Friday, November 16, 2012

Marvelous Marvel

Well despite my good intentions I don't know if I will be able to compete these lessons. Being a staff of one I am short of time in a normal week. The past two weeks I have been dealing with the library's annual wreath sale- taking orders, giving out information, doing publicity, etc. Also have a copier that has decided to quit and I have been troubleshooting that (with the end result that I will need to replace it) and I got 5 boxes of children's books donated to sort through. Plus finding time to do my monthly book order and cataloging the new books. And three meetings at night - so not much time at home to complete the assignments. So despite my enthusiasm I will put this on hold for now.

Saturday, November 03, 2012

NoveList Plus -Week 5

I just returned from a week in California, so I'm late in getting to this assignment.
I have a little experience with NoveList but not NoveList Plus. I have used NoveList a few times to help patrons who asked for recommendations for new authors similar to writers that they like.
1. I picked the Hunger Games series because I have searched this database for a high school student who loved the series and was looking for other authors that wrote books similar to it. The View is a great way to connect users with books because it brings up a list of titles with brief descriptions, that can help them decide if the books listed will be interesting to them. The Appeal terms is another good feature they can use. Looking at the terms that describe a book they liked, they can decide what exactly appealed to them, so they can look for other books that have the same features. Sometimes a reader may not be able to put this into words, but having the lists provided can make them consider what they enjoyed about the book.The ability to print out a list of titles for the patron will also make it easier for them find books that they will enjoy, either in the library collection, through interlibrary loan, or to even purchase.
2.I have had patrons who wanted books in a style similar to a favorite author. I have done searches like this, but not on NoveList Plus. Having  the writing style highlighted along with the appeal factors, shows why the recommended authors came up in the search results. And providing a list of all the books written by that author, will let the patron get a better sense of what the author has published. Being able to print out a list that the patron can use as a guide should make it easy for them to find books in the style that they like to read. I often have patrons ask me to recommend authors or books - and I will do the search for them. If I could get the patron to actually do the search themselves, they could carry the search farther by picking out the specific traits they like, and exploring the choices that come up.
3. I explored other search options available, especially the Book Discussion
Guides section. My library book group is discussing "Fahrenheit 451" on Monday so I looked that up in the book discussion search. I will use the results to help add insight to our discussion.  This feature could also be useful in selecting titles for future meetings. I am excited to share this with the members of the group.
I can see NoveList as a way to get more use from our collection because if an older title we own is listed as a read alike to a popular book, it will be taken out and read by a new audience.

Monday, October 22, 2012

Marvelous Week 4 - Hobbies & Crafts

I have looked at this reference center a little  before now, but never really checked out all the available subject matters that it covers. As someone who used to be pretty crafty, but have trouble finding time to read now, let alone make things, there was plenty here to explore.
1.I looked at several categories before deciding on Arts & Crafts. For a sub category I chose Seasonal crafts- thinking there might be some easy paper projects that we could use with the children at story time. My little library does not subscribe to any of the magazines that showed up in the results page.
2. I did save several projects to a Folder to review when I have time. I found articles on Wine Bottle tags, Simply Beautiful Greeting Cards and Crafting on A Budget.
3.I found the Help link useful in helping to set up the folders for me to save the articles I want to try out.

This is a site I will share with parents and creative types to explore. I will spend more time on the cooking, collecting and genealogy sites. This is a database it is easy to get lost in. Looking forward to long winter days with time to use it.

Friday, October 19, 2012

Week 3 Marvel Invitational

 Proquest.
This is one of the resources on Marvel that I have not explored, so welcomed the lesson. Using Maine Newstand  I searched blueberries and aging, and got 110 results. I then limited it by date to get the most recent articles. I emailed an article to my home email which was a handy feature. I found the citation feature really easy to use, and the ability to choose what style you use, a plus for students and anyone doing research. I had first seen this on Britannica but was surprised to find it on Proquest too.As a student I found citations the worst part of writing a research paper- especially when you were using resources other than books.
I also did a search using Proquest to see how that worked for information less specific to Maine. I searched fracking in Pennsylvania and Quaker genealogy to explore the information available on these topics. Lots of good results for research.
I have looked at a number of blog entries of other librarians. I found many had not written much. And I couldn't figure out how to add a comment - did read those left by others. Something I will have to explore from home.
I have not had a chance to show any patrons the Marvel site this week- on the nice days it's been slow as people are enjoying the last days of autumn, and the patrons who have come in are looking for books or DVDs to get them through the rainy weather.


Saturday, October 13, 2012

Marvelous week 2

Well I see my biggest problem is going to be finding time to complete these assignments. I haven't posted week #2 and week # 3 is up. I am the sole employee here at Bremen so every time I take a minute to research the assignment I am interrupted. I did the research yesterday and as soon as I opened my blog to write, I had patrons come in that needed help. I thought I'd work on it more at home but life happens.
Well here is my take on Britannica.
This is such a useful resource to have available. I searched for information about Mars exploration and got some great information in my search results, but nothing on the latest robot (Curiosity) that landed in August, until I added 2012 to my search terms. For someone interested in the exploration of Mars there was good information, plus links to other sites like NASA that were useful.  For students, having all the citations available at the click of a button would be wonderful.
I also looked at some of the other research tools and liked the Timelines and the Atlas a lot. It seems the boundaries and names of countries in some parts of the world  are in constant flux. The Atlas gave detailed, up to date information that would be useful to anyone following world events.  For a student writing a report it would be a great resource. There were timelines available for different subjects like science, art and writing that gave a quick overview of the developments in the field you were looking into.
I used the translator that was on the bottom of the page on the article about Curiosity and it didn't look helpful to me. You would place your mouse on a word and all the Spanish meanings came up. It wasn't like having the entire article translated into Spanish that you could read.
The Britannica site is especially useful for students, but also for adults who are curious about a subject and want a source they know they can trust to give them accurate, in depth  information.

Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Marvel Invitational

I've been using this blog for the Bremen Library for a few years now. I don't blog often as  I do keep a library web page updated, and this sort of overlaps the information posted on the web page.
Over the years I have taken several classes through the MSL on Marvel, but still don't feel confident in teaching it to patrons. Taking the survey at the beginning of the invitational made me see how much is available that I have never looked at (all those business resources).  I use Novelist to prepare for my book group meetings and have used the craft pages a few times. Still so much to learn!
I viewed the introductory tutorials but since I am in the library I will go back to it when I am home to try logging in from outside the library. And I will have uninterrupted time to do more searching.
The opening comment about kids being good at computers because they spend  time playing around on them is so true. I often feel I am wasting time if I am not doing specific research on something, and don't take the time to really play around and learn what is there and how to find what is available.
This class should give me the motivation I need. And the tutorials have been short and easy to follow.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Movies at the Library

 Come watch a movie at the Bremen Library

The Bremen Library is excited that the projector and recently purchased are installed and ready to use.
The first movie night is scheduled for Tuesday August 28 at 6:30. The movie selected is Planet Earth- in high definition. This will showcase the capabilities of the DVD system. Come enjoy this beautiful and educational view of the planet earth.
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