CADL 2.0.2??

On May 12th I wrote about CADL on YouTube. Today, I want to highlight what this type of technology can do.  The Capital Area District Library recently had author Arnie Bernstein speak about his new book called Bath Massacre: America’s First School Bombing.  His entire presentation is at the following site: Book tv. Take some time and watch it, very informative!! Recording programs like these gives CADL a wonderful way to reach more people with interesting and informative content.

Just like checking out a dvd, how-to recordings can be informative and fun. Home repair, fishing, home decorating and other library programs that involve demonstrations would fit in great with online access. No waiting on the holds list! No wondering if the dvd will play! Though it is not a CADL program,  Craftsman Style- The movie does use CADL resources. Can you spot it?

Nationwide Gas Price Finders

Summer is finally upon us, which means it’s time to hit the road to visit family, friends, or just get away.  In addition to planning your route, you may also want to see how much gas will set you back along the way. If you want to see the national gas price picture, GasBuddy is a great place to start.  There you will find a national gas price temperature map, where you can see the “hot” and “cool” zones.  But if you prefer to get your directions and maps from just one place (like Mapquest), Mapquest Gas Prices is the the site for you.

Remember to check these sites regularly,  so you won’t be caught by surprise by any price flunctuations.  Safe travels!

Online learning

If you happen to be one of the many people thinking that a bit of additional education might help secure employment, you might want to check out on-line learning opportunities. While this type of education has been touted as less vigorous than on-campus education, that mode of thinking is slowly changing.

The right kind of online courses are actually more vigorous and directive than the standard on-campus courses. Most on-line courses include weekly assignments, from timed quizzes to discussion forums, to papers (the typical sort). This means that the course instructor gets a weekly snapshot of student progress. It also means that no one can hide behind someone else. (You know what I mean – that old trick of skipping readings and sitting beside the person who always answers questions so you end up looking smart by association.) It just doesn’t happen when students have to enter into on-line discussions and every post is visible to the instructor. When taking timed quizzes, students must really know the tested information in order to finish on time. If a student doesn’t do something, or doesn’t know something, the instructor knows it. What’s more, the weekly progress snapshots allow instructors to offer some guidance to students who may be on the wrong track or simply not capturing a concept – before the student gets too far off/behind.

When well used, on-line learning is rigorous and effective – so much so that many on-campus programs use on-line tools to supplement their courses! But beware: not all on-line education is good. If you are considering this mode of learning, be sure to investigate the program well. Look for a program that advertises strong student-instructor interaction and high student performance standards.

Time Killers

ferryhalim has some wonderful vector games if you’re looking to kill a few minutes and want to see some fantastic artwork.

Newgrounds is another games site which offers some unique and clever flash animation games.

Finally, Gna! is a group where users and programmers get together to develop projects to be distributed for free on the site. The site has thousands of free downloadable programs doing everything from playing games to organizing databases.

ecards: print your own cards

You don’t have to be creative, funny or a poet, you just need to be able to point, click and edit the names

Out with the Old in with the New

Things will be changing at our libraries! Over the next several weeks our old computers will disappear and you will see new ones. Here is a is a quick look at what you will see:

The New

Yes, I know, it is just another box, but look carefully at the picture. There are some IMPORTANT differences from our old ones! The new computers do not have a floppy drive. You can bring in your thumb drive, cd/dvd, or memory card. If you look at the image above, you can see the memory card ports on the left side of the computer. The new computers do not support all memory cards, just a few of the main ones.

Once you log onto a computer, the “look” will be different.  The entry page will give you several quick start options such as library catalog, emedia, Word, Internet, etc.

Start Screen

You can click the “Exit to Desktop” button to close the start screen. The new computers will be running Windows Vista and it does change the look of features such as My Computer, Recycle Bin, Patron G Drive, etc. THere is also that Office 2007 thing, but that is for another post!

CADL 2.0

Did you know that CADL has a videos on YouTube? The library’s marketing department has a collection of videos free to view. If you want to check them out, go to www.youtube.com. In the search box towards the top of the screen you can type Capital Area District Library or CADL or CADL Marketing.

YouTube

Those keywords will retrieve a results list with some of the Capital Area District Library’s video. Right now, the literature and lyrics contest usually is first or second in the list. Click on the title and the video will play.

On the right-hand side of the page you should see this: 

CADL YouTube

You can subscribe to the CADL Marketing channel or you can click on “CADL Marketing” to view CADL Marketing’s page that contains all the videos. Please check the site regularly for new additions.

Local History Meets 21st Century Web Technology

In recent years, there has been an infusion of original local history records uploaded to the web making it easier than ever to research local history and genealogy.  Sites like ancestry.com and its library subscription sister site ancestrylibrary.com were the first on the scene primarily with United States Census records.  Ancestrylibrary.com is accessible at any one of our CADL branches. 

Then sites like FamilySearch and Footnote started to join the fun by adding their collections to the internet.  FamilySearch, a product of the Latter Day Saints Church, has started scanning their vast holdings of microfilmed church records, census records, tax records, etc. It will soon  be accessible on their FamilySearch website.  Until then you can view what they have so far at their site pilot.familysearch.org anywhere with internet access.  Footnote, which is accesible for free at the Library of Michigan, contains electronic versions of records housed at the National Archives including FBI case files.

The newest kid on the block for Michigan local history research is Seeking Michigan.  Seeking Michigan is a product of the Library of Michigan and the Archives of Michigan.  It contains items such as Michigan Death Certificates from 1897 to 1920, Civil War Photographs, WPA Property Inventories, and Civil War Service Records.    

Another wonderful resource is the Making of Modern Michigan , or MMM.  MMM contains local history photographs and other resources from institutions all across Michigan including the Capital Area District Library.  It truly is a treasure chest of Michigan Local History Resources.

As always, be sure to check out the Capital Area District Library Local History Page for information about accessing Sandborn Fire Insurance Maps and other valuable tools.

Get Free Stuff

If you want to spend the time or do the surveys, you can get some good stuff.

proposed law

Interesting proposed law in the works….

 H.R. 1966 otherwise known as Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act.  The gist of this proposed law to make it a felony offense to bully a person using social media tools such as blogs, facebook, twitter, etc. Check out the text of the bill throught the link above.

For more information please check ot these sites:

http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_HR_1966.html   
http://www.citmedialaw.org/blog/2008/proposed-megan-meier-cyberbullying-prevention-act-crazy