I’m already familiar with how to access and read an eBook through netLibrary, so I decided to challenge myself by downloading an eAudio file from OverDrive. Since I did not want to download software to our staff computer, I went through the process on my home computer.
I’d already spent too much time this week searching for an interesting title across range of all the electronic material types, so I decided to simplify my search this time. I found an eAudio novel by searching for “Canada” as a subject. Next, I clicked on the link that took me from the catalog search results to the Carnegie Library Digital Media Center page where I saw that I could download and check out the materials. I didn’t realize that it would take about four clicks and three different browser windows to both download the Overdrive software as well as download the actual book onto the computer. The “download” buttons on each of the windows were always difficult for me to spot on the page; it took me a minute to find them as opposed to my usual quick scan of the page. Most of the rest of the process went smoothly. I ran into trouble as I tried to download the audio file of The Tsarina’s Daughter: A Novel”. My computer is from 2001 which affected the downloading process. After more than half an hour of watching the computer download the audio book, I gave up and canceled the job.
Next, I decided to try and download an audio book through netLibrary in hopes that I would have more success. Instead of using either the catalog or the netLibrary search box to find a title, I went to the netLibrary page and clicked on the “Audio books” link. Then under the category Browse Audio books by Subject” I clicked on the subject “Arts & Entertainment” because it only displayed two results. In this case, I felt relieved to see so few choices. I just wanted to go through the process from beginning to end without any setbacks! I thought that I signed up for a netLibrary account over a year ago, but I was wrong. Luckily, that sign up process was not difficult. I was also glad to see that the audio book download only took about six minutes- yay. Even though I had very little interest in the book that I downloaded- the unabridged “Treasury of Royal Scandals” by Michael Farquhar- I listened to about ten minutes of the book and it started to pique my interest. I closed out of Windows Media Player and then tried to pick up where I left off about 20 minutes later. It took me a few minutes to find the book under the “Now Playing” tab. In case you couldn’t tell, I don’t download media files to my computer. I’m only familiar with downloading documents.
Overall, I like that I get to experiment with all of the new tools from this endeavor, but at the same time, I am still frustrated that it takes multiple tries and longer than an hour to complete the task.
Showing posts with label 23 Things. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 23 Things. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Delicious RSS
I’m such a bad worker. My time management skills are horrible. Instead of adding my reaction to 23 Things last week, I used time from last week time to edit my profile and add a picture. Now you see what my work priorites are:).
Better late than never, I suppose.
I decided to subscribe to the RSS feeds without watching the video clip beforehand, which was a mistake. I thought that I could figure out how to start with RSS by just going through the steps. I ended up having to go back and look at the information anyway, which took more time. So I learned a lesson: always take advantage of the materials that are available on the “23 Things” blog.
Now on to the process: first I subscribed to a few librarian blogs using Internet Explorer, which was a simple process. I felt a little worried at first because the steps were different what I had learned; with IE, you don’t have to copy and paste the blog URL somewhere or deal with embedded code. When I went back to check them the next day, the feeds were not on the computer. Instead of finding the same blogs and signing up again, I used the information from the video clip and signed up for a Bloglines account. I like how the feeds and the corresponding text are organized on the page; it’s easy to find the information. Even better, since I share my computer with co-workers, the websites that I follow can remain private unless I keep keep my account up and running.
Onto Delicious: I’ve always wanted to try it, so I was excited about getting the chance to use it.
The sign-up process was more detailed than I thought it would be though, and I felt a bit overwelmed by the end of it. I also felt a little nervous during step three when it asked you to install a Delicious toolbar. We tell patrons not to install programs on the public computers and I abide by that same idea. I did not feel comfortable installing anything on my staff computer even though I’m positive that the information is not harmful to the computer in any way. I just don’t want to leave a trace of my activities on a computer that I share with others. I had fun adding links, descriptions, and tags to my account. Unlike some people, I found writing the website descriptions harder than creating tags.
Overall, I can see how useful these features can be for people who visit many sites andneed an organizational took to process all of the information from those sites. I however, visit about six sites on a regular basis, so I don’t think that I need to use Delicious or a feed reader right now. It serves as a good learning experience for me though. Any kind of practice is good for me.
P.S. – another goal for this blog: I need to stop using “I” so much!
Better late than never, I suppose.
I decided to subscribe to the RSS feeds without watching the video clip beforehand, which was a mistake. I thought that I could figure out how to start with RSS by just going through the steps. I ended up having to go back and look at the information anyway, which took more time. So I learned a lesson: always take advantage of the materials that are available on the “23 Things” blog.
Now on to the process: first I subscribed to a few librarian blogs using Internet Explorer, which was a simple process. I felt a little worried at first because the steps were different what I had learned; with IE, you don’t have to copy and paste the blog URL somewhere or deal with embedded code. When I went back to check them the next day, the feeds were not on the computer. Instead of finding the same blogs and signing up again, I used the information from the video clip and signed up for a Bloglines account. I like how the feeds and the corresponding text are organized on the page; it’s easy to find the information. Even better, since I share my computer with co-workers, the websites that I follow can remain private unless I keep keep my account up and running.
Onto Delicious: I’ve always wanted to try it, so I was excited about getting the chance to use it.
The sign-up process was more detailed than I thought it would be though, and I felt a bit overwelmed by the end of it. I also felt a little nervous during step three when it asked you to install a Delicious toolbar. We tell patrons not to install programs on the public computers and I abide by that same idea. I did not feel comfortable installing anything on my staff computer even though I’m positive that the information is not harmful to the computer in any way. I just don’t want to leave a trace of my activities on a computer that I share with others. I had fun adding links, descriptions, and tags to my account. Unlike some people, I found writing the website descriptions harder than creating tags.
Overall, I can see how useful these features can be for people who visit many sites andneed an organizational took to process all of the information from those sites. I however, visit about six sites on a regular basis, so I don’t think that I need to use Delicious or a feed reader right now. It serves as a good learning experience for me though. Any kind of practice is good for me.
P.S. – another goal for this blog: I need to stop using “I” so much!
Monday, May 11, 2009
Reaction to 23 Things
I've been working up the nerve to create a blog for a while now. I'm glad that the opportunity to participate in 23 Things came about since I feel more comfortable using a blog for work purposes rather than personal ones since I am a somewhat private person.
As for my reactions to 23 Things thus far, it's already challenged me by expanding my limits of comfort, which is good. I still feel uncomfortable writing about myself, but hopefully, it will get easier each week with practice.
I have a comment about the process for setting up this Blogger account: the part about entering an email address was confusing. From the front page, it seemed as if you needed to have a Gmail account to use it or create a Gmail account, but I entered a non-Gmail address into the first "blog set-up" box and Blogger accepted it. Everything else has been easy to follow!
After 23 Things is over, I hope to continue adding to this blog and integrate it into the library as an additional source of information for our patrons.
As for my reactions to 23 Things thus far, it's already challenged me by expanding my limits of comfort, which is good. I still feel uncomfortable writing about myself, but hopefully, it will get easier each week with practice.
I have a comment about the process for setting up this Blogger account: the part about entering an email address was confusing. From the front page, it seemed as if you needed to have a Gmail account to use it or create a Gmail account, but I entered a non-Gmail address into the first "blog set-up" box and Blogger accepted it. Everything else has been easy to follow!
After 23 Things is over, I hope to continue adding to this blog and integrate it into the library as an additional source of information for our patrons.
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