authors they have read. When I browsed different libraries using Goodreads, I noticed that many of the libraries use Goodreads for their book clubs. "What Should I Read Next" was disapointing. Some of the suggestions did not seem at all related to the title I searched.

Beyond Method #4

2011-12-14T12:19:00.000-08:00

The VisualCV site states that they will cease operations effective December 30, 2011. Indeed was easy to use. I searched different jobs in my local area and got good results. Texasjobs.com was not as helpful. The site found jobs in San Antonio, while Indeed found the same type of jobs in Austin. CareerBuilder was not as intuitive as Indeed. It would be harder for someone not computer literate to use without assistance. Bixee was more geared to international jobs.
The Goodwill Community Foundation's tutorials are excellent. They would certaintly be helpful for patrons learining computer skills. I would recommend these tutorials for computer training.
We have Resume Builder available on our public access computers. We did offer some computer training classes at our library through a grant. Currently we do not have staff to do more training though it would be helpful for job seekers. We could direct our patrons to the free online resources we found through this exercise.

Beyond Method #3

2011-12-13T07:16:00.000-08:00

Google maps is a great tool. After a tech trends workshop, I created a map in Google places for our library. I added pictures and library hours. Here is the link to our library map: Taylor Public Library Map

Beyond Method #2

2011-12-08T11:51:00.001-08:00

I tried out the iGoogle customized Internet window. The page is easy to use (an easy way to read my Gmail). The page is a little busy with more information than I will use. The spotlight video was annoying, but I was able to change it to one of the other videos. The gadgets are easy to add or delete. They are fun to play with if you have the time to play. It is easy to change the theme. There are several to choose from. I read about Netvibes, My Yahoo!, and Pageflakes. Many of the Netvibes features are not available in the free version. Netvibs, My Yahoo, and Pageflakes look about the same. It was interesting to try out different customized windowsl I can use most of the features for these services with our library pages and Outlook.

Starting over

2011-12-07T13:57:00.000-08:00

It has been over 3 years since I posted to this blog. So it is like starting from the beginning for me. On Friday we are doing Wii bowling for the seniors from the Taylor Senior Center. I added some photos from the last Wii bowling session. I had problems arranging the pictures. I will have to play with the program lots more to learn how to format my posts.

Evaluation

2008-12-22T10:00:00.000-08:00

image uploaded by Farl

Thank you CTLS for providing this opportunity to learn about 2.0 tools. This is a great program. I knew very little about all of the tools before beginning CTLS 23 Things. Now I know that I will need to explore the tools some more, so that I can assist library patrons. I want to find ways we can make use of the tools to promote our library.

Audio Books

2008-12-22T09:22:00.000-08:00

I found out that the web is a great source for audio books. I listened to the Introduction to Netlibrary. Then I went to the Texas State Library NetLibrary site and read a children's book, All About the Saint Bernard. At librivox I chose to browse the Recently Cataloged titles and listened to Short Poetry Collection 073 by Various. It was easy. The book opened right away in Winsows Media Player. I think it would be fun to listen to an audio book with an MP3 player. I will try when I finish CTLS 23 Things and get my MP3 player.

image uploaded by Emily O

Podcast

2008-12-20T10:50:00.000-08:00

Podcast.com was the easiest to search. I found several interesting podcast there. Podcast Alley lists podcasts by genre, but it requires the download of a Podcast Aggregator. My search on Yahoo Podcasts came up with only music albums when I searched for library or public library. The Educational Podcast Directory had a wide range of educational podcasts. I listened to Miettes Bedtime Story Podcast. I know some libraries are podcasting stories. This might be an easy service for libraries to provide. Part of the time we have a link to Interact on our library web page. Interact is powered by Ingram Library Services and offered free. It gives access to author interviews. image uploaded by theunabonger

betty's meez

2008-12-18T17:29:00.001-08:00

This avatar was created for me by Veronica

2008-12-17T12:35:00.001-08:00

I found this video Thai Fruit Carving on the cooking section of YouTube. I liked the way the chef showed the process of carving a watermelon flower, step by step. I think that the library could create how to videos, story videos, program information videos, book review videos, or oral history videos for library patrons.

Web 2.0 Awards

2008-12-16T14:07:00.000-08:00

I selected the maps category and explored CommunityWalk. CommunityWalk provides simple interfaces for users to create useful maps. I created a map of the location of the Taylor Public Library. The map I created is accurate. This tool could be used by the library. One drawback is that there are adds to the side of the map. There is a charge for creating a map without adds. It was fun making the map and putting the little balloon at the library location. This is a link to my map.

image uploaded by Valerie

Google Docs

2008-12-16T12:13:00.000-08:00

I copied the Zoho Writer document into Google Docs and made changes. This is the changed document.

Zoho Writer

2008-12-16T11:38:00.001-08:00

I am creating a new document with Zoho Writer. This program looks much like Microsoft Word, and it seems to have most of the same word processing features. It is a great idea to have documents accessable through the web. It is an easy way to share documents and to collaborate on changes to a document. At work we store our library documents on the library server, so that they can be shared by all our staff members when they are at work. This online program makes sharing documents possible from any place that has web access.

Uploaded by Fenfoto

I wanted the text to wrap around the picture, but I could not figure out how to make this happen.

CTLS 23 Things Favorites wiki

2008-12-12T15:04:00.000-08:00

I added a favorite to the Favorite Programs at your Library section of the CTLS 23 Things Favorites wiki. My entry was about our Teen Summer Reading Program.

Wikis

2008-12-12T14:14:00.000-08:00

I viewed several public library wikis. I thought that they were interesting and helpful for reaching out to the public. I checked some college/university wikis also. I think we could use a wiki for library staff collaboration and a wiki for subject guides for public. Other uses for a wiki might be for book reviews or for library news. I liked the look of the Florida State University Libraries Wiki because the look was consistent with the rest of their website. Theere is an article, CMS the Wiki Way, in the December issue of American Libraries.

Technology Trends

2008-12-12T08:54:00.000-08:00

I read chapter 3, Technology Trends for a 2.0 World, of the Sept/Oct 2007 edition of Library Technology Reports. We are learning about these 2.0 technology trends through our 23 Things project. One of the ideas we may be able to use in our library is creating a library blog. I think many of our library patrons would be interested in LibraryThing.

Uploaded by Lynchbuerg College

Technorati

2008-12-11T13:18:00.000-08:00

The 2 searches for learning 2.0 in blog posts and blog directory came up with different results. I think one search looks at bolg tags and the other search looks at entire posts. The search on bolg posts had 2,126 results. The search on blog directory had 363 results. There were videos as well as blogs on the Blogger Central / what’s popular page.
[blog directory]

Games

2008-12-11T11:50:00.000-08:00

I played with jigsaw puzzles because I enjoy doing puzzles. This was different than doing a physical puzzle, but it was fun to play with. I tried Free Rice. It was entertaining and educational. I earned 11000 grains of rice.

uploaded by deanna515

2008-12-10T10:39:00.000-08:00

I viewed the Del.icio.us tutorial and looked at Del.icio.us. I can see many posibilities for using Del.icio.us in our library.

Exploring FaceBook

2008-12-09T11:53:00.000-08:00

I posted this note on my FaceBook page.

MySpace

2008-12-05T14:16:00.000-08:00

Here is the link to my MySpace profile. I have sent out invitations asking people to join as friends. I haven't received any replies yet. I created a blog on my MySpace page. The process of creating a blog is the same as the process used for this blog.

The image is from MicroSoft clip art.

IM Chat

2008-12-05T13:57:00.000-08:00

I tried chat with Mary Jane. It was fun to try this out. It was easy following the conversation. Messages from both people were displayed, and there was a note stating that the other person was typing. I would probably not use it much. I am used to sending email and prefer this format to IM. I thought that the lists of chat accronyms was interesting. I had no idea that there were so many out there.

Taken on July 15, 2007, uploaded August 26, 2007 by givepeasachance

RSS

2008-12-04T14:43:00.000-08:00

I had already become a follower of other CTLS - 23 Things, so those blogs showed up as RSS feeds. I added NPR News and NPR Books to my list of RSS feeds. I knew about those Rss feeds from listening to NPR. I looked at Topix.net, Syndic8.com, and Technorati. Feedster is not currently available. All the RSS feed sites had numerous news content to chose from. Technorati was the least useful for me. I tried a search for public library on the three functioning RSS directories. I got the best results with Syndic8.com for that search term.

Framed Sunset Picture

2008-12-04T08:52:00.000-08:00

I explored Toys, Games, and Utilities on Big Huge Labs. There are lots of fun and useful things to do on this site. I tried several of the activities and decided use Framer to create a frame for a photo I selected from Flicker Creative Commons.

Originally uploaded by Akari

TPL Technology Trading Card

2008-12-01T14:55:00.001-08:00

My creation
Originally uploaded by bthompson7459

It was fun creating a trading card with Trading Card Maker. This image is from Microsoft Office Clip Art. I explored Mappr, Flicker Color Picker, and Montager.

I used bighugelabs.com flickr toys.

Staff Halloween 2008

2008-11-25T14:57:00.001-08:00

Our library staff dressed up for Halloween. It was fun, and we did not scare many patrons.

Flickr

2008-11-25T08:45:00.001-08:00

March 31, 2008 we celebrated our first year in our new library. Our patrons and our library staff enjoy our beautiful new facility. We appreciate all of the support from our community for our library.

What I learned from Google

2008-11-20T16:48:00.000-08:00

I like Google maps, especially the street views. I learned that setting up a Gmail account is easier then email accounts with Yahoo or Hot Mail. I am still exploring Google features.

7 1/2 Habits

2008-11-20T16:41:00.000-08:00

I am posting about the 7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners. The easiest habit for me is Habit 7 1/2 Play. It is fun to learn while playing. I like Habit # 7 Teach/mentor others. I was a teacher for 23 years an enjoy helping others and learning and sharing with others. Collaborative learning works best for me. The most difficult habit for me is Habit #5 Create your own learning toolbox.

customer service and technology

2008-11-20T11:15:00.000-08:00

I want to provide good customer service for our library patrons. I think that technology can help us provide better customer service.