Google Notebook! Now I can study anywhere!

This is what geeks do at Thanksgiving.....they sit around burping turkey and talking about RSS feeds, coding language, and Google anything! I learned about Google Notebook. It has changed this grad student's life! I can highlight something online and by right-clicking, add it to my online Google notebook. I can organize the notebooks by topic, and organize them within the notebook into sections. I can search them (where was that stat on user searches using word cloud software?) I can access my notebook from any internet-connected computer so my notes are with me whereever! Go to Google and sign up for the free gmail account and get started today!

On a similar line...you can customize your homepage to add content like news, comics, reference aids...you name it. You can organize all the content under tabs along the top!!!! VERY COOl!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Be careful on the road! Here are links to the cameras on top of Cabbage Hill and Ladd Canyon! Be safe and see you on Sunday. We are open from 2 PM until midnight as we approach Tenth Week and Finals. Best of luck to all of you!

Solidarity! I am SOOOOO with you students!

I earned the worst grade of my graduate school career (another Masters and this one!) yesterday on an assignment. I went into a psychological tailspin and felt pretty crummy. I moped and whined for a day about it. I probably lost friends who are tired of it all! But....I did what I needed to to make myself feel better...played bass in a bar last night. Nothing like singing the blues to cure them!

My point...I DO empathize with your struggles. It will make me a more understanding worker in the library as I assist you.

Practice that test for free!!!!

Need to practice a test looming in your future? Like the TOEFL, nursing, real estate, grammar....you name it---we got it! Go to www.unioncountylibraries.info and follow the links to eShelf and Research, then Magazines and Databases and Learning Express Library is toward the bottom of the page. You will need a username and password. Call me at 962.3780 or drop by your local public library for a bookmark with the information printed on it. This is offered through Pierce Library and the Union County Library District Demonstration Project with funds from their LSTA grant of the Oregon State Library. Your tax dollars at work to make you a more successful citizen! Try Learning Express Library!

Library Thing!

Maybe this is a library student/librarian thing but.....I have a need to know what is in my personal library at home. I want to be able to search through my books and see if I already own that used knitting book I saw at Powell's. I am also searching for away to catalog my CDs. So, I found this thing called Library Thing and if you have less than 200 items, it is free! It takes the title you input (they even sell barcode readers!) and compares it to databases of your choice and returns the record back to you into your library. People even contribute cover art if the database you chose does not list that title with cover art. It is very cool!!!!! You can even check your holdings remotely if you have wireless internet access with your cellphone or PDA. Just plain ol' bibliographic fun!

Library Toolbar

I KNOW most of you are as busy as me! I see you frantically searching for just the right article to make your paper stellar, the best quote to use for a flyer, the website you need to see that baby picture of Barack Obama!

Wouldn't it be cool to have a library toolbar that was specific to Pierce? You could search the catalog, find out about your ILLs, use a search engine, renew your books, and find out about new materials in the library! (Plus a whole lot more.)

Check out what Harris County Public Library (TX) is doing!

I'm Baaaaack!

And it feels good!!!!! What a wonderful day I had working with patrons and just finding my desk!!! Thank you all for your patience and numerous kindnesses! I am, as in TheTale of Two Cities--"recalled to life!"

searchmash.com brought to you by Google

Remember playing in the sandbox when you were little? Well, so do the people at Google. They have their very own, very expensive one at http://www.searchmash.com

At this website, they are experimenting with ways for the search engine to deliver results and are toying with the way the pages expands to show you more results, includes images on your topic, and who knows what by tomorrow? If you want to check out some of their ideas, go look!

Welcome Back!

Ooooh, I missed you all today! It was the first day of classes and my favorite time of year. Sure, it will take some adjustment to get into the internet now with your email username and password. Yeah, you will have to turn over your student ID to retrieve your barcode. Those little bumps in the road will not keep you from discovering all the print and electronic resources at Pierce and better yet...the fine Pierce staff who are dedicated in making your school year as successful as possible. Stop by and introduce yourself!

Three Particular Things We Do Right!

I have been visiting a lot of libraries this past two weeks. There are so many to visit in this area and I am picking up ideas. However, in my poking around I discovered three particular things that we do at Pierce that I am really proud of:

1. We give access to our databases and OPAC to guests. Some libraries offer these resources to their patrons only.
2. We have a printer server in the ERC. This is a huge benefit that I took for granted until I had to plow through several other patrons' documents to find the articles I printed out. It is also a matter of privacy. I don't want to know what Joe Cool is reading or writing!
3. This is huge-customer service! We are just downright more friendly than other libraries. I am REALLY proud of us for being interested in our patrons and smiling at them.

Later....I am off to discover more! (Radiation is going well but I am getting sore and a bit more tired.)

7 Things You Didn't Know You Could Do at the Library

Tasha, clever thing!, discovered this article outlining some new services offered by libraries. While we don't offer them all, we come close! We still want to see faces in here, though! Come visit...we are so nice here! We will bend over backwards to serve you!

On the Road-Whitman College's Penrose Library

Wow! What a pretty place to study. I love oak so the decor is extremely pleasing to me. I visited the IT department to set up using my laptop here in the library. I got a bookmark from them that helps their students access their personal space on the campus servers. I will make one up for us. All is a go so here I am posting! It is quiet. So far, I found all that I need but will be scrambling more when my classes start next Tuesday. Like finding out how to secure a copy card, ILL, etc.

I got a library card from the public library today. They were friendly and very helpful and I even got the business card from a library worker who is getting her MLS online, too. She is attending Drexel. We are going to meet and compare notes regarding our classwork. Fun!

There is wireless in the Herring House where I am staying across from the hospital. I am set! Radiation started yesterday and I asked a lot of questions and learned a lot of science. Fascinating!

Nuke-ville!

Pardon the personal nature of this post. I don't use this forum for my personal story very much but.....I will be absent from the desk in the ERC for 7 weeks to have radiation therapy in Walla Walla. This luxury is all thanks to the generous contribution of my classified staff colleagues who donated their vacation time to my recovery. The daily four hour drive to Walla Walla (plus the gas prices today) was not something we were looking forward to as a family. Staying in Walla Walla relieves both of us from being exhausted from the driving. I pushed very hard during chemo so this time to heal is quite a gift. I again thank them for their care and support! You may see me playing music in bands around town and environs during this time. That is the best medicine of all for me!

In the meantime, our student assistants will be here to answer questions and help you. Theresa, the reference librarian, will be on hand to assist you in your research. She is awesome!

I hope this all works out as everyone says-"It will be over before you know it." Now, if the hair would just grow back as fast!

Here's a link to news from the new Cancer Center at St. Mary's Hospital in Walla Walla. Not that I wish to EVER have chemotherapy again, the new facilities will be a lot more comfortable for new infusion patients. (And there are TOO many of them!)

Catch you on the flip side! I have a laptop-- so write!

Teamwork!

Sally strolled by my desk this morning and in one quality minute she set me straight on the Groupware distribution list option in Contacts! Yes! I now have my groups set up in the email system. Life is good!!

La Grande Public Library is moving!

The NEW!!!!!! La Grande Public Library is opening on September 19th! Town patrons are starting to wander in here in the interim. They are welcome to use our OPAC (online catalog) and our databases but internet access is restricted to students and faculty/staff at EOU. The students here pay a hefty technology fee and all our computers were paid for out of that budget. They were not financed by public funds.

We have our materials arranged using the Library of Congress classification system. This system does not have a fiction section that is popular in the Dewey Decimal classification scheme found in public libraries. Therefore, browsing for fiction is not easy unless you know the author or title of a book. Libraries are arranged to accomodate the patrons that they serve so there are understandable and necessary differences between public and academic libraries.

Groupware ....gotta love it!

Okay...I am as smart as the average bear but forgot how to make a distribution list out of my Contacts list. Yikes! I accessed the Help menu and it was vague. Guess I will humble myself by asking the IT folks.

Gearing up! Even the weather speaks 'fall'

I don't know about you but I am gearing up for Fall 2006. At Southern Connecticut I am taking Public Libraries, Library Management, and Cataloguing. Full course load and full-time worker! When my textbooks arrived, I started to get excited. The cataloguing class will be my Waterloo! Should be interesting.

We are starting to see students drift back. Some from the soccer team, some from other schools on their way to their own institutions. We got trained in our new Groupware software last week and that will be a fun thing to learn. Getting it to talk to my Axim handheld is a struggle. The Axim will talk to Groupware but I haven't figured out how to get the Groupware to talk to the Axim.

I will be in Walla Walla for radiation treatments when school starts here at Eastern. I am very sorry about that. It is the busiest, most fun, time of the year! I will miss meeting the new students and greeting students from last year. I have developed a fondness for many of them and will enjoy hearing about their summers. The new access to internet procedure will be tripping up some at first. The barcode and PIN issues will be an issue for the distance students. Oh, well. When I get back I will work hard at getting re/acquainted!

Color Printing-Upstairs in the Computer Lab

Since our color printer died, we often get asked for access to color printing. There is one upstairs in the Computer Lab. They charge 10 cents a page to print copies. The cost is not for actually using the printer but for the paper they use for that printer. It is a special dustless paper that aids in not clogging the printer. Maybe, that is why ours bit the dust!

Heartaches! Save attachments first!!!

Sometimes a person will send you a document attached to an email for you to revise or to have for your own. We have seen so many students lose work by editing that document without saving it first. When you open a document from the email system, it is a temporary file. You must SAVE it to your hard drive, or thumb drive (key drive, flash drive, etc.) and then edit it as yours. It breaks our hearts to see good work go down the drain in a temporary document that is not retrievable later.

Save it as yours first. Then, edit away!

Change in plans! Username and Password

Effective July 5th, 2006, Pierce Library will provide electronic access to our library online catalog and databases to all patrons on campus. Access to the Internet will be extended to students, faculty, and staff to meet the University's mission and limited resources. We will be using your username and password that you use for your university email acount to access the internet.

If you are not sure about that username and password, you will want to visit the Computing Center in Inlow Hall. Here is the link to the student email page for help online:
http://www.eou.edu/comp/student/email/index.html

Bottom line: if you are an EOU student, faculty or staff member, you will have access to the internet in the ERC. Town patrons will be directed to the La Grande Public Library on Penn Street (soon to open at their new digs on Fourth Street on September 19th!!!!!)