Last post.

Well, it's not really my last post ever,  just the last one for a couple of weeks____________(insert: boo hoo, or hooray, as appropriate!).

I was going to wax lyrical about ebooks and itunesU, cloud computing and Google maps, but then I decided it was too much like hard work on my last day in the office, so I thought... no, let's have something funny instead.


So here is Oatmeal elucidating  on the 'state of the web Summer 2011'.

Presentation heaven!

Fed up with boring old PowerPoint presentations, well have a look at Prezi. This is a great way to spice up your presentations, and it's free. Check out some of the sample presentations and see what you can do...I especially liked the Astronomy Masterclass, which is so massive I only got up to Session 3 last night! There are some really good library presentations as well.

so funny...Adam 'Gollum' Savage sings Sinatra

If you are a fan of the Mythbusters on tv, here is Adam Savage as you have never seen him before, unless of  course you have seen his rendition of 'I will survive' so, so funny!

The end of the beginning...

Courtesey of NASA




 

Podcasts, videos and the library

Wow! these things have certainly ramped up a notch or two in the second phase haven't they?

When I read that we were moving into podcasting and videos I have to say a certain amount of panic set in! I hadn't really got into the habit of listening to podcasts, mainly because I had a very old fashioned mobile phone (far, far, from smart let me tell you!) and it was such a palaver to link up the phone to the pc/laptop then download and save it, all to listen to a podcast on the bus on the way home, when I could have just listened to it on the laptop in the first place and had a nap on the bus!

I now have a brand spanking new, sparkling, does absolutely everything, smart phone, in fact it's so new I haven't figured out how to do 99.9% of what it can do!!!  So I'm still not listening to podcasts, but I will be as soon as I read the 250 page user manual and figure out how. 

Now that I have recorded, edited and published my first podcast the panic is subsiding, in fact I quite enjoyed it and I have had a good response from everyone that tuned in, so much so that I have published a second one!

The first was just for testing the waters (sorry newkid) and was a bit of fun, nothing really to do with library podcasting. The second podcast is more, I suppose, what we could be doing here in the library, like short podcasts linking events etc in the college to what resources we have in the library for example the end of year art exhibition, or the Seamus Heaney lectures. Or we could just highlight the resources we have in context to certain modules taught, for example the English department run a book to film module, we could highlight the relevant journals, ebooks, DVDs etc that would be of use. We could also do short interviews with visiting celebs (!) lecturers, and possibly our international visitors, we had lecturers from the Zambia visit the library recently. Each library department could do regular podcasts on their particular area of expertise. When we host our own exhibitions here in the library we could do a short podcast giving information and background history. These are just a few ideas of the top of my head, the possiblities are endless really!

I agree with pitseleh, in that all staff should be actively involved in library podcasting/videoing, not necessarily in front of the mic or camera, but through creative input, planning, script writing, the behind the scenes kind of stuff, it should be a team effort.

I've gone on and on a bit here about podcasting so I will leave my thoughts on library videos for the next gripping installment, besides I have 250 page user manual to read!

Booky blogs and unconventional bookshops

Alrighty then, following on from my welter of blogs yesterday (ahem... note to boss not in work hours, just scheduled the posts to appear that way!!!). I found this lovely piece about unconventional bookshops, the secret bookstore and the book barge are listed here as well, but check out the rest, especially the Japanese children's bookstore and the book mill, some really beautiful photographs of all the stores.

Unbound

Photo courtesy Filmbuff Online

I've come across another great booky idea, yes that's right I've gone all booky and spacey this week! Now that I have done the podcast and video thing I can relax and enjoy my stuff!

When I was young or even possibly a young teenager (don't want to give too much away here otherwise you will all be trying to guess my age!) I loved Monty Pythons Flying Circus, we only had one TV (aah!!) in our house and my parents hated the programme, hated it, hated it, hated it (yep; that's how much they hated it) and of course in them days (the good old ones) there were no recording devices, so it was a battle of wills as to whether I would get to see it or not, mostly I would win as I'm the baby of the family and the only girl, I pretty much always got my own way!





 Anyway, I've got into following a few of the Pythons on Twitter, and Terry Jones has a new book coming out and this is how it is being published. Unbound is a website that brings the authors and readers together to decide what is published, a novel idea don't you think? (see what I did there!).

What happens is the author puts his/her idea out there and we 'the people' decide if it is worth reading and pledge our support if we think it is (you can read the  ins and outs of pledging support on the website, its free to sign up if you want to pledge). Anyhow, Terry Jones' book idea has received its full quota of support and will be published both in hardback and electronically, the  book is a series of stories about good machines turning bad, turning evil even, it's titled Evil Machines (watch out, your mobile phone is stalking you!) and sounds like a ripping good yarn!

Oh yes! more Pythonesque news, the surviving Pythons (apart from Eric Idle who hasn't been persuaded yet) are making a new animated film based on Graham Chapman's memoirs A Liars Autobiography, do you think they will have a part for the dead parrot or what about the lumberjack...cue singing the lumberjack song in my head...at least I hope that was in my head?????

Space: The Final Frontier - part 2





The space shuttle Atlantis successfully undocked from the space station this morning and it is on it's way home for the final landing on Thursday. This picture was taken from the space station shortly after undocking, isn't it amazing!





John Glenn 1962

And on the same note, John Glen celebrated his 90th birthday yesterday. In February 1962 he became the first American to orbit the earth, 10 months after the USSR's Yuri Gagarin became the first man in Space in April 1961. We've come a long way since then...





Juno



Or should I say we're going a long way, the next unmanned launch is scheduled for August and is heading for Jupiter!



Floating bookshop

Last week Pitseleh showed us a secret bookshop in Manhattan, definitely the first place I will visit if I ever get to New York (big sigh!). I came across this article in last weeks Guardian about a floating bookshop navigating Britians' canals, what a brilliant idea, can you imagine just sailing along the canals in the Book Barge, stopping here and there to sell or swap books! With the growing demise of not only the independent bookshop, booksellers are coming up with increasingly imaginative enterprises to keep the book alive and well!

My first YouTube video, or rather, my first Extranormal video!.

This took a couple of hours to complete, if you think the voice sounds a bit strange it is because it's a text to voice programme, which means you type in your dialogue and it converts it to sound, very neat! Uploading the video was no problem (can't seem to embed it though!). So here it is in all its glory!!

The Anonymous Librarian has graduated to animations!

Podcasting

I have uploaded my very first podcast, entitled 'Behind the Issue Desk' though I'm  not sure how good it is, but I've done it!!!

This 'thing' was definitely more time consuming and technical than the earlier ones. It took me several attempts to actually record it without everybody cracking up with laughter. In the end I waited until I had the house to myself so that I didn't have an audience to distract me!

After finally composing myself enough to make a presentable recording, I exported it as an MP3, and this is where I became a bit unstuck because I couldn't figure out how to upload it to the blog, but I did a quick search and found the help I needed. You are never on your own on the Internet there is always a forum or a blog out there to help you.

All I can say is I need to work from a script, ad libbing is not an option for me, I either forgot what I wanted to say or rambled completely off the point! Also, keep your sentences short, otherwise you will forget to breathe and then you sound like some deviant heavy breather!

Although the podcast took some time and effort I still enjoyed it, I like learning new things, but I would need a lot more practice and I would definitely need to play around with the editing software before I would feel confident enough to create a podcast on a more regular basis.

I used a free hosting site called Podbean to publish it (another password for the little blue book) and have added my production to the side bar, take a listen, have a laugh and let me know what you think, but be kind after all this is my first attempt.

Oh, and one more thing, if you do decide to listen to it, please do it quietly or better still use headphones! If I hear myself around the office I will be mortified!

Library Day in the Life Project

I came across this project late last year and thought that it would be something that I could do this year, so I filed it away somewhere in the back of my brain. I must've signed up for a reminder about it too - because I just received it!

 Of course this was before the 23ThingsSPD was even a twinkling in Suzannes' eye, and I know that we have just received the first of the last things to do, but I still think it might be good to participate. Anyway, check it out, and then you all can decide for yourselves. Most of us are quite able to blog now, and we have signed up to various wikis and things, so there is nothing new or strange to stress over.

Space: The Final Frontier.

The countdown to the final space shuttle mission has started. It's hard to believe that it is thirty years since Columbia, the first space shuttle was launched on 12th April 1981. I remember being glued to the TV watching it, much the same as when I was glued to the TV as a child  for the Apollo 11 moon landings in 1969 - amazing! The launch of the shuttle Atlantis on the 8th July 2011 is a historic event and the end of an era.

I regularly check out the NASA website, and watch the live stream from the space station, which is oddly compelling. It blows my mind to think that this is all happening while I'm checking in journals and issuing books!

At the time of writing this, I am watching a live broadcast via NASA TV, absolutely fascinating.

Just imagine being a librarian in the NASA Headquarters Library!

The downside is that people are losing their jobs - contracts are not being renewed after Atlantis touches down and house prices in the Kennedy Space Centre area have fallen.

to Kindle or not to Kindle

I have toyed with the idea of buying a Kindle/ebook reader recently, I even went so far as to check out the specs and prices of various makes of readers, tablets and the iPad; though, I have to say, after seeing the South Park episode 'Human CentiPAD' I have kinda gone off the idea of an iPad. If you've seen this episode you'll know what I'm talking about, if you haven't seen it...then...well...ALWAYS READ THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS BEFORE YOU TICK THE BOX, that's all I'm saying...

Anyways, what I really wanted to tell you is that I came across a KindleApp that you can download for your PC/Laptop on Amazon which is quite nifty. So you don't need a Kindle to buy the Kindle edition of your favourite reads, it also gives you the option to move your ebooks between different devices, so what you download at home, you can bring into work with you to read (in your tea/coffee/lunch breaks of course!).

Don't worry I  haven't crossed over to the dark side and bought an ebook yet! I have downloaded a couple of 'samples' which is the Kindle version of the 'look inside' option, just as an experiment you understand, just to see what the dark side is like...