Keeping It All In One Place

Wouldn’t it be great if we really could keep it all in one small package. A package that could go anywhere,withstand anything and be suitable for a variety of needs.

Well, sorry to say neither Microsoft nor Apple have hit the market with that yet.

Until that day comes, there are ways we can simplify.

At the moment I carry a datebook, cell phone, mp3 (2 actually), sometimes a laptop and always a notebook or two (the paper kind.) Someday I hope to have something that looks similar to Amazon’s new Kindle that would take the place of all these things.

Fortunately, there are other ways to simplify now. Our Webmail system has some handy tools beyond email.

For example, I can make a “To Do” list and set it to nag me if necessary- this is great considering I forget things.

I can make notes, just like a sticky note but better because it will hold all of the text I care to type. This is actually a great place to stash those paragraghs that I plan to put somewhere but haven’t yet found where they should go. Writers out there know what I mean.

The calendar feature allows me to keep up with my schedule- if I’m near a computer all I have to do is log in the webmail and I have access to a calendar. Also, the calendar will let me set color priorities.

As far as email, I tend to spend WAY too much time sorting through all the messages. Fortunately our webmail system allows me to set color codes for certain messages. So, all the email from members of my department are a certain color. Everything from list serves are another color.

Speaking of color, I can customise the look of webmail to suit my tastes. Sometimes I like my screen in calming green hues, but other times I might like a more energizing yellow. It’s up to me! And it’s up to you- Poke around our webmail system if you haven’t already. See what it has to offer for you and your needs.

Going on Vacation? Set a vacation message.

Can’t find an email you KNOW is in your inbox? Use the search feature.

Want to be more organized with email? Create folders to file emails that must be saved.

Elizabeth has a great presentation on webmail and email etiquette that she presented at the DSRT meeting last week. It’s posted in the DSRT meeting minutes. I highly recommend it even for you savvy email experts!

 

Webjunction and APLS

 

Thanks to APLS, Alabama is now a community partner with WebJunction. As Alabama library staff memebers we can take advantage of an enhanced version of the site with access to online courses.

Some of the courses you will find include Access, Excel, QuickBooks, Project Management, Frontpage, Photoshop, and several University of North Texas Le@d Courses.

Visit www.webjunction.org to register. Select Alabama under ‘community partner affiliation.’

The site is still in development so check back often to see what’s new. Look for announcements from Webjunction and the Alabama Public Library Service.

 

Thanks Hoover Library Fiction Department!

I had the pleasure of presenting a session on Overdrive and Rosetta Stone to the Hoover Library Fiction Department on HPL’s Staff Day.

What a great library! What great people! I was invited to join the staff for lunch and I felt so welcomed. Everyone was very friendly. Thanks, Patricia for the invite!

 

Thanks JCPLA!

I think the JCPLA Staff Development Day went well. I really enjoyed the presentations I attended with MaryAnn Morton and Dolores Hydock. In fact, after listening to Ms. Morton, I was inspired to go home and thank my family for just being my family and then practice silence as I listen to them talk about their day.  If you attended that session I’m sure you know what I mean!

I hope everyone who attended felt it was as productive as I thought it was.

If you attended my presentation on the Database Potpourri- Thank You!

All of the handouts from that session are now available on the “handouts” page of this blog.

Also, I did have a winner from my survey contest. Congratulations to Patricia G. at Hoover! She recieved a gift hat filled with office supplies and a JCLC coffee mug. Thanks to everyone who participated!

Coming up in August, I’m looking forward to presenting “Kid Friendly Databases.” The first session will be at Springville Road for the Collection Management meeting on the 15th and the second will be on the 22nd at North Birmingham for the Paraprofessional Meeting.

If you would like to have a session at you branch or location, just let me know. You can reach me through the “contact” page of this blog, through the Regional Library Computer Center, or through my Birmingham Library email.

 

ShareIdeas.Org

Nokia and Vodafone have sponsored the launch of a new global wiki community site designed to share ideas on how to use mobile communication technologies for social and environmental benefit.

Check it out at www.shareideas.org

 

New Database on AVL!

I checked my email this afternoon and was pleased to see this from the AVL mailing list:

AVL is pleased to announce the addition of Europa World Year Book to its
database collection.  The Europa World Year Book provides detailed country
surveys containing the latest analytical, statistical, and directory data
available for over 250 countries and territories.

The database includes a comprehensive listing of some 1,700 International
Organizations such as the United Nations, The European Union, the
International Organization for Migration and the World Trade Organization,
and provides details of countries arranged alphabetically from Afghanistan
to Zimbabwe.

For additional information, an Information Sheet and Powerpoint Demo
are available on our Training page.  Go to

         http://www.avl.lib.al.us/training/index.html

and scroll to the bottom.

 

Take My Survey!

I am having fun experimenting with some of the new tools available on the web. One free tool that I like are some of the online survey applications.

I’ve heard great things about SurveyMonkey.com and Create Survey.com.

This could be a valuable resource in helping me figure out where I need to focus my energies with training for online resources. Please take a moment to fill out my survey. It would be greatly appreciated.

Oh and just to sweeten it a little-  survey takers are eligible to win a small prize pack that includes some office/school supplies and a JCLC coffee mug!

Click Here for the Survey

If the link does not work, copy and paste this into your browser:

www.createsurvey.com/c/53347-lQ6rSw/

 

parle vous france?

Rosetta Stone has been available for Jefferson County library patrons for several months now. Hopefully, you have had the chance to play around with this fun and educational resource. There are 30 languages available to choose from including Arabic, English French, Hebrew, Spanish, Tagalog, and Welsh.

Periodically you may have a patron with questions.

When a patron accesses RosettaStone from home, they will need to know their library card number.

The software will run on Windows 2000 and beyond and Mac OS X.

A Microphone is needed for the voice recognition exercises.

The Rosetta Stone software requires a Shockwave plug-in to be installed on the browser before it will work. This process should begin automatically when the patron tries to access the program for the first time. If not, ask the patron to follow these steps:

• Ask the patron to go ahead and register if they have not already done so or log in with their username and password.
• Click the “First Time Users” tab on the left side of the screen.
• Then click “Install Shockwave plug-in.”

If you attended a training session with me on Rosetta Stone you recieved a copy of the “Quick Start Guide” This is a Rosetta Stone publication and may be accessed on the “My Courses” page after you have logged in to Rosetta Stone.

Try this resource out! You might find that it’s as addictive as a video game. And the next time someone asks “Parle vous France?” You can say “Oui!”

Have fun learning!

 

Take another look at Britannica!

Britannica Online Public Library Edition is available on the AVL.

The newly designed main page is a gateway to research tools and timely news articles.

They even have a blog and it is worth checking out. On May 11th, Michael Feldman submitted an entertaining look at Socrates. Other popular authors tackle topics like politics, science, life and art.

I personally like Britannica Daily; it’s a rotating article featurette. On any given day, you’ll find articles covering society and culture, world history, science and technology and sports.

Use the Workspace feature to create a customized page for research project. Store articles, images and other Britannica content in the Workspace and log in to retrieve them later.

 

Free Online ProQuest Training

Now is the time to register for your free Sirs Discoverer and Sirs Knowledge Source online training seminars!

Proquest offers free training every month on various databases in the Proquest family. This month, Sirs Discoverer and the databases of Sirs Knowledge Source (Researcher, Government Reporter and Renaissance) are being offered.

Each session is online live. Once registered, you will be emailed with instructions about preparing for the session. The session is online, so it requires a computer. You will also need a phone, this is how the trainer will speak to the group. Each session is 45 minutes long.

I have attended a session in this format and I’ve found it to be fun (for training , anyway!). 

ProQuest will send you a completion certificate. 

Click the link to view the calendar.

http://inter.viewcentral.com/reg/proquest/k12calendar