Libraries Dealing with the Economy

I read in the paper today that Chicago Public Library is doubling their overdue fees from ten cents a day to 20 cents, with the maximum overdue going from $5 to $10. At my library, we're still only charging ten cents for overdues, but we did recently start charging for printing. Previously, patrons were able to print 5 pages free each day and beyond that, it was ten cents a page for black and white and 25 cents for color. We figure we'll save on paper and toner, make a little money, and cut down on wasteful printing-lots of times patrons, especially kids, just printed because they could and then wound up never picking up their printjobs or left them laying around.

Thing 23: Kind of Sad, Kind of Exciting, even if I'm NOT Getting a New mp3 Player

My favorite discovery, hands down, is LibraryThing. Not for the social aspect, not to keep track of what I've read, but because I think it's a great tool for RA, a neat and fun and FREE site, and it really embodies the whole spirit of Web 2.0.

I learned so much throughout this whole experience. I visited a lot of sites that I had never heard of, and visited a lot of sites that I had heard of but never took the time to explore. Some sites were great and others were not, although I also realized that for some of them, I need to devote even more time playing around to truly appreciate them. This in turn made me realize that online sources and sites are not always quicker-there is SO MUCH information out there. It is actually quite daunting. The computer is both a blessing and a curse and sometimes a little part of me wishes I still didn't have one at home-so much time spent in front of the screen......

However, I think this is a great program. I plan to share it with my co-workers: some are very computer savvy but others are lacking, or feel they are lacking. This is a nice overview of what's out there, and also a great confidence booster. I think this is the type of program that could be revamped every few years and help keep people on their toes, technologically speaking.

One surprising discovery to me--I think some of these functions make life more difficult. The underlying theory is "social" aspects, when in fact, I often think we are becoming less social by relying on computers to make us social. Nothing will ever replace face-to-face contact or even a great phone conversation or hand-written note.

Finally, I like blogging. Even if nobody ever read anything I wrote (highly likely), it is definitely cleansing to just throw out whatever is on your mind. In fact, I may still add some "random thoughts of the day"-they save me from writing scathing letters to the editor of my local paper.

Thing 22: NetLibrary

Well, here's one problem with technology. For some reason, NetLibrary has not been recognizing our computers at work, so nobody, including me, has been able to sign up for an account for the last week or so. As I was determined to finish this project up, I asked my co-workers to take pity on me and was able to convince several of them to "lend" me their user names and passwords so that I could complete this task.

I've had an mp3 player for 2 years and originally wanted it for audiobooks. However, I never got around to that and instead filled it up with music. Now that I have a dog that can walk (as opposed to my old pup who was elderly),I think I will try out NetLibrary once it's working again.

Since I'm going to see Twilight tonight or tomorrow, I tried looking up that title first but with no luck. I tried a few more random titles with no positive results and then deferred to the list of available titles. It seems like most of the audiobooks available are thru Recorded Books. I was also surprised that 113 Westerns are available but only 13 Horror and 3 Humor. So, I asked my director (who's log-on I was using). NetLibrary is an OCLC product that was originally kind of a collaboration with Recorded Books, who has since defected and is trying to promote their own product. I also wondered if we picked what titles we made available to patrons but learned that we just get what they give us.

I didn't download anything this time because I wasn't sure if that would affect my director's account. However, I think it's a nice site and a great option for audiobooks. We also have a nice selection of Playaways at work (audiobooks pre-loaded on an mp3 player) and just the fact that they are so compact and save shelf space is great. While the titles I was looking for were not an option, there were plenty of great titles to choose from.

Thing 21: Podcasts

I tried out PodcastAlley and Mediafly. I liked the look of MediaFly better, but it was reallllllly slow. From PodcastAlley I did add one link to my Bloglines account. However, listening to a podcast while watching it on the computer is really, really boring. This made me think, "what's the difference between a podcast and listening to the radio?" So, that thought led me to try to add a link to the Kevin Matthews radio show. (I used to love him when he was on Chicago radio). Didn't work-evidently that podcast doesn't subscribe to RSS feeds. But anyways, I hadn't realized how many podcasts are out there. I'm sure there is something for every interest, and I'm willing to bet there is also a lot of junk out there. It seems like subscribing to podcast feeds would be similar to using Tivo.

Thing 20: YouTube and Funny or Die

I've been using YouTube for the last two years or so and love it. I find it especially helpful for not realizing that hours have passed since I've logged on and watched video, after video, after video.....

My latest discovery is Funny or Die, which I believe Will Farrell started. My current fave can be found here. Viewers can vote if they think the video is "funny" and it stays, or if it "dies". This is a feature I'd love to see on YouTube!

From a library standpoint, I think it could be beneficial to create tutorial videos on various library services or procedures and add them to the website. An informal video featuring the staff might also help connect libraries and their patrons on a whole new level.

Postscript: I just checked my link for the Cowbell video from my September 8th post and it's no longer available on YouTube-some copyright legal mumbo jumbo......

Thing 19: WooHoo for Wufoo!!

Wufoo won first place for "Content Aggregation and Management" which doesn't sound like a very fun topic, but Wufoo is fun. I love the language and feel of the site and enjoyed creating my highly technical survey. It was pretty easy to figure out how to use and its price and utility seem pretty much on par with Survey Monkey.

Take my survey here


Cocktail Builder and HairMixer are also great sites and worthy of recognition!

This exercise made me realize just how many sites are out there, considering these are just the tip of the iceburg and the cream of the crop. (Is there a website devoted to idioms?)

Thing 18

 

Thing 18:  Online Word Processing Tools  Zoho

 

I first tried the Presentation Feature, which I guess is like Power Point, which I have never used to create anything before.  Found the Presentation feature difficult to figure out and quit.  Then I tried to create a word document, prior to this one, and got stuck.  I think the problem with both of those attempts is that I couldn't get to the bottom of the page (it was hidden under my screen's footer and I just couldn't get down to any type of cancel or submit or back button.

 

One thing I like about Zoho was it uses tags as folders.  It seems like that would be an efficient way to store items in more than one relevant place for later retrieval.

 

Another feature mentioned was ease of adding tables and bullets.  That was actually what I was trying to find when I got stuck before, so I'll play around more with that later.

 

What really sounds good is being able to view your materials offline.  I'm interpreting that as I could access my documents from another computer?  I do all of my homework at home, and it would be nice to be able to pull up works-in-progress when I'm away from home.

 

 

Ok, the above was a test and I tried to post it to my blog, and it worked! That was kind of neat, and easy, but....not really any easier than just creating a regular blog post! And what's up with the huge spaces between paragraphs????

Thing 17: PBWiki

Well, I spent some time reading the posts on this site but I was unable to figure out how to add my own post. I didn't have an invite code and as far as I could tell, there was no option to create an account.

I also went to the PBWiki homepage and watched the tutorial and read all the features. At first I thought it was a neat idea, especially for work. However, the more I read, the more I wondered what's the difference between a wiki and just hitting "reply all" to emails? For that matter, what's the difference between a wiki and our class discussion boards, besides having to click on each entry? Is the main selling point of a wiki saving us that all time consuming step of clicking? If so, that reminds me of bathrooms with automatic water-when did we get so lazy that we can't turn on the water?