Vista Tips: Making Vista Easier

Since I see that a migration to Vista is inevitable - and probably sooner than I would like, I've been bookmarking all of the resources I can find to help with Vista.

PC Mag has a nice article to help!

Vista Made Easy: 50 Tips and Tricks
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2114942,00.asp

Georgia News: YAY! GALILEO is in the News!

A Changing Picture: GALILEO System Brings Worlds of Information into
Every Georgian's Personal Orbit

http://www.luminafoundation.org/publications/focus_archive/winter_2007/georgia-libraries-global-links.html

FYI: GALILEO is the state virtual library for Georgia, and it's where I go every day to pay the bills - and I love it!

Web Design Resources: Accessibility Blogs

The WebAIM blog recently posted a list of other good accessibility blogs - with nice, brief descriptions of each.

The Great Accessibility Blog Roundup
http://webaim.org/blog/2007/05/14/blog-roundup/


Just to give my accessibility plug, if you are working on a library website, please do not forget to consider that everyone may not be able to see the screen or may still be stuck with a dial-up connection.

Vendor News: EBSCO Logos Available

For those of you who develop instruction materials or need images to brand your site, EBSCO now allows you to download product logos and buttons.


Download EBSCO Product Logos and Buttons Now
http://support.ebsco.com/knowledge_base/detail.php?id=3421

Georgia Resources: Collection Development

Elaine Hardy and Peggy Chambliss created a new bibliography for staff development and posted the announcement to the GOLD-L list today. This link also has several good collection development resources.

http://www.georgialibraries.org/lib/collection.html

Mac Tip: Screensaver Showing New Books

I don't have a Mac, so I can't test this (and would be glad if a wonderful Mac person could try it for me!). However, it looks like a great tool for marketing...and it's just fun.

RSS New Books Screen Saver
http://www.rss4lib.com/2007/05/rss_new_books_screen_saver.html

Now, if someone could just do this for Windows. I wonder if you could download book images from Amazon (or get the images from the books cataloged in LibraryThing if you use that) and then create a slideshow screensaver with all of those images. Hmmm...I'll have to find time to try this and see if it can be done...

I would personally love to be able to make my desktop image change each morning with a new photo (or book covers would be great, too!). Alas, I have yet to see something that will do this, but I haven't taken a great deal of time to search for it. Does anyone know how to do this or has anyone heard it can be done?

Courtney

Resource: LibraryThing for Libraries

If you really need a quick, easy solution for an OPAC, LibraryThing may be an option for you. And, the Danbury Library in Danbury, Connecticut, has already implemented this, so you can see how they did it and what they are learning from it.

Danbury, CT kicks off LibraryThing for Libraries!
http://www.librarything.com/thingology/2007/05/danbury-ct-kicks-off-librarything-for.php

I wonder if this may be able to serve as the OPAC for a small special collection at a research center where I used to work, so I want to test this out to see if it would meet their needs.

Oh, the possibilities...

Courtney

Library News: WorldCat Local - oh, it makes sense now!

I've heard several people talking...well, no, I've read several people blogging about WorldCat Local. I've wondered what this is all about. It sounds great, but I need to see how things work.

Sarah Houghton-Jan, the Librarian in Black, posted a review and some screenshots of the first installation of this project at University of Washington Libraries (use the search box in the upper right for an example search).

http://librarianinblack.typepad.com/librarianinblack/2007/05/first_worldcat_.html


I like this, but I agree that it still needs some work. As a former ILL person, I had worried about libraries using WorldCat without finding a way to emphasize local holdings, but this slightly allays my fears.

Tech Ideas: Defeating Hackers - One Kitten at a Time

Are you human?

The California Polytechnic State University's College of Liberal Arts uses dogs and cats instead of warped letters and numbers to answer this question. Oh, and the images come from the adoption service Petfinder.com - smart and animal-friendly!

http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/2043/kittens-yes-kittens-take-on-web-hackers

Thank you, Cal Poly!

For Media Specialists: I Wish My Job Came with a Handbook!

Guess what!

For some of us, it does!!


YOU ARE THE KEY...

A Handbook for Georgia School Library Media Specialists

http://www.clayton.k12.ga.us/departments/instruction/mediaservices/handbook/

Library News: Library of Congress Ventures into the Blogosphere

In case you haven't heard yet, the Library of Congress now has a new blog at:

http://www.loc.gov/blog/

I've been watching it since it started, and so far, I like it. I'm interested to see what type of information and what issues will be discussed on this blog.

Stay tuned, folks!

Courtney

Education/Library Resource: Book Central

OK, I got sucked into this site. As soon as I saw it, I felt a compelling need to find a good book to read (but that could be near-graduation mania!).

Scholastic's Book Central is a fun site for book news, reviews, and book recommendations for kids. Oh, and the rest of the site looks pretty interesting, too!

http://www.scholastic.com/titles/index.htm

Does anyone else have great sites to help kids find books?

Courtney

Vendor News: Browse a Book in MySpace?

Oxford University Press is looking toward social networking sites as places to sell books. See the full story at:

http://blog.oup.com/2007/04/widget/

This sounds like a great idea to me, but I wonder if they can provide "suggestions" based on the interests or hobbies listed in my profile. Hmmm, that would be nice...

Courtney

Technology Tip: Cite This Item in WorldCat

Bill Drew (Baby Boomer Librarian) is glad to see the "Cite This Item" feature added to WorldCat.

http://babyboomerlibrarian.blogspot.com/2007/04/firstsearch-worldcat-cite-this-now.html

I am, too! Wow! I just tried this out, and it works nicely. Thank you, OCLC! And our patrons who don't have software like EndNote and RefWorks thank you, too.

(Of course, then I had to add the book Bill uses as an example in his post to my Amazon wishlist, which just keeps getting longer and longer.)

Has anyone had a chance to use this in their library? Any great success stories?

Courtney

Technology Resource: Why Netcasting to Teach?

I like this quick and easy overview of podcasting - well, netcasting (?). There are several good ideas for how to use them to teach, and I like the brief explanation of how to "do it yourself." Nice, simple explanation!

http://www.k12handhelds.com/podcasting.php


So, why did I say netcasting?

Ever since Apple started claiming trademark infringement for using the term "podcast," I have heard some interesting discussion about it. Leo Laporte has started using the term "netcast" to refer to all of the shows on the TWiT Netcast Network. Robert Scoble suggests using the terms "audiocast" and "videocast" instead.

I personally have been trying to say "netcast" as a general term, but I like using the other terms to differentiate between the two - because it matters to those of us who only have time to listen or to those of us who like the visual. I listen to audiocasts while I've driving to work, but I can watch videocasts on my home television, so I like to know the difference before I download it.

Of course, it doesn't matter what you call them, they can be a wonderful tool for teaching and library instruction!

So, are any of you using netcasting to teach your users? If so, please tell me all about it!

Courtney

Georgia News: _New York Times_ Librarian of the Year

Since I live in Georgia, I am quite proud to see that this year's New York Times Librarian of the Year is one of our own Georgia librarians!

Board of Regents Salutes Thomas County Librarian on Being Named New York Times Librarian of the Year
http://www.usg.edu/news/2007/041707.phtml

YAY for Nancy Tillinghast!

Courtney