Thing 16: Ebooks

I really like the idea of e-books.  I think it would be a very good alternative for students.  They could get their textbooks quicker and cheaper.  We have a lot of students who need to use our reserve copies because they are waiting for their books to come in.  They can print only the pages that they need.  I have had classes in the past when I haven't used most of the book.

I do have some concerns.  Since we don't always own the book and just have access to it, this could affect accessibility.  My concern with Google Books is that when we have one source, then they can control the costs and the access. 

When searching the APA PsycBooks database, I found it difficult to find the book.  When you use other vendors, you search by topic, title, or author and retrieve the whole book.  You can then search within that book.  When searching PsycBooks, I retrieved chapters and had to read through the citation to see which book that chapter was in.  There was one result that gave you the book and a list of the table of contents.  You can go through the table of contents and pick a chapter.  It would link you to the records page for that chapter and then you could click on the full text pdf.  It was a lot of steps.  When I use Safari, I retrieve the whole book and can go right to each chapter with one or two clicks, not 4 or 5.

I do not have an e reader but am interested in getting one.  I am deciding if I want to buy a Kindle or just wait for the kinks to be worked out of  the Ipad and for the price to come down.  The Ipad is bigger and can allow me to do more.

Thing 15: Creative Commons

I do think it is a good idea to show the different licenses in Creative Commons.  Finding images and videos that you can use without violating copyright is very difficult.  Students and faculty think that they can search google images, copy and paste, and they are fine.  This gives them a place to go to find what they need and teaches them how to do it legally and respectfully.  I would consider sharing content in this manner.  I would probably assign my works with the Attribution Non-Commercial license.  I searched through flickr to find photos that contained maple leaves.  I am using maple leaves as part of the decor for my upcoming wedding.  Perfect for fall :)  I like that you can search using the different attributions.  If is frustrating to find the perfect photo and then find out you cannot use it or you have to wait to hear back from the owner.  Here is one of the photos that I found.  It is owned by James Lee, screen name jronaldLee.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/jronaldlee/3987330047/#

Thing 8: Screencasting

I chose to use Jing for screencasting.  This seems like it will very useful for online reference, especially since we have so much trouble with co-browsing.  I created a short video on how to narrow your search to include only books that critique an author or his/her work.





When I embed the video in its original size, you cannot see the whole screen.  So I changed the height and width in the code and this is what you see above.  However, you really can't see the small print so here is a link to the video as well. 

Author  Criticism

Thing 14: Online Surveys

I see a lot of potential for online surveys.  I have taken several of surveys from Survey Monkey.  It works well when you are trying to schedule a meeting around a lot of people.  It helps you find the time that most people can make it.  I can see it being used for overall library surveys or for specific issues/situations in the library....instruction, circulation experiences, online reference.

Here is my survey on how you relax:

Thing 13: Document Sharing

I see a lot of use for Google Docs.  I have been working on a website for information literacy with faculty members on different campuses.  Google Docs allows us to work on this project without relying on email.  We can edit and work together on information before we post it to the website.  It is always good to have a second pair of eyes checking grammar and spelling :)  It would also be a good source when we are working together on issues for the VCCS.  Members are at different colleges throughout the state and this would allow us to work together since we don't share a common network or drive. 

I am going to cheat a little and share the presentation I created for the slideshare thing.

http://bit.ly/cZ6NYe

Thing 11: Shortening a url

After the wonderful experience of almost getting a virus on my work computer from Twitter, the librarian in me decided to search one of our databases for articles on Twitter and viruses. I did find several so I thought I would create my shortened url with one of these articles. Here it is:

http://bit.ly/b0GtE9

Thing 10: Twitter

So I attempted to play around with Twitter.  I am not really interested in using another social networking site and do not want to create my own account.  I do have some friends that do have twitter accounts so I thought I would just search for them and see what comes up.  One of my friends just bought a new car and had a picture of it linked in one of her tweets.  However, when I clicked on the picture, I had a box pop up from Symnatec about a virus it picked up.  Just my luck....I possibly get a virus on my work computer while surfing Twitter.  Like they will believe me when I tell them that I was on a social networking site for work.  Of course, I closed the window and headed to IT.  Apparently, IT knew all about the possibility of getting viruses from surfing Twitter.  They say it is very common.  If you are using Twitter through a mobile device, it won't affect you, but on desktops, viruses are common.  Who knew?!?