Screen gaze and play with intent

At the Library web 2.0 thing I went to at the SLV the other day, I felt that part of my job was justified when a leader in the Library 2.0 field, Helene Blowers, recommended that librarians spend at 15 minutes a day "playing" online (here's her presentation).

The thing is, we all should.

Need more reasons? Try Kathryn Greenhill's 20 reasons why learning emerging technologies is part of every librarian’s job. Kathryn was also at the L2.0 thing @ SLV and I even got to walk around the block with her and some others of local L2 mafia like Michelle Mclean (name dropper).

Don't know where to start? Here's Helene's 23 Things to give your L2 learning some structure.

Glenn

Yourtutor

Yourtutor is operational
Yourtutor is up and running for Frankston Library Service members. It's just been Blogalogued and should be linked from the library website soon (in the page header and from the Online Information page).

It's a free and professionally staffed online tutoring service for students from years 4 to 12.

Yourtutor creates an online classroom where students are connected to qualified, expert tutors for one-to-one help with homework, assignments, exam preparation and study questions. Help is provided for English, maths and science subjects, plus research and study skills.

The tutors are certified teachers, professional tutors, post graduates and advanced undergraduates from Australian universities. They can review specific homework and assignment questions with students online, using features like controlled chat, an interactive white board and shared web browsing.

Students can now communicate with tutors the way they love to learn – via the web - which makes the experience enjoyable as well as educational. Students can also get a print out of their session.

Yourtutor operates from 4 to 8 pm, Monday to Friday and it’s great!

ALIA Internet survey results

ALIA recently released the results of their Internet Filtering in Public Libraries 2007 survey.

For a quick overview, you can also see what was blogged about it on Libraries Interact.

I think that the survey results, observations and conclusions pretty much pan out with our view on why we don't go with web filtering, so reading it might be helpful for when you're asked why we don't have filtering (which happens occasionally).

Glenn

On line databases for 2007-2008

Don't be alarmed! We still will have lots of quality databases to use for reference.

Our final choices for Gulliver and BRUCE databases for 2007-2008 are follows:

Gulliver
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Gale Health and Wellness
Gael Science
Infotrac Onefile (lotsa Aussie content)
Infotrac Masterfile
EBSCO ANZ Reference Centre (newspaper articles, journal & magazine articles and images)
Global Books in Print

BRUCE
Gale Biography Resource Centre
Price-It!
Opposing Viewpoints

Glenda

BRUCE selections

Thanks to those who voted in the BRUCE poll and left comments.

As of July, these are going to be our BRUCE resources:
Gale Biography Resource Centre
Opposing Viewpoints - NEW!
Price-it - NEW!

As they have are poor performers, we will not be continuing with:
AutoRepair Centre
Grove Art Online
Proquest
What Do I Read Next?

Glenn

Zamzar

When you've got a customer with a file type (like something from Windows 2007) that our PCs don't support, help is now at hand.

.

With Zamzar, you can change file types online, for free and in less than a minute. All you need is this link - www.zamzar.com/url - and an email address and your PC using customer will be forever grateful.

.

Give it a burl!

Glenn

BRUCE poll

The poll (maybe the 1st of an irregular several) is about the BRUCE databases. I forget what BRUCE stands for, but basically it's about picking up online resources that aren't in the Gulliver Core. We already have some of those listed in the poll, but do we want to keep them?

We have to make our final decision by the 8th June. There's only so much money for these, so we can probably pick only 3 from this list. So, have a think about what might or might not be useful and vote for the things that we need or would be really, really useful.

Leave a comment to back up any votes if you like.

We'll take a look at the results before we make our final decision.

Glenn

The big chess set questions

Hi all,

I notice that the big chess board has found a rather neat little hidey-hole in at Info, that space where the feather duster sits just above the drawer with the 'Financial Reviews. Brilliant!

But what about the wooden box with the chess set that goes out with it? It doesn't fit in the same space as the board (it's too tall). The mushroom cabinet doesn't seem right. The bench top is a bit untidy and open. How about the shelf under the scrap paper? It's neat and out of the way, yet accessible to us and just below the blue sign out-sign in clipboard.

Glenn

A book on online bookings

Sam's placed a book at Info for comments, suggestions and observations about the new online bookings system. Please use.

It's in the vertical file at Info under the label Computer Booking System Feedback Book.

Also, stay upto date with this topic in the Blogalogue.

Glenn

Library Link Victoria

I've placed a link to Library Link Victoria (LLV) in the Library Focus links on the front page of the Library's website and in the Favorites menu at Fra Info.

Library Link Victoria is an online federated search portal for Victorian libraries, including public and university library catalogues. It's not a snap shot like Libraries Australia, but a live catalogue search system.

Not all Victorian public libraries are currently live on the LLV. The Frankston Library Service will probably go live in July.

Once we are up and running with it, our members will be able to place reserves and ILLs directly through LLV. The same goes for the members of any other participating library.

Now is probably a good time to get ahead of our customers and have a play with it. We should also think about how we are going to use it, especially with regards to searching and ILL policy.

Glenn