Task #18

Here are some Gandhi quotes that I found. Enjoy.
tinyurl.com/yjbojus


I'm really impressed by Tiny URL. What a great shortcut, and I think it's good that they have the preview link option, just in case the recipient is suspicious of the links credibility.

With Zamzar I tried my hand at converting a youtube video into an mpg file. It worked just fine. Actually, the most difficult part of the conversion was finding the video after I downloaded it...But the search was successful, so here is "Soul Meets Body" by Death Cab for Cutie:

Task #17

The first site I checked out was ResourceShelf. I browsed the latest newsletter and then read these articles: one about the U.S. Government Printing Office recently printing the Federal register on 100% recycled paper, one about the UK public libraries witnessing a spike in their check outs once they started offering ebooks, and one that described the new Microsoft Research database. I think the newsletters could be very helpful resource to keep up on the latest library and research information.

I also checked out a site called Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki. The premise of the wiki is that libraries from all over can share programs and practices that they find particularly successful. The hope of the wiki-creators is that it can be a one-stop link, a collection of innovative practices. I looked at the Youth Services link and the Display page. There weren't many entries, but I think this could be a good resource as more libraries use it. It seems fairly new.

Task #16

I downloaded OpenOffice to my staff computer. The layouts seem very similar to Microsoft Office, which is good because it follows the standards that most of us are used to. I'm not sure I see myself employing it much though; I mean if I didn't already have Microsoft, then I definitely would. However, if there is something that I'm trying to create on a Microsoft program and I just can't quite make it work, I'll check out OpenOffice and see if one of its programs will do the trick.

I'm really impressed that OpenOffice is totally free and available to everyone. I'll spread the word to patrons who mention that they don't have the Microsoft package. (I wish I had known about it a few years ago when I bought my laptop and Microsoft Office. I could have saved myself some dough.)

Task #15

I was able to upload the software for Clipmarked, but when I made clips and tried to post it onto my blog, I couldn't find them. I tried twice, with no trace of my efforts. Carol and Marian said they ran into the same difficulties, which makes me relieved that the problems weren't just with me. I guess I'll stay posted and see if anyone else is able to get their clippings to work.

Task #14

I downloaded the NetLibrary media center to my staff computer. I decided to explore all the children's literature and was surprised to see how limited NetLibrary's selection is, especially the classics. I chose to download Peter Pan, thinking that it would be fun to listen to on my breaks. The downloading went fine. I wanted to burn Peter Pan onto a CD because of the limited space on my MP3 player, but found out on the troubleshooting page that NetLibrary doesn't allow you to burn an audiobook onto a CD. Bummer.