Arkiv's Wacky World of Electronic Resources

~ FIN ~

2010-12-29T21:17:00.005-05:00

I have decided to put an end to this blog for two reasons:

1. There are so many blogs out there with a similar theme. Some of my posts may have been unique among the librarian blogs, but so much of it could have been encountered elsewhere and I have recently not found enough time to keep up with my online presence.

2. During the past few summers, I used to blog about my visits to libraries around the world. I have rolled these experiences into another blog called "Library Journals" which appears to be quite original as I have yet to come across a blog on this theme. For this reason I will focus my attention only on this blog.

Photoshop Online?

2010-03-13T16:47:00.003-05:00

Having recently formatted my hard drive, I was looking to edit a photo I had and realized I had not yet installed Photoshop. Feeling a bit lazy, I did not search for the install disc but instead looked to see if there was something I could use online. That is when I came across Pixlr. It of course does not have every feature Photoshop has, but for us mere mortals there are more than enough options to edit and create some pretty nice pictures.

The price for Photoshop has come down considerably over the past decade but it is still nearly $100. But is it a necessary purchase considering this website does most everything I need?

Olympic Games Official Reports!

2010-02-28T10:47:00.006-05:00

As the Winter Olympics are drawing towards a close, I thought I would share this link with you.

There are books out there which list the results of every event from the modern day Olympic Games since Athens 1896, but they are very expensive and you will find them at very few public libraries. As far as I can see it, there is absolutely no need to purchase them as the official reports are in the public domain and freely available on the web. The LA84 Foundation has all of them in pdf format to download directly from their website. This link is even easier to navigate as it groups each Olympics in their own folder and also includes the publications for each individual event. Well alright then, that should also free up some more space in the reference section!!!

Is the site down?

2009-08-07T11:33:00.002-04:00

We have all been asked this by patrons using our internet. HERE is a handy website that will answer that question. Just input the URL and it will inform you whether the site you entered is down or the problem is on your end.

Foreign Language Dictionaries

2009-06-23T19:24:00.002-04:00

We interrupt this summer's tour of libraries to bring you something I should have posted a long time ago. Earlier this month I posted twice on foreign language material and I completely forgot to mention FREELANG. I had been on this site extensively around 2000, but only have been checked back a few times since then and had almost forgotten about it. I was pleasantly surprised when I found a massive update which now includes 248 foreign language dictionaries from the most common (German, French, Spanish) to the utter obscure (Alsatian, Blackfoot, Faroese). Below is a list by language families of all the dictionaries on their site:

Indo-European family

Indo-Iranian group

Indic branch
- SANSKRIT - extinct
- PALI - Asia
- GUJARATI - India
- HINDI - India
- PUNJABI - India
- RAJASTHANI - India
- ORIYA - India
- SINHALA - Sri Lanka
- NEPALI - Nepal
- URDU - Pakistan
- ROMANI - Europe
Iranian branch
- KURDISH - Turkey
- PERSIAN - Iran
- BALOCHI - Pakistan
- PASHTO - Afghanistan

Greek group

GREEK - Greece

Italic (Latin) group

CATALAN - Spain
FRENCH - France
FRENCH (specialized) - France
CH'TI - France
BOURBONESE - France
JERRIAIS - Jersey
ITALIAN - Italy
VENETIAN - Italy
(BRAZILIAN) VENETO - Brazil
LATIN - extinct
OCCITAN - France
PORTUGUESE - Portugal
BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE - Brazil
ROMANIAN - Romania
AROMANIAN - Macedonia
SPANISH - Spain
LUNFARDO - Argentina

Celtic group

Brittonic branch
- BRETON - France
- CORNISH - United Kingdom
- WELSH - United Kingdom
Gaelic branch
- IRISH GAELIC - Ireland
- MANX - United Kingdom
- SCOTTISH GAELIC - United Kingdom

Germanic group

Western branch
- AFRIKAANS - South Africa
- AMERICAN - U.S.A.
- DUTCH - Netherlands
- FRISIAN - Netherlands
- OLD FRISIAN - extinct
- GERMAN - Germany
- ALSATIAN - France
- YIDDISH - Israel
- OLD ENGLISH - extinct
Northern branch
- DANISH - Denmark
- FAROESE - Denmark
- ICELANDIC - Iceland
- NORWEGIAN - Norway
- OLD GUTNISH - extinct
- OLD NORSE - extinct
- SWEDISH - Sweden
Eastern branch
- GOTHIC - extinct

Baltic group

LATVIAN - Latvia
LITHUANIAN - Lithuania
PRUSSIAN - extinct

Slavic group

Western branch
- CZECH - Czech Republic
- POLISH - Poland
- KASHUBIAN - Poland
- SLOVAK - Slovakia
Southern branch
- CROATIAN - Croatia
- MACEDONIAN - Macedonia
- SERBIAN - Serbia and Montenegro
- SLOVENIAN - Slovenia
Eastern branch
- RUSSIAN - Russia
- UKRAINIAN - Ukraine

Armenian group

ARMENIAN - Armenia

Albanian group

ALBANIAN - Albania

Constructed languages

ESPERANTO - constructed

Basque family

BASQUE - Spain

Dravidian family

Central group

TELUGU - India

Southern group

TAMIL (romanized) - India
TAMIL (spoken language) - India

Uralic family

Finno-Ugric group

Finnish branch
- ESTONIAN - Estonia
- VORO - Estonia
- FINNISH - Finland
- SAMI - Finland
- MARI - Russia
- MORDVIN - Russia
- KOMI - Russia
- UDMURT - Russia
Hungarian branch
- HUNGARIAN - Hungary
- KHANTY - Russia
- MANSI - Russia

Samoyed group

ENETS - Russia
NENETS - Russia
NGANASAN - Russia
SELKUP - Russia
YUKAGHIR - Russia
KAMAS - extinct

Caucasian family

Caucasian group

North-Western
- ABAZA - Russia
- ABKHAZ - Abkhazia
- ADYGHE - Russia
- KABARDIAN - Russia
- UBYKH - extinct
North-Eastern
- ARCHI - Russia
- TABASSARAN - Russia
- LEZGI - Russia
- AGHUL - Russia
- UDI - Azerbaijan
- KRYTS - Azerbaijan
- BUDUKH - Azerbaijan
- RUTUL - Russia
- TSAKHUR - Russia
- LAK - Russia

Kartvelian group group

GEORGIAN - Georgia
MINGRELIAN - Georgia
SVAN - Georgia
LAZ - Turkey

Altaic family

Turkic group

TURKISH - Turkey
AZERI - Azerbaijan
TURKMEN - Turkmenistan
KAZAKH - Kazakhstan
KIRGHIZ - Kirgyzstan
UZBEK - Uzbekistan
KARAKALPAK - Uzbekistan
GAGAUZ - Moldova
UYGHUR - China
SALAR - China
WEST YUGUR - China
YAKUT - Russia
CHUVASH - Russia
BASHKIR - Russia
DOLGAN - Russia
TATAR - Russia
SHOR - Russia
KHAKAS - Russia
CHULYM - Russia
BALKAR - Russia
KUMYK - Russia
NOGAI - Russia
TUVIN - Russia
TOFA - Russia
KHALAJ - Iran
KARAIM - Lithuania
KARAKHANID - extinct
OTTOMAN TURKISH - extinct

Mongolian group

MONGOLIAN - Mongolia
MONGUOR-TU - China
DAUR - China
DONGXIANG - China
BONAN - China
ORDOS - Mongolia
YUGUR - China
BURYAT - Buryatia
KALMYK - Kalmykia
OIRAT - Kalmykia
MOGHOL - Afghanistan

Japanese family

JAPANESE - Japan

Ainu family

AINU - Japan

Korean family

KOREAN (Hangul) - Korea

KOREAN (romanized) - Korea

Sino-Tibetan family

Chinese group

CANTONESE - China

Tibeto-Burman group

BURMESE - Burma
JINGPHO - Burma
TIBETAN - Tibet
TUJIA - China
MIZO - India
MANIPURI - India
LEPCHA - India
KIRATI - Nepal

Tai-Kadai group

THAI - Thailand

Miao-Yao group

HMONG - China

Austro-Asiatic family

Mon-Khmer group

KHMER - Cambodia
VIETNAMESE - Vietnam

Afro-Asiatic family

Semitic group

ARABIC - Maghreb
HEBREW (romanized) - Israel
MALTESE - Malta
PHOENICIAN - extinct

Berber group

KABYLE - Algeria

Cushitic group

AFAR - Ethiopia
OROMO - Ethiopia
SOMALI - Somalia

Nilo-Saharan family

Nilotic group

KIPSIGIS - Kenya

Fur group

FULFULDE - Cameroon

Niger-Congo family

Bantu branch

GBARI - Nigeria
KINYARWANDA - Rwanda
LINGALA - DR Congo
SWAHILI - Tanzania
XHOSA - South Africa
ZULU - South Africa
SESOTHO - Lesotho
CHICHEWA - Malawi
SHIMAORE - Mayotte

Kwa group

YORUBA - Nigeria
IGBO - Nigeria

West-Atlantic group

WOLOF - Senegal

Austronesian family

Malayo-Polynesian group (Western)

INDONESIAN - Indonesia
MALAY - Malaysia
TAGALOG - Philippines
CEBUANO - Philippines

Malayo-Polynesian group (Central)

TETUM - East Timor

Malayo-Polynesian group (Eastern)

Polynesian languages
- HAWAIIAN - Hawaii
- MANGAREVAN - French Polynesia
- MARQUESAN - French Polynesia
- TAHITIAN - French Polynesia
- MAORI - New Zealand
- RAROTONGAN - Cook Islands
- MANGAIAN - Cook Islands
- SAMOAN - Samoa
- TONGAN - Tonga
- TUVALUAN - Tuvalu
Micronesian languages
- KIRIBATI - Kiribati
- CHUUKESE - Micronesia
- KOSRAEAN - Micronesia
- PONAPEAN - Micronesia
- YAPESE - Micronesia
- MARSHALLESE - Marshall Islands
- NAURUAN - Nauru

Andamanese family

ONGE (ANDAMAN) - India

Creole

English based

TOK PISIN - Papua New Guinea

French based

HAITIAN CREOLE - Haiti

Portuguese based

PAPIAMENTO - Netherlands Antilles

Amerindian family

Araucanian group

MAPUCHE - Chile

Macro-Ge group

MAXAKALI - Brazil
XAVANTE - Brazil

Quechuan group

QUECHUA (BOLIVIAN) - Bolivia
QUECHUA (OF CUZCO) - Peru

Tupi-Guarani group

PARAKAN - Brazil

Chibchan group

MISKITO - Nicaragua

Uto-Aztecan group

NAHUATL - Mexico
OLD NAHUATL - extinct

Muskogean group

CHOCTAW - U.S.A

Iroquoian group

MOHAWK - Canada
CHEROKEE (ANIYAWIYA) - U.S.A.

Algonquian group

ABENAKI-PENOBSCOT - U.S.A.
BLACKFOOT - Canada
CHEYENNE - U.S.A
MALISEET - Canada
NASKAPI - Canada
OJIBWE - Canada

Na-Dene family

HAIDA - Canada

Athapaskan group

GWICH'IN - Alaska
TANACROSS - Alaska
TAGISH - Canada

Yeniseian family

Northern branch

KET - Russia
YUGH - extinct

Southern branch

KOTT - extinct
ARIN - extinct
PUMPOKOL - extinct

Eskimo-Aleut family

Inuit group

INUIT - Canada
YUPIK - Alaska

Welcome to Summer...and more visits to libraries!!!

2009-06-17T18:00:00.002-04:00

Summer is here again and instead of bombarding you with electronic resources, I'm going to post some more libraries that I have visited over the past few years. Yes, when I go on vacation I always make it a point to stop at the local library. I'm always curious how other libraries stack up against the ones I've worked at or used and how they operate. Today's stop is in the infamous town of Helen, GA. Maybe infamous is a bit harsh since this town is much nicer than any other surrounding it for at least 100 miles, but it is fake. Back in the 60's it was decided to turn this town into an Alpine village and make it a tourist destination. Driving in rural Georgia and suddenly arriving at what looks like Bavaria is quite a surreal experience. I was there shortly before Christmas in 2005 and it really did look pretty, but again, I might as well have been in Vegas. At least the library's architecture was in tune with the rest of the village. Helen's library is a branch of the Northeast Georgia Regional Library System.

Streaming Video

2009-06-10T14:32:00.005-04:00

In reference to last week's post, I would like to bring to your attention the Annenberg Media site which has videos you can stream on learning German, French and Spanish. These programs originally aired on PBS and I distinctly remember watching French in Action on TV back in the 80s. It had a very unique approach of teaching without any instruction in English and I highly recommend this program. In addition to these foreign language programs, there are many others on world history and cultures. You do need to create a free account in order to view the videos online.

Foreign Languages

2009-06-03T10:19:00.005-04:00

Looking for something on learning a foreign language? I have never seen a site with as much material as this one. Not only do they have books, which are primarily in pdf format, but also audio, video and cd-rom format. Keep in mind that a lot of their postings are copyrighted material, so use caution when offering a title to a patron. A safer bet would be to use the free database ERIC and use the descriptor "Conversational Language Courses". Here you will find many courses with audio accompaniment and although they may be somewhat dated, they are all in the public domain.

Dabbling in Genealogy?

2009-05-10T14:34:00.006-04:00

http://www.myheritage.com/

http://www.geni.com/

Looking to build your family tree? The above two websites have a basic membership that is free and not only is it easy to create a pedigree , but these sites can also be used for social networking. As a matter of fact, you can interface Geni with Facebook which opens up a whole new realm of possibilities. Although My Heritage at this time has less users and also a restriction of 250 names for a free account, it does offer additional statistics on your family tree as well as free genealogical software to download. Both have a clean and easy-to-use interface, so my recommendation is, try them both. If you're looking to connect with a long-lost relative, using both sites may be to your advantage.

Building a resume

2009-05-01T10:53:00.005-04:00

Let's face it, putting together a resume and searching for jobs is one of the main services public libraries provide, especially with the current economic situation. Until last month, the library system I work for did not even have word processing available for its patrons for many years. Even with online word processors such as Google Docs and Zohowriter, trying to build a resume on one of these can be an absolute nightmare. Trying to align the text, remain consistent with font types and size and all of this with a lack of a print preview can test anyone's patience.

For those libraries without word processing software, Chris Warren who is a colleague of mine, recommended the following website>>> http://www.emurse.com/
In addition to allowing you to create up to two resumes and being able to download them in a variety of formats, it is also a place to search for jobs and for employers to search for you!

Library Humor!

2009-04-18T12:36:00.015-04:00

This post will be a bit on the lighter side.

Well, one thing's for sure...if you're going to work in a library and keep your sanity, you have to maintain at least some level of humor. Luckily, the people I work with do, although this hasn't always been the case. I remember when I was still in the hotel business, there were people that would rather torture others including themselves than step back and take a less serious look at things.

OK, enough rambling and on to today's post. I don't know why there hasn't been a sitcom set in a library; I for one think there is enough material to keep it going for many seasons! Well actually, there was a short-lived series on Australian TV called "The Librarians" two years ago. Unfortunately it's unavailable on DVD here in the States. For those interested, here is a link to the website.

My first introduction to library humor was Will Manley's column in American Libraries. If you do not have a subscription to this journal, you can always go into a database, such as MasterFile Premier and do a search. He has also written quite a few books of which "Unprofessional Behavior: Confessions of a Public Librarian" is my favorite.

Hungry for more, I did a web search and came across this group from Australia (apparently they have a better sense of humor than us!) called Warrior Librarians. This is the old website but a new blog was started last year and can be found here. They also published a book which I ILL'd back in 2005. Had some humorous bits, but then I stumbled across the now almost legendary comic strip "Unshelved". This also spawned a few books. The strip was most effective when it dealt with everyday going-ons in the library, but often it got just downright silly.

Only a few days I was introduced to "Shelf Check", an online comic by a librarian in Minneapolis. Like "Dilbert" it's hit-and-miss, but when it hits home, it works beautifully. Here's a couple of frames as an example (just click on them) >>>

Here is another good resource of miscellaneous links >>> http://www.librarysupportstaff.com/libhumor.html

The Lexile Framework for Reading

2009-04-14T10:21:00.004-04:00

Lexile is similar in approach to the accelerated reading lists we all familiar with, but includes many more selections (tens of thousands of books and tens of millions of articles according to the website) and it extends all the way to college level. I have only briefly looked over this website, but it looks like a very valuable tool. This website was brought to my attention by DeAnna Teske-Espinoza. Thank you very much for this suggestion!

http://www.lexile.com/

Do you like making lists?

2009-03-26T10:22:00.003-04:00

Here's a neat little website that allows you to create and share lists. What I like most about it, is that you can import and export lists in csv format. For those of you unfamiliar with this format, it is a database type and stands for "Comma-separated values." If you are using Access, Excel or Works, you can save your file in this format and upload it to this website.

Digitized Maps!

2009-03-24T16:18:00.003-04:00

Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection

Click on the above link to the most impressive online map collection I've come across. Part of the University of Texas, this digital collection contains political, topographical as well as historical maps from all over the world in jpeg format and, in some instances, pdf format.

Movies based on books

2009-03-18T10:44:00.002-04:00

A co-worker of mine, Dione Regan, passed on this site to me. http://www.mcpl.lib.mo.us/readers/movies/

The Mid-Continent Public Library in Missouri has produced this very impressive list of over 1,000 films which are based on books. Not only is it interesting to find out that some of your favorite movies were actually based on books, but also when the title of the film differs from the book.

Movies & TV!

2009-02-17T21:26:00.005-05:00

Alright, everybody by now should know about this site. If you are looking for information on films, actors, actresses, directors, you name it, it simply has no equals. I have a permanent link on my browser and use it almost on a daily basis.

You may however not be familiar with this one. If you are looking for information on television series, this is the site. With cast listings as well as episode guides on each and every season, Epguides is a handy reference tool.
This website checks the availability of TV shows on DVD. If you create a free account, you can even keep lists of the DVDs you own, and which ones you plan to buy. Invaluable for those library systems investing in classic TV.

Newspapers from around the World!

2009-02-10T18:20:00.005-05:00

Want to read your local newspaper or perhaps one from halfway around the world? Well, there's a good chance you will find it online and save the rainforests in the process. There are a number of good sites which index newspapers from around the world. And here's a simple test on how good a particular site is - search for a paper from Liechtenstein. If you get any results at all, it's a good site!

www.newspapers24.com
www.world-newspapers.com
www.onlinenewspapers.com
www.worldpress.org/gateway.htm
www.pressdisplay.com

My personal favorite is www.allnewspapers.com. This site also lists magazines, radio stations and TV stations.

Need online space?

2009-02-08T21:55:00.004-05:00

Just when it looked like Google was the most generous in allotting online space, Microsoft has upped the ante. Talk about space to upload your photos! 25 GIG! You can also use this space to upload files to backup online. Microsoft calls this SkyDrive (oh, I get it!). As a matter of fact, MSN has streamlined so many of their features, such as the calendar, address book, event log, blog, online office tools, etc, right now I'm curious how Google is going to answer. Anyhow, it is us, the consumer, that is benefitting from all these free services.

mp4, mov, mkv - What does this all mean?

2009-01-28T22:06:00.003-05:00

Ever come across a file that won't open and you have no idea what program to use to open it? FILExt is an very handy site that allows you to type in a file extension and lists all programs associated with it. I have been using this site for years and most recently have found it extremely helpful when assisting patrons with mysterious file attachments in their emails. I may not be able to open those attachments for them, but at least I can tell them what program they can use outside the library.

Google does it again!

2009-01-15T12:20:00.003-05:00

I missed one very important site in last month's post on free photo hosting. Google's Picasa also offers a gig of space and allows you to organize your photos in folders. Like most everything with Google, the page is uncrowded and intuitive. If you happen to have a blog on blogger.com, all your photos on the blog are neatly tucked away in a folder. Bravo!

Digital Photos Online

2008-12-19T09:09:00.002-05:00

Uploading your digital photos online is a great way to share them among family and friends. It also creates a backup if you somehow lose the originals and enables you to access them from anywhere in the world. Practically all of these sites offer seemingly limitless benefits if you become a subscriber, but most offer you generous space by simply registering and not costing a dime. The amount of space and features vary of course.

Flickr is a terrific site and one of the most popular on the web, but it only allows you to make three folders and will only display your most recent 200 photos. Photobucket, on the other hand, allows up to 1 gig of storage on a free account. For most people, this alone will suffice, but with the amount of services offering free space, one can easily store photos on the web without opening one's wallet. Other sites that host for free are:

Snapfish
Dotphoto
Fotki
Photoworks
Shutterfly
Webshots

WorldCat Rocks!

2008-11-30T11:34:00.003-05:00

Alright, maybe a classical music aficionado like myself should not use such an expression, but WorldCat keeps getting better and better. For those of you who work in a library, you know how useful this website is, and there is more to it than just looking up materials and their locations. Most recently, I've been creating lists of items I own (click here for an example). It automatically imports the bibliographic record and pictures of the item when available. I can also export any list to an Excel file. If you've viewed my Facebook profile recently, you'll notice that I have installed the WorldCat application.

Have a favorite author? Take a look at WorldCat Identities which is in beta right now. Punch a name in and see what WorldCat can offer...

Yes, I am still alive!

2008-11-25T22:08:00.004-05:00

Just rather lazy, I guess. Now that I've put a link to my blog on my Facebook profile, perhaps some people will actually visit it now! That means it's time for an update...

As a follow-up to my March 13th post on replacement covers, I have discovered another site which should be of great use. Despite being the largest cover site on the net, there are still covers on websites not found on cdcovers.cc. http://cdcovers.to is a cover search engine which searches 12 different websites. The total number of covers is currently over 3.3 million!

Andrew Carnegie in the Caribbean???!!!

2008-08-29T12:52:00.002-04:00

Well, he might not have been on the island of Barbados, but one of his libraries certainly is. Founded in 1904, it is one of the few libraries found outside of the United States or Carnegie's native Scotland. Unfortunately when I visited Bridgetown, the capital of Barbados, back in January of 2007, I was informed by someone on the street that the whole place closed down two weeks before due to an epidemic! What I really find mysterious is that I could not locate the website or any further information on this library's current operations. Did it close permanently? I guess I'll have to arrange another trip to the island to find out!

>>> American Philatelic Research Library <<<

2008-08-23T17:00:00.007-04:00

Here's a special library, and when I say "special", I mean it! Throughout my life I have been an avid stamp collector and I used to make a yearly pilgrimage to the American Philatelic Society (APS) when it was still located in State College, Pennsylvania. In addition to visiting the sales division, I made extensive use of their library services and resources while I was there. The APS has over 40,ooo members worldwide and its library over 20,000 books and 5,000 journals. The library is in fact open to the public, but only members of the APS can borrow materials. Because many members are not within driving distance (such as myself right now!), around 80% of the circulated items are done through the mail. Now, wouldn't it be great to get this collection digitized!!! Now located in Bellefonte, PA, here's a link to the website >>>> http://www.stamps.org/TheLibrary/lib_AbouttheAPRL.htm

For the marketing report and SWOT analysis I did for my class on special libraries >>> http://rapidshare.com/files/139594353/MarketingAuditSWOT.rtf.html

O’Kelly Memorial Library in Loganville, GA

2008-08-18T10:52:00.006-04:00

This library is part of the huge PINES consortium in Georgia. It is comprised of approximately 275 libraries which share a collection of nearly 10 million items. Despite encompassing the poorest areas of the state, this network allows its patrons access to a greater number of resources than even the richest counties such as Cobb, Fulton, Dekalb and Gwinnett. Nevertheless due to poorer conditions of books, outdated material and lack of funding for programming, many people who live near a non-PINES library will cross the county lines in attempting to secure a card.

In contrast to other PINES member libraries I have visited, the one in Loganville was actually well kept. They even had a music CD and movie DVD collection which a Gwinnett County library less than 10 miles away could not even claim.

http://www.uncleremus.org/okelly.htm

Oh my God, is that a typewriter! Those individuals who may be technologically impaired need not fear!
I actually visited this library as part of an assignment for my very last class in library school, Seminar in the Problems of Rural Library Service. For my full report on this library, click the link...http://rapidshare.com/files/138245434/Road_Trip_Assignment.doc.html

2008-08-09T17:35:00.004-04:00

Last week we were on the American side of the Virgin Islands; this week we'll take a visit to the British side and the island of Tortola. The first thing I saw after disembarking the ship was their bookmobile, which I later found out after chatting with the library director that it was purchased from a library system in Ohio. The library itself is found above a supermarket in downtown Road Town. Thumbing through the titles in the reference section, one really begins to realize how lucky we are in the States where most library systems have a half-decent budget. New books were virtually nonexistant and the books that were on the shelves would have been weeded eons ago at most other libraries.

Library's website >>> http://www.bvilibrary.gov.vg

Take a virtual tour here >>> http://www.bvilibrary.gov.vg/toursmain.php

All-American Library!

2008-08-04T21:59:00.005-04:00

OK, maybe not 100% American, although this library is located in a U.S. territory. Found in the U.S. Virgin Islands in the town of Charlotte Amalie on the island of St. Thomas, it is easy to forget you're in a place where people carry American passports and pay using the dollar. For one thing, there actually is a place on U.S. soil where people drive on the left side of the road! And glancing at the names of streets and buildings, you'd swear you were somewhere in Denmark...the library itself is located on a street named "Dronningens Gade"! The U.S. purchased the islands from Denmark back in 1917 and it's nice to see they actually left some things unchanged.

The library is named after perhaps the most famous of all Caribbean librarians, Enid M. Baa. For a bio on her, click here >>> http://www.fostpl.org/Baa.html

For the current library website, click here >>> http://www.virginislandspace.org/Division%20of%20Libraries/dlamhome.htm

My Local Library!

2008-07-29T19:54:00.004-04:00

Well, it was my local library when I lived in Pennsylvania. The main branch of the Eastern Monroe Public Library, it was originally located on Main Street in Stroudsburg but relocated in 1996 to the corner of 611 and Chipperfield Drive. The building, which was formally occupied by Stroud's Jewelers, gave the library much needed space. It is a two-story structure and very well organized and visually appealing. I was never an avid reader when I was young (that has indeed since changed!), but this library in Stroudsburg influenced me greatly in the areas of film and music, which is why I am such a great advocate of AV today. From its original vinyl collection to its classical music collection on compact disc to the wide array of foreign films, travelogues and documentaries, I will be forever indebted to the library for making these materials available in the Poconos which was, at least at the time, a cultural wasteland. Thank you!!! http://www.monroepl.org/

If anyone has a picture of the library when it was still located at 913 Main St, please let me know!

Andrew Carnegie was here!

2008-07-19T21:42:00.006-04:00

Well, even if Mr. Carnegie wasn't here, he is the reason the library stands today. Beginning in 1883, he funded over 2,500 libraries around the world and I am proud to say that my very first library job was in one of them! Completed in 1902, the original building houses its adult fiction collection and serves as a reading room along with the reference desk. The basement was turned into the children's library during the 1920s and other expansions were introduced over the years. In 1978, the library joined the Chester County consortium of 17 libraries; they do however still maintain their own website @ http://www.phoenixvillelibrary.org

If you're wondering, the last picture shows what happens when the computers go down during the Christmas holiday! Aaaarrgghh!

A library on the high seas!

2008-07-12T16:21:00.004-04:00

These pictures were taken aboard the brand new Norwegian Pearl on our Caribbean cruise back in January of 2007. With approximately 2,000 volumes and books in various languages, I was quite impressed. I was disappointed however when I found out there is no designated librarian; various crew members man the desk for a few hours each day. That's me sitting at the desk and thinking, "Wow, wouldn't that be a dream job!" Cunard Lines actually do have a full-time librarian aboard the Queen Mary 2, as well as the new Queen Victoria which boasts of over 6,000 books! Gotta go and get my resume in order...

~The Art Institute of Atlanta Library~

2008-07-07T23:17:00.010-04:00

I visited this library back in March of 2007 as part of an assignment for my class on special libraries. The library's mission is to support the curriculum of the Art Institute and in addition to 40,000 books, the library also has over 4,000 videotapes and DVDs, 150 periodicals, CD-Roms and provides access to over 50 subscription databases. The library is open for use by all, but only faculty, staff and currently enrolled students may check out materials.
http://www.artinstitutes.edu/Atlanta/library

Welcome to Suwanee, GA!

2008-06-22T22:22:00.010-04:00

I've been a librarian for exactly one month now and this is my library...the Suwanee branch of the Gwinnett County Public Library. http://www.gwinnettpl.org/AboutYourLibrary/HoursAndLocations/Branches/BranchLocationSuwanee.html

For the next few posts, I will upload pictures of libraries that I have either worked at or visited. It is summer after all, so let's take a break from all these electronic resources!

File Sharing Sites

2008-06-16T11:31:00.002-04:00

It just recently dawned on me that the link on last month's post will not work unless you log in. My mistake was trying this out at work where logging in to the network is not necessary. My apologies! I re-uploaded the file to Qshare, one of many free file sharing sites on the net. Here is the link http://qshare.com/get/228361/scenario_1_-_Word.doc.html

Sites such as these can be really handy especially when dealing with files that are too large to attach to emails. The following is a list of file sharing sites I have come across on the net. Each have different rules and all would like you to upgrade to a premium account, but each one of these is still very useful even as a free user...

www.sendspace.com
www.megaupload.com
www.rapidshare.com
www.rapidshare.de
www.qshare.com
www.uploaded.to
www.partage-facile.com
www.archiv.to
www.filefactory.com
www.megashare.com
www.easy-share.com
www.zshare.com
www.fastsgare.com
www.ultrashare.com
www.badongo.com
www.filehost.tv
www.fast-load.net
www.4shared.com
www.momupload.com
www.fileflyer.com
www.sharingmatrix.com
www.datenklo.com
www.axifile.com

Technology Training

2008-05-01T16:22:00.004-04:00

Recently, I was put in charge of tech training at my branch. I have since drawn up various scenarios regarding technology used on the job. The very first scenario I put together was on word processing, a crucial service offered in today's public libraries. Until recently, we did not even offer word processing and although we still do not have Microsoft Office on any of our OPACs, we do direct people to Notepad and GoogleDocs, an online word processor. You can download the original document which I used in these trainings by clicking on the following link:

https://sharepoint.gwinnettpl.org/departmentsites/Branches/Snellville/Public%20Documents/Tech%20Training/scenario%201%20-%20Word.doc

American Memory @ Library of Congress

2008-04-25T12:56:00.002-04:00

American Memory @ Library of Congress
(http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html)

If primary source material on the United States is sought, look no further than to the Library of Congress, the largest library in the world and it is making a concerted effort to bring that same presence to the virtual world. The National Digital Library Program (NDLP) began in 1995 to digitize books, pamphlets, motion pictures, photographs, sheet music, manuscripts, maps and sound recordings, and out of it was born “American Memory”, a massive digital archive containing around 11,000,000 files. The collection can be browsed by subject, time period, format type or geographic region and, like a good book, will hold you captive for many hours on end.

Regarding primary sources from other parts of the world, there are two websites of note – Internet History Sourcebooks Project, located at the Fordham University History Department and Center for Medieval Studies, and Eurodocs: Primary Historical Documents from Western Europe, begun at Brigham Young University in 1995 and broken into 46 separate web indexes representing the countries and city-states of Europe.

>>> Megasites <<<

2008-04-04T09:38:00.007-04:00

As with anything, there is good and bad, and the same goes for the internet; for every great website there are a thousand others that we could do without. The ones we like the most we tend to bookmark for easy retrieval. Compiling an index of useful websites arranged according to subject or discipline is what we librarians do! There are a few of these so-called megasites that try to bring order to this chaotic world of information in cyberspace and they are excellent tools for any library to exploit when searching for quality information online.

Librarians’ Internet Index (http://www.lii.org/)

Based in California and publicly funded, there are over 20,000 entries of websites which have been carefully selected, evaluated and organized by a team of librarians and arranged into 14 main topics and roughly 300 related topics. A free weekly newsletter is also distributed highlighting new editions.

Infomine (http://infomine.ucr.edu/)

Hosted at the University of California, Riverside, this portal is aimed at faculty, students and research staff at the university level. There are over 50,000 entries, about half of which are selected by professional librarians, the other half by robot crawlers.

Internet Public Library (http://www.ipl.org/)

Over 40,000 librarian-approved weblinks at this site founded by the University of Michigan School of Information but currently hosted by Drexel University’s College of Information Science & Technology. Not nearly as detailed as the Librarians’ Internet Index, which employs Library of Congress subject headings and more in-depth annotations, but extremely useful nevertheless.

BUBL Link (http://bubl.ac.uk/)

Begun in 1990 as the Bulletin Board for Libraries, hence the name, this site based at Strathclyde University in Glasgow, Scotland, is one of the oldest yet least known of the major megasites. What will make this particularly attractive to public librarians is the arrangement of weblinks according to Dewey decimal numbers!

Replacement Covers!

2008-03-13T09:44:00.002-04:00

Need to replace a cover that was torn or lost? This website has the world's largest collection >>> http://www.cdcovers.cc/

This site is most handy for DVD covers, but it also hosts a fairly large collection for VHS and software. Doing an audio search will lead you to another site >>> http://www.allcdcovers.com

If you can't find it here, another site for DVD covers that can be very useful is
http://www.dvdempire.com

There scans are not as high resolution but good enough if you are just looking for a decent replacement. The scans though are not in one piece, rather a front and a back. An awesome piece of software can be found at the first site mentioned >>> http://www.coverxp.com/

With CoverXP, you can put together your own copy complete with a customized spine label!

Free Downloadable Audiobooks!

2008-03-06T10:40:00.002-05:00

If you're more into listening to books than reading them, the following websites are for you...

Gutenberg Project >>> www.gutenberg.org

Internet Archive >>> www.archive.org

LibriVox >>> www.librivox.org

The Spoken Alexandria Project >>> www.spokenalex.org

Public Domain Books!

2008-02-22T14:44:00.002-05:00

This is my very first post. Jeez, the internet's been around for well over a decade and it took me this long to put up a webpage! In any case, the following is a list of sites that contain downloadable public domain texts.

E-Texts
Project Gutenberg http://www.gutenberg.org/
Project Gutenberg Europe http://pge.rastko.net/
Project Gutenberg of Australia http://gutenberg.net.au/
Internet Archive http://www.archive.org/
Google Books http://books.google.com/
Microsoft Books http://books.live.com/
International Children’s Library http://www.icdlbooks.org/
Gallica http://gallica.bnf.fr/ (in French)
Projekt Gutenberg http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/ (in German)
Libros Tauro http://www.librotauro.com.ar/ (in Spanish)
Liber Liber http://www.liberliber.it/ (in Italian)
Project Runeberg http://runeberg.org/ (in Swedish)