April 2009 All Wired Up halfway summary

I am in the process of creating five questions for each of the databases I chose [Demographics Now, Gale Directory Library, and Public Records Online].  I have two questions [so far] for Public Records Online, and three for Gale Directory Library; I’m working on some good ones for Demographics Now.  Next week, I am going to email them to Pam for review, and see if she can find the answers!  I’m trying to channel questions I’ve had from patrons in the past or ones that may be asked in the future (pretend you hear an echo-y sound for the word future )

To help me prepare, I took a pre-recorded webinar from Demographics Now about how to search using custom radii or drive times, which is one of the ways you can find information.  Since we have the Library Edition, the presenter showed some searches that we do not have access to.  The webinar was helpful.  I didn’t know you could have only two numbers in the ranges box instead of three.  The presenter also gave a tip that he thought drive times were more accurate than using the radius search.  He did note that the drive time search is calculated for light to moderate traffic not during rush hours (of course!)

I also took a ten minute pre-recorded webinar giving an overview of Demographics Now.  It showed most of the same features the other webinar did, but with less detail.  The presenter mentioned that you can search as low as a tenth of a mile and as far as 100 miles [however, when I chose 100, it gave me an error message saying that it couldn't search more than 32000 square miles].  (I would recommend staff take the custom radii/drive time pre-recorded webinar  rather than this overview one.)

I attended a live webinar on the Gale Directory Library product on Thursday April 2.  I was the only one taking it so it was an one-on-one session!  She did a Basic Search by entity name and noted the check box to include both current and backfile directories.  [However, we have no backfile directories, so that doesn't matter.]  She suggested I take a look and play with the Export List function and the difference between the two options for downloading to an Excel spreadsheet.  She searched Disney (at my suggestion) across all titles to show how a marked list results page puts the entries of the company in order by the directory searched.  We then went into the Advanced Search screens because you can choose to search a specific directory.  The drop down search screens change depending on which directory you choose.  We chose Ward’s, and if you want to get an alphabetical listing of companies, search by name.  Zip code, city and/or state searches are like searching geographically in the print books.  The trainer told me she was going to email me a “cheat sheet” Gale created for searching Ward’s.  The last thing she pointed out was the Infomark button (which is on all Gale products); this makes a persistent link to the search you did or you can bookmark it or email it to colleagues.  She told me that a college library used Infomark’s for a blog the Reference department kept called “The Reference Diary” and they would put the link in for a search they found difficult so others could use it.  The training session was supposed to last an hour but we got through it in thirty minutes.  It was worthwhile for me to take the training.

I did not take any online training for Public Records.  I have been using the product for awhile now.  I looked at the Help button next to the search boxes to re-familiarize myself with search parameters, like how far back I could search the Input date field, etc.

Here are the questions I have made up so far: 

Public Records Online–How far back do the records go for Cook County new homes?  We bought our house in early 2004.  Can you find the record?  I live at 1436 Clinton Avenue in Berwyn.  My name is Lori Preston.  What was the purchase price?  Who was the seller?

Gale Directory Library–How many associations are in Park Ridge, Illinois?  How many nonprofit organizations are in Park Ridge, Illinois?  Are there any publishing companies in Park Ridge, Illinois?

Pam and I haven’t discussed how we want to share this information.  I’m interested in screencasting, but I’m not sure if that would be too long.  I guess, we would have to make three separate screencasts, one for each of the databases, for it to be short.

What I won for finishing All Wired Up!

Thanks to the All Wired Up committee and the Library for the 1GB MP3 player I won!

Step 9: Social Networking

I decided to join Facebook, as myself, and I find that it is addicting.  I have resisted Brandee’s pleas for me to join for over a year; now, she has me as a “friend!”  Right away, by putting in my high school and graduating class, I found two friends that I haven’t talked to in forever.  Now, we are “friends” on Facebook.

You can find out a lot about people on their profile page.  My one high school friend, Priya Darshane, has traveled to over 100 different cities!  I haven’t talked to her since we graduated, and now, I know this about her.  And she now knows that I have a family.

It took me a few tries on Facebook to find out where all of the various features were at.  Brandee sent me a gift and I didn’t know where to find it at first.  I had to turn that “application” on.  I have to find out how I can put in my maiden last name [although, I'm not sure if anyone would remember how to spell it!  ]

I can see why these social networking sites are popular.  You can find, and then talk to people you haven’t seen in forever.  You can find new friends by joining all different groups or creating your own.  I became a friend of Louise Rennison (YA author); XRT (radio station); and the Park Ridge Public Library YA Loft.  I’m waiting to hear back from Cecily von Ziegesar (Gossip Girl author) to see if I’m added as a “friend.”  If you don’t want to friend me, then friend my dog, Smokey, with your pet on Dogbook, another Application .

Step 8: Overdrive

I’m glad I was able to go through the whole process.  I will be able to help patrons over the phone better.  I wish I had an mp3 player or a burn program loaded on my computer at home to download and listen to even more books.  After going through all of the steps, it seems fairly straightforward.  I didn’t have any trouble doing any of the parts, but the computer already had Windows Media Player 11 and the Overdrive Media Console downloaded onto it.  I think patrons might get hung up a little bit on those two parts.

Before, I was only able to help patrons up to checkout.  After that, it depends on if they have all the components necessary to download the book.  Downloading was no problem at all.  I feel bad for patrons that are still using dial up at home.  I can see that part taking awhile.  At least you can download each part at a time if you have a slower connection

I downloaded an “Always Available” title, Anne of Green Gables by Lucy M. Montgomery.  I was a bit taken aback that once it is downloaded, it starts playing right away.  I didn’t burn it to cd, but I did open that component of the Media Console, and it started playing there right away too!  I guess I’m not used to it starting right away.  I pressed all of the buttons on the Media Console where you can listen to it play directly from there.  All of the buttons are self-explanatory.  I played with the speed; wow, the speed “listeners” must really like that feature!

If I win an mp3 player prize [hint, hint ], I will definitely put it to good use now that I know that Overdrive is so easy to use!

Step 7: IM and Ask-A-Librarian

IM–I have been using IM for about a year, and at first, I wasn’t that keen on it.  I mean, email is fast enough a response, right?  Well, now I think IM is the way to go.  You can hold a conversation for “free” and it is in real time.  You don’t have to wait a few days for a response; or find out that email address has changed; or that the person you wrote an email to is on vacation for the next two weeks.  Now, everyday I am at work, I am on Meebo either covering as the Askprkref librarian or as myself.  I don’t have to call Brandee or Amber with a question.  They are a few keystrokes away.  This cuts down talking at the Reference desk or in the Reference office.  I also like that you don’t have to be as formal on IM as on email.  I try to spell better when I am helping a patron on IM or on AskAway, but I do find myself typing “u” for “you” to patrons, especially seemingly younger people.  They don’t care if they aren’t spelling something wrong, so I feel I can get away with using “u.”  They still know what I’m saying.

Ask-A-Librarian–I (and Brandee and Amber) staff the AskAway service for four hours a week–Wednesdays from 11 A.M. to 1 P.M.  and from 4 P.M. to 5 P.M. and then Thursdays from 12 P.M. to 1 P.M.  I usually help at least one patron during each session, and often times school kids.  Teachers encourage classes to use AskAway for help, so it can get pretty busy.  Sometimes, the “kids” are just playing around (we can tell if they are coming from a school and what grade level) and asking silly questions.  Many times, they have a real question, but they only have ten minutes before class ends, and they want something RIGHT NOW!!!  Many times, the school blocks websites I try to send.  Google Images is a website that is blocked.  I try to get the students to use their school or home library’s resources first before just doing a Google search, but oftentimes, that’s all they want: just some websites.  I try to use the home library’s resources with adult patrons too.  Each library that participates in AskAway is supposed to fill out a form with all of its important information.  It is then a link called “Policies” that is attached to each patron that uses AskAway from a library’s website.  There is also a generic login page that is called “Illinois Public Admin” and then there are no policies attached to the patron.  If that is the case, then you have to find out if the patron has a library card from anywhere.  I just cover the Illinois libraries queue, so I only take questions from Illinois libraries.  Generally, there are about 1 or 2 other Illinois libraries on with me as well as 15-20 “back-up” librarians from other states or provided by OCLC (OCLC is the company that runs this service).  These back-up librarians are there to take questions in case many questions come in and the librarians covering can’t take them all.  They are also there during the overnight hours because this service is available 24/7.  There is only one time so far where I have helped a Park Ridge patron live on AskAway.  It was so exciting!  We also answer the Reference Department’s email questions through the AskAway module.  It keeps statistics for us and we can also use “scripts” that can automatically be put into a message.  These scripts are really helpful during the live chat times because then you don’t have to spend time typing the same thing over and over. 

Honestly, I don’t mind covering chat or AskAway.  I feel pressure to find the answer fast, but I am trying to work through that.  I just have to keep in mind that I should continue conversing with the patron to let them know that I am looking for the answer.  And if it gets too complicated, then they should give me an email address so I can get back them.  On AskAway, this doesn’t happen very often.  Many times, the patron doesn’t have an email account.  We do have scripts that tell the patron “your request is more involved than could be handled on IM.”  I try to remember to do a good reference interview so I can pinpoint the question and search for it better.  This is one step that I fully embrace!

Step 6: Wikis

I did a search for the clothing company Laura Ashley on Wikipedia; a search for how to sew a button on Wikihow, and weimaraners on Wetpaint.  Wikipedia seems to have the vasest amount of information.  You can find out just about anything on there, except some of the pages might not be complete.  Usually, when I do a search for anything on Google, a Wikipedia page is in the top results.  If I don’t know what a term is, I usually Google it, and then read the Wikipedia article about it to get some background information.  Wikihow is more about learning how to do things.  I saw an entry called “How to write a story about a deer.”  I doubt you could even find that in a book!  I’ve seen about.com and HowStuffWorks, but Wikihow has even more mundane topics–simple things like how to tie a shoe.  I thought Wetpaint had the least amount of information.  Many pages were not very complete.  This is really more for people to have some web space to talk about things rather than give a lot of information.

I have used Wikipedia entries for information.  I use the external reference on Wikipedia after reading some of the article.  I think some of the benefits to using a wiki is to find out a general consensus on a topic you might not know that much about.  Like a regular encyclopedia, I think Wikipedia is a good place to start but not be the only source you try.  One of the drawbacks is that certain parts of the entry might not be fleshed out.  Or, like on Wikipedia, the page will tell you that it needs more references.  I would say Wikipedia would not be a good source for any controversial issues, except, possibly, the external links.

Sometimes, I dislike using a wiki because I’m not sure about the reliability of the contributors (not including the All Wired Up wiki of course [grin]).  I sometimes wonder what what the purpose of a wiki is.  It seems to just be another way to have a personal web page, this time with links and pages of information.

After reading through the Wikipedia Tutorial, I see how easy it is to post something on Wikipedia.  It does much of the formatting work for you.

I kept getting an “Edit Conflict” on Tutorial Sandbox 1, so I typed in a simple description saying I was “trying out Wikipedia for the Library I work at” and then Lori P. after it.  I was nervous to post something because I wasn’t sure what to write about.

I did see the Wikipedia page for the Library.  When I looked at it last week, there was a note at the top of the entry saying it needed to be “Wiki-fied.”  I looked again today, and that message was gone!  Good job to whoever fixed up the entry!  I would be willing to help flesh out the Library’s page if need be.  I wouldn’t be as nervous to post something because I would know what I was writing about .

Step #5 OneStop Search

I did a search for: race car drivers; with and without quotes.  Without quotes, I got significantly more hits than with quotes.  Sometimes, it takes awhile for the program to then open up the article that I clicked on.  At least you are able to print the article or email it to yourself; all the functionality is there as it would be if you were searching that one database.  I never sorted by number of hits before.  I will have to remember to do that.

Infotrac Onefile had the most hits: 4968.  I did the same search in Onefile, and I did get the same amount of results except that was just the number of results in the Magazines.  There were 64 more in Academic Journals; 33 more in Books; 5840 more in Newspapers; and 43 more in Multimedia.  I noticed on the OneStop Search results screen, when you scroll down to the Infotrac Onefile heading, it then shows links to the Academic Journals, et. al.  So you can get to them all on OneStop Search. 

I looked up auto repair information for two different patrons in one day.  There is a fair amount of text in Auto Repair Reference Center and Motor/AllData, but I think someone doing a report on a car wouldn’t need repair information.  Also, you can’t just search either of those databases to begin with.  First, you have to pick your car information, and then you get to the repair information.  So, I’m not sure if the databases are indexed like Infotrac or some of the other databases are.

I think it would be better to use OneStop Search than going to a specific database if you have a patron who says they want “everything” on a topic, or if they haven’t narrowed down their topic yet.  This way, you and the patron can get “everything” using reliable resources than just Google.  Although it is hard to tell how the database will treat your search, you still have the options of searching many databases at once, thus, saving time.  One of the things that surprises me is that almost any search you do includes hits from Ancestry Library Edition.  I think it is easy to get false hits especially if you are just doing a keyword search.  The database that had the most hits (Infotrac Onefile) does not surprise me because I know that is our primary database with full-text and indexed magazine articles.

Step #4: RSS

First, I spent a couple of hours cleaning up my Bloglines account that I created last year.  I noticed some blogs aren’t publishing anymore so I deleted those right away.  I feel like Bloglines is just another place that I’ll have to check.  I like getting the RSS feeds to Outlook, but I forget to check that too!  I was pretty consistent checking My Yahoo page too, but I’ve gotten out of that habit, too.

I read on the Shifted Librarian’s blog (author: Jenny Levine) about a library that let young adults dance their fines away.  It was for a Patron Appreciation Day (which is a cute idea), but I thought Maggie or Children’s could have dance-offs to let “kids” pay off their fines.  The children could bring in cans of food too if they didn’t want to dance.  (http://www.theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2008/02/06/dance-your-fines-away.html)

I do like that you can put all the latest news about things you like into one place but then you have to remember to check it!       To use RSS at the library, maybe a department could sign up for one Bloglines account, add certain relevant blogs to it, and then make it part of the continuing education of the department, something like a del.ici.ous account but bookmarking blogs instead of websites.

Step #3: YouTube

I can’t believe AFV (America’s Funniest Videos) is still on the air when you can watch all different kinds of videos on YouTube!  It seems like it takes so much prep work to make a video, or, at least a watchable one that I’m surprised by how many people have videos on here.  My cell phone can take video, so I guess I can be a poster to YouTube easily enough!

After reading the You Tube article, I thought of two videos we could think about making.  It just gives me the hee-bee-gee-bees to think how much prep work this would take, but if a “committee” could work on it, I think the burden would be lighter.  First idea: “The Day in the Life of a Book.”  Show a book being taken out of a box, processed in Tech etc. (some of this could be speeded up to save time, unless the purpose is to show each step), have it put on the shelf, “someone” looks it up in the catalog, finds it on the shelf (or asks a librarian (grin), checks it out in circ, have on the bottom of the screen “three weeks later” and then the same “someone” returning the book.  All of this could be speeded up; that might be funny.  Or, we could be explaining some steps to show what all goes into the process of a book being available at the library.  Second idea:  Either in conjunction with the City/Chamber of Commerce/Taste of Park Ridge committee or Just The Library have a contest where patrons (all ages???  broken up by age groups???) post videos about “What Park Ridge means to me”  or “What the Library means to me” or another theme with winners announced at the Tent Event or The Taste of Park Ridge or another determined time.  Have all videos available on You Tube/through the Library’s website/through the City’s website etc. for voting purposes.  Have the winning video play at the Tent Event/Taste of Park Ridge/in the first floor meeting room for “all to see.”

Fun part:  I like watching videos of dogs in general, and weimaraners in particular, since I have a weimaraner of my own.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXVAxY4HG5Q  This is where some of you might have seen weimaraners before!  The photographer, William Wegman, sometimes had (I think this was awhile ago) his weimaraners on Sesame Street.  I had to put this one in there:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ty8rNYaWH3g  I remember when Smokey was a puppy.  Now she is a 65 pound behemoth! 

 And, since I am a fanatic about making sure our desks and the patrons computers have golf pencils at them, I especially like this tongue-in-cheek documentary about how those golf pencils are made:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6PGGC7FNwE  “Short Pencil Saga.”

Step #2: Flickr

I think we should keep doing what we’ve been doing with Flickr, especially for the YA loft.  I’ve heard about other libraries putting up pictures that they had little information on, and then seeing if anyone had information that they could use or verify.  I think this might be helpful for some of the pictures we have in the Heritage Room that I did not use for Digital Past because there was very limited information.  This way, even if someone has never even heard of Digital Past or doesn’t even live in Park Ridge anymore, they could still be helpful.

Some tags for the Library’s Flickr page could be one for each department–reference, children’s, tech.  Or, depending on what the picture is about, some keywords (example:  if there were pictures taken of the auto detail program, you could tag it with “cars”  “program”  the presenter’s name, etc.)

I’m not sure if I would use Flickr at home, although, it is an easier way to put up pictures of family events.  I could just send a link to my Flickr page to out-of-state relatives and friends, so they could see pictures of Kelsey and things that we have been up to.