Lesson 11: Wrap Up

I was very familiar with almost every aspect of 11.5 COSAs, so I have to say that I learned very little. I can understand how it was needed to get all staff up to speed on technology (for example, reference staff that might have been hired many years ago and has not stayed abreast of the latest technologies) but in the future, I don't really see it's value. I would assume that if it was continued, it would be for new-hires, and in my opinion if a person wasn't familiar with the items in 11.5 COSAs, we should not have hired them to be on the reference staff.

The only thing that I hadn't done much of is blogging. I have been wanting to start a blog for my own personal use about the Play and Learn programs that I do. I am now inspired to do it.

Lesson 10 Challenge

I use the Bexar County Elections Department site frequently. We are an election site (both early and election day) and we have many people who come to us on election day and realize that they are in the wrong polling place. I like the feature where you can look up your polling site by address, but it is hard to find from the main elections page. I learned early on to bookmark the address look-up page on any computer I use to avoid confusion. When tax season rolls around, I use the IRS site CONSTANTLY. I've been impressed at the changes made to the site in the last few years to make it simpler to find certain forms, etc. It has a much cleaner look than either the COSA Web site (which I feel is terrible) or the Bexar County Elections site, which seems to just cram too much information onto the Home page.

Mobile apps for government are a good thing. We know that more people have access to mobile devices now than to home computers, so making it easier for these people to contact their government officials and find information in a more mobile-friendly format can only help. For this reason, I feel that government apps will make us a more democratic society, because the more ways to access government, the better.

Lesson 9 Part 2- OverDrive Magazines

The three titles that interest me the most are: Cooks Illustrated, Eating Well, and Food Network Magazine.

The things that you will need to get started are:

• A SAPL Library Card (in good standing)
• Access to OverDrive either by:
  • OverDrive Web Site
  • OverDrive App
• A Nook OR The Nook App
  • NOOK HD
  • NOOK HD+
  • NOOK Tablet
  • NOOK Color
  • Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK
  • Nook App for iOS
  • Nook App for Android
  • Nook App for Windows 8
• A Barnes & Noble Nook account (free)

Lesson 9 Part 1 OneClickdigital

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
Eggs by Jerry Spinelli

Apps for both ebooks and eaudio are available for Android, Kindle Fire, and iphone, ipad, and ipod touch.

If Kindle Fire users are having trouble with the app, they should contact Amazon, through the "help" in the app store.

Lesson 8 Part 2 Challenge

Overdrive: Chile Death by Susan Wittig Albert
OneClick: Bleeding Hearts by Susan Wittig Albert

Although I find Overdrive's advanced search easier to read and it seems more intuitive, they are both fairly simple. I do like that the link for the advanced search is more prominent in Overdrive, whereas in OneClick you have to find it in a drop-down menu. However, one search feature that I like more in OneClick is the ability to limit to audience. I sometimes get frustrated with Overdrive when I am looking for an eaudio to listen to and I get a lot of children's titles that I am not interested in.

Lesson 8 Part 1 Challenge

Chasing Fire by Nora Roberts

• Formats the book is available in: 
• Kindle Book
• OverDrive Read
• Adobe EPUB eBook
• Adobe PDF eBook
• How many copies the library owns:17
• How many copies are available: 13

Divergent by Veronica Roth

• Formats the book is available in: 
• Kindle Book
• OverDrive Read
• Adobe EPUB eBook
• How many copies the library owns: 67 
• How many copies are available: 34 

Lesson 7 Part 1 Challenge

Lesson 6 Part 2 Challenge

I have had mainly good experiences with social media although to be honest, I use Facebook almost exclusively, but I have had several negative experiences as well. Primarily, the negative experiences come from being overwhelmed by emotions on posts that other people post. I do not want to read hate-filled rhetoric, or read articles and blog entries about subjects where I take a strong opposing view. I have had heated "arguments" with my step-sister on the vaccination debate that really didn't need to happen. In retrospect, why should I really care that she doesn't vaccinate her child? I feel strongly about the subject, but is it really worth damaging a relationship? Luckily, in this case, we communicated directly and understand each other's views, but is that always the case with everyone? Probably not.
Another negative experience I had was when my husband decided that he wanted to get off of all social media. For two days I had calls and texts from my family and friends wanting to know what was "wrong" because I guess my relationship status was somehow changed when he disengaged from it all.

Lesson 6 Part 1 Challenge

Social networking has had a significant impact on my life. I have been able to reconnect with old friends from college and high school. I get to stay in touch with my family and see pictures of new babies and fun events. I have a cousin that I was close to as a child, but I would never have contact with him if it weren't for Facebook, as he lives across the country. Most notably, my 20th high school reunion was cancelled because of poor participation and feedback (due to the organizers.) Through Facebook, many of us coordinated to have our own "unofficial" reunion, and over 300 of us met up at a ballroom in Houston and had the time of our lives.

Lesson 5 Challenge

I didn't do nearly as well on this challenge as I thought. I really expected to get at least 80 percent on the first try, but I only got 78% on the first try. I think I will go back and try some others because my pride is hurt and I know I am better than that! I actually thought the exercises were fun and it would be a nice things to have the teens try at a teen time.

Lesson 3 Part 2 Challenge

The San Antonio Public Library does have several LibGuides for kids and those working on behalf of kids, but I don't find them as useful as they should be because they aren't updated regularly. I hesitate to recommend them to customers for that reason. There are a few that I do use with some regularity to assist customers, however.  I will direct them to the Homework Guide because there are several databases and services listed there and it is easier for a patron to decide for themselves which resource is best for them. If it is 9 pm and we are closed and a patron realizes they need help on their homework, they are able to find some helpful hints on where to look all in one place. I also use the Award Book Libguides frequently when paople need to find out more about the Cadecott, Newbery, Bluebonnet, Batchelder, Coretta Scott King, or Geisel Award. I direct patrons to these list for an easy way ti find the winners of all six of these awards.

Lesson 3 Part 1 Challenge

A teen came to me and wanted to find out about the legalization of gay marriage. His parents had told him that it was VERY wrong, but he didn't really think so. He used Opposing Viewpoints to learn more about the issue and made up his mind. He got an A on the Current Events paper that he turned in during his junior year in high school concerning the issue. The patron became very interested in the issue and used Novelist to find a novel about being a gay teen in America. He fell in love with John Green's Will Grayson Will Grayson and realized that he was gay himself. He turned 18 and voted against a gay marriage ban in his state. He sent a strongly worded letter to his Congressman, whose information he found on reference USA and received a very warm letter back from him thanking him for his passion. The patron would vote for him again in the future. Soon, he would meet the love of his life and marry him in Texas.

Lesson 2 Part 3 Challenge: Outlook

 Lesson 2 Part 3 Challenge: Outlook

I have had an email signature for many years but it was nice to have a refresher course on how to create them. You do it once and then forget about it and I had already forgotten how I had originally created it.

 Lesson 2 Part 3 Challenge: Word
I created a flier for a drum circle in Microsoft word. While I like that you can move things around wherever you want, I find it much easier to use the Power Point templates that the Marketing Department provides because it includes all of the relevant logos. I am extremely familiar with Microsoft Word so I had no problems with this challenge.

Lesson 2 Part 2 Challenge 2

I did not have to complete this challenge because I had already done it. I find it handy to launch programs, but sometimes I find it difficult to tell at a glance whether I have a program open or not. Sometimes I re-open Outlook when I'm checking to make sure I closed it.

Lesson 2, Part 2, Challenge 1

I use the snipping tool all the time when I create flannel board stories, story time props, etc. so this was nothing new to me. I used it last week, in fact, to snip some Summer Reading clip art to create a bulletin board for the Children's Room.

SNIP!

Lesson 1, Part 3 Challenge

Although I don't blog myself, I follow several blogs that pertain primarily to librarianship, kids crafting, and story times. I have been thinking lately that I want to create a blog so that I can keep track of the interesting programs that I do here at the library and share with colleagues if I want.