LibraryNation

Check out these websites for use in your youth department!

Juvenile Series and Sequels from Mid-Continent Public Library in Missouri
http://www.mcpl.lib.mo.us/readers/series/juv/
Search for YA, J and J Easy series lists by title, author, book and series name.

Author Name Pronunciation Guide from TeachingBooks
http://www.teachingbooks.net/pronunciations.cgi
“A collection of brief recordings of authors & illustrators saying their names.”
Ever hesitate when you have had to say “Scieszka?”  Check out the author introducing himself and fear this name no more!

Nature Detective’s Autumn Leaves
http://www.naturedetectives.org.uk/autumn/
Fact sheets, hunt sheets, art/craft sheets, games and coloring sheets just in time for fall.

A week ago I had the privelege of starting my new job as the Kids’ Library Manager at the Plano Community Library District in Plano, IL.  My new library home has an awesome staff, much community support and fantastic facilities!

It feels great to be back in youth services.  My favorite patron query from last week came from a little boy who ran over to the kids’ desk to ask “Which is right?” as he held both hands out in front of him.  He had been playing a computer game and another kid had told him that he needed to “go right.”  I pointed out that he could remember which was his right hand by thinking about which hand he moved the mouse with.  He then remembered that he used that hand to write with a pencil, too.  When he realized that he could use that knowledge to figure out directions by himself in the future, he was pretty happy.  Nothing beats customer satisfaction!

I have been taking lots of pictures to show family and friends who have not visited the library yet; check out a few below.

This is the Go, Go Gadgets working document.

It is a pdf document and contains information that we were not able to cover at the actual presentation.  If you have questions, you can contact Irene via e-mail at:  irene<AT>librarynation.com OR Jim via e-mail at:jim.didonato<AT>msn.com

Information about the Lacrosse battery charger that Jim talked about can be found here on the Amazon website!

There’s another new gadget in town–the Peek, which is being touted as an essential for anyone BUT “hard-core techies!”  The Peek’s only task is e-mail.  For the price of the device–$99–and a monthly fee–$19.95–you will be able to receive, check and send e-mails from MOST popular e-mail accounts.  No Wi-Fi needed as it works off of a cellular data connection.

Learn more about the Peek on their website.

Read a review of the Peek and its service written by David Pogue on the New York Times site.

Currently the Peek is available from the company’s website and at Target stores.

Will be at MLS in Burr Ridge doing a workshop.  This document is for the presentation; it talks about technology training for Public Services library staff.

Below is the link to the full Technology Training Tune-up document:

Original Technology Tune-up document

I had talked in a previous post about how to crop your photos so that you can focus in on what is important in each image to give it more impact.  Another essential editing task is to make sure that your pictures are small enough for “comfortable” screen viewing.  Taking the time to re-size your photos makes them easier to view and a better size to print out for your audience.

I will illustrate this with a highly stylish photograph of my first ripe grape tomato of the summer.  Each is presented below as a thumbnail (smaller picture that is like a preview for the viewers).  Clicking on each one will show you the actual photo size.  Which one do you find more pleasing–and easier–to view on screen?

Note:  The following example images are jpg files that are standard web quality at 72 pixels per inch.  Each photo was slightly lightened and sharpened and made into a 150 x 150 pixel thumbnail.

Above is the original photo file:  it is 807 KB.  The actual size is 2048 pixels wide by 1536 pixels high OR 28.4 inches wide by 21.3 inches high–quite a large picture.

Above is the cropped and re-sized photo file:  it is 29.5 KB.  The actual size is 534 pixels wide by 328 pixels high OR 7.4 inches wide by 4.5 inches high–roughly a 5 x 7 picture.  Please note that besides being cropped, the photo has been given a drop shadow frame (via a Photoshop action).

I hope that you will agree that the second photo takes up a lot less of your computer screen and it is a much better size to print out.  There is no hard and fast rule about what size to use, but I usually try to make the longest edge not more than 600 pixels when I am working with 72 pixel per inch photos.  Play around with some different sizes to see what works best for your particular site.

Re-sizing your photos makes them more accessible to your patrons and makes your web pages or blog load faster, too!

All three of these apps are:  online, free and simple.  Try them out and see which one will work for you!

Next/Tasks:  http://movetonext.com/

Sign-up only with an e-mail and a password.  It does the job and your list is saved when you log out.  You can retrieve the list at another time and/or at another machine.

Now Do This:  http://nowdothis.com/

Very simple–just type in your tasks and hit save.  You can then see your tasks one at a time or in list view.  If you want to ammend your list, just hit edit and type your new tasks in the box.  No registration, so you cannot save between machines.

What Shall I Do Now:  http://www.whatshallidonow.net

This was my favorite app of the three.  You don’t have to register but if you do you can do things such as e-mailing tasks to your list and, of course, retrieving your list from a different machine.  Below is a screenshot of the interface showing my full list of (not very glamorous) tasks:

Please click on image for full size view.

This just could be one of those online novelties, but some might find this quite handy.

Go to Write Rhymes and then…

“As you type, hold the alt key and click on a word to find a rhyme for it…”

It couldn’t be simpler than that–happy rhyming!