Google Maps just released a new service called My Maps. Here you can create your own map with your own marked destinations.
For an example, see this map I made of all MPLIC locations. You can add text, lines, images, and videos as well.
But you also have the ability to Search Nearby for any location you find. For example, a customer asks where the nearest Notary can be found. Rather than scanning the yellow pages for anything that may be near your branch, just type the address of your branch. When Google Maps finds your branch, you will see a link that says Search Nearby. Click on it and type Notary and a list of notaries appears arranged by proximity.
Also, you can use the search to find answers to obscure questions as well. For example, I was recently helping a customer who was looking for a hair braiding place on Summer. He did not know the name or where on Summer it was located. He had searched the Yellow Pages and did not find it. He was scanning the Cole's "criss-cross" directory for every location on Summer to no avail.
I went to Google Maps and performed a search "hair braiding summer memphis tn". Several locations appeared on the sidebar with their locations pinpointed on the map. Only one was on Summer.
"Would that by Mame Hair Braiding?" I asked. He jumped up and said "YES!". I gave him the address and phone number. He had been looking for this place for about 30 minutes. Google Maps found it is less than 30 seconds.
For details on how Google Maps works, see their Help page.
You recently received an e-mail from some of the current LEAP participants requesting information about your skills for programming. You may be thinking that you do not have any skills that anyone would want to know about. Let me share some ideas about computer classes that could be fun for some folks.
Currently, our computer classes focus on tasks such as mousing, web searching, sending/receiving e-mail (very basic stuff). Would it not be great to also offer classes such as How to Buy and Sell on Ebay? Or How to Share and Edit Photos Online?
I can probably develop these classes, but having never sold anything on Ebay, I may not be the right one to present it. Have you sold anything on Ebay? Would you like to show others how it is done?
Are you an expert at other specific computer topics such as MySpace, Blogger, or Flickr?
When completing this survey, keep in mind that these skills are popular right now and could probably draw a good crowd. On top of it all, it would be a lot of fun.
As you may have heard, Microsoft just released the new version of their Windows operating system, MS Vista. Coinciding with this new release is the new MS Office 2007 product line.
Several staff members and customers have asked recently if we will be upgrading to MS Vista and MS Office 2007 anytime soon. This is not in our current time line. In fact, we will be installing over 150 new computers soon as a result of a Gates Foundation grant, but these new computers will still utilize the Windows XP operating system and MS Office 2003.
So, if a customers asks, let them know we will be using our current setup for a while and do not have current plans to upgrade.
This, of course, effects the content of our public computer classes. We have had several customers requesting training on the new Vista operating system. However, since our trainings are focused on teaching people how to use library computers, we will not offer trainings on Vista and Office 2007 until library computers use them.
I was working this past Sunday when a customer approached me saying, "Your printer is not working right."
Hmmm. After some clarification, she explained that she had been increasing the font-size of her Word document but the printer kept printing her document in the original smaller-size font. I asked to look at her document, so we went to her computer and sure enough, the words in her document were very large on the screen.
I instantly knew what happened, and if you have taken the What's Wrong With My Document? class, you may know what had happened as well. View the prensentation below to find out what happened and how to fix it.
Someone recently asked this question:
I have a customer who asked about bringing his laptop to the branch and wanted to know if he could print from his laptop onto our computers?? Can he?
A new comment from Doris on this post states:
Is it permissible to use Internet Explorer to access the contents of the compact disc. In the address bar, typing D: and pressing enter will display a directory of contents (E: or F: for flash drives)?
I have spoken about Flash Drives before and included a discussion about Flash Drives in the Library Computers: When a Customer Asks... training that all reference staff received last year.
I have not talked about Zip Disks and Drives before. A Zip Disk looks like a 3.5 floppy disk but it is thicker (see image). This disk requires a Zip Drive in order for someone to retrieve the files. We do not have these type of drives. These disks hold more data than a typical 3.5 floppy; however, they never really took off in the marketplace and have now been superseded by the Flash Drive.
Customers can already use Flash Drives on our computers because they do not require the purchase of a separate piece of hardware (like the Zip Drive) in order to work. You just stick the Flash Drive into the USB port.
Pamela at Raleigh took advantage of the Ask the Technical Trainer service to ask this question:
Kevin, many of our customers want to download music to their portable devices. We can't figure out how to do it. It seems like there should be an easy/free way. (This is from free legal music sites. Moving files from a CD to their device is another story, but if that's possible, tell us how to do that, too. Thanks, Pamela at RaleighSo we have two scenarios, but they are similar. One involves how to move files from the Web to a portable media player. The other involves how to move files from a CD to a portable media player.
Wired News has an interesting blog post about Overdrive, the vendor behind our E-Audio Books service.
It touches on two aspects of this service: 1) the built-in Digital Rights Management that disables the downloaded files after a certain time period; 2) the fact that it does not work with Apple Macs/Ipods. A couple of excerpts:
By now, you have probably seen the new MPLIC public blog Computer HELP!. Several times in talking with customers, I have had a need to show them posts on the MPLIC Tech Train. However, rather than pointing customers to an internal blog, I thought about creating a "mirror" site aimed at the public. This mirror site would be stripped of all things a customer does not need.
Computer HELP! is not meant to be a replacement for staff assistance, but hopefully this will be a useful tool to direct customers to when they need a little helping hand.
I have tried to include some of the most frequently asked questions, and if you have suggestions for Computer HELP! additions, please let me know.
PPM 807, our Internet Use Policy, states this about using library computers for personal business:
The Library is not responsible for any liability that may occur as a result of the disclosure of financial or personal information over the library's public computer services. Customers should be aware that use of public computers is not a secure medium and that third parties may be able to obtain information regarding customer's activities.As tax season gets in full gear, we may have customers wanting to use our computers to e-file their taxes. We should not dissuade customers from using our computers to e-file, but we should inform them that they should close all browser windows when they are complete.
A handout is now available for the new LINC 2-1-1 Online Database. Click here to access the handout. You can also find it on the Staff Developments site under the Helpful Handouts section on the left sidebar.
See PPM 806-02 for more information on I&R Referrals.
Adaptive Workstations are being installed at Central this week. These stations will also be installed at Cordova, Hollywood, and Whitehaven. They include a Braille keyboard, a Big Keys keyboard, and a compact keyboard. These stations also include a roller-ball mouse and a 21" monitor. Finally, each station includes ZoomText, a program that allows the user to magnify the screen without losing clarity. This program also has a Reading mode which will read the contents of the screen.
The word from Bartlett is that they have been experiencing a problem with Yahoo Mail:
"We have noticed for the past month or so that when a customer attempts to go to Yahoo e-mail, the computer will stop loading. When they click the Refresh button, then it quickly goes to the e-mail screen."
Has anyone else experienced this problem?
I did a Web search and no one else seems to be having this problem. One person did say that Yahoo Mail times out from time to time when you try to load it. This does require you to hit Refresh.
I see no reason why this would have anything to do with any of our settings on the computer.
Yahoo is currently testing a Beta upgrade, so that could explain why this "timing out" is occurring now more than it did before. This is purely a theoretical observation, though.
If anyone else has noticed an increase in difficulty with Yahoo Mail, please comment!
Dean Moore from Frayser submitted this question to the Ask the Technical Trainer today:
Hi Kevin, this morning we had a customer attempt to print from a PDF, and the message said to access the default printer via the control panel. As you know we cannot access the control panel on the public computers. Is there some way to enable customers to print from these files? I know many of these are applications/forms that cannot be copied and pasted into word as well.Has anyone else received a message such as this when trying to print a PDF?
2. When the Print Dialog box appears, what does it say toward the top left. This is where it says what printer it will be using (see picture). Does it say "Xerox..."? If it does not, then this is probably our problem. It would be time to notify the Help Desk. If it does say "Xerox..." then we can move on.1. Choose File > Print, and then click Advanced.4B. Save the document to the local computer. Using File>Save As... will rewrite the file.
2. Select Print As Image.
3. Click OK to close the Advanced Print Setup dialog box, and then click Print.
5. If all else fails, you can always use the Snapshot Tool on the PDF toolbar to copy and paste the image to Word. The Snapshot Tool looks like a camera. Click on it and click and drag over the entire page. This automatically copies the page as an image. You can then paste the image into Word.Today, I celebrate this blogs 10th birthday. Back on December 13, 1996, the MPLIC Tech Train was born and I have since seen over 1,000,000 visitors.
Is this true?
Well, over half of us would say, yes, it is true. Why? Because it is on the Web.
Stephen's Lighthouse points out a report that states that 55.2% of respondents say that most or all of the information found online is reliable and accurate.
This goes hand in hand with our survey on Wikipedia. It may have seemed like we were picking on Wikipedia, but really, verifying information is nothing new.
About 10 years ago when I was being trained in LINC, we had to answer some sample questions. A couple of questions in this long list were "trick" questions. They were trick questions because it was known by the trainer that LINC housed two sources that provided different answers to the same question.
Or there was the time a customer asked how someone could get a specific type of hepatitis. I ended up checking two sources (both books). The first source I checked stated that this certain type of hepatitis was contracted mainly by blood transfusions. The customer knew something was not right. He asked what the copyright date was on the book. The copyright was 1996. I checked the second source (more recent copyright), and it stated that procedures in blood transfusions had changed in the late 1990s and this type of hepatitis was now mainly contracted through shared needles. OUCH. Quite a difference. And this involved very reputable book sources.
However, the Web has greatly increased the number of sources available to us. The more sources you have, the higher the chance that the sources will provide different information, especially when these sources are updated in different time intervals and by different people with varying degrees of validity (or intentions).
Because there is no Collection Development Manager for the Web, we have to be our own individual Collection Development Managers.
If you are not comfortable with Saving and Opening files, please view the presentation below (readers using an aggregator will need to access this original post to view). This is a vital skill that is needed in order to do other fun things like insert attachments, uploading resumes, etc.
Enjoy.
I recently sent staff a survey about Wikipedia. Eighty staff responded. Here are the results:
1. I have used Wikipedia as the sole source to answer a customer's question.
Yes - 16 (20%)
No - 64 (80%)
2. I have used Wikipedia as a reference "starting point" when answering customer's questions.
Yes - 45 (56.2%)
No - 35 (43.8%)
3. I have found answers via Wikipedia to customer's questions that I could not find elsewhere.
Yes - 30 (37.5%)
No - 50 (62.5%)
4. If you have used Wikipedia to answer a customer's question, did you offer the customer an explanation of Wikipedia's nature as an open-content, collaboratively-authored encyclopedia?
Yes - 32 (46.4%)
No - 37 (53.6%)
5. Please rate the effectiveness of Wikipedia as a source for answers to customer's questions.
Excellent - 7 (10.4%)
Good - 27 (40.3%)
Good/Fair - 17 (25.4%)
Fair - 9 (13.4%)
Poor - 7 (10.4%)
6. Do you have any comments regarding Wikipedia?
1. I was unaware that Wikipedia was an open-content encyclopedia until very recently. Now I only use it if I can't find the information anywhere else. I do warn customers about its validity.
2. Saw recently that entries can be changed by outsiders. CNN said it is not very reliable.
3. I would say Wikipedia makes a pretty good source when used in conjunction with other verifiable sources.
4. Wikipedia is usefull to quickly find references to authoritative sites which can provide the information sought. Wikipedia articles are often among the first results when searching for difficult to find subject matter. Rather than use the Wikipedia content as the sole source, it does provide very usefull clues and starting points, especially in the references it provides that often lead to authoritative sources that answer the question. So I do not tell the patron that it was Wikipedia that provided the link to the site which actually provided the answer. I would never cite any thing in Wikipedia as the sole source for any question, but would include it as a good source of references to more authoritative sites.
5. I have not personally used Wikipedia to answer a customer's question. However, I often see students at our public PCs researching things for school; they tend to use Google to search for their topics, and they get Wikipedia hits and use those sites themselves.
6. The times that I used Wikipedia I was pleased.
7. never used Wikipedia to answr customer questions
8. none
9. I understand that Wikipedia's accuracy is often questioned but it shouldn't be completely dismissed as a tool that reference staff can use. It can be a starting point to more accurate sources, especially for customers with obscure questions or unusual requests. I have a regular customer who likes to write long lists of different things like fashion magazines, telephones, and dog breeds. Wikipedia is a site that I use and he uses to find information that we could not find in our branch. He isn't concerned with accuracy, he just wants answers and he wants them to appear a certain way. Wikipedia has helped me and him to find what he wants, the way he wants it. I wouldn't recommend using Wikipedia for students or the public but it can be a helpful source --to a point--for reference staff.
10. It is my understanding that Wikipedia answers are not researched.
11. Have looked at it but never used it with customers.
12. I have never relied on Wikipedia as a reference tool. Customers have used it, but answer aren't always complete
13. It's a quick place to start when I have no clue. From there, I can go to more reputable sources for fuller information.
14. I have not had the need to use Wikipedia to answer a customer's question. I DID find it helpful while writing CKB questions.
15. From what I can tell, information on this source can be altered or added to. There seems to be little or no control with regard to content. I don't trust this "source"--using the term VERY loosly-- at all.
16. cannot rate it because i have never used it before.
17. I've found that Wikipedia is very resourceful, but it often has too much information for one topic. Meaning a customer is usually looking for summaries of information. Also, you have to follow so many links to get a full scope of the information.
18. no
19. It is not totally true that I used Wikipedia as a starting point for my Reference question. I used it as one of many reference tools in searching for information. I also am not totally comfortable with reliability ofthe content of Wikipedia. As they say, "Caveat Emptor."
20. I have used wikipedia to look up things from Jack Sparrow to JFK to radiation. The terms and examples used are very understandable to parents and the children they help.
21. It's accessible, up-to-date, and offers entries to an unbelievable array of topics!
22. I feelmore secure when there is a second source to support/go along with the wikidedia source.
23. Wikipedia would be a great online source if the content was varifiably true with documented proof.
24. I'm still learning about it, so I haven't felt confident in using it yet. I plan to spend more time exploring it.
25. I have found wikipedia to be useful with popular culture type questions.
26. It can get you going in the right direction, but I am not so sure about it as a citable source.
27. no
28. I'm amazed at the subjects that I find in Wikipedia that I can't find elsewhere--especially biographical and recent info. Their information is also well-organized and often more intelligible for students. I feel able to make judgments myself on the degree that a topic is controversal or the information a matter of opinion rather than accepted "fact." My only negative feeling about using it is based on the thought that students may not be able to make that distinction, that is, which topics are more likely to have other points of view--which comes from years of experience and my own awareness of disputes on a subject. I don't really like modelling it as a source because of this, even when I explain the nature of the content. I feel relatively secure that the content is regularly overseen and edited for accuracy by the wiki design. Also, people who do understand the nature of the authorship may gain more understanding of a topic by following the history of an entry. (I haven't actually tried this myself, but it could happen.)
29. Wikipedia has my support 100%.
30. I have found Wikipedia to be an excellent starting point, especially when the customer cannot really give enough information during the reference interview. It is much easier to confirm a fact found there than to start from scratch elsewhere. But in its current form, I refuse to offer Wikipedia as a source, unless no other source can be found and only with full explanation about its operation. Thanks for being on top of this!
31. It is so easy to use that I often forget that we should try a second source for accuracy.
32. I used this source for a customer only once. I did suggest a book source from the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library, History Dept. The book source had more information than Wikipedia. The information from Wikipedia was correct but it wasn't enough information. Thanks.
33. I do not trust this as a credible resource for customers' questions. When I have accessed it for personal use, I have been disappointed with the incomplete information.
34. I think that because of the nature of Wikipedia as an open collaborative source that it is essential that we tell our customers what it is. I also think that it is important, as with all sources, to try to find a couple that match in the answer.
35. I do not consider it a reference resource, because: 1). Anyone can make or edit an article. 2). No bibliographical references as to where information was found. Bibliographical references are helpful to users. 3). Articles can be edited at anytime.
36. In my library duties (Circulation Services Manager), I have not found it necessary to access Wikipedia to answer a customer's question.
37. The times that I have used Wikipedia as a sole source to answer a question has been when the customer was satisfied and didn't want any other answer. They were either in a hurry or felt that that answer was sufficient. I always let them know the nature of wikipedia. I am a hesitant to use Wikipedia at times, because you don't really know when the information is really correct without going to another source to verify it. Then you wonder if you are going to have to go to another source, what is the use of using Wikipedia?
38. I have never used Wikipedia.
39. I think Wikipedia is very helpful and it's a good source when answering questions. I've pretty much used it for personal research and for assisting my niece with homework.
40. I've never used it as a sole source. With staffing shortages, I don't have too much time to explain to anyone about the nature of any information on the internet... sometimes I do try to point out that .com is a commercial site and anyone can make one saying anything they want, .gov is a government site, etc.
41. I have never used Wikipedia as a source for informaion.
42. I seldom use Wikipedia due to its open source format which may not be otherwise documented.
43. This is not my first choice as a source. However, there have been times when staffing is short and customer needs are high that I haven't had the time to find a better source to a difficult or unusual question.
44. Excellent start if you're unfamiliar with a subject.........
45. I have only used wikipedia as a starting point. It has been especially helpful in locating obscure information and individuals. For example,one can get information about Constitutional Acts to gain a little understanding about the nature of the act, then have a subject to search in our database.
46. I have not used it as a source at work. I understand that we are not supposed to do so. I have mentioned it when teaching Internet Basics because it often comes up in the top 10 results for example searches, but I do warn customers that it is volunteer based.
47. I consider it an unreliable, nonprofessional source and would not consider using it for our customers.
48. #3 I haven't found answers to questions we commonly get in Children's that I couldn't get elsewhere, but for personal use, I have found answers- particularly about technology and music. #4 I explained the nature of Wikipedia to a customer who had latched onto one of its articles as her only source, and helped her find one with more authority. #5 It's a good source for me, but maybe not so good for customers who rely on us to help them discriminate reliable sources from spurious ones. I've met folks who would use The Onion as a source (not of comedy) if we'd let them. #6. I like it, and maybe it will evolve into something we'd use as a primary source someday.
49. I cannot give an honest opinion, however, what I have heard about Wiki, sources tell me not to depend on Wiki as a reliable source.
50. The great strength of wikipedia is its hyperlinking, which I think helps to overcome some of the accuracy/verification issues.
51. Not so much a comment about Wikipedia itself, which I feel is just another good resource for us to use, particularly in the areas of popular culture. I do, however, have an objection to Question 4 because it strongly implies that Wikipedia is a "questionable" and very likely inferior source. I would suggest this question be reworded, since none of our other reference resources are completely reliable (which, by definition, means "error-free").
YouSendIt allows you to email files without actually having an email account.
Just go to YouSendIt. Enter the email address you would like to send the files to. Click on Browse... and locate the file to be sent. Click on Send It.
So how would this be useful? What if someone needs to send a resume but they do not have an email account? What if someone without an email account wants to send pictures to a relative.
Of course, in many situations (especially with job hunting), the customer probably just needs to go ahead and get that email address. However, there will be times when a customer will admit that they have absolutely no need for an email address except for the current situation. Perhaps this would be a viable option in those situations.
Found on Library Zen.
