Week 11 – Electronic Database Services at HPL

I tried unsuccessfully to create a RSS feed for “Bisphenol A” from several EBSCO databases to my Bloglines.  Each time I received the message: Internet Explorer cannot display this feed.  Internet Explorer requires you to have a greater MSXML3 SP5 or greater in order to view feeds.

Using Academic OneFile, I created both an RSS feed and an e-mail alert for the subject, Bisphenol A.  I had success with both.  Although I have not received an e-mail alert as yet, I have received several RSS updates in Bloglines.

Library customers could find this service very useful.  Students writing papers could subscribe when assigned their topics.  With very little effort, their finished papers could have the very latest information.  Anyone with a health concern could easily stay on top of new information.  Businesses would also find it an easy way to track trends, etc.  The possiblities are as varied as our customers.

This service would be promoted in the usual ways, e.g. newspaper ads, class visits, a bulletin on our website, flyers, posters, etc.  Staff should also promote the service verbally when helping a customer with a search.

 

 

 

 

Week 12 – E-books and E-Audio Books

I downloaded Emma and Because of Winn Dixie.  I did not find it difficult, but I think that might be because I was doing so from a library computer.  I’m anxious to try at home; I think that might be a touch more challenging.   I found OverDrive slightly easier.  Although the screen said NetLibrary would download automatically in a moment, it had to be downloaded manually.  Also, establishing a user name and password was an additional step.

Because of their subject guides, finding something of interest to me to download was easy.  I found OverDrive slightly easier.  I also liked the way the record for OverDrive showed at a glance whether the book was available.

 

Week 3 – RSS

Using Bloglines, I linked to the Spectator and to the Recommended section of Macleans.  Interestingly when I checked today (April 24th) the Spectator link was not on Bloglines.  I wonder if large links get deleted after a bit if they are not used.  I found it easy to set up a feed.

From an earlier post:  used Bloglines to save 2 feeds: The Hamilton Spectator and Macleans: Recommended from Macleans magazine.  I copied the url of the feed, clicked on Feeds on Bloglines, then Add,  and pasted the url.  Once I had familiarized myself a tiny bit with Bloglines, it was easy to do.

The tutorials: I found the “RSS in plain English” a good intro to RSS.  “RSS News Feeds” from the Globe and Mail was informative, but I found “News feeds from the BBC” the better one.

 

Week 15 – Gaming & Virtual Worlds

1.  a). Runescape: I created an avatar and almost finished the tutorial.  The instructions are clear, but I think it will take a bit of work before I become addicted.

     b). Pop Cap Games: I played Bejeweled, Alchemy, and Bookworm.  I couldn’t get Bonnie’s Bookstore to load, and a “Fatal Error” occurred when I tried to play Noah’s Ark.

2.  Second LIfe and Libraries:

a)  Libraries could use SL for programming to conduct ongoing book discussions, art shows, author talks, and to promote special events.    An Info Island could be used to provide reference service, training, special projects, etc.  The opportunities seem endless. 

b).  I think libraries have no choice but to be involved in Second Life and other virtual worlds if they want to stay/and to be perceived as current and to reach the largest audience possible.  It appears to be a very economical way to deliver both information services and programming.

 

Week 13 – Podcasts & Videos

I poked around Google’s list of podcast directory sites, finally settling on PodcastDirectory.com.  In its subject directory, I chose “food,” then “wine.”  I created a RSS feed to my Bloglines for a site in British Columbia called BC WineCast (http://bcwinecast.com), which comments on artisan wine.

 

Week 14 – Online Applications and Productivity Tools

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df7zpvxz_1grgr7xdw&invite=h5r69h

 

 

Week 8 – SB&T – LibraryThing

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/Kaseysmith

 

Week 8 – Social Bookmarking and Tagging – del.icio.us

http://del.icio.us/kaseysmith

 

Week 7 – Photos & Images

Using one of last year’s Summer Reading photos, I was able to change the banner on my blog.  Neat!

 

Week 6 – Playtime

I used The Blog Readability Test to ascertain the reading level of my blog, which was Highschool and is posted on this blog.  I had a look at Google Custom Search and logged on to Unitec’s website too see how they used it – very impressive.  I also had a look at Yahoo! Answers, but did not sign up.