Posts
Continuing in my efforts to destroy the concept of downloadable audiobooks, I downloaded a couple more to see if they were any easier to handle with the media player, as opposed to the mp3 player.
sigh.
I tried the radio (quickie) download first, and the quality was really awful, like listening to a reader underwater. I hadn't noticed it so much with the first book I downloaded, but I might not have been expecting much (and it was a J book). You can use the >> (fast forward) button, but it only goes faster and did not jump to the next cut. Hmm. I wondered then if it would be any better on the cd quality download, which would take longer.
Mind you, I'm working with children's books (or adult quickie fare such as the Hamish Macbeth mysteries) that should go pretty fast. The computer claimed it was taking 5 minutes to download the book. I went out to give LeVerne a break but she said she didn't need one. Then I tried to help her put books away but she shooed me off.
I tried this new higher-quality audio and ... yes, it does sound better. It sounds great, if I must say so. However, it only fast forwards, does not skip. Someone could be in for a long wait, ff'ing to where they left off. So, it's not the mp3 player, or not only the mp3 player making things awkward.
A regular book on cd will play on media player and has nicely spaced cuts to skip to. You press >> and it goes to the next one. You press << once and it goes back to the beginning of the current cut, twice and to the previous cut. Much better than holding the << down for ages.
I fear our patrons will have to be warned that NetLibrary isn't the answer to their prayers, unless they are able to sit there for an entire book. I was toying with the idea of burning it to a cd, but the cd module is off somewhere else and I don't know if (a) it's a burner or (2) if the wma file been thingied to prevent burning to cd. Just trying to think like a patron.
I've attached a url to a page describing devices that do not meet requirements. Patrons will have to refer to that. However, after using media player, I don't think it's the mp3 that's the problem. Ahem.
Friday, December 29, 2006
bookmarklets
Bookmarklets: they're just something else thought up by codemonkeys to drive us crazy. Little bits of code, lurking for some purpose that I haven't found a need for yet ... bleagh.
Okay, I went to Wikipedia ages ago and tried one, but somehow either screwed it up, or didn't understand what I was doing. I have since gone back and tried again. Now, on the CR workroom computer I have a bookmarklet that will look up a word for me in W. either by my highlighting it or by giving me a prompt box tp type it into. Phew! Now, how that's so much shorter than just having a bookmark (excuse me, "Favorite" for Wikipedia) is beyond me. They had me put it under the "Links" folder in Favorites which means I have to click on that and then on my bookmarklet. If I had Wikipedia itself on Favorites, I'd be there in one click.
Of course, then I would have to type in the word ... how long will that take? Oh, soooo useful. I think I'll go use it for a while and see if I get excited. I really need the knowledge of how to make my own ... after I get the inspiration for an idea of what I'd like a bookmarklet to do.
Maybe there's a bookmarklet that will suddenly make the page look like I'm working.
Okay, I went to Wikipedia ages ago and tried one, but somehow either screwed it up, or didn't understand what I was doing. I have since gone back and tried again. Now, on the CR workroom computer I have a bookmarklet that will look up a word for me in W. either by my highlighting it or by giving me a prompt box tp type it into. Phew! Now, how that's so much shorter than just having a bookmark (excuse me, "Favorite" for Wikipedia) is beyond me. They had me put it under the "Links" folder in Favorites which means I have to click on that and then on my bookmarklet. If I had Wikipedia itself on Favorites, I'd be there in one click.
Of course, then I would have to type in the word ... how long will that take? Oh, soooo useful. I think I'll go use it for a while and see if I get excited. I really need the knowledge of how to make my own ... after I get the inspiration for an idea of what I'd like a bookmarklet to do.
Maybe there's a bookmarklet that will suddenly make the page look like I'm working.
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Hmmmmmm
Well, that was annoying. Netlibrary said dial up would take almost 6 hours and cable was 11 minutes. It took over 40 minutes to download to the computer. Then it took 30 seconds to transfer it to the mp3 player.
Now, I don't know if it's the mp3 player or the audiobook itself, but there are only two settings: play and pause. If you stop it for any reason, you have to go back to the beginning and start over.
This is not the way they work on cd! On a cd player, you will have sections you can forward or reverse to. And the one in my car remembers where you were when you turned the car off. That can be pretty annoying. It was happening with the children's book I did earlier, but that was so short it didn't really need such a feature. Oh, a full-length book does.
It is therefore my considered opinion that you should not bother to try to listen to an audiobook on an mp3 player. I know people who do this, however, strange people. It always boils down to this: there just ain't anything like a book.
Now, I don't know if it's the mp3 player or the audiobook itself, but there are only two settings: play and pause. If you stop it for any reason, you have to go back to the beginning and start over.
This is not the way they work on cd! On a cd player, you will have sections you can forward or reverse to. And the one in my car remembers where you were when you turned the car off. That can be pretty annoying. It was happening with the children's book I did earlier, but that was so short it didn't really need such a feature. Oh, a full-length book does.
It is therefore my considered opinion that you should not bother to try to listen to an audiobook on an mp3 player. I know people who do this, however, strange people. It always boils down to this: there just ain't anything like a book.
More Audio-Biz
This really is sloggin' along to the end. I recommend everyone take a peak at eDonkey. I think everyone should get the threatening note left at that site. It is no longer in "bidness" and our isp address is now logged as having visited and various yowlings about illegal downloads, etc., etc. iTunes and LimeRickey, or whatever it is, require downloading more programming and although these new computers have like, what, 90 gigs or something ridiculous, I still worry about adding to the mix like that. So, I'm doing this on the one in the back (while Mozilla is on the CR desk computer - I still like Mozilla and am tempted to download it at home).
I downloaded iTunes and it took the 90gig version of forever. Do-dee-do-dee-do. It wants to organize my music, allow me to upload from a cd, and transfer it to an mp3. I just think it wants to do too much. Maybe later, you know? We have a book on the iPod which I was perusing a while back, and it was written in a, like, totally rad style, like, it was your best friend, y'know, talkin' to you? Except, of course, my friends don't speak gibberish. Anyway, I gave up on iTunes and went to visit my friend, John Coulton (see previous post somewhere down there), because he has some free songs to listen to. I can't recommend this guy strongly enough. He says he might be available for weddings, etc. It would be worth marrying again. I mean, you know, marrying Bob again.
I listened to "My Millionaire Girlfriend." But I think I'd rather put some audiobooks on the mp3. In fact, I think I'll toodle off and just do that.
I downloaded iTunes and it took the 90gig version of forever. Do-dee-do-dee-do. It wants to organize my music, allow me to upload from a cd, and transfer it to an mp3. I just think it wants to do too much. Maybe later, you know? We have a book on the iPod which I was perusing a while back, and it was written in a, like, totally rad style, like, it was your best friend, y'know, talkin' to you? Except, of course, my friends don't speak gibberish. Anyway, I gave up on iTunes and went to visit my friend, John Coulton (see previous post somewhere down there), because he has some free songs to listen to. I can't recommend this guy strongly enough. He says he might be available for weddings, etc. It would be worth marrying again. I mean, you know, marrying Bob again.
I listened to "My Millionaire Girlfriend." But I think I'd rather put some audiobooks on the mp3. In fact, I think I'll toodle off and just do that.
Phew! I did it!
This mp3 was heck. Why, it has taken almost a half an hour to figure out how to use it, download an audiobook from our collection, and get it playing. Okay, maybe that doesn't seem like that long a time to go from soup to nuts ... but it doesn't take into account the general frustration.
Sooooo, here are some hints for those who come after me. Read the page on NetLibrary before starting. That would have simplified the process for me.
Okay, you have your mp3 player. So, you hook it up to the USB port. It was on. I think. I had to find something to listen to, and I wanted something short to make sure I could download it. So I searched for "juvenile" on audiobook. Then I scrolled down until I found one that looked short.
Checking out is easy. You press a button and you're checked out. But, you have to click to actually download it and you need to remember to save it somewhere you can find it again. Before you can move it to the mp3 player you have to open it in your media player. This is what gives the license, the permission to send it to the mp3 player. It won't let you otherwise, no matter how much you yell at the computer.
So this is the drill:
1. check out
2. download/save where you can find it
3. open it in the media player (and then stop it from playing)
4. move it to the mp3 player.
Sooooo, here are some hints for those who come after me. Read the page on NetLibrary before starting. That would have simplified the process for me.
Okay, you have your mp3 player. So, you hook it up to the USB port. It was on. I think. I had to find something to listen to, and I wanted something short to make sure I could download it. So I searched for "juvenile" on audiobook. Then I scrolled down until I found one that looked short.
Checking out is easy. You press a button and you're checked out. But, you have to click to actually download it and you need to remember to save it somewhere you can find it again. Before you can move it to the mp3 player you have to open it in your media player. This is what gives the license, the permission to send it to the mp3 player. It won't let you otherwise, no matter how much you yell at the computer.
So this is the drill:
1. check out
2. download/save where you can find it
3. open it in the media player (and then stop it from playing)
4. move it to the mp3 player.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Windows Messenger
I'd been looking at that little thing that pops up every now and then in the lower right hand corner of the screen in the CR and tells me when the Greenwood Reference Dept. had logged on. It's instant messaging. So, Pam and I have been IM'ing each other this morning (as it is realllllllly slow). But I can see actually using it instead of the phone to let each other know when a "question" is headed their way. "Word processor open? Sending someone over." "Sending over a reference question on lemurs - not enough info here." That sort of thing. Or, "I brought in cookies," which is what I actually sent.
Who else has this? GRD is the only thing I've ever seen logging on. I remember reading about IM'ing in Bridget Jones's Diary, which means it's been around for ages, at least internally. I don't use it on the internet at home. Does anyone do that? I mean, if I want to talk to someone in real time, I'll talk to them. I'll get the cordless phone and wander around the house, getting a snack, etc.
Does anyone here do the internet phone? They use the internet video-phone at Piedmont Tec, but other than that I don't know anyone who has it.
Who else has this? GRD is the only thing I've ever seen logging on. I remember reading about IM'ing in Bridget Jones's Diary, which means it's been around for ages, at least internally. I don't use it on the internet at home. Does anyone do that? I mean, if I want to talk to someone in real time, I'll talk to them. I'll get the cordless phone and wander around the house, getting a snack, etc.
Does anyone here do the internet phone? They use the internet video-phone at Piedmont Tec, but other than that I don't know anyone who has it.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Friday, December 15, 2006
Kill Two Birds ...
Well, I don't know who has the mp3 player at the moment, but I can download and listen to an audiobook on the computer here. Well, I thought I could, anyway.
The hardest part is finding a book I'd want to download. Not sure why. I get all picky about something I'm only going to listen to for a few minutes, then shut down and try to find again! So I picked The sign of four by Conan-Doyle (must be jonesin' for that seven percent solution) and ... oh, hell, I don't know what I'm doing. I didn't really want to have it floating around on the harddrive, even though we've got about a 90+GB memory. (Remember when people wondered what they would do with 70KB? Me neither. Anyway ...) So I tried to just check it out ... which I supposed was streaming. Nothing happened, although the screen said it was now checked out to me. Hmmm. So I went up a notch and clicked on the radio quality (I checked on the FAQ to see what the difference was, other than a fraction of the downloading time and it turns out that you need CD quality if you want to download it further onto a listening device. Fine. I haven't got the listening device in front of me, so this is just right for me).
Apparently, I then chose the wrong option on the pop-up menu. I went for "open" and I should have picked "saved." Because now The sign of four is lost to me forever. I had intended to stop it and see what it was like to start up again. I think there is a four-letter answer to that.
What happened was that Media Player became suddenly insistant that I upgrade. I wasted about 10 minutes on this (well, maybe it was shorter than that) and then was, of course, unable to find the audiobook again.
sigh.
Back to square one. I logged on again and chose a different book (a shorter one - children's book) and clicked on radio quality again. I chose "save" this time and was able to put it somewhere that I would find it again. In fact, I can go right into Media Player and do a search on the words in the title and it comes up. And it started playing again while I was looking for it. Cheeky thing.
So, here's my recommendation: choose "save" and put it where you can find it again.
There's a fastforward function for zippying ahead, but I haven't found that it will skip to the next "cut," as most audiobooks on cd do. Maybe the book is too small.
The hardest part is finding a book I'd want to download. Not sure why. I get all picky about something I'm only going to listen to for a few minutes, then shut down and try to find again! So I picked The sign of four by Conan-Doyle (must be jonesin' for that seven percent solution) and ... oh, hell, I don't know what I'm doing. I didn't really want to have it floating around on the harddrive, even though we've got about a 90+GB memory. (Remember when people wondered what they would do with 70KB? Me neither. Anyway ...) So I tried to just check it out ... which I supposed was streaming. Nothing happened, although the screen said it was now checked out to me. Hmmm. So I went up a notch and clicked on the radio quality (I checked on the FAQ to see what the difference was, other than a fraction of the downloading time and it turns out that you need CD quality if you want to download it further onto a listening device. Fine. I haven't got the listening device in front of me, so this is just right for me).
Apparently, I then chose the wrong option on the pop-up menu. I went for "open" and I should have picked "saved." Because now The sign of four is lost to me forever. I had intended to stop it and see what it was like to start up again. I think there is a four-letter answer to that.
What happened was that Media Player became suddenly insistant that I upgrade. I wasted about 10 minutes on this (well, maybe it was shorter than that) and then was, of course, unable to find the audiobook again.
sigh.
Back to square one. I logged on again and chose a different book (a shorter one - children's book) and clicked on radio quality again. I chose "save" this time and was able to put it somewhere that I would find it again. In fact, I can go right into Media Player and do a search on the words in the title and it comes up. And it started playing again while I was looking for it. Cheeky thing.
So, here's my recommendation: choose "save" and put it where you can find it again.
There's a fastforward function for zippying ahead, but I haven't found that it will skip to the next "cut," as most audiobooks on cd do. Maybe the book is too small.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Sloggin' to the finish line
Pant, pant, pant! I only have a little bit to go! Well, it seems like more than a little bit, and I can't do much where I am (and without the mp3 player), but I can look at another library's website. I chose Anderson County, out of the blue, but it seemed reasonable because I had been there and perhaps could match up what I know about the library with the website. I might try a totally unknown library later.
Ahem. Okay, ours is prettier. I like the greens and the orderliness of it, but the attractiveness of our main page isn't all about my sensibilities, is it?
Their page is white, with two, count'em, two moving marquees (going over holiday closings and hours). I hate that. My old eyes get distracted by these things. That's what makes those news channels sooooo annoying. What do you do? Listen to them or read the spate of news orts that waves relentlessly at the bottom of the screen?
Also, while our main page is our catalog/search page, theirs is used mostly for advertising/highlighting their programming, such as their live homework help (which we also have), the Foundation Center (a collection of materials/websites for grant writing), their expansion program (with a link to pictures - now, there's an idea for us later!), audiobook downloads (where will our info be when we're ready?), and something called Heritage Quest ... which I discovered we have as well. That must have been discussed at a meeting on a day I overslept. Or else it just fell out the other ear.
Here's something interesting, they put a button with a link to information about their Friends. There's a whole page about what the Friends do and how to become one ($5 and up). They also list their periodicals. Nice feature. They still have the Gates configurations on the Children's Room computers, or else they've forgotten to take that info down. When was the last time we checked all our info to make sure it was up to date?
The CR at Anderson has an after school program called "Library Bookworms" to enhance reading skills, or put even more pressure on kids. It doesn't really explain what is involved. I might be interested in that - when we have more room at the library.
I don't see a blog, but they have a site map where all the pages are visible (which is handy when you are doing what I am, which is investigating the site itself).
I think we have a very good site. The difference seems to be that we let patrons attack the catalog right off and they use their main page for advertising their features/programming. I think our website is restrained and dignified, while theirs is a bit busier. I don't think I would want our site to be so busy, but we have so much available to the public (besides books) that they might not know about. Perhaps we could highlight a feature a month on the main page.
Oh, look! There's an "Employment" button! Hey! They have a job opening for a branch manager! Oh, never mind. Only $22,000/yr. Not worth the hassle.
Ahem. Okay, ours is prettier. I like the greens and the orderliness of it, but the attractiveness of our main page isn't all about my sensibilities, is it?
Their page is white, with two, count'em, two moving marquees (going over holiday closings and hours). I hate that. My old eyes get distracted by these things. That's what makes those news channels sooooo annoying. What do you do? Listen to them or read the spate of news orts that waves relentlessly at the bottom of the screen?
Also, while our main page is our catalog/search page, theirs is used mostly for advertising/highlighting their programming, such as their live homework help (which we also have), the Foundation Center (a collection of materials/websites for grant writing), their expansion program (with a link to pictures - now, there's an idea for us later!), audiobook downloads (where will our info be when we're ready?), and something called Heritage Quest ... which I discovered we have as well. That must have been discussed at a meeting on a day I overslept. Or else it just fell out the other ear.
Here's something interesting, they put a button with a link to information about their Friends. There's a whole page about what the Friends do and how to become one ($5 and up). They also list their periodicals. Nice feature. They still have the Gates configurations on the Children's Room computers, or else they've forgotten to take that info down. When was the last time we checked all our info to make sure it was up to date?
The CR at Anderson has an after school program called "Library Bookworms" to enhance reading skills, or put even more pressure on kids. It doesn't really explain what is involved. I might be interested in that - when we have more room at the library.
I don't see a blog, but they have a site map where all the pages are visible (which is handy when you are doing what I am, which is investigating the site itself).
I think we have a very good site. The difference seems to be that we let patrons attack the catalog right off and they use their main page for advertising their features/programming. I think our website is restrained and dignified, while theirs is a bit busier. I don't think I would want our site to be so busy, but we have so much available to the public (besides books) that they might not know about. Perhaps we could highlight a feature a month on the main page.
Oh, look! There's an "Employment" button! Hey! They have a job opening for a branch manager! Oh, never mind. Only $22,000/yr. Not worth the hassle.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
shelfmonkeys
I've decided that the reason I'm so stressed out is because I'm not cartooning. It got me through the 20,000,000 document review at the law firm! (Click on cartoon to see it larger.)
Thanks to Nicole for the idea.
Okay, this isn't on the List: BookMooch!
After fiddling about on LibraryThing for a while, I learned about a site called BookMooch, which enables people to get rid ... uhhh ... share books from their collections that they're tired of. I haven't loaded all my books onto LibraryThing yet (it takes a while, but it's the journey, you know), but looking at the ones I put up, I couldn't imagine which ones anyone would want to mooch.
I went to the site, though and looked it over. You can't just exchange books willy-nilly. You need to create a list (which is easy to do from LibraryThing, they said). For each book you list for possible mooching, you get 1/10 of a point. You earn a full point for sending someone a book. You "spend" a point getting a book from someone else. On top of that, you need to send out at least one book for every five you receive, no matter how many points you've got.
Extra points are involved in international mooching, but you can opt out of that.
As I said, my biggest worry was not having books anyone wanted to mooch. Also, they get annoyed if you list books to mooch and then renege.
Whilst doing my LT fiddling one evening, I noticed that there was a function that connected LT and BM (sorry). I enabled it and, presto!, I could see what books were being sought by moochers. They were books in my collection! And all I had to do was click and it would be added to the moochlist on my account (which I had set up the week before but had not done anything with). I would not have to bear the rejection of my books!
I added eight books I could part with (mostly from book group reading). Monday I sent off two of them. I still had to face some rejection when one of my books wasn't pretty enough for a gift. (Some cheek to "gift" a used book!) I had two more last night.
Now my only problem is finding a book I would like to mooch. I can't think of anything off hand. I'll have to read more postings on LT, where I now get most of my book suggestions. Fortunately, we've had many of these books in the library. I'm reading A song for Nero at the moment, on an LT recommendation. It was something I would never have picked up otherwise. Perhaps we need a book-buzz thread on our website to let the patrons make their own recommendations. I bet kids/YAs would enjoy that.
I went to the site, though and looked it over. You can't just exchange books willy-nilly. You need to create a list (which is easy to do from LibraryThing, they said). For each book you list for possible mooching, you get 1/10 of a point. You earn a full point for sending someone a book. You "spend" a point getting a book from someone else. On top of that, you need to send out at least one book for every five you receive, no matter how many points you've got.
Extra points are involved in international mooching, but you can opt out of that.
As I said, my biggest worry was not having books anyone wanted to mooch. Also, they get annoyed if you list books to mooch and then renege.
Whilst doing my LT fiddling one evening, I noticed that there was a function that connected LT and BM (sorry). I enabled it and, presto!, I could see what books were being sought by moochers. They were books in my collection! And all I had to do was click and it would be added to the moochlist on my account (which I had set up the week before but had not done anything with). I would not have to bear the rejection of my books!
I added eight books I could part with (mostly from book group reading). Monday I sent off two of them. I still had to face some rejection when one of my books wasn't pretty enough for a gift. (Some cheek to "gift" a used book!) I had two more last night.
Now my only problem is finding a book I would like to mooch. I can't think of anything off hand. I'll have to read more postings on LT, where I now get most of my book suggestions. Fortunately, we've had many of these books in the library. I'm reading A song for Nero at the moment, on an LT recommendation. It was something I would never have picked up otherwise. Perhaps we need a book-buzz thread on our website to let the patrons make their own recommendations. I bet kids/YAs would enjoy that.
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Podscope/ShelfMonkey
I looked briefly at podscope.com today. Man, I don't even know where to start with that! I was totally unprepared to play with it. It would never occur to me to make podcasts searchable! (Hmm, Mozilla no like "searchable.") I subscribe to two podcasts. It seems to search individual podcasts (their notes anyway). I might like to find other podcasts (I can't spell podcast without starting with "pos-") on topics that interested me. Right now I'm just subscribing to podcasts by people I know and like. I suppose I could do that with this.
By the way, if you haven't heard John Coulton's songs, "Code Monkey" and the one about the zombies, I have attached a link to the NPR site. He does a cover of "Baby Got Back," as a ballad, which is an hysterical concept, but I don't need to listen to the whole thing again. From the NPR site there is a link to YouTube where people have posted videos they've made to "Code Monkey." The one that looks like a girl in her dorm room is the best. I know you can probably fit "The Matrix" and "A Clockwork Orange" to any song if you edit it well, so I'm not that impressed. The one with the nerdy guy is endearing and he should be able to get his leg over (is that one word?) on the strength of it, but I still go for the first one which claims to be a dance, but is more a mime.
God, I love NPR. I'd be totally out of the loop otherwise.
By the way, if you haven't heard John Coulton's songs, "Code Monkey" and the one about the zombies, I have attached a link to the NPR site. He does a cover of "Baby Got Back," as a ballad, which is an hysterical concept, but I don't need to listen to the whole thing again. From the NPR site there is a link to YouTube where people have posted videos they've made to "Code Monkey." The one that looks like a girl in her dorm room is the best. I know you can probably fit "The Matrix" and "A Clockwork Orange" to any song if you edit it well, so I'm not that impressed. The one with the nerdy guy is endearing and he should be able to get his leg over (is that one word?) on the strength of it, but I still go for the first one which claims to be a dance, but is more a mime.
God, I love NPR. I'd be totally out of the loop otherwise.
Friday, December 01, 2006
New On-Line Thingies
I haven't been this excited since they introduced e-mail. Kidding. I am looking forward to the audio-books, though. Reading off a computer screen makes my head ache after a while, so while I'm not that interested in doing it, I did look at ... okay ... all the titles (less than 800). I also looked at the audiobook titles as well (a mere 1,700-ish) and am fairly rubbing my mitts together and wondering when I will find the time to listen to some of these. (Plus I can learn some language called "Twi"! I have no idea what it is, but I want it.)
Something that I found annoying was the bit under "details." Some details have reviews (reasonably helpful), and some have this ... other thing. It's described thusly:
"Short summary of the eContent item on the Details page. The summary is selected by the search engine and represents the main concepts of the eContent item. If coming from a search, summaries relate to the search query display. If coming from your affiliated library's online catalog, summaries represent the main concepts of the entire item." The end result is that it makes no sense at all.
Here's an example:
"Mike has such a friendly, easy style that makes this topic seem not so threatening. —Barbara Spade, Parent, International VP of Community Relations, Parents Without Partners, Inc. But go easy on this. You’re trying to build your kid up, not tear her down. Because you’ve got to be there to keep your kid on track, this would be a good time to do a little decluttering of your own! Not-cluttering is more conceptual." And this was one of the more coherent ones I read.
So, if we have a choice, I'd go for the review. We may not have a choice, though.
All in all, it's pretty exciting. It would be nice if we could have those books that every kid has to read over the summer, such as Roll of thunder, hear my cry. We have Frankenstein in both e-audio and ebook and I can see telling kids, "Oh, if you have a computer at home, you can download that in print or audio format from our website!"
Something that I found annoying was the bit under "details." Some details have reviews (reasonably helpful), and some have this ... other thing. It's described thusly:
"Short summary of the eContent item on the Details page. The summary is selected by the search engine and represents the main concepts of the eContent item. If coming from a search, summaries relate to the search query display. If coming from your affiliated library's online catalog, summaries represent the main concepts of the entire item." The end result is that it makes no sense at all.
Here's an example:
"Mike has such a friendly, easy style that makes this topic seem not so threatening. —Barbara Spade, Parent, International VP of Community Relations, Parents Without Partners, Inc. But go easy on this. You’re trying to build your kid up, not tear her down. Because you’ve got to be there to keep your kid on track, this would be a good time to do a little decluttering of your own! Not-cluttering is more conceptual." And this was one of the more coherent ones I read.
So, if we have a choice, I'd go for the review. We may not have a choice, though.
All in all, it's pretty exciting. It would be nice if we could have those books that every kid has to read over the summer, such as Roll of thunder, hear my cry. We have Frankenstein in both e-audio and ebook and I can see telling kids, "Oh, if you have a computer at home, you can download that in print or audio format from our website!"
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
What's this about Library 2.0?
Gentle readers,
I was checking my feeds on Bloglines this morning when I saw that there was a post on LibraryThing (oh what a tangled web we weave ...) about someone nominating the article on "Library 2.0" to be deleted from Wikipedia. That's the crazy thing about Wikipedia, you can write a whole article on something and someone will turn around and think it's not worth the space. It was being discussed on the Librarians Who LibraryThing discussion board, although not terribly much. I was interested because 1. This is what this whole staff development project is about and b. I'd never seen a deletion in action.
You can see it for yourself. (Click on the post title.) It was an overwhelming vote to keep the article, even backed by people who hate the "YaddaYaddah 2.o" terms.
While I was about it, I looked up Library 2.0 on Wikipedia (actually, I did that first in case they were planning on deleting it) and read the article, which helped solidify what the buzz is about in my mind. (You know, you can go to these conference things and get all excited about something and then later when Real Life kicks in and then you start wondering what all the fuss was about.) I also tried reading some of the links in the article, but my eyes glazed over and I started thinking, "Oh, reading the shelves sounds like fun!"
I was checking my feeds on Bloglines this morning when I saw that there was a post on LibraryThing (oh what a tangled web we weave ...) about someone nominating the article on "Library 2.0" to be deleted from Wikipedia. That's the crazy thing about Wikipedia, you can write a whole article on something and someone will turn around and think it's not worth the space. It was being discussed on the Librarians Who LibraryThing discussion board, although not terribly much. I was interested because 1. This is what this whole staff development project is about and b. I'd never seen a deletion in action.
You can see it for yourself. (Click on the post title.) It was an overwhelming vote to keep the article, even backed by people who hate the "YaddaYaddah 2.o" terms.
While I was about it, I looked up Library 2.0 on Wikipedia (actually, I did that first in case they were planning on deleting it) and read the article, which helped solidify what the buzz is about in my mind. (You know, you can go to these conference things and get all excited about something and then later when Real Life kicks in and then you start wondering what all the fuss was about.) I also tried reading some of the links in the article, but my eyes glazed over and I started thinking, "Oh, reading the shelves sounds like fun!"
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
XML
Everyone probably already knows about my obsession with LibraryThing. I just love LibraryThing. Anyway, it's such a pain to keep checking those pesky postings on the groups and then it's so disappointing when no one writes anything. Soooo, I tried doing the RSS, which I have managed elsewhere. Unfortunately, I seem to be RRS*. Anyway, I then tried the XML button. Ooooo! Up came a prompt asking me which aggravator (or whatever it is) I wanted to use and I picked Bloglines from the list and hit subscribe. I think I had to do it on another page (which gave me too many options on how it should look in Bloglines, such as, do I want it to pop up on my mobile? Feh!), but then Presto! I now have a whole list of things to look at in one glance on Bloglines instead of a lot of little things to check. Which is just as well because no one yet has posted anything. (B******s!!!! Who do they think they are?! I need entertainment! New book recommendations! Where's my fix!?!?!)
And this just goes to show ... ? Well, it shows that the more you get involved on the internet (horrors!), the more you need to aggregate your ... poo.
*Really, really stupid
And this just goes to show ... ? Well, it shows that the more you get involved on the internet (horrors!), the more you need to aggregate your ... poo.
*Really, really stupid
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Whee! Marf Learns Something New!
Susan rose to my level this afternoon to show me how to update the calendar etc. on our website! OOooooOOoooo! How very exciting! I had, in fact, learned enough from the sort of stuff I've been doing so that it wasn't very scary. In fact, I barely took a page of notes. I was updating our schedule for the winter/spring and was able to use that info on the calendar and on our events page. I just added the new stuff, not taking away the old. I can do that in January! She showed me how to add little clip-arts and everything! Whee! I finally feel as if I have accomplished something on the computer! Something actually and directly useful to my job.
Ohhh, I know, this will all be useful eventually when our community gets into the swing of 2.0, but in the meantime I feel like a fossil floating around all these young people who seem to be out for only one thing! I don't think there's anyone close to my age on Facebook other than Robin.
And Bob now has more "friends" than I do on MySpace. Grr! (Shakes clenched fist in a threatening manner.) sigh.
I finally got a stream from "GWBH Morning Stories." Oh, I had a connection, but I've been waiting so long for a new story to come along. Luckily I now have these fabulous headphones back here! Stay tuned about "Morning Stories."
Something people seem to be missing is that we should be commenting on each other's blogs. They need to get good and messy with comments and replies, etc. I know you all (well, not all - you know who you are) are reading these because you tell me when you see me. Well, send a note! I've tried to drop some comments on some posts. We gotta getta dialog, goin' here, people!
Ohhh, I know, this will all be useful eventually when our community gets into the swing of 2.0, but in the meantime I feel like a fossil floating around all these young people who seem to be out for only one thing! I don't think there's anyone close to my age on Facebook other than Robin.
And Bob now has more "friends" than I do on MySpace. Grr! (Shakes clenched fist in a threatening manner.) sigh.
I finally got a stream from "GWBH Morning Stories." Oh, I had a connection, but I've been waiting so long for a new story to come along. Luckily I now have these fabulous headphones back here! Stay tuned about "Morning Stories."
Something people seem to be missing is that we should be commenting on each other's blogs. They need to get good and messy with comments and replies, etc. I know you all (well, not all - you know who you are) are reading these because you tell me when you see me. Well, send a note! I've tried to drop some comments on some posts. We gotta getta dialog, goin' here, people!
Sunday, November 19, 2006
I take it all back
Okay, some of it. I have said in a previous post that I wasn't able to put pictures into myMySpacespace blog. I can. I did it today. But it wasn't easy. I needed a url, so I had to upload a photo somewhere (MySpace, as it turns out), find the url, and then copy and paste it into the box. Blogger is soooo much easier. You click on the little landscape icon above the text box (Add image), and chose either url or browse. Phew! On MySpace you have to upload, it has to be the right (small) size or you have to save it in another format, then get the url ... it's madness.
This is so much easier. The photo, by the way, is a comparison to show what happens when you leave a container of gummi bears in a hot car for 11 hours. It's a Science Project!
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Mein Dolmakampf
Just to let you know how selfish I am, here I am trying to steal the last stuffed grape leaf from the bride, Despina. 
Thursday, November 16, 2006
You Know What's Nice ...
about MySpace blogging compared to Blogger? I know if someone has looked at my blog, my profile, my anything. If I post a blog and look ten minutes later on MySpace, it shows me that 13 people have viewed it. And I have no idea who they are!
The nice thing about Blogger, though, is that I can add a picture, any picture, to the blog, right in the blog. This is roomy and comfortable. Of course, I'm in Blogger Beta, by the way, so I have to log-in Google-wise. I'm not sure what the difference is other than posting is a one-step process, not a two. Okay, you have a Blogger blog and you're writing some drivel to prove that you know how to do this. You press the "post" button. Then there is a separate "publish" button to push as well. In Blogger Beta I have a "save as draft" and a "publish" button and that's it. No, "You will have to publish your blog, yaddah-yaddah," messages. I will press this little orange button down here and all will be done. MySpace, by the way, does not have a "draft" save function, which is annoying. I have material posted on here as a draft that you-all can't see. Nyah, nyah, nyah. Maybe I'll publish it, maybe I won't. It's just a rant anyway.
Firefox Is
... spellchecking my work in these text-boxes! I tried it in LibraryThing and got the same dotted red lines under questionable words, such as spellchecking and LibraryThing here. Nice built-in. Also, there are two tabs above so that I can toggle from one window to another (keeping the search screen for GCL available at all times), a feature that is more confusing on these new computers. You can have seven internet sites open at once and it's all the same button below with a number (7) next to it. Sorry, Mr. Gates, but that idea blows.
By the way, I discovered a couple of nights ago that Dan Savage has a podcast of his sex advice column ("Savage Love") available now. Of course, I don't listen to it here, but I just love his work. I recommend his book, The Commitment, to anyone who has questions about same-sex marriage. Even Savage resisted the idea. Watch Dan react when his adopted son tells him he wants to be gay when he grows up. Hoo hoo!
Oh, if you're interested in his podcast, find it yourself. But be prepared to hear the f-word a lot.
By the way, I discovered a couple of nights ago that Dan Savage has a podcast of his sex advice column ("Savage Love") available now. Of course, I don't listen to it here, but I just love his work. I recommend his book, The Commitment, to anyone who has questions about same-sex marriage. Even Savage resisted the idea. Watch Dan react when his adopted son tells him he wants to be gay when he grows up. Hoo hoo!
Oh, if you're interested in his podcast, find it yourself. But be prepared to hear the f-word a lot.
Firefox
I thought I'd lost my cursor, but it was there after all. Okay, I'm in Firefox now, but of course it isn't make any difference here in Blogger. At least, so long as I can find the cursor it isn't doing anything. Hmm, did Blogger have spellcheck before? I seem to have a spellcheck now. I haven't thingied ... um, posted in a while (over 5 minutes, which seems to be my memory limit now) so I'm not sure. Anyway, Firefox/Mozilla offers open source code. That means you can tinker with the code to make the internet perform or look the way you like. That's way too scary for me, but someone who knows what they're doing would probably have a ball, at least, judging by the "skins" and add-ons that were offered. I tried to change to a cat-themed skin, but it said it wasn't compatible with the F 2.0 version. I'm also a bit interested in a skin called "Pimpzilla." Heh, heh.
Bob writes code, and there is always someone (say, the US Air Force) who wants open source code and claims to be willing to pay for it. Aside from the fact that if you are selling programming, OSC would enable someone to figure out your proprietary info, it also allows someone to tinker and destroy your work ... and then complain about it. Or else they call and say they can't make it do such-and-such and Bob has to stop what he's doing and troubleshoot. Bob is a detail person and he can deal with that. I'm not.
I'll explore this a bit more, though.
Bob writes code, and there is always someone (say, the US Air Force) who wants open source code and claims to be willing to pay for it. Aside from the fact that if you are selling programming, OSC would enable someone to figure out your proprietary info, it also allows someone to tinker and destroy your work ... and then complain about it. Or else they call and say they can't make it do such-and-such and Bob has to stop what he's doing and troubleshoot. Bob is a detail person and he can deal with that. I'm not.
I'll explore this a bit more, though.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Appalling Holds Procedure
I just read the most appalling postings on LibraryThing. Apparently, there are libraries that put their hold books on a self-serve shelf so that the patrons can pick them up themselves. Not surprisingly, this has led to people being informed the book they requested was on hold for them to check out, only to discover that upon arrival at their library, that it has been checked out to someone else. Then they are told that the library has no way of knowing who checked it out, even after it comes back. How could the circulation system check this book out? The circulation staff claims to have begged upper management to keep these books behind the circ desk, but they were overruled. What the aitch-ee-double-hockeysticks is this??!! Some sort of Alternative Universe where Mr. Opposite lives??!!
Monday, November 13, 2006
Wiki-wacki-woo!
I just added a teensy sentence and a link to Wiki on the GCL. Hee hee! Better look quickly before someone deletes it! Ummm, that was No. 16 or something.
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Really Simple Somethingorother
Ha! I did it! I found something I was actually interested in somewhere on the internet and put the RSS feed onto the hated Bloglines. I just don't really see the point of Bloglines, but there you are. I met Tony Kahn in Charleston and he told me about the podcasts of his Morning Stories program from WGBH. I had been listening to the streaming of some back casts and decided to try to put it on there. The rest of the stuff was just from within Bloglines, so maybe it didn't count. Now, of course, I want to stick a hundred things on there!
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Says You! trip
We visited Charleston this weekend to attend at taping of "Says You!" and go to the reception and meet the celebrities! Ooooo, how exciting for us! Here is the panel of the usual suspects including Nancy Bloodgood, attorney in Charleston, whom I swear I know from somewhere.
From left to right, Carolyn Faye Fox,
Arnie Reisman, Paula Lyons, scorekeepers from the College of Charleston, Tony Kahn (mayn ayn boychickl), Nancy, and Barry Nolan during the taping of show #2. The shows will not air until January.
I usually consider taking photos during a performance rude, but I've decided it's not if you turn off the flash! We had a nice chat with Nancy who shared insider knowledge with us before the show. She'd forgotten Carolyn's name and Bob and I couldn't come up with it. We could only remember Francine Akbar, whose place Nancy was taking. So I leaped in and intro'd myself to Carolyn, who returned the favor and I repeated her name rawther loudly to make sure Nancy got it. Bob and I had a great time although we didn't get dinner until almost 11 pm!
Monday, November 06, 2006
Just one thing after another
You have to sign up for YouTube to comment, sorry. Instead, you might want to email Bob at weaseltraprecords@yahoo.com. I know what a pain it is to have all these log-ins and passwords.
Today I've been working with the new computer at the Children's Room desk. I'm putting on all the favorites that were lost: school district sites, state library, bootycall-ooops! Oh, whattagiveaway.
I'll have to see how to do photos. I may have to put a photo managing program on. I used to have my Kodak one on this desk, and it handled the Fuji camera stuff just as well (if not better than the Fuji program). Something has to suck the photos up off the camera and do things with them. I'll test first. Take some pictures, try to get them sucked up.
Today I've been working with the new computer at the Children's Room desk. I'm putting on all the favorites that were lost: school district sites, state library, bootycall-ooops! Oh, whattagiveaway.
I'll have to see how to do photos. I may have to put a photo managing program on. I used to have my Kodak one on this desk, and it handled the Fuji camera stuff just as well (if not better than the Fuji program). Something has to suck the photos up off the camera and do things with them. I'll test first. Take some pictures, try to get them sucked up.
At long last!
Bob has put some of his videos on Youtube. Check it out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kwhkoziV4Q
Leave him a note and let him know what you think.
Sorry about yellin' at y'all earlier. Now I have to run to MySpace and report on my blood pressure.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kwhkoziV4Q
Leave him a note and let him know what you think.
Sorry about yellin' at y'all earlier. Now I have to run to MySpace and report on my blood pressure.
Something weird
... Is going on here. My link in the staffblog template went awry. If you copy a link from the template to paste and make your own, make sure you haven't done anything to the link you copied. Mine was redundant, like a stutter, and one little bitty thing wrong and it won't work. Okay, I'm not accusing anyone, but it seems unlikely that it would do that by itself. We're all here to learn, but be warned: I'm off my medication!
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Library Thing
Begone you fiend of Santa! Ummm, Satan! Whatever.
I got rid of that pointless Google (Santa/Satan) News button and replaced it with a link to my LibraryThing profile. I'm spreadin' the word on LibraryThing. Got my friend in Hong Kong hooked up to it.
Just finished My Little Blue Dress by Bruno Whatsis. Ah, so there's a reason that story is so lame! The book is rather like The Story of Pi by Martel. I spent much of the time reading MLBD wondering Why is the accent so lame? He's British; he should be able to get it right. And other such marvelings. Now I understand. It doesn't make it much better. This was a difficult concept to pull off.
I've got two books recommended by people on LibraryThing to read as well. I don't even remember why I picked up MLBD. TSOP I read after reading about it in Horn Book. Then I made my book group read it. Now, there was a lively discussion! Marlene is trying to start a book group in HK, but it's slow going, apparently. She recently told someone who borrowed one of her books that he had to sign up for LibraryThing. He had no choice. I'm not sure how she was going to make him. She didn't go into details. She can get pretty scary.
Explorer's Day was very slow. Hardly anyone came to the CR in the morning at all, much less participated. But I did have a few families in the afternoon. Some of them shyly tasted the food. One little girl bit into a date, grimaced and put the bit in her hand back in the bowl. Her mother rescued it and gave it to the littler brother who chowed down happily while his sister spit out the chewed portion in her hand and dropped it as well back in the bowl. Her mom cleaned it out, along with any dates it had touched and gave the little girl a lecture on following instructions and threatened to take her home immediately if she didn't.
Another family ate as if it were going out of style. I had cautioned the little boys that the bread might be drying out and they'd need some water, but their mom said they'd been eating it fine. They tasted about everything. Parents were happy about the olives, but not the kids. The pomegranate was a big hit. There were even some adults who'd never tasted one. I had to give instructions on eating the seeds. An older girl bit tentatively into a single seed, still holding it with her fingers, which is a neat trick with something as small as a pomegranate seed. Later, though, she was eating them merrily.
We had some attempts at the mosaic, and a couple of kids colored and cut-out Flavius, but the food seems to be the most popular.
Oh, and one kid ate a radish.
I got rid of that pointless Google (Santa/Satan) News button and replaced it with a link to my LibraryThing profile. I'm spreadin' the word on LibraryThing. Got my friend in Hong Kong hooked up to it.
Just finished My Little Blue Dress by Bruno Whatsis. Ah, so there's a reason that story is so lame! The book is rather like The Story of Pi by Martel. I spent much of the time reading MLBD wondering Why is the accent so lame? He's British; he should be able to get it right. And other such marvelings. Now I understand. It doesn't make it much better. This was a difficult concept to pull off.
I've got two books recommended by people on LibraryThing to read as well. I don't even remember why I picked up MLBD. TSOP I read after reading about it in Horn Book. Then I made my book group read it. Now, there was a lively discussion! Marlene is trying to start a book group in HK, but it's slow going, apparently. She recently told someone who borrowed one of her books that he had to sign up for LibraryThing. He had no choice. I'm not sure how she was going to make him. She didn't go into details. She can get pretty scary.
Explorer's Day was very slow. Hardly anyone came to the CR in the morning at all, much less participated. But I did have a few families in the afternoon. Some of them shyly tasted the food. One little girl bit into a date, grimaced and put the bit in her hand back in the bowl. Her mother rescued it and gave it to the littler brother who chowed down happily while his sister spit out the chewed portion in her hand and dropped it as well back in the bowl. Her mom cleaned it out, along with any dates it had touched and gave the little girl a lecture on following instructions and threatened to take her home immediately if she didn't.
Another family ate as if it were going out of style. I had cautioned the little boys that the bread might be drying out and they'd need some water, but their mom said they'd been eating it fine. They tasted about everything. Parents were happy about the olives, but not the kids. The pomegranate was a big hit. There were even some adults who'd never tasted one. I had to give instructions on eating the seeds. An older girl bit tentatively into a single seed, still holding it with her fingers, which is a neat trick with something as small as a pomegranate seed. Later, though, she was eating them merrily.
We had some attempts at the mosaic, and a couple of kids colored and cut-out Flavius, but the food seems to be the most popular.
Oh, and one kid ate a radish.
Saturday, November 04, 2006
Okay, that didn't work
Hmmmm. I have a link, but not an image. Shite. Now I have to find a book on HTML. I was in a hurry yesterday because I wasn't really working. I'd left work early (doctor's appt. and just p o'd in general) and came back to give Nicole a break because she was the only one left in the dept. and we get forgotten at breaktime if we don't do the "squeaky wheel" thing: "Hey! Could someone please give me a break in here? My whole dept. has abandoned me!" I had a 25 minute wait for my medication. Great, I go off one medication and I have to go back on three! I'm blogging my medical conditions elsewhere, though, so just accept that I came back for 15 minutes to give Nicole a break.
So, while I was sitting out here at the desk, I thought I'd noodle a bit. I'd seen Shannon's great map on her blog and I was jealous. So I went to World66 (No. 14) and tried to make a map. That wasn't working. I should at least have seen some touches of red in Europe. And all of NA. So I tried just the US and had to do that twice before it showed me where I'd been. Nicole was coming back and I hurriedly cut and pasted the URL, but it didn't turn out as I expected. Hmmmmmm.
So, while I was sitting out here at the desk, I thought I'd noodle a bit. I'd seen Shannon's great map on her blog and I was jealous. So I went to World66 (No. 14) and tried to make a map. That wasn't working. I should at least have seen some touches of red in Europe. And all of NA. So I tried just the US and had to do that twice before it showed me where I'd been. Nicole was coming back and I hurriedly cut and pasted the URL, but it didn't turn out as I expected. Hmmmmmm.
Friday, November 03, 2006
Self-Correction
Well, the problem I was having yesterday with not being linked to the staff-blog thingie righted itself overnight. I noticed immediately that the button label had changed. I clicked on it and it went where it was supposed to go. Phew!
The photo is of Bob's invention, the Harmonic Bridge. It enables him to make more sounds with his guitar. Visit his website at:
http://www.joelkilgore.com/Bob4.html.
He says his audio files are corrupted, but if you are interested in the music, just contact me and I can get you his cds.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
B-word and a half
Okay, this has been a real bitch. I have a picture on this (I've been taking digital pix and uploading, downloading, and cheezing off for ages now - No. 2) that I got from my LibraryThing profile for the following reason: in preparation for all new computers in this dept., we've had to suck all our personal work off so we won't lose it. Getting it back requires finding it on the flash drive which meant standing up and with my blood pressure now in Mr. DangerZone (147/96 yesterday), standing up and walking around has lost all its appeal. So, I just got the URL from my LT profile photo and pasted that in: No. 3.
I am running out of passwords, by the way.
So, yesterday I was watching Pam helping Missy link up to the StafferDevelopment blog to her blog and was unable to resist putting in my oar. It looked simple enough.
I worked on it here for a while but couldn't find the link place in the template. I looked and looked and looked. I had to finish it last night at home. I pored over the instructions and finally saw the bit that some of the pre-fab templates don't have links in them and I'd have to put them in myself.
So I did. I even got them in the right place. But I didn't have the URL for the staffer-thingthingie so I had to wait until today and Pam helped me get things connected.
Okay, you can get to my blog from stafferland, but not to stafferland from my blog's link. Will have to tinker with that.
Last night I also signed up for flickr and wasted even more time uploading some pix. (No. 8) By the time I was done, Bob was asleep on the couch.
Dana took the photo of me and the puppets to send to the Index to adv. the upcoming puppet show next week.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Retardo
No. 1: Here I go. Bloggin' again. How many freakin' blogs do I need? I'm already on No. 11:MySpace, No. 7: facebook, No. 10: LibraryThing. Oooooo, I looooove LibraryThing. Visit me there under marfita. I can't believe there are already marfitas here on Blogger. That's why my blog name is so retarded. Flickr (No. 8) seems to be another Yahoo product. I already have tons of photos on Yahoo photo. Hmmmmm. How many places on the web do I need to have photos? But they aren't accessible on Yahoo unless I specifically send out invitations to view. Does the whole world really need to see my photos? I'm surprised by the amount of people, strangers, who have visited myMySpacespace.
I looked at libraryelf and thought it was exciting but now I've forgotten why. All I can remember is that our TLC isn't compatible.
I have to admit that I was getting bored with the internet. Now ... well, it isn't any more interesting but it is more involving.
I'm not looking forward to downloading onto an mp3. Excuse me, I'm not looking forward to downloading music. The idea of downloading audio books fairly has me in a dither. I'm picky about music and I don't see the need to download any. Especially if it involves downloading more software to accomplish same. Robiiiiiiiin! Help meeee! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHH!
I looked at libraryelf and thought it was exciting but now I've forgotten why. All I can remember is that our TLC isn't compatible.
I have to admit that I was getting bored with the internet. Now ... well, it isn't any more interesting but it is more involving.
I'm not looking forward to downloading onto an mp3. Excuse me, I'm not looking forward to downloading music. The idea of downloading audio books fairly has me in a dither. I'm picky about music and I don't see the need to download any. Especially if it involves downloading more software to accomplish same. Robiiiiiiiin! Help meeee! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHH!
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