Boroondara library

Search our catalogue

More Search Options

Quick Links

Book a PC

eResources

My loans

#68 Playing with pretty pictures

Tag galaxy is certainly entertaining you

(need the latest flash ) but a bit fiddly to get the globe to the blog by resizing and saving as jpeg etc but because not images have creative commons lic usable images need to be sorted you could just as easily go straight to Flickr

Flickrcc should be no fuss all images have creative commons lic however many still require attribution. If larger than a certain size.This one under attribution and share alike lic
Its possible to edit using in house tools for text,borders, re size etc

#67 sad useful and weird

Dial a human made me sad so this is what we have come to, the beginning of the cyber wars, us against them, how we can out smart them, bypass them etc by pressing 000 From little things big things grow. Or words to that effect(seem to be stuck in a cliche loop) I usually get a person when I ring companies may be we are behind the ball(there she goes again) here in Australia or is it we just won't talk to a machine about some matters. Watch this space(stop that) .
Custom guide is a great, just what the doctor ordered (oops) for a quick training guide the format is good all you need to know on one double sided sheet easily laminated and accessed however more training is available at a cost.
Looked at Where is your Username Registered? totally weird, my pseudonyms came up all over the place but none of them were me. Nothing original under the sun (and thats it with cliches today folks)

#66 organising the bookmark monster

Yet another attempt to organise the universe of information. All myFaves has the advantage of the visual icon to speed up access but how long is a piece of string this could go on forever. Currently it has weekly faves but not linked back to the basic organising page of mainly US based Internet sites. 43marks on the other hand allows personal development and privacy . Having it all out there as a directory home page instead of hidden in the bookmarks would be a reminder. Somewhat like the weblinks page created for reference staff at Boroondara libraries

#65 Dragging everybody down with them

Global economic crisis. Cheap money, costly results. If I am P...sed how much more so the money managers of so many countries. But can't really blame the US it is a global game now. Greed has its own rewards. Smoke and mirrors and shady deals, someone must have done well out of this mess, find them and borrow from them.(and or hit them with a large blunt object) Ah well! there goes the super.

#64 Springing into apps

So Spring has...(and so forth) up and out of the cave I go

Something useful is only useful if you use it.Will I ?will we? incorporate them into our daily tasks. Workplace Internet restrictions can slow downloads and make many of the tools practically useless however if we can just find a few each wemay convert each other.
character copy and past would have been great for a patron last week who wanted to translate English to Polish and got a strange result which he said was because the characters were not
available
Regator is great, some more needed organisation in the blogosphere , however many great blogs are missing I tried a search for Boroondara and found none. I find I haven't been using Bloglines as much as I used to, may be this format will be more useful. It does provide the option of creating ones own blog directory and organisation tools. So popped the library ones and a few professional ones in my directory maybe I can link it into another tool grazer and have it just there on the blog.
Kuku Klok
Your computer yelling at you in the morning how irritating would this be, not going to happen.
Stormpulse when hurricanes threaten Melbourne we will need another version meanwhile maybe I should put off that holiday in Florida this year.
Pixadus
Not as good as some other picture sites
Fake Name Generator
This is me (not) of undefined gender (never know could be useful.Not)

Gérard Tardif
62 Dossiter Street
Recherche TAS 7109
Website: Skipnte.com

Email Address: http://www.fakemailgenerator.com/GerardTardif
Phone: (03) 6275 2069
Mother's maiden name: Mercier
Birthday: August 16, 1980
MasterCard: 5231 7228 8490 0076
Expires: 8/2011

PicApp useful resource for library images but it seems can only be used on the web otherwise copyright infringement.

#63 Foxit pdf

More pdf fun ? with software from Foxit a pdf reader.
Ok so a patron wants to fill in a pdf form online in your library and they can't, do you let them down load this program to your terminals? Once again there is a catch, an evaluation mark is left on the form so it cannot be sent online for that job application and some extra costs to fulfill some changes etc. You can print this form off without the evaluation mark but where is the advantage you still have to post it, you had to do that anyway you could have just printed it out at the beginning and just written neatly then sent it off. (maybe you could scan it in)
It may well be a quick and and small pdf reader but if you already have a reader installed would you bother with this one.

Winter vacation, now where did I leave that cave?

#62 fun with pdf ,not

A tool to make a non editable form usable online. PDFescape.com
This tool requires a fee to operate well (large promotional logos are placed on top of free documents) and at this exploratory phase I am happy for others to bother.
Do work places put out these non editable forms much these days anyway.

#61 library faces

Libraries have taken Facebook by storm as groups many tools and applications can be found, some are created externally. Libraries Australia and Pub med are good examples the ability to search these in one place may just win me over.
If this tool loses popularity a lot of work may be in vain but I suppose we could migrate to new tools and leave trails check out
101 reasons why Librarians should be on facebook slideshare

#60 Faceoff

Facebook.... OK, its part of the exploration but I like annoyed Librarian can't help but think it could get out of hand. (but think of those door statistics)
I can see if used as a group tool it may be useful, many libraries including our own Boroondara public libraries have a presence that highlights library activities and links to booking sheets etc. It would interesting to check out how many people found out about library events via these social networking sites. Which one to use, or should we be a present on as many as possible, are we trying to be all things to all people? Maintaining links is a challenge in itself to access my RSS feeds to keep up to date could take all morning and then lying waiting are all the standard work emails and we have just scratched the surface of a day.
Can't bring myself to bother with chatter on a personal level on top of this, at some point I must sit out in the sun I promised myself.

#59 Books at last

Book reviews and things at last, I was getting irritated (who moi )by cooking widgets etc. So good, I immediately crossed over to my library online and placed a reservation for "The Archivist's tale" If book club links on our library website can lead patrons back to the catalogue it will be a very relevant and useful site. The book report network is a useful professional tool for keeping abreast of Author information and providing numerous links to specific genre sites author sites etc Author yellow pages handy for author groupies and Authors on the web has lists of up and coming publications reviews and author sites. Links to these on our ref desk web links guide could be really useful.

#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

#51Social web

How much is too much ? Library of congress photos appeared to create a storm of response, where to go with this?
Connection speed will be very important(the three clicks rule etc) younger users are joined at the hip (wrist?) to their phones so services need to target this tool . The speed of change in technology may be an impediment, just when you get set up the rules will change. How can organisations face the necessary costs involved? will it mean the end of the free public library and a move as so many things are now toward user pays. How will this sit with a goal of providing information access to all?
Se Chan(“Social media, social networking - learning from libraries, the new
OCLC report,”) suggests it will be very messy but that we should open the doors to user created input in the library but that it will be "right on mission"privacy rules will need to be opened up He disagrees with the OCLC research that

strongly challenges the assumption that libraries should copy social media services on their own sites, and instead recommends that libraries open up for users to make use of content in their own ways on other services. Participation on library sites will be low.

Competition is high and the messy approach will be the norm there is a push for libraries to reinvent themselves from suppliers of information and providing access, into creators . Watch this space.

#50 Hold the cheese

Cooking in libraries? or is it the community site idea that is relevant here? a group of like minded people with a passion who forgive little mistakes because they all have the same interest.
Lasagna all ways intimidated me with all the different cheeses, but Bill and Daves version complete with oil spatters on the lens of the camera and the bottle of Chianti (that was consumed during the making of it I kept wondering when they were going to add it) made it all seem so much more approachable.
That is the value of this homey type of video a non threatening demo that anyone can relate to. A too technically perfect style may not be the way to go.
However the site does give tips on how to create more professionally and links to tools that can convert different video files. Small videos can be created with a digital camera ( and tripod for steadiness)and windows movie maker a free download if not already on your computer.