Back in January, SCLS co-sponsored the webinar "20 Things You Can Do to Make Your Library Website Better Right Now" presented by Laura Solomon. If you contribute to your library's website, I strongly recommend watching it! Be prepared for some no-nonsense, tough-love tips for making your website look better and work better.
20 Things You Can Do to Make Your Library Website Better Right Now
I was looking for a way to transfer a large file over the internet without having to sign up for any services. Sometimes email clients limit the size of the files you can send or receive, so what can you do if you want to send a large file to someone. I found Wetransfer, a site that lets you transfer a file up to 2GBs for free. It’s fast and easy to use. Select the file you want to transfer to someone. In my case it was a video clip I created that I didn’t want to share with the world, just one other person. Enter in their email address and your email address. Type a message (optional) and click transfer. Within a few minutes the email addresses you entered will receive a message with a link to the file to download, the link will be active for two weeks. You will also receive an email notification when the receipent downloads the file.
Do you have historical pictures of your library? Here are 2 great ways to share them!
Historypin
Historypin is "a project that allows people to view and share their personal history in a new way, created by the social movement We Are What We Do in partnership with Google."
Users can pin photo, audio and video content and tie it to geographical locations -- map meets content! Anyone can add descriptive or narrative text to photographic, audio or video content that has been "pinned" to the map.
Users can also create "Tours" which lead you step-by-step through a series of pieces of content via a narrative that links them together, or "Collections", which are clusters of content around a particular theme. See Historypin's FAQ for more specifics about the site.
A few of our libraries already have historical pictures on Historypin courtesy of the Wisconsin State Historical Society.
With the arrival of the "Timeline" format for Pages, libraries now have the opportunity to add milestones (key moments they'd like to highlight) to their Facebook pages. Historical milestones will extend the little timeline on the right of the page.
What type of milestones might you add? Check out this post, "Creating Facebook Milestones: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words" for some ideas. Photos definitely liven up milestones--- just sign in to Facebook and click on older timeline dates for the New York Times or Coca-Cola to see some in action!
Looking for examples from other libraries? Aaron Tay has a nice description of what his (academic) library did with milestones and historical photos in this post on his Musings About Librarianship blog.
What do you do with historical photos of your library?
I've been a big fan of Dropbox for years but recently there have been some new and/or improved competitors to the Dropbox drive service: Google Drive and Microsoft's SkyDrive. Here's a quick comparison of all three products:
Zoom in MS Office
Did you know you can quickly zoom in or out of a document (Word), presentation (PowerPoint), or worksheet (Excel)?
Zoom in IE
Want to quickly zoom in IE?
<--- There's a zoom menu on the status bar...
And if you prefer keyboard commands, don't forget
They work in most browsers!
Guest post by Susan Santner, director of the Oregon Public Library
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We were on vacation visiting relatives, and my sister-in-law was telling us about the fabulous chip she ordered online that turned her color Nook into a tablet. We were intrigued. When we got home my husband ordered an N2A card for me. It arrived over the weekend. We installed the chip into the back of my color Nook, and now I have an Android tablet with access to Barnes & Noble, Kindle, both of my emails, the Internet and to what is now my husband's favorite game, Angry Birds.
There is a website: www.N2Acards.com. The chip cost about $45.00 for the extra memory option. It has been fun and an inexpensive way to get a tablet. I like to think of it as recycling.
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Note from SCLS: PC Magazine has a positive review of the card with additional information and slideshow.
Did you know that you may have photo editing software hidden away on your PC? I'm not talking about Microsoft Paint. I mean Microsoft Office Picture Manager!
Where can you find it? MS Office Picture Manager has been bundled with the Microsoft Office suite since Office 2003. On most* PCs with MS Office, you can find it by going to Start > Microsoft Office > Microsoft Office Tools > Microsoft Office Picture Manager.
You can also start using it by clicking on your image in Windows Explorer and then selecting File > Open With > Microsoft Office Picture Manager, like so:
What is it used for? Basic changes and corrections to photos, like:
Why would you choose MS Office Picture Manager instead of MS Paint? MS Paint doesn't have options specifically for correcting photos (like red-eye removal), and on Windows XP its crop/resize capabilities don't make it easy to get photos sized to pixel-precise dimensions. MS Office Picture Manager does better with these tasks.
Where can you get help using MS Office Picture Manager? Support for MS Office Picture Manager.
When will you know you need a higher-powered tool for editing images?
* On SCLS-supported patron PCs that have MS Office, MS Office Picture Manager is not in the Start menu and you will need to use the "Open With" technique to start using it.
Many of you just finished working on your Annual report - and enjoyed it, I’m sure! One of the questions on the report deals with reference questions. How do you track this number in your library?
When I worked at the Sun Prairie Public Library, we used the survey method. Once a year, we’d track all questions asked at all the desks in the library. Then, we multiplied that number by 52 to get an estimate of the number of questions asked in a year. For more information on collecting reference statistics, check out the Reference section of the SCLS website.
I recently read an article in Computers in Libraries (December 2011 issue) called “I’ve seen the future, and it’s surprisingly cheap!” by Veronica Reynolds. In it she talks about using Google Forms to track reference questions. We’ve covered Google Forms for creating surveys in past TechBits posts:
TechBits: Thanks for taking the survey (2/2010)
TechBits: Happy Birthday TechBits (2/2010)
Wicked Cool: Creating web forms (9/2008)
Reynolds’ idea of creating a survey to track reference questions is genius - and she’s not the only one doing it. Another article in the October 2011 issue of Computers in Libraries covers the same topic in more depth and in an academic library.
The form Reynolds created is brief and takes only a few moments to answer all the questions. In addition to tracking the types of questions asked, Reynolds includes a field for additional information. This field can be used to track trends, what types of questions are being asked, what school projects are the students asking for, and more. The form can be customized to fit any library’s needs as shown in these articles by both academic and public librarians.
It’s easy to embed the form into your staff blog (if you have one) or keep the form open in a separate tab during the day. I can see using this for your reference statistics in two ways. First, staff can use it intensely during your survey week to get a weekly number and then multiply that number by 52 for your annual number of questions - no more paper forms and hash marks! Second, this is an easy way for library staff to know what’s being asked and share that information with their colleagues, provided staff has access to the spreadsheet created by the form.
I see this use of Google Forms being a great time-saver for libraries. It will take some time to create the form and tweak it so you’re getting the results you want. The time saved in the long run - no more paper forms to create, no hash marks to make, no transferring the paper forms into a spreadsheet - is worth the time spent in setting it up. Keep track of your reference transactions and see what’s being asked in your library with Google Forms - a simple and free tool.
I just learned how to take a screenshot on an iPod touch the other day (I know, I know--- better late than never, right?) On the off-chance that there are others like me out there who didn't have this handy information, here's the "411" on how to take screenshots from some common devices.
How to Grab Screenshots on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch
Simultaneously hold down the Home and Sleep/Wake buttons, then release them together. You'll find the resulting image in the Photos app --in the Camera Roll album on iPhone and in Saved Photos on iPad and iPod touch.
Take a Screenshot on your Android Device
Press the back button and press the center home button. The captured image will be saved in your gallery.
How to Take a Screenshot From Your Nook Color
Press the Vol- (Volume Down) button for a very short time, while also holding the Nook (Home) button. The screenshots will be available under the Gallery.
How to Take a Screenshot on Your PC
To make a copy of the active window, press ALT+PRINT SCREEN.
To copy the entire screen as it appears on your monitor, press PRINT SCREEN.
Then paste the screenshot into your preferred program that handles images (MS Paint, Word, etc).
Have other screenshot tips? Leave them in the comments!
I don't actually *have* a Kindle....but I do run across lots of Kindle-related resources.
Here are a few I thought might be of interest:
How are you using your Kindle? What are your favorite Kindle tips, resources, or features?
