Week 5 – The E-Book

Hi all,
and welcome to Week 5. This week, we’re going to try a library specific activity, and we’ll take a quick look at two collections of electronic books. While I’ll admit that few people like eBooks per se - they’re not particularly comfortable to read, nor can they be transported very easily [unless you’re using a laptop] they do have some interesting advantages. The major advantage is that they are immediately accessible, from wherever the student happens to be. That makes them particularly useful as a last minute sort of tool. Additionally, they’re easily searchable – not just the bibliographic information, but the entire text of the eBook. They also have some interesting features, one of which we’ll look at a bit later.

For this week, what I hope you’ll all do is take a look at a NetLibrary eBook that interests you, record the bibliographic information on your blog, and talk a bit about how useful you think it might be for our users. Also, take a peek at the Concept map in Credo Reference, and give us some indication about whether you think that would be useful.

Oesterle eBooks are available from: http://library.noctrl.edu/books/ - netLibrary is the larger collection of eBooks, and contains the full text of a large portion of the Project Gutenberg free e-text collection as well. Searching is easy, and most subjects are covered, though our collection is limited.

Credo Reference is a collection of 100 reference titles, dictionaries, subject encyclopedias and etc. Take a look around, but by all means, make sure that you give the Concept Map a try. If nothing else, it can serve as a good overview of a subject area, and can give you some additional ideas for search terms. If nothing else, the Concept Map is a fun piece of technology to play with, and make sure that you use the slider for the Link Levels, to add more nodes to the map. I think you may find it to be fun.
We have a few other collections of eBooks as well, and they’re all located on that same page. If you’re interested, give those a quick look, too.
jjs

My Gmail experience –

I’ve been using Gmail from very nearly the beginning, and have gotten so used to it, that I don’t always think about why I like it, and why it works so well for me. Part of it has to do with a level of comfort with the interface and tools, of course, but I think there is more to it than that. One of the things that I really like is the way Gmail files email as conversations, as opposed to a bunch of discrete pieces of email. With my daughters, I have email conversations that range up to about 50 pieces of email, and they’re all automatically kept filed together.
One other thing I like very much is that the search facility is a standard Google search within the email itself. Since I don’t even have to think about the process of formulating a search, it’s easier to find what I’m looking for, and there is no time spent building indexes or opening another search interface, it’s just all right there. The last strength is that my mobile connects directly and happily to Gmail, so that I have fairly constant access to my email account. Not a vital selling point, but a nice one.

jjs

Week 4 – Adventures in eMail

Welcome to week 4 – I do hope that you’ve all been enjoying the process as we’ve been moving through it. If you have any recommendations for additional things, by the way, feel free to email me, and we’ll see. They may already be on the list, but if they’re not…

This week, we’re going to take a look at a different kind of email – Gmail from Google.
I suspect that some of you are already Gmail users, while others may not have tried it out. For my part, I’ve been using it for so long that every other email tool seems a bit antiquated. As you take a look at it, you’ll note a lot of differences from Novell’s GroupWise, or other email accounts you may have used in the past.
If you’re new to Gmail, blog about some of the things that you like, or the things that you don’t like. If you’ve been using Gmail for a while, tell us why, and let us know if you like it?
If you’ve been using blogger for your blog, you already have a Gmail account – just go to
https://mail.google.com
and log in with the same userID and Password. If you want to create a new account, you can go to the above address, and look for the phrase: Sign Up for Gmail! 

You can also find out a bit more about the features of Gmail at: http://mail.google.com/mail/help/about.html

A good blog to subscribe to might also be: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/ - Google’s own blog about changes and updates in Gmail. They often release enhancements and this is where they annouce them. 

Have fun, and share your thoughts!

Next Week: an actual Library-specific  topic, eBooks!

jjs

The Elevator -

All, 

After a meeting with Maintenance yesterday, I wanted everyone to be aware that the elevator passed a usability inspection last month. They are going to order a new motor, so that it will quiet down again, but for the moment, it is safe to use. 

Jan is going to change the signs, and we'll go back to the old way of using the elevator, primarily for staff and accessibility issues. If you see or hear the elevator being used, keep an eye on it. 

Thanks, 

jjs

Week 3, part 2

Week 3 is drawing to a close, and I hope that it's been interesting, so far. 

The section on blogs is nearing the end, and tomorrow we'll move on to something a little different, but let's keep up with the blog posting through the remaining weeks. 

I hope that everyone has 'chosen' a blog reader, be it the Google Reader or Bloglines [does anyone use something different?] and that you've got all the 21 Things blogs set up in it, as that will be one of the primary ways that we'll all keep track of what's going on with the following weeks. We can, and should, be using comments on each others blogs as well, just to remain in contact as we go through this. 

jjs