Thursday, April 16, 2015

Lesson 7 Part 1 challenge

Ok, I have taken  a very bad selfie


I am at the Marie Swartz Area in front of  an example of what my boyfriend's neighbor calls "conference room art." 

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Lesson 6 part 2 Social Media Challenge

How one tweet blew up Justine Sacco's Life


I have been following the author of this article on NPR. He has also written a book called
So You Have Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson. These poor people have lost their jobs and had their lives crumble because of one ill-advised tweet.

The masses on-line were more than willing to crucify these people and participate in their humiliation.

It is very sad.

Lesson 6 Part 1 Challenge

I reconnected with my old friend from High School and an ex-coworker.but it seems that these online connections are flimsier than the real life connections. Does anyone remember the Wild West feel of Social Networking when it first started? We had a patron ,who was semi-homeless, who met a guy from Sweden and managed to get him to send her a ticket to live over there. Stories like that were more common back then.

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Lesson 5 Challenge

I am really, really terrible about this. I have been Googling for years, but I don't think I can get better.
I did very badly on the cartoon character stamp query. This is very depressing. Are there more internet keyword search challenges somewhere? It does not seem like the thing one can improve on. You either have the knack for keyword searching or you don't

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Lesson 3 Part 2 Libguides

Lesson 3 Part 2 LibGuides



Income Tax Libguides.
http://guides.mysapl.org/incometax

 This is a very useful libguide for people seeking tax help from January 2015-April 2015. I really like it because all the library locations are highlighted in a separate section. This is very helpful in Telephone Reference when patrons call specifically wanting VITA library income tax locations.  It also has information on how to make an appointment with the IRS. Patrons are  calling for IRS phone numbers all the time. I usually give them this information if they indicate that they are headed to the local IRS branch on Tesoro Drive.  This is a very handy guide that I use daily.

Learn @ SAPL libguides.
http://guides.mysapl.org/learn

This is a very helpful guide because the list of GED classes(adult education programs in San Antonio) is laid out in an accessible and easy to read format that  I find easier to figure out. The hours of the LEARN at SAPL centers are conveniently displayed as well as the services that they offer. The guide also lists ESL online classrooms and  GED  practice tests.  Patrons often come to the desk looking for GED books. While they are waiting for their books, I suggest that they check out these  resources from their computers at home or from one of our internet computers.

Encino Lib Guide
http://guides.mysapl.org/Encino

I just discovered this libguide. It lists all the information about our new Encino branch. I did not even know about the public art at Encino. I can show this information to curious customers who ask about the drive thru circulation feature. I can also explain the new features such as the digital meeting room called Collaborate and some maker spaces. A cooking demonstration is mentioned. Does Encino have room for a public cooking space in the  maker space? I saw something like that at Denver Public Library.

2 staff libguides

Circulation Libguide
http://guides.mysapl.org/content.php?pid=202110&sid=1846112

Circulation libguide provides helpful clarification on Tex-Share card procedures and gives everyone an overview of how to deal  with difficult and confusing circulation situations. This libguide also links to some important Q and A's by Laura Villanueva. This helps explain circulation policy clearly. This could make a difference to me and fellow reference staff by putting us all on the same page as circulation staff. We will all be in agreement about the procedures.


Overdrive Periodicals
http://guides.mysapl.org/odperiodicals
Hmm, Interesting, So, Overdrive Periodicals requires the use of a NOOK or a Nook APP.
I did not know that, This libguide will be useful when a patron asks about where to get started with online magazines and how to use Overdrive Periodicals. You can read parts of this libguide over the phone to guide a patron or show this to the patron in person.  I looked at the flowchart. It looks like way too much trouble. But, maybe this will clear up confusion. Dud anyone ever use Zinio?