Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Battling Spam with Outlook 2003

Yesterday, I announced instructions to battle spam within Outlook Web Access. Those of you with the desktop version of Outlook (Outlook 2003) can use these instructions for setting up rules to battle spam.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Use Rules to Battle Spam in Outlook Web Access

I just added a new page to the MPLIC Wiki which describes how you can battle unwanted spam with Rules in Outlook Web Access. Click here to see the page.

Friday, January 25, 2008

Brochure Template

A frequent customer request is assistance in setting up a brochure. Unfortunately, our computers did not have a brochure template. Having this template would have made life a lot easier. Instead, I created instructions on converting a normal Word document into a brochure.

I recently had a eureka moment and realized that we could upload a brochure template to our own servers, thereby making the template available to all via the Web.

I will eventually find a place on the public website for this link, but for the time being, you can access a brochure template here. When asked whether or not you want to "Open" or "Save" the document, you should select "Save" and save it to the customers floppy disk or flash drive. Then you can open it.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Journalists Reminded To Check Their Facts, So Should We

Here is an interesting blog post from Techdirt that discusses a recent announcement by the Agence France Presse which states that "reporters can cite any online resources as long as they also refer to other reliable, independent sources to verify the facts." This includes sites like Facebook and Wikipedia.

Techdirt suggests that it is odd that such a reminder needs to be given to journalists who are supposed to "check their facts".

The same could be said about librarians. There is nothing wrong with using Wikipedia as a starting point to your search. It often refers to other sources for validation and will also let you know when a source is lacking. It also gives you a decent overview which is required before you get into the specifics. (sound familiar, World Book?)

And there is nothing wrong with using Wikipedia if no other source can be used, as long as the customer understands the unique nature of the source.

However, would I raise an eyebrow at a report, written solely from information found on Wikipedia, and not cross-checked with other sources? Yes.

Internet Explorer 7 is on the Way

I was just informed that the new public and staff builds (anything we install from this point on) will have Internet Explorer 7 (or IE 7). This may take several months at the earliest to convert all public computers. However, some of you will be seeing these new browsers soon (some already have).

While I have yet to test it out, my advice at this point is limited. However, this Microsoft page has a link to a tour that I found helpful.

Some highlights... IE 7 allows for tabbed browsing. This is a great way to work with multiple web pages without opening separate windows. Each page you have open is displayed as a tab that you can see underneath the toolbars.

IE 7 automatically scales pages when printing so that we will no longer have to deal with browser pages being cut off on the side.

The print preview also works a bit differently.

I will send more information as I have it.

Friday, January 11, 2008

PDF Time Again

As the tax season rolls around, we realize that it is PDF time again. IRS forms are available online in PDF format, so many customers will be working with these forms for the next few months.

To help us out with this, I have created a PDF page on the Technical Trainer Page. From the Intranet home page, look under the Staff Development heading and click on "Technical Trainer Page".

Thursday, January 03, 2008

"I Need A List of All Your Videos"... "OK!"

I have added some content to the MPLIC Wiki in regards to popular searches on the online public access catalog. This page explains how to perform certain, broad searches that are popular with our customers. For example, "I need a list of all of your videos". We can do that.

And, for you added convenience, not only does this page show you how to perform these searches, it also has links that will perform the search in case you are in a time crunch.

If you have suggestions on additions to this page, please let me know. You could add a comment with your suggestion!

Click here to visit the new page. Or, you can navigate to this page from the Intranet site by clicking on the "MPLIC Wiki" link, clicking on the "Online Library Catalog" link, then clicking on "Popular Searches".

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

More Google Maps

I have talked about Google Maps before. This is a wonderful tool that allows you to create your own interactive, online map. Well, John Dooley has created the MPLIC Google Map found here. Not only does it show you each branch location, but you can click on each marker and see a picture of the branch, the address, hours, and a link to the branch site on our webpage.

To find this page from the customer home page, click on the branch information drop-down menu on the right-side column. Then click on the last option "All Locations".

Here are some other examples of Google Maps: