Ebsco adds RSS feeds

Thanks to Lisa's email, we know that Ebsco now offers RSS feeds for their searches. This is just like the RSS feeds in our catalog. Where you do a search and then ask the database to alert you when any article or book is added to the database that fits your search criteria.

Back in library school they talked about making libraries and librarians more relevant to the research by re-doing the same search for a patron on a monthly basis and forwarding them any new results.

This is a great step to making our many resources personal to the patron. For example, a student wishes to do a paper on "Global Warming". They do the search (preferably at the beginning of the semester) for "global warming" in ebsco and set up a RSS alert. Now any article that is added to the database is automatically fed to their aggregator or news/rss reader (like bloglines).

another example, if a patron invests in the Exxon corporation and wants to track their activities, they can search ebsco for "exxon", set up a rss alert and have all the articles shipped to them.

All you have to do is to select "Advanced Search", do the search, see the results, then click Create Alert for this search"


But a super step toward making the library personal for each individual user!

Pics on a Map

Below are 2 google maps. It took 2 because Google only allows 100 or less placemarks on a single map.

The Colorado side of our trip (roughly)


View Larger Map

The Utah Side of our trip (roughly).


View Larger Map

Library Misconceptions - good video

See one of the entries to Eden Prairie's Library Contest

23 things a raging success!!

I had a great time learning new things and playing with new toys and finding out how they may or may not fit into what we do as a library. I can't wait for the afterparty. It doesn't matter what the tools are, people will come (or not come) to the library depending on the service they get when visit. Like they say in the military, "Librarian: its not just a job, its an adventure!!"

e-books

When I last looked at it, Overdrive had a smaller collection to loan and had lots of holds. Netlibrary had a larger collection but less usable interface to get to the actual ebooks. Neither played directly on an iPod. Since we may only get one chance at ebooks, I lean toward holding out a little longer until we get the best of both worlds.

Best of the Web awardees

So I tried out www.healia.com and liked that you coudl search for health info and then filter it by specific categories (male vs female, kids vs adults vs seniors). I think the public will want these shortcuts but am not sure the frame on th eleft is the way to go. Its too hard for the average perosn to see it if they were not told about it before hand.

I then looked at Attensa for Outlook. in theory it integrates RSS feeds directly into your outlook account. I will let you know if and how it works.

I looked at yourminis.com for widgets we could use and most of then show videos, and calendars, and clocks. So far they are not in a place where we can just grab them and make good use of them. I would like a widget for our catalog?

For travel, I tried Kayak.com and farecast.com, both good to sift thru all the various travel info and rates vs offers.

ACLS- mapped on Google

Take a look at the ACLS-Branches map I created on Google. I tried to keep in generic and specific.

Telluride to Moab Photos loaded on to Flickr

I have loaded the a set of photos on to Flickr of my recent trip out west. Click the link.

Next I will play with google "my maps" and see if I can place the photos on the map in the right place.

But what are they doing?

According to the National School Boards Association study released recently, here is what teens are doing on the when they use social networking sites such as facebook or myspace. "The study also shows that students are engaging in creative activities on social networking internet sites; including writing, art, and contributing to collaborative online projects "whether or not these activities are related to schoolwork".

Everything bad is good for you?

see the article available at: Read/Write Web.
"96 percent of students with online access use social networking technologies - defined as as chatting, text messaging, blogging, and visiting online communities such as Facebook, MySpace, and Webkinz."

putting 23 things to the test

I will be creating a flickr show of my pictures from the trip out west. I will post the url as soon as I get to it. anyway, here is a photo from the first cabin we stayed in. we left telluride (at 8700 feet) and climbed to this hut at 10,800 feet. The last 300 feet were the worst. I want to add tags to my pictures on flickr so I can tell what day they were taken and at what hut.