Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Thursday, August 21, 2008

SLA 23 things Session 4 - Week 8 Online Applications & Tools


looked at Mindomo and the other mind mapping tools. I have yet to find a use for these. Perhaps my mind is unmapable :)

Looked at 43 things and remember the milk.  If i used my phone for these things they would have more use for me, but i have an old simple phone and an expensive data/text plan, so i don't use it.  Someday I will have a blackberry or a treo, but not yet.

I already have home pages and the full acrobat programme, so i did not look at the Personal home pages or PDF converters sections.

Looked at lazybase as i am looking for a good (GOOD) shared database programme. Lazybase is not it. No way to import existing databases, no reporting functions, no mailmerge functions, etc.

Looked at zoho. It looks interesting  and usable for someone already willing to use project management software.

I have used google docs and spreadsheets to try to collaborate. Again, i run up against non-techie people who are not willing to learn new technologies.

 

 

The sites I visited that struck me as interesting and potential useful to me were:

wufoo - bookmarked this one for future use

Dabble - interesting but not free

my heritage - interesting - free software, free pages. needs more exploration. Definitely bookmarked

Geni - will look into this when I have more time

 

 

Technorati Tags: ,


SLA 23 things Session 4 - Week 7 Wiki


Technorati Tags: ,,

 

I am a wikivangelist. I push wikis wherever I feel they will be the best solution. I even have my CFUW Oakville club using them and believe me they are not the most technological of women :) (sorry ladies, but you really aren't)

I had to push to get wiki software installed at work, but now they are all over the corporation. Our location were early adopters and there was a lot of pushback. Once other departments started seeing what they could do other IT departments installed them and we were off.



Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Carolyne's Olympic Standings


Medals / million population of country

 













Sunday, August 17, 2008









Using up leftover food.






 

This is a site from the UK, but the idea of searching for what is left in the fridge to find recipes that use those ingredients appeals to me.

http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com

Tips and recipes to reduce food waste - Love Food Hate Waste












Monday, August 11, 2008









Librarian Day in the Life meme - day 5 - a do-over






Since I was home with a migraine on Friday, here is an actual fifth day.

 

8:15

  • email
  • rebooted
  • read blogs
  • problems with email, called IT
  • rebooted again - it is better, but not great
  • downloaded two XRCC patents
  • forwarded one patent to inventors
  • requested book from other library
  • MSN spam. I have blocked 3 already today
  • replied to email re being in a distribution list for corporate terminations
  • replied to annoying email from ARK-Group. No, I don't want your report.
  • looked up priority patent information and sent results to requester
  • looked up report pricing and sent to requester
  • tried NBC streaming Olympic coverage. It is a better picture than CBC, but the CBC interface is simpler to  use.
  • sent email to  Science Direct as a firsts step in sorting out an ordering issue.
  • discussed order with requester
  • discussed migraines with a visitor
  • checked "library typo of the day" - calender - except that is a correct spelling in papermaking.

    http://www.answers.com/calender&r=67

    calender: n. - A machine that smoothes or glazes paper or cloth by pressing it between plates or passing it through rollers v. - Press between rollers or plates so as to smooth, glaze, or thin into sheets.

  • bathroom break  (do you really care?)
  • updated tag cloud on blog
  • reviewed requests for this afternoon
  • did I say my manager is on vacation for two weeks :), then I am on vacation for one week.

lunch

  • fire alarm in middle of lunch. Got to stand outside in the warm sunny weather for half an hour.
  • submitted PO for new monitor (20") -- sometime size does matter
  • posted these day in the life postings to our internal blog site.
  • once I was on the internal site, I felt the need to make some comments.
  • checked out the new free covers at library thing. Trying to figure out if we can use this.
  • updated one of the 5 internal web sites I maintain
  • handled two reference requests (a citation search and a supplier search)
  • still getting msn spam
  • search for internal reports
  • had 26 laboratory notebooks returned, checked in, labelled
  • twittered a bit
  • sent Daniel Lee a message
  • send Daniel Lee info
  • going home to watch Olympics










A typo in Library Typo??






"library typo of the day" - calender

 except that is a correct spelling in papermaking

http://www.answers.com/calender&r=67

calender: n. - A machine that smoothes or glazes paper or cloth by pressing it between plates or passing it through rollers v. - Press between rollers or plates so as to smooth, glaze, or thin into sheets.

 

I added a comment first thing this morning, but it has not been posted yet.  Hopefully no one went in and changed all the paper or cloth related calendering references to calendaring.

 

NEW:

an addition at 2:30 -- I am now an astute reader :)

http://librarytypos.blogspot.com/2008/08/calender-for-calendar.html

Not really, I just work in a library where we have materials on calendering of paper.













Sunday, August 10, 2008









A Day in the Life meme - Day 5






Friday August 8, 2008

migraine

stayed home

checked email and forwarded some

mostly lay around suffering













Thursday, August 07, 2008









A Day in the Life meme - Day 4






Thursday August 7, 2008

8:15 am

  • email
  • coffee
  • reader
  • coffee
  • email
  • checked library typo of the day -- "ligth" -- in our catalogue - found one - fixed it
  • prepared for budget and journal renewal review meeting with Library Users' Committee
  • paid Professional Engineer Ontario fees online
  • welcomed one of our retirees who visits regularly to catch up on his technical reading
  • updated calendars
  • arranged with IT to have some minor work done on my laptop over lunch
  • Library committee meeting went very well

Lunch

1 pm

  • registered for Sirsi Dynix course by Michael Stephens
    • Event Title: Taming Technolust: Planning in a Hyperlinked World
    • Event Date: August 26, 2008
    • Event Time: 11 a.m. Eastern
  • confirmed new subscription
  • looked into acquiring copy of market report
  • found hard to find article
  • received confirmation in mail for course and added to calendar
  • handled mail
  • forwarded requests to staff
  • updated training html and cf code
  • uploaded searches

 

 

 

 













Wednesday, August 06, 2008









A Day in the Life meme - Day 3






Wednesday August 6, 2008

8:10

  • pick up newspapers
  • arrive in a caffeine deprived state
  • drink coffee
  • read Google reader items
  • check email for urgent items
  • since I have the full acrobat programme I do various things for staff -- today cut out 8 pictures from a document and sent to requester - he later asked why I did not do it last night at home because he had waited up for me to send it to him :)
  • finalized plans for getting lab notebooks scanned
  • read and/or deleted email from inbox - not much today
  • filed email - I get over 100 a day and need to spend time every couple of weeks organizing and weeding them - my goal is an empty inbox.
  • answer question on what kind of paper can go in printer.
  • phone call from PIRA in the UK (love that accent) asking about a journal renewal
  • straightened out that renewal on our end and theirs
  • check email
  • forwarded PIRA email to assistant for her to handle
  • phone call from journal vendor. Set appointment for end of month to discuss quote. Invited assistant to participate
  • wrote a blog post on http://www.canada411.ca
  • called home

10 am

  • starting a headache. off to get food and take pills
  • BLT with cheese - yummy
  • checked library typo of the day against our catalogue - impared - no matches were found
  • updated online calendars
  • continued with paper monster - filled my recycle bin in my office
  • created an account with Collections Canada for ISBNs (for CFUW cookbook)
  • filing of paper from paper monster
  • check email
  • checked status of ID ordered yesterday
  • blogged http://www.pandora.com
  • updated training database with conferences etc.
  • sent appreciation award nomination for staff member

Lunch

  • lunch with my peeps (husband, daughter, son). They brought a picnic lunch and we ate outside (note to self - tell facilities that picnic tables need painting)

1 pm

  • listening to this cool music site http://www.pandora.com  Only works on US IP addresses, not Canadian ones so I cannot listen at home.
  • continued updating training database with conferences etc. - added approx. 25 courses and conference to database. Time consuming.
  • All staff meeting 3-4.

4 pm

  • request from corporate library in USA to test remote Z39.50 catalogue access. Still not working. Replied as such.
  • headache still not gone - more pills
  • talked to people dropping by as they return from staff meeting - I enjoy it, but it is time consuming.
  • cleaned up learning/training database display on web page (cold fusion, html, dreamweaver, etc.)
  • check email
  • watered plants
  • set up new account for new employee and sent him a ton of info on what we have, what we can do for him, how we can make things easier,etc.
  • called Dog Guides of Canada to check a few things on the foster puppy we will be picking up next week. this is our second one. The first one can be seen at flickr casper set

6 pm

  • soccer practice for kid#2
  • home paper monster / pay bills / filing
  • menu planning etc for company coming for the weekend

 











Pandora






What is Pandora?

Pandora is a music discovery service designed to help you enjoy music you already know, and to help you discover new music you'll love.

It's powered by the most comprehensive analysis of music ever undertaken, the Music Genome Project: a crazy project started back in early 2000 to capture the complex musical DNA of songs using a large team of highly-trained musicians.

Just tell us one of your favourite songs or artists and we'll launch a streaming station to explore that part of the musical universe.

You can listen to Pandora on the Web, Pandora on the Go, or Pandora in the Home.

 

I love this concept.

 

 

 











Canada411






I needed to look up a phone number today and was very pleasantly surprised to see that the old standby canada411.ca has upgraded.

The look is cleaner and easier to use.

But best of all, when I found my person, I was offered the option to save, email to a friend and share on Facebook. I chose save and was offered quick links to save in Outlook, Outlook express, lotus notes, lotus organizer and palm desktop. Also options for saving as word or PDF to my desktop. And printing. And add to Facebook, myspace, yahoo notepad, digg, del.i.cio.us, Google bookmarks, ask.com, furl and yahoo my web. You can also send it as an email, a text, or IM.

I don't know why I would post someone's phone and address in Facebook, but some of the other options are quite nice.

I saved to outlook and it was quick and easy.

Another cool addition is that when you chose someone, it shows you a map (using Microsoft virtual earth) to their address and offers to give you directions to get there.

Other features made easier to use: reverse look up; proximity search (find who lives near you, a location, a phone number, etc.);

Now off I go to waste time and add other people to Outlook.

quick and easy.













Tuesday, August 05, 2008









A Day in the Life meme - Day 2






Tuesday August 6

 

8:30 am

  • Came in early to make up hours to leave early on Friday (my sister is visiting next weekend)
  • Considered the fact that this is not a typical week what with holiday on Monday and leaving early on Friday, but then, none are
  • Checked email
  • requested an invention disclosure document
  • forwarded a couple of things of interest to various staff (XRCC staff, not library staff) members
  • started this meme :)
  • downloaded list of knovel titles we subscribe to
  • sent email to knovel support requesting MARC records for our titles
  • fixed typo in library newsletter published last Friday - both the publisher version and the web version
  • reviewed google reader content and forwarded items of interest to staff
  • tried to figure out why the first DayInTheLife post is not showing on my blog - gave up - it will show up sometime
  • refreshed book display
  • sent updated meeting notice to Library Users' Committee members (meeting is on Thursday) with room number
  • reviewed notes for lunch meeting (non work related CFUW meeting to organize part of CFUW Oakville 60th anniversary celebrations)
  • checked today's "typo of the day for librarians" (monthy for monthly) in our catalogue -- no matches were found!!
  • added a couple of trial blogs to my reader
  • tried to upload a newsletter to our nano files - problems with the software
  • rebooted computer and went to get breakfast while it was restarting
  • after reboot, all is well, files uploaded properly
  • reconfirmed staff meeting this afternoon - it has been cancelled - gained an hour of my life back.

10 am

  • chemical abstracts search on XXXXXXX for XXXXXXX :)
  • set up folder for august searches and added results from above search
  • sent results to requester with summary and explanation of search methods
  • merged and corrected library online passwords file
  • merged and corrected my personal online passwords file

11 am

  • attended corporate communications meeting online
  • participated in second life meeting.
  • the second life meeting consisted of us trying to work out a way of watching the communications meeting in second life together.

LUNCH

  • added knovel widget to web page
  • sent erroneous email to entire building instead of one person. Received multiple "humourous" comments from various staff members. Looking for large rock to crawl under
  • replied to my manager (perhaps I shouldn't have) who felt the need to alert me to a typo in the erroneous email - wtf - ironically he had a typo in his
  • went for short walk to get a drink -- diet coke people, diet coke :)
  • made appt for massage on Friday
  • set up appt for 4 pm to assist someone installing software
  • pointed another person to corporate library resources
  • started on "paper monster". It lives in my desk drawer. It is funny how things lose importance the longer they sit in a drawer. Tossing most things into recycle bin.
  • read email and blog posts
  • answered cataloguing question

4 pm

  • filled out credit card dispute form for a library service we cancelled but they billed anyway, printed all email, and mailed to mastercard
  • tried to install software, but the uninstall would not work
  • gossip
  • watched the lightning and wind and rain out the window and wondered when the power would go out
  • updated database
  • investigated method for scanning lab notebook - rush

5:30   go home

6:00 eat

6:30 soccer for one child

7:15 CFUW cookbook meeting

 

http://librarydayinthelife.pbwiki.com/

 











A day in the life meme - Day 1






Monday August 5

Civic Holiday in  Canada

XRCC Closed

 

  • Checked email from home
  • forwarded a couple of things of interest to various staff
  • (XRCC staff, not library staff) members

 

http://librarydayinthelife.pbwiki.com/

 













Friday, August 01, 2008









August 1, 2008 10:56 AM PDT Amazon to acquire rare-book site AbeBooks






August 1, 2008 10:56 AM PDT
Amazon to acquire rare-book site AbeBooks


Amazon's book selection is about to grow bigger, older, and rarer. The company announced Friday that it will acquire AbeBooks.com, which specializes in out-of-print book sales.

No financial details of the acquisition were given, but Amazon, headquartered in Seattle, expects the deal to close before the end of its fourth quarter.

British-Columbia based AbeBooks, established in 1996, sells more than 110 million titles of used, rare, and out-of-print books listed by thousands of independent sellers around the world. In 2002, the company began to sell some books through Amazon's Marketplace program, which enabled its 13,500 book sellers to list inventory in Amazon.com's catalog.

Following the acquisition by Amazon, AbeBooks will continue to operate as a stand-alone company and will have control over its global Web sites.


I love Abebooks (but I am not sure I would call them a rare book site, more of a used book site). I love that they are Canadian. Now they are not really Canadian. I hope Amazon leaves them alone.


Zemanta Pixie


























 

Population

Country

G

S

B

T

Gold/ million

Silver/ million

Bronze/ million

Total/ million

1.

2029000

SLO - Slovenia

1

1

2

4

0.4929

0.4929

0.9857

1.9714

2.

3002000

ARM - Armenia

   

5

5

0.0000

0.0000

1.6656

1.6656

3.

21394309

AUS - Australia

11

10

12

33

0.5142

0.4674

0.5609

1.5425

4.

2714000

JAM - Jamaica

2

2

 

4

0.7369

0.7369

0.0000

1.4738

5.

4274800

NZL - New Zealand

2

1

3

6

0.4679

0.2339

0.7018

1.4036

6.

9690000

BLR - Belarus

1

3

7

11

0.1032

0.3096

0.7224

1.1352

7.

5489022

DEN - Denmark

2

1

3

6

0.3644

0.1822

0.5465

1.0931

8.

4778500

NOR - Norway

1

2

2

5

0.2093

0.4185

0.4185

1.0464

9.

11268000

CUB - Cuba

1

5

5

11

0.0887

0.4437

0.4437

0.9762

10.

2629000

MGL - Mongolia

1

1

 

2

0.3804

0.3804

0.0000

0.7607

11.

1333000

TRI - Trinidad/Tobago

 

1

 

1

0.0000

0.7502

0.0000

0.7502

12.

1340600

EST - Estonia

 

1

 

1

0.0000

0.7459

0.0000

0.7459

13.

5402273

SVK - Slovakia

3

1

 

4

0.5553

0.1851

0.0000

0.7404

14.

16445000

NED - Netherlands

3

5

4

12

0.1824

0.3040

0.2432

0.7297

15.

4395000

GEO - Georgia

2

 

1

3

0.4551

0.0000

0.2275

0.6826

16.

7637300

SUI - Switzerland

2

 

3

5

0.2619

0.0000

0.3928

0.6547

17.

8467000

AZE - Azerbaijan

1

2

2

5

0.1181

0.2362

0.2362

0.5905

18.

5318105

FIN - Finland

1

1

1

3

0.1880

0.1880

0.1880

0.5641

19.

15422000

KAZ - Kazakhstan

1

3

4

8

0.0648

0.1945

0.2594

0.5187

20.

10043000

HUN - Hungary

 

4

1

5

0.0000

0.3983

0.0996

0.4979

21.

10403136

CZE - <

2

3

 

5

0.1922

0.2884

0.0000

0.4806

22.

48224000

KOR - Korea

8

9

6

23

0.1659

0.1866

0.1244

0.4769

23.

60587300

GBR - Great Britain

12

7

8

27

0.1981

0.1155

0.1320

0.4456

24.

4555000

CRO - Croatia

 

1

1

2

0.0000

0.2195

0.2195

0.4391

25.

64473140

FRA - France

4

11

13

28

0.0620

0.1706

0.2016

0.4343

26.

7640238

BUL - Bulgaria

1

1

1

3

0.1309

0.1309

0.1309

0.3927

27.

5317000

KGZ - Kyrgyzstan

 

1

1

2

0.0000

0.1881

0.1881

0.3762

28.

21438000

ROU - Romania

4

1

3

8

0.1866

0.0466

0.1399

0.3732

29.

8340924

AUT - Austria

 

1

2

3

0.0000

0.1199

0.2398

0.3597

30.

46059306

UKR - Ukraine

5

3

8

16

0.1086

0.0651

0.1737

0.3474

31.

9215021

SWE - Sweden

 

3

 

3

0.0000

0.3256

0.0000

0.3256

32.

59619290

ITA - Italy

6

6

6

18

0.1006

0.1006

0.1006

0.3019

33.

13349000

ZIM - Zimbabwe

1

3

 

4

0.0749

0.2247

0.0000

0.2996

34.

3343000

PAN - Panama

1

   

1

0.2991

0.0000

0.0000

0.2991

35.

3361100

LTU - Lithuania

   

1

1

0.0000

0.0000

0.2975

0.2975

36.

82191000

GER - Germany

9

7

7

23

0.1095

0.0852

0.0852

0.2798

37.

33350000

CAN - Canada

2

3

4

9

0.0600

0.0900

0.1199

0.2699

38.

11147000

GRE - Greece

 

1

2

3

0.0000

0.0897

0.1794

0.2691

39.

141888900

RUS - Russian Fed.

8

13

15

36

0.0564

0.0916

0.1057

0.2537

40.

23790000

PRK - DPR Korea

2

1

3

6

0.0841

0.0420

0.1261

0.2522

41.

304900000

USA - United States

22

24

26

72

0.0722

0.0787

0.0853

0.2361

42.

4588600

SIN - Singapore

 

1

 

1

0.0000

0.2179

0.0000

0.2179

43.

9858000

SRB - Serbia

 

1

1

2

0.0000

0.1014

0.1014

0.2029

44.

37538000

KEN - Kenya

2

3

2

7

0.0533

0.0799

0.0533

0.1865

45.

38115967

POL - Poland

3

3

1

7

0.0787

0.0787

0.0262

0.1837

46.

46063000

ESP - Spain

3

3

2

8

0.0651

0.0651

0.0434

0.1737

47.

127690000

JPN - Japan

8

5

7

20

0.0627

0.0392

0.0548

0.1566

48.

6585000

TOG - Togo

   

1

1

0.0000

0.0000

0.1519

0.1519

49.

6736000

TJK - Tajikistan

   

1

1

0.0000

0.0000

0.1485

0.1485

50.

27372000

UZB - Uzbekistan

 

1

2

3

0.0000

0.0365

0.0731

0.1096

51.

10327000

TUN - Tunisia

1

   

1

0.0968

0.0000

0.0000

0.0968

52.

10623000

POR - Portugal

 

1

 

1

0.0000

0.0941

0.0000

0.0941

53.

22900000

TPE - Chinese <>

   

2

2

0.0000

0.0000

0.0873

0.0873

54.

13341000

ECU - Ecuador

 

1

 

1

0.0000

0.0750

0.0000

0.0750

55.

16763470

CHI - Chile

 

1

 

1

0.0000

0.0597

0.0000

0.0597

56.

33858000

ALG - Algeria

 

1

1

2

0.0000

0.0295

0.0295

0.0591

57.

18549000

CMR - Cameroon

1

   

1

0.0539

0.0000

0.0000

0.0539

58.

1325600000

CHN - China

39

14

14

67

0.0294

0.0106

0.0106

0.0505

59.

44513090

COL - Colombia

 

1

1

2

0.0000

0.0225

0.0225

0.0449

60.

70586256

TUR - Turkey

 

2

1

3

0.0000

0.0283

0.0142

0.0425

61.

79221000

ETH - Ethiopia

2

1

 

3

0.0252

0.0126

0.0000

0.0379

62.

27170000

MAS - Malaysia

 

1

 

1

0.0000

0.0368

0.0000

0.0368

63.

31224000

MAR - Morocco

   

1

1

0.0000

0.0000

0.0320

0.0320

64.

187495000

BRA - Brazil

1

 

5

6

0.0053

0.0000

0.0267

0.0320

65.

40301927

ARG - Argentina

   

1

1

0.0000

0.0000

0.0248

0.0248

66.

231627000

INA - Indonesia

1

1

3

5

0.0043

0.0043

0.0130

0.0216

67.

47850700

RSA - South Africa

 

1

 

1

0.0000

0.0209

0.0000

0.0209

68.

63038247

THA - Thailand

1

   

1

0.0159

0.0000

0.0000

0.0159

69.

75212000

EGY - Egypt

   

1

1

0.0000

0.0000

0.0133

0.0133

70.

87375000

VIE - Vietnam

 

1

 

1

0.0000

0.0114

0.0000

0.0114

71.

106682500

MEX - Mexico

   

1

1

0.0000

0.0000

0.0094

0.0094

72.

1136876600

IND - India

1

   

1

0.0009

0.0000

0.0000

0.0009