Check out mypictr, a webpage that helps you quickly create perfectly sized profile pictures or icons for websites and social networks.
Just upload any photo to mypictr, then zoom & crop the image automatically to the perfect size, based on what service you need the image/icon for. Choose from all the biggies — Facebook, Twitter, Skype, YouTube, the list goes on and on. Too cool. This is great for libraries with a logo or image of choice who need to create a whole bunch of profile pictures quickly, or even for you as an individual who wants to standardize your identity online. It’s really easy and free. What more can you ask?
I presented at the Hawaii Library Association about technologies (largely web services & software) that are free, open source, save time, and/or save money. I created a short list in the main body of the presentation with highlighted software, and then the last several slides offer a more extended list of more options.
Some examples of what I cover: software for public & staff computers, staff scheduling tools, team meeting tools, tech support tools, audio & video services, eLearning tools, reference tools, social network tools, website & website management tools, blogging tools, book display tools, free eBooks, and free article resources (+ a lot more).
Enjoy, save money, and leave comments with your own suggestions & recommendations!
I created a presentation for the Hawaii Library Association about project planning and assessing the success of digital library services. I worked really hard on it, and I think there’s a lot of good information here that can help libraries trying to plan for a project, assess and existing service, or plan for assessing a new service. Too often we have simply launched online services “because they’re cool,” without really thinking if they are appropriate for our audiences, whether we have the staffing or funding to support them, and whether or not they match up with our organizational priorities. Hopefully, I have presented a framework that can assist in providing well-thought-out digital library services. I believe that this is especially relevant in this time of financial hardship when we are losing staffing and funding and have to make smarter decisions about what projects we pursue. Please feel free to leave your own tips or comments in the Comments section of this post.
Check out this Library Journal article by Josh Hadro which discusses the mobile platforms planned for both EBSCOhost and for Serial Solutions Summon discovery platform. I found the last two sentences of Hadro’s article to sum up my feelings about mobile services for libraries pretty well:
A frequent complaint is that these services often draw users in through a streamlined mobile portal only to lead them to other site subsections or resources that are unwieldy on a smaller screen, or entirely unusable. As more content providers embrace the mobile medium, however, libraries will be better able to offer both smartphone users and traditional users an equal level of service.
DeepDyve has started to offer journal articles at 99 cents apiece. The service also provides monthly unlimited subscriptions for flat fees, but 99 cents buys you 24 hours of unlimited access to an article. The service is aimed at people in business and scientific fields. Read more on Information Today’s News Breaks. Some of the content included in the DeepDyve search is open access or otherwise free, like Medline, but most is paid-subscription content that requires you to shell out some dough. Now, keep in mind that you’re not buying the article – it’s not like buying a song on iTunes. From the IT article:
Rental means just that: DeepDyve is not selling articles for you to own. You can read the article on the screen. You can’t download it, you can’t use a screen capture, and you can’t print it. You can take notes from the article you’re viewing-but only with those old-fashioned devices, pencil (or pen) and paper. The viewer is Flash-based and is a proprietary system developed by DeepDyve.
While I like the idea of being able to purchase articles one at a time instead of having to buy a yearly subscription if you don’t want one, it saddens me that services like this exist…and get subscribers. If only their customers would get library cards (for free) and access the articles they need for free from the library’s website. The success of a service like this speaks to the horrible job we’ve done as a profession of getting the word out about what we do. How much outreach does your academic or public library do to local business organizations? How much work have you done letting people know about the free content they can get online through your library website? Compare that with how much money you spend on that content, and you’ll see a discrepancy I’m sure. Let’s take this product launch as another kick-in-the-pants to refocus on marketing our digital resources. Please?
Erik Boekesteijn and Jaap van de Geer, otherwise known as the Shanachies, conducted an interview with me as part of their Shanachie Video Project, a tour around the world interviewing librarians. The interview was done at the Point Reyes Lighthouse inside the Point Reyes National Seashore.* We took a half-mile trail hike, plus 308 steps down to the lighthouse (and back up!). I was also lucky enough to have Erik & Jaap stay with us for a couple of days, including a whirlwind tour of the best Marin County has to offer–including walking over the Golden Gate Bridge, eating lunch on the Bay in Sausalito, driving through pastureland/mountains/national parks, the Point Reyes Lighthouse of course, Drake Beach, and oysters and champagne. Our San Francisco dinner at Korea House wasn’t bad either. I should be posting all my photos to Flickr soon.
* The Point Reyes Lighthouse is stated by the National Park Service to be the westernmost point of the contiguous United States, but it would appear there is one island further west in Washington (see comments for more)
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