Netlibrary

Netlibrary is a great supplement to OCL's in-house collection. There are many books that can add to a customer's search. For instance, when we do a search for "resume" or "interview" many resources come up that are fully searchable. From what I have read, the full text books can be printed but only one page at a time. Although it would be convenient to print a full chapter at a time, it is still great to be able to print a page. This especially true with something like the example of resumes.

I do find that it takes a while for each page to load and I guess I'm just spoiled now with having high speed access to most webpages. I have known about Netlibrary for several years, but having revisited it for this exercise, it has now been refreshed in my mind and I'll continue to do more exploring so I can recommend it to customers. It can be especially helpful to those in branches with a more limited nonfiction section.

WorldCat

WorldCat is a wonderful tool to link libraries together. I have used it to complete an ILL request by finding what other libraries might have an item we do not have in our collection. I have only heard one complaint from a customer and that was because the gentleman loved being able to see inventories for libraries around the world, but he was frustrated because he wanted to just order the items and have them sent directly to his home. Still, he agreed this is a fantastic site.

Love that "Library Thing"

I have used Library Thing for a few years but not for personal use. What do I use it for? I am able to take the Automatically Yours each month and set them up in Library Thing or I have used it for new books that have arrived. I put them in Library Thing to arrange the titles with authors and book covers so I can add reviews which I do by copy/paste into a Word document. Then I add reviews.



Some of the short comings include that reviews (if they have them) can only be viewed by clicking on each title and opening a new window. Time consuming for my purpose.



As a social network of reading others reviews/opinions of books it is set up fairly well.

The link to my catalog is http://www.librarything.com/catalog/Berkeleyteens.

Google As A Search Engine

I have used various search engines and have also completed a research paper with extensive comparisons of them. I have always loved the ability to do an advanced search in Google. When a student needs research information that is from a more reliable source, I'll show them how to search for .gov or .edu sites. It is also helpful when trying to help someone who needs specific, semi-authoritative information.

Beyond Google

I decided to play around with Bing because I have not had a lot of experience with it. I will say that the maps feature is great. It actually will display a 3D version of a property. Pretty cool to look at friends' and families' homes 300 miles away. Of course, the satellite photos are a year or two old but it is pretty interesting to see the photo of my home with my car just coming into or leaving my driveway. It makes one think about how when we think we aren't being watched and we are alone, it probably isn't true!

Bing is such a visually appealing site. Right from the launch, without customizing, it is a modern looking and easy touch search engine. It seems to model itself after the smoothness of using an Apple McIntosh system. It could give Google a really good competitor. I wonder if we might someday be saying, "I Binged it, rather than I Googled it?"

I did not know about Wolfamalpha. I am having a wonderful time exploring all the features. I found a feature where you put in a year and a dollar amount and it calculates, with inflation rate, what amount of dollars that is equal to today. It would be fun when grandpa says he paid a dime for a movie in 1936 to calculate what that would be equal to in today's dollar.

Exploring Google

I have used Google Maps for a long time. I like the way it is easily laid out to put in your destination and then map it. I find it easier to use than Mapquest. However, I live on a street that 5 years ago was not recognized by either sites. About two years ago, Mapquest started to recognize it, but to this day, Google Maps doesn't. Also, I have tried a couple GPS systems and they do not recognize my street either which leads me to wonder how Mapquest is ahead in this area. Also bing recognizes the street.

Flu Trends is interesting and I think that as we get into the season more I will be tapping into this more often.

I have used many of the secrets of the search box but found from Pogue's article a couple of tips I didn't think or know about such as quickly getting the weather or local movie times. This was very worthwhile info.

RSS Feeds

In the intro video the narrator explains that RSS feeds can be addicting. This is very true. There are so many interesting sites and having the convenience of having them in once place can become addicting. It is just like other things though. We need to balance the convenience with our sacrid time. It really does make it great to keep track of websites such as the library's to immediately see new events.

Web 2.0 Awards

I checked out a few award sites. One was Comiqs one that interested me because you can make comic strips with clip art or your own pictures. It is easy to add text boxes and then easily share them with friends and family. I did not sign up for an account but liked the creativity and ease of use of this site. I have been experimenting with another comic strip which gives predrawn comic characters to use.

The second site I checked out was SpainishPod. It have several levels of learning and can download to MP3 players. There are many Podcast lessons which means you wouln't be tied to a computer. The site allows a free 12-day trial. It has several paid subcription levels. I liked it but I didn't think it seemed as user-friendly a Mango.

Beginning the challenge

Well today begins my challenge.

It's a big world out there and it takes a lot of energy to keep up. This challenge should be fun.