Thing 16: E-Books.

I think that the many varieties of e-books can be confusing! Some you can only read online, some you can download and print, others you can read everything but you are not allowed to print the whole content, and some you need a special reader for. But I also think the concept is exciting, esp. the ability to download and take several books with you to read on the airplane without physically having to carry three or four books. And when Project Gutenberg first came out, I thought it was a great way to give everyone access to the classics.

I explored the PsycBooks database and liked what I saw. It was easy to search and easy to download the material. I think this gives our students a great resource that we otherwise could not afford to buy book by book. And I like saving the shelf space, which is a constant problem in our library.

However, our patrons do not always like it when the only way they can get to a book is through online access, such as NetLibrary. Even our 18-20 somethings still would rather have the book in their hands when trying to find information. I somewhat understand their thinking. I took a Spanish class at a local university and we had to purchase an e-textbook. To me, I hated not being able to highlight or notate. If I wanted a section of information to study while I was not around a computer, I had to print it off. So there is some good along with the bad when it comes to e-books.

I would like to have something like a Kindle, but will probably buy myself an iPod Touch this fall when they come out with the version that matches the new iPhone. A couple people I know swear by it as a viewer for downloaded books. And as an iPod owner, I am familiar with the format.

Thing 15: Creative Commons.

I can definitely see wonderful uses for the many items available through Creative Commons licensing. There are surveys already created and ready post online, music available to be used in presentations, even entire courses taught through MIT that one could post to one's own blog or website. I think it is a wonderful concept, esp. in the field of education. When I taught high school English, I probably "lifted" a lot of things to put on worksheets, etc. that I shouldn't have but had no clue how else to find what I needed without having to pay for the license.

Of course, I can see sharing my original content under a Creative Commons license if I think it is something that someone else could use, esp. in the field of education (that is, unless I am sure what I created could be a gold mine - LOL!). If I have already done a video tutorial that would serve the needs of someone else in my field, I would be more than happy to let it be used. To me, this sounds like a wonderful time and energy saver.

Thing 8: Screencasting

The link below is to a screencast on how to place a hold request on an item in our library catalog. I downloaded Jing on my home computer and used it to record. The process itself is not hard and I definitely would like to redo this one day. My problems with sound levels, etc. came about because of my equipment, not the software. I found Jing to be quite user-friendly and intuitive.


http://www.screencast.com/users/ksw42516/folders/Jing/media/d24e88ec-bdec-4a7c-a208-63c7b24bf65b

Thing 14 : Online Surveys

For this week's assignment, I created a survey using Google Docs asking participants what they do or do not know about interlibrary loans at my college. I would like to work some more on this survey and actually send it out to our students because I am curious whether most students even realize they can request materials they need this way.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dHAwWkxPV2tnNnJ2ejFiLXUybjJ2S2c6MQ

At first, I did have some trouble creating the form because I could not figure out how to edit or save my survey. This meant I created and lost three surveys before I finally got the hang of it. However, once I finished, I enjoyed the experience.