12.21.2014
ACTIVITY 15: HISTORYPIN
Haven't heard of this before. Reminds me of the Digital Public Library of America. I tried looking up my birthplace and found nothing. I tried both of my parents' places of birth and found the same results. Seems like they could use more content, which means they need to attract more participants if it's going to have much value. I tried looking up Bruges, Belgium as a potential place I'd want to visit and was disappointed by the minimal content there, as well. One photo was a personal shot someone posted of themselves as a 4 year old. It was taken in 1945, which is interesting, but they misspelled "Kodak" and it lacks context. I'm sure HistoryPin/Google is trying to avoid the extra work and academic feel of DPLA, but there's definitely something to be said for curated content. Another picture appears to be a poorly cropped picture of someone holding a photo rather than a scan. It appears to be a shot of soldiers marching in WWI but lacks any description and is very difficult to make out. So far HistoryPin is pretty disappointing.
ACTIVITY 14: LEARNINGEXPRESS LIBRARY
Has their service grown immensely or have I just not looked at it this much before? I thought LearningExpress primarily consisted of practice tests (GED, SAT, etc.), but there's clearly a lot more educational content. I watched the short recommended videos and glanced at the featured resources list. I would absolutely recommend this to patrons, although it suffers from that common catch-22 that some of the people who could benefit most from using it will probably have difficulty due to their low computing skills.
ACTIVITY 6: ONECLICKDIGITAL
We are about to step backward in time. Brace yourselves.
Simultaneous access! What a concept! Hint, hint, e-book publishers. We do not own the new Bob Odenkirk book, nor "The World of Ice & Fire" (which would probably make for an awful audiobook anyway), so I checked out Sarah Thyre's wonderful memoir "Dark at the Roots." The iOS app was very quick to download, setting up an account was simple enough (except for the part where the correct spelling of our library system is "St Paul Public Library" which makes it difficult to find using their unusual three-character auto fill-in function-- I had the same problem trying to help a patron, once), and the interface is slick and easy to use. Didn't care for the part where it overrode the volume setting on my phone, however. I almost never listen to audiobooks so I don't plan to use the service, and therefore returned the book right away in hopes that someone else will enjoy it.
Simultaneous access! What a concept! Hint, hint, e-book publishers. We do not own the new Bob Odenkirk book, nor "The World of Ice & Fire" (which would probably make for an awful audiobook anyway), so I checked out Sarah Thyre's wonderful memoir "Dark at the Roots." The iOS app was very quick to download, setting up an account was simple enough (except for the part where the correct spelling of our library system is "St Paul Public Library" which makes it difficult to find using their unusual three-character auto fill-in function-- I had the same problem trying to help a patron, once), and the interface is slick and easy to use. Didn't care for the part where it overrode the volume setting on my phone, however. I almost never listen to audiobooks so I don't plan to use the service, and therefore returned the book right away in hopes that someone else will enjoy it.
12.20.2014
ACTIVITY 13: STATISTICAL ABSTRACT OF THE UNITED STATES
I didn't know that ProQuest had taken this over from the Census Bureau, and I don't think I've really looked at the online version. The ProQuest interface is very nice. I am a fan of the print version, but having the keyword searching available here will be useful. It isn't necessarily full of content that I'm personally interested in, but has great value as a resource for patrons.
Sorry, that's all I've got. Here is a picture of a strange breed of cat that's weirdly popular:
Sorry, that's all I've got. Here is a picture of a strange breed of cat that's weirdly popular:
ACTIVITY 12: HISTORY DAY
Ack! Can I get through these activities when I only have five workdays left to complete ten sections? Wait, make that twelve sections, since I've already skipped over two. Double ack.
Okay, here we go. History Day! It's about, like, history and stuff? The terms "primary and secondary sources" get tossed about a lot, sometimes by students who don't know what those terms mean. The theme for 2015 is "Leadership & Legacy in History." Yes, in bold type. The NHD website is a bit of a useless mishmash of blocks which made the location of this information somewhat less than obvious. The MHS site requires a number of clickthroughs to get to a Word document (?) with a list of topic suggestions, some solid, some a little unusual (or, seemingly unusual to me, clearly not a history expert).
This is definitely good stuff for me to be looking over, as I didn't really know that much about History Day, having not participated in it when I went to school nor having raised any children of my own. I am more than a little entertained to see that students can choose "performance" among other project types. The list of History Day Help resources is incredibly helpful and does indeed make me feel better prepared to help patrons, although I will still heavily steer them toward the History Day Hullabaloo (to promote the program, not just because I want to use the word "hullabaloo" in everyday conversation as much as possible).
Okay, here we go. History Day! It's about, like, history and stuff? The terms "primary and secondary sources" get tossed about a lot, sometimes by students who don't know what those terms mean. The theme for 2015 is "Leadership & Legacy in History." Yes, in bold type. The NHD website is a bit of a useless mishmash of blocks which made the location of this information somewhat less than obvious. The MHS site requires a number of clickthroughs to get to a Word document (?) with a list of topic suggestions, some solid, some a little unusual (or, seemingly unusual to me, clearly not a history expert).
This is definitely good stuff for me to be looking over, as I didn't really know that much about History Day, having not participated in it when I went to school nor having raised any children of my own. I am more than a little entertained to see that students can choose "performance" among other project types. The list of History Day Help resources is incredibly helpful and does indeed make me feel better prepared to help patrons, although I will still heavily steer them toward the History Day Hullabaloo (to promote the program, not just because I want to use the word "hullabaloo" in everyday conversation as much as possible).
12.10.2014
ACTIVITY 11: SEARCH ENGINES BEYOND GOOGLE
All I can think about when I see Bing is yelling "stop trying to make Bing happen!" at the TV whenever Bing is featured. I know the TV cannot hear me.
This is an interesting exercise, though, since I haven't looked at web search engines in a pretty long time (because Google). I used to occasionally use Yahoo as an alternative, but I don't even bother with that anymore. It does, however, confirm that my hatred of Bing is somewhat reasonable, as I can't stand the results page which is scattered and seems to consist largely of links directing you toward ads (or other links). Maybe I'm doing it wrong.
Searching on jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan, Bing, Ask, and DuckDuckGo all point toward AllMusic and Wikipedia, which is good. Bing and Ask both pull the Wikipedia page and highlight it, with Bing being true-to-form about copying Google's layout (about the only thing they did right). Ask did the only clever work of also including a link to discogs.org, but kind of drops the ball by positioning the AllMusic link on a right sidebar (under "Helpful Resources") which is an area I have trained to block out due to the frequency of other sites placing ads in that space. DuckDuckGo leaves me somewhat cold, Bing is a mix of clever and infuriating, and Ask has some promise. I should play with these some more.
P.S. "Bing."
This is an interesting exercise, though, since I haven't looked at web search engines in a pretty long time (because Google). I used to occasionally use Yahoo as an alternative, but I don't even bother with that anymore. It does, however, confirm that my hatred of Bing is somewhat reasonable, as I can't stand the results page which is scattered and seems to consist largely of links directing you toward ads (or other links). Maybe I'm doing it wrong.
Searching on jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan, Bing, Ask, and DuckDuckGo all point toward AllMusic and Wikipedia, which is good. Bing and Ask both pull the Wikipedia page and highlight it, with Bing being true-to-form about copying Google's layout (about the only thing they did right). Ask did the only clever work of also including a link to discogs.org, but kind of drops the ball by positioning the AllMusic link on a right sidebar (under "Helpful Resources") which is an area I have trained to block out due to the frequency of other sites placing ads in that space. DuckDuckGo leaves me somewhat cold, Bing is a mix of clever and infuriating, and Ask has some promise. I should play with these some more.
P.S. "Bing."
ACTIVITY 9: CATALOG TIPS AND TRICKS
Beg? Sit? Roll over? Play dead? Probably a good thing the catalog doesn't accept voice commands (yet).
First thing that jumps out at me: I was unaware of the extended display/brief display option. I think that's a tip rather than a trick, but it's good to know about. I also think that I've overlooked the options for "and not" and "or" in the advanced keyword search, but it's possible I've just forgotten about them. Good thing to keep in mind for future searches.
The book bag/export saved/etc. options have not changed in years, and as a result I am familiar and comfortable with the process.
I don't think I was aware of the preferred search option, either. I think this would be more useful to me in a journal database, but it's good to know about, especially to recommend to patrons. I set up an author search for the aforementioned author Jasper Fforde, since I know my partner will be happy to know when his new books are published, followed by a keyword search for "blu-ray," since I've been unexpectedly coming across that format in our collection (in addition to the Criterion dual-format editions we were informed about).
I am an obsessive user of the "popular searches" function, particularly for new CDs and DVDs.
Permanent link URLs are very handy for adding information to book clubs on our events calendar.
I would love to see a feature like I saw in the EBSCO Discovery Services demo today which collates all formats/editions of a title, I think this would be incredibly helpful for both staff and patrons. I would also like to see the "reviews and more" feature for music and movies.
Other than that I have no strange things nor tricks of my own to submit. Sierra often seems to duplicate records in search results, but that is a different matter, perhaps best explored via the upcoming new season of Twin Peaks.
First thing that jumps out at me: I was unaware of the extended display/brief display option. I think that's a tip rather than a trick, but it's good to know about. I also think that I've overlooked the options for "and not" and "or" in the advanced keyword search, but it's possible I've just forgotten about them. Good thing to keep in mind for future searches.
The book bag/export saved/etc. options have not changed in years, and as a result I am familiar and comfortable with the process.
I don't think I was aware of the preferred search option, either. I think this would be more useful to me in a journal database, but it's good to know about, especially to recommend to patrons. I set up an author search for the aforementioned author Jasper Fforde, since I know my partner will be happy to know when his new books are published, followed by a keyword search for "blu-ray," since I've been unexpectedly coming across that format in our collection (in addition to the Criterion dual-format editions we were informed about).
I am an obsessive user of the "popular searches" function, particularly for new CDs and DVDs.
Permanent link URLs are very handy for adding information to book clubs on our events calendar.
I would love to see a feature like I saw in the EBSCO Discovery Services demo today which collates all formats/editions of a title, I think this would be incredibly helpful for both staff and patrons. I would also like to see the "reviews and more" feature for music and movies.
Other than that I have no strange things nor tricks of my own to submit. Sierra often seems to duplicate records in search results, but that is a different matter, perhaps best explored via the upcoming new season of Twin Peaks.
12.08.2014
ACTIVITY 8: POINTS OF VIEW REFERENCE CENTER
I'm torn, because when I did a lot more homework help at the library, I found similar resources (namely "Opposing Viewpoints") to be fairly helpful in both print and online form. It definitely caters to the student, perhaps both youth and adult learners, and the overviews look well written, but, for example, the "Same-Sex Marriage" article, despite being dated 2014, appears to be missing critical changes to state and federal laws from this year which have had a major impact on the subject, so I would definitely encourage potential users to dig deeper, beginning at least with the "Related Information" links. I think that would be an important aspect to guiding anyone that staff would be teaching to use this resource.
ACTIVITY 7: NOVELIST
I'm skipping Activity 6 for now because trying to do OneClickDigital at the desk is a little tricky, and I've been treading water for two months, now, with the clock running down. Here's to a happy 2015.
I'm somewhat entertained by the fact that the NoveList Plus interface is already slightly different from the screenshots on our instructions. The differences are minor enough to not bother me, but this kind of constant, iterative change that's all the rage can create roadblocks to navigation for some users. In any event, I chose "The Eyre Affair" from their recommended audiobooks, something which I have not read (nor listened to) but would probably very much enjoy. In fact, the listen-alikes were spot-on with what I'd expect, including two Douglas Adams titles along with Terry Pratchett and a few authors I'm unfamiliar with but should look into. From there I selected "fantasy fiction" with a "funny" tone and a "witty" writing style, and they came up with a whopping 108 suggestions (LOST alert!), although that included juvenile titles. Selecting "adults" brought the total down to 48.
In any event, as a not-super-helpful librarian when it comes to Readers Advisory (or even just picking out titles for the display case), I find this kind of tool very useful, not only for making suggestions to patrons but also for trying to track down the elusive "I don't remember the name of it or the author but it had a guy in it who does a thing and it has a yellow cover." Of course, I often turn to the old standbys of Wikipedia, Google, and Amazon, but I appreciate having a good literature database.
P.S. I miss "Books in Print." Old habits.
I'm somewhat entertained by the fact that the NoveList Plus interface is already slightly different from the screenshots on our instructions. The differences are minor enough to not bother me, but this kind of constant, iterative change that's all the rage can create roadblocks to navigation for some users. In any event, I chose "The Eyre Affair" from their recommended audiobooks, something which I have not read (nor listened to) but would probably very much enjoy. In fact, the listen-alikes were spot-on with what I'd expect, including two Douglas Adams titles along with Terry Pratchett and a few authors I'm unfamiliar with but should look into. From there I selected "fantasy fiction" with a "funny" tone and a "witty" writing style, and they came up with a whopping 108 suggestions (LOST alert!), although that included juvenile titles. Selecting "adults" brought the total down to 48.
In any event, as a not-super-helpful librarian when it comes to Readers Advisory (or even just picking out titles for the display case), I find this kind of tool very useful, not only for making suggestions to patrons but also for trying to track down the elusive "I don't remember the name of it or the author but it had a guy in it who does a thing and it has a yellow cover." Of course, I often turn to the old standbys of Wikipedia, Google, and Amazon, but I appreciate having a good literature database.
P.S. I miss "Books in Print." Old habits.
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