Ebsco

So I was willing to create a webpage in EBSCO, but since I am on the MP public library computers and I didn't bring my jump drive, I'll have no way to save. I get it anyway. I'm quite familiar with all of the EBSCO databases and what access they provide so I'm moving on.

Project calculators

This looks pretty helpful, I found the Assignment Calculator to be more detailed and better for younger students as you would expect based on their focus. I would encourage my high school junior and my college freshman to try this. It is very easy to use and can't hurt as a tool. A link from our website for teenagers would be great.

Games

I wanted to do second life but today I am working from the MP library computers while at inservice and there were too many accounts created from here. I will probably look into this from home when I've worked through the rest of the stuff. I've heard a lot about Second Life and would like to try it. That being said, I took the booby prize and tried Puzzle Pirates. All I can say is I hate games. I do not like them on a board, I do not like them moving for'wd (as in computers). I don't know why I do not like to employ my mind in this way, but it remains a fact. I think I am inherently lazy. I looked at the Teen Second Life presentation and the Ohio University presentation on how Second Life is valuable to an intellectual community. I will definitely look at Second Life more, as the idea of moving beyond the usual practical bounds to open up intellectual pursuits is interesting.

LibraryThing

I'll enjoy coming back to this and enhancing my skeleton collection, creating tags and delving more deeply into the reviews. I was surprised at the numbers associated with my choices. I wouldn't have suspected the popularity for two of the titles. I don't feel as though I can really make an informed comment on the value of this site until I spend more time on it, but it does seem to have a lot of potential as a readers' advisory tool.

Efficiency tools

I created a calendar on Kiko but can't say that it feels any more useful than my outlook calendar (less so because I linked it to my home e-mail and most of my entries are work related. I've customized my Google home page on my home computer already, so I skipped that. I'm not even going to try the listmakers since the very nature of making lists for me is spontaneous and I don't think turning on the computer is going to figure in to my 3:00 am scribbles. I use e-mail to send these scribbled lists to myself later and can't see how a listmaker would improve that system. Not much new here on thing 13. Oh--I will spend some time looking at the PDF converters because I think those could be useful when working with patrons.

Thing 12 definitely a pleasure

I enjoyed browsing these sites that sift and sort news stories. I'm familiar with the concept through the NYT website and also MinnPost, but liked seeing how different these sites can be. I liked the organization of Digg best, but found the content most interesting on Newsvine. I can see myself returning to these sites, but feel that they can be a time sink--putting me online longer than I care to be. I get a paper subscription of the NYT and still prefer the randomness of my own perusal over breakfast in the morning and an after-work snack in the evening.

Value discovered

I'm pretty excited about a posting I found on Tame the Web (see link under blog list). It is called what a list of rules and it is about a code of conduct posted at the Hall County Public Library. Reading the posting and the comments gives me much food for thought.