Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Central OLC Conference

I went to the OLC Conference in Columbus since I couldn't fit the ones closer to Medina in my crazy schedule and I was able to combine it with a trip home to visit my sister and father. A couple of the sessions were really good. In particular I enjoyed the "Things That Go Bump in the Night" (which I didn't realize was a double entendre). The presenters Cathy Allen & Monica Baughman booktalked oodles of creepy vampire/werewolf/zombie etc. kinds of things that I normally wouldn't read, but they did such a great job that I think I might just have to read a couple they recommended. I'll try to get a copy of their Booklists out on the I-Drive for all the staff. I also really enjoyed the "No Techie Translator Needed -- Web 2.0 101" which tied in very nicely to these 8n08 assignments. The presenter, Tracey Jipson, said she would put her power point out on slideshare.net under OLC, but it isn't there yet.

Also, the tech department was able to add a link to the googlemap of the bookmobile to the website!!! Now I'm in the process of updating and creating a new map for our summer runs. Never a dull moment. . .

Monday, April 7, 2008

Bookmobile Stop Map!!!

Oh my gosh!!! I can't believe that actually worked! If you haven't tried it yet, click on the link in my previous post and you will get a map of all of the current bookmobile stops with their locations and times. This is a tool I have been wanting for a long time.

One of the flaws with a bookmobile stop is that if we only visit for 1 hour a week and someone who lives in that neighborhood doesn't typically come by at that time, they may never realize we are there at all. Maybe a map will help people find us.

Googlemaps

I've been playing with Googlemaps and think I have created something, but I'm not sure how to create the link so I'm playing here. . .http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=112156325097910710895.00044a4b7e48a79fc09bc&ll=41.199033,-81.921487&spn=0.016016,0.029011&z=15
Wow! I did it! Gee, now I have to figure out what to say here. My goal is to eventually be able to have this be a blog that the bookmobile users could visit anytime to know what is new and newsworthy on the bookmobile.

I am looking forward to these 8n08 exercises to drag me into the 21st century since I am very technically challenged. I have looked at the flickr exercise and I'm looking forward to playing at home to upload some vacation photos. I found the mashups to be a blast! Kym, how did you know to include the wine site for me? One of my goals has been to create a mashup for the bookmobile stops -- I just didn't know that was what it was called. I have spent a little time on Googlemaps today trying to create a bookmobile map, but so far I'm just frustrated -- the tutorial is way too sketchy so it is going to take some time to figure out. If anyone else is a master at this please let me know!

Well, that is it for now. I need to get to work on information for our upcoming Library Live.