#58 feeling green

Don't get me started (too late)
A wired life means electricity but if we could just turn off so much could be saved. I did have my candles and a perfumed oil lamp ( was that green?) on earth day . Yet here I am blogging about going green while recharging my battery from electricity created from burning coal. (Such a hypocrite.) Without green electricity we cannot live this life and enjoy these toys and tools. I consider the biggest challenge for Australia the attempt to create a electricity from coal by utilising carbon sequestration it may take 10 to 15 years to be practicable if ever.Can we wait that long?
The little personal steps we take may make us feel good about our selves but change the worlds total global warming problem very little. However having said that let me say this(where have you heard that before)money talks and if we buy green products that utilised green IE: low energy inputs etc in production we could put some high energy/water user manufacturers out of business. Check out the Virtual kitchen. Even though a small nation in population terms we contribute greatly to pollution by selling coal to other countries. These other countries may not even utilise this new technology even if we can get it online.
Do we have a responsibility to leave it in the ground?(aka uranium) does the argument that they will source this raw material from other countries justify our role in the global warming mess . If you know the answer let me know
At least a few major initiatives have been started in Victoria with the worlds largest solar power station to be built in 2009
It will be interesting see if any brilliant new ideas come from the 2020 ideas summit.
But back to the library, I saw that hallmark are creating cards from recycled paper and sugar cane pulp.
Many books are printed now on recycled paper and are easier to read (less glare) Should we move to buying a pod for supplying print on demand only books and lending ebook readers for the economically disadvantaged.
As for Internet tools Google has created a search engine that only searches within green sites?(see side bar)

#57 Tasty Oh yes!

Well what can I say ,food. Pretty pretty, and get thee behind me Satan. Losing this battle, I might as well go down with a smile on my face. Good tastyspot, fits a niche that magazines (the gourmet variety) have filled for me . Mind you epicurean .com is seriously tantalising
How it relates to the library setting I am not sure,maybe a special display of cooking books with this site revolving on a screen, perhaps augmenting the promotion of a cookbook Author talk.
A link from the site leads to a HP printer site that guides you to make your own cookbook .(could be fun)
Widget hunting though was time consuming.It looks as though you can only get the widget for recent posts not all are my cup of tea if you know what I mean. I searched widjets and found a link to widjetbox
A link in the widget will take you back to tasteSpotting where you can search and drool all day.(stop that control your self)

#56 Sharing smiles

So onto the next toy , found that Smile box is an executable file don't really want this one on my PC still traumatised from another tool, photo bucket which kept flicking up photographs from my computer that I had never uploaded or setting them as screen savers, I found it worrying so will not download this one. Also in the wisdom of the IT department I am unable to down load it at work. However it appears to have similar attributes to many other programs . The ability to create small shows with music and background onto which you place your photographs. Did something similar on Nero for my mothers funeral. However courage in hand I began the process but it told me I cannot create it on firefox (a touch irritating) so switched to explorer and it still told me that it could only work on windows. (I was there grr )
I can see how you might be able to create a promotion or show clips from previous events with this tool if it was possible to access it in the work space. Currently we have a large screen on which we can create such promotions so it may just remain a personal tool at this stage

#55 sliding with others

Slide share could be a very quickly useable tool as it is based on power point demo's of which most libraries would have many already created for training both staff and patrons. I can see an immediate use for "how to" slides for accessing databases using the catalogue etc. How ever it does not have the use of a pointer tool as in Camtasia but you can use screen dumps and the usual PowerPoint tools. It would be quick to load (always important ) so immediately useful. See the slideshare in side bar Australian libraries in second life (time to fly on in)

#54 Jetting around with Books

Book jetty what a useful tool, finding books in near by libraries is great.The site is a fiddly at first finding the way around, but the quick flash ups of reviews are useful in the reference desk setting.

#53 don't take that literally

Litclubs Great site that can offer very detailed reviews and author information. review "people of the Book"
Well I have just read this offering from Geraldine brooks (sorry couldn't wait) I bought it in the airport. It is a bit of an airport sort of book it staggered in places but it did have big themes .
How all cultures revere the arts, and the commonality of people who work with books and big ideas. How many people of the book bring to their work the same core values. That the beauty and skill of producing such an item is triggered by big ideas and that the history that the item represents is valuable, more important than religion or politics. The tale delved also into the middle east and the conjoined histories of the communities there that have more in common than they have differences.

Perhaps this site could be the basis of a book group that meets regularly at the library using its tools as a focus and guide.

#52 clipping clipping

Clipping just another information management tool it could present a real danger of taking bits out of context.I can already do this with Grazer in a more organised and complete fashion, care must be taken with this tool that you do not loose the references if information is to be used for any serious study.
I found a you tube video ( see side bar) that will challenge your place and relevance as a (information provider,organizer, facilitator, knowledge manager) not only can we find information but it can find us. Three tags, three places, instantly ,all is miscellaneous