THING 9: eBooks

OPTION 2:
I tried downloading an ebook onto our library's IPad. No problem except it took a surprisingly long time. I also felt guilty since I had no intention of actually reading the book. As there is no way of "returning" it early, I essentially kept someone else from reading it. So I tried to select a book I deemed uninteresting--but who knows how others would feel!

OPTION 3:
I investigated many of the sites Polly included. Personally, I don't own a hand-held device, but I am excited by the possibilities. Non-fiction could be enhanced with sound clips, at-you-fingertip references, etc. making reading more of a multi-media experience. I am not quite sure about the choose-your-own-adventure mode. While it would be great to follow the story from different characters' points of view, as in Poisonwood Bible, I am not sure if I would enjoy having my book enhanced wikipedia-fashion by whoever happened to download before me on Overdrive.

Professionally, it would be great if eBooks would solve the out of print dilemma and allow for more frequently updated texts. It widens the playing field for those who need large type books.

I am attending next Thursday's NYLA session on eBooks so I might have more to say after that.

laura

Thing 8: Video Commentary

For this exercise we borrowed a SALS loaner video camera. Jen Ferriss handily used this as a field trip opportunity and hiked it over to us, pouring rain and all. Once we replaced the batteries, it took off immediately as you can see if you view the video--I was obviously taken by surprise as I hustled over to the staging area. Obviously amaateurish, but not bad for a first attempt.

The difficulty came with the downloading. It took three of us and Jen O. saved the day by clicking random buttons until something worked. That would be the only reason I would hesitate to procede further--just have no idea how to download. Is there a step-by-step protocol written down anywhere?

Embedding was simple and I did it all by myself!

I can see how youtube would work well for our Summer Reading Events--or even just capturing an idea of all the traffic we get here during a normal summer day.

laura

Thing#8 Video

THING #7: Productivity & Collaboration Tools

Thing #7 is the most useful yet!  I pretty much explored all the tools.

I was tempted by Evernote and Zotero but needed to download more current versions of Firefox and we are not authorized to do so on our work computers.  I did explore as much as I could though and decided it would probably be more work to implement for the usage I would get out of it.

I was delighted to discover the PDF converter.  Several times this year I have needed to convert from MS Word to a PDF and now I know how to do so!  The process was extremely simple.

On my home computer I purchased BackBlaze.  While I do have an external hardrive, it is cumbersome to use and of course you have to remember to use it!  This is so simple and at roughly $4 per month is definitely worth it.  Especially since I have an elderly computer.  I was delighted to discover that the service makes it possible to resurrected previously deleted versions of a document.

I flirted with joining delicious but decided to do so would be the internet equivalent to accumulating piles of paperwork clutter.  But I will access it to locate popular sites on a particular subject I am researching.

As for the calendars and reminder lists, I am content with my little slips of paper. I figure if I can’t get through to do list items in a week, it’s never going to happen anyway.  There is something very satisfying about crumpling a piece of paper!

I was intrigued by Goo.gl with its promise convert long URLs to short ones—until I tried it and discovered that the shortened versions were perhaps even less user-friendly as far as ease of memorization is concerned.

THING 6: Online Meetings

I was stretched for discretionary time this week since I am having dental surgery tomorrow (groan) so I chose to view an Archived Webinar.  I chose Booklist and selected Defending the Right to Read: Celebrating Banned Book Week, partially since I have always been interested in that topic and also because Judy Blume was on of the speakers.  It featured a panel of 5 varied experts--publisher, author, librarian, etc and it was interesting to get the varied points of view. Judy Blume pointed out that as an author you can't get truly into your characters if you are worried that their every thought will be censored.  She is so famous, of course, that the publishers leave the decisions up to her.

I was rather disappointed that I coulcn't attend anactual time meeting, but this one ran over, leaving no time for questions anyway, so even realtimers had my same experience.  I wonder if that happens a lot?  Experience seemed the same as attending a big library conference except you could clean off your desk while listening.  Not at all like an actual monthly meeting which is mostly interchange.

We might try to set up a meeting next week....if next week's Thing isn't too time-consuming...hint, hint.

laura