Overdrive search widget

just a quick post for libraries that use overdrive:

if you want a search box on your website that will do a title search on your overdrive titles you can use the following html:

<form action="http://YOUR_OVERDRIVE_URL/BANGSearch.dll" method="POST">
<label for="Title">Title</label><input type="text" name="Title" size="35" maxlength="100" style="width:288" width="288">
</form>
obviously you must replace the YOUR_OVERDRIVE_URL part with the correct information
It will produce the following
Title

My Return and My Thoughts on Desert Island Sites.

First of all, yes I realize I have been failing on trying to maintain a blog. This post will hopefully begin my re-return and a new attempt at doing a blog properly.

On a recent episode of T is for Training (http://tisfortraining.wordpress.com/) part of the discussion centered on "What would make your library's website a must have site?" The idea being if you were stranded on a desert island and could only access five websites what would make your library's site be one of those. My response was that this ran counter to what I'm trying to do with the library site. As libraries continue to fight to be recognized as relevant, they seem to be trying to be all things (information, entertainment, social opportunities) to draw in all people. While this approach may be warranted with regard to the physical library as a community space, I believe it is not appropriate for the library's digital space.

While I do support the idea of the website as the digital branch of the library, it differs from a physical branch in a way that is particularly relevant to this topic: travel time. It can take less time to navigate from one website to another than it does to move even from one room to another making switching your digital location a comparatively trivial task. This can be good or bad for your website.

It can be bad in that it will make it difficult for your library's site to be one of the "desert island" sites. I doubt your library has the budget to create and maintain it's own social networking site, news aggregation service, e-mail service, etc. and even if it did, could it make them better and more compelling than existing products? If instead, you plug into existing sites and services (for example through Facebook's API), when users are forced to economize their access, do you really expect them to pick your "bolted on" social features over the wider range of social interaction they can get from a site that focuses on social networking?

The difficulty of competing in these areas is a good thing for your library's website. It allows you to focus your effort on the things your library does best such as circulate books to your customers, provide research resources, serve as a platform for ultra-local and niche information. Your site might not be on the desert island list, but it may come up when the patron wants primitive methods of building boats.

Facebook Class Outline

I have been very busy and unable to post lately. I have been asked to create a class on the basics of using Facebook for senior citizens. This is the outline of the class it will guide them from signing up through the basics of communicating. 

Facebook Class Outline

1.       Introduction

1.1.    You should already know this but there are some requirements if you’re going to benefit from this class.

1.1.1. You should know the basics of using a computer

1.1.2. You should know how to use an internet browser (such as internet explorer)

1.1.3. You should have an e-mail account that you can check from a website and you must know how to check it.

1.1.4. We do have other free classes that will teach them to you if you do not know them, but this class has been designed around you knowing these things already and there is not time to help you with them.

1.2.    Signposting

1.2.1. First I’m going to talk about what facebook is, and why we are teaching the basics of how to use it.

1.2.2. Then I’m going to cover how to get to the site and create an account

1.2.3. Next I’ll show you how to find people you know on facebook.

1.2.4. Then I’ll show you how you can send messages, with pictures or links to websites that you want to share.

1.2.5. Finally I’ll show you how you can use it to keep up with the little things in your friends lives and how to share even the little things with your friends.

1.3.    About Facebook

1.3.1. Facebook is what is known as a social networking site.

1.3.2. Social networking sites are basically a place for you to interact with people online. Especially people you might not see face to face on a daily basis. There are tools for meeting people, sending messages, sharing information, playing games together, and much more. All of this can be done without leaving your computer.

1.3.3. Facebook is the most popular social networking site in the world.  On average fifty-million hours are spent on facebook each day. Surveys have shown it to be popular, for both social activity and professional networking

1.3.4. This class cannot teach you everything about using facebook. It is meant as an introduction so that you will be able to use the most basic parts of it, and to get comfortable with it so that later you can experiment using some of the other features.

2.       Getting to Facebook

2.1.    Open your Browser

2.2.    In the address bar type http://www.facebook.com

2.3.    Fill in the form

2.3.1. In the future you’ll just use the top two boxes for your e-mail address and password.

2.4.    Click sign up

2.5.    Fill in the security check

2.6.    You’ve now signed up for a facebook account. They are sending you an e-mail right now to verify the e-mail address you gave them.

3.       Verifying your address

3.1.    Go to the website where you check your e-mail

3.2.    You should see one from facebook. Open it

3.3.    Click the green button labeled “Get Started”

3.4.    Now they take you to your facebook page which asks you to do a lot of things. You can actually skip most of this for now.

4.       Finding people

4.1.    If you know a friend or family member who has a facebook page you can use the search box at the top of the screen. Just enter the name, and a list of people who have that name will come up.

4.2.    If you see the right one, you can click on their name and you’ll see some of their information so you can double check they are the person you want.

4.3.    If you’re sure, you can click the “Add as friend button at the top of the screen, and it will send them a message so they can add you as a friend next time they log in.

4.4.    You are only friends if you both agree. If they don’t agree, then they won’t show up in your friends list and you won’t be able to communicate with them over facebook.

5.       Sending a message

5.1.    Facebook actually has a messaging system that’s very much like e-mail

5.2.    To send a message click the message button at the top of the screen

5.3.    You’ll then see a list of recent messages that people have sent you, and you’ll see a link labeled “Send a New Message”

5.4.    When you click send a new message, a new window will pop up. You can see it looks like an e-mail

5.5.    In the “To:” box you can enter the names of people who are friends with you, and you can put e-mail addresses as well.

5.6.    The “Subject:” box works just the same as it does in e-mail

5.7.    The message field is where you can type whatever message you want to send.

5.8.    You also have three options to include something in the e-mail. If you look at the buttons at the bottom left of the little window, you can see buttons to attach a picture either one that’s on your computer already, or if you have a webcam attached to your computer it can use that, you can attach a video message if you have a webcam on your computer, or you can attach a link to another site.

5.8.1. Pictures

5.8.2. Video

5.8.3. Links

5.9.    Then when you’re finished, just click send.

6.       Status updates and News Feed

6.1.    Facebook also has another way to communicate. Facebook allows you to post short messages that will automatically display to all your friends (and other people depending on your privacy settings). These messages called statuses are designed for you to share what you are or will be doing, or what you have done. It’s a great way to keep up to date with people about the little details that you might forget to mention in a phone call or e-mail. Just like your statuses will be shared with others, their statuses will be shared with you.

6.2.    On the left hand side of the screen look for where it says “news feed” and click on that.

6.3.    This is probably empty right now. It will fill up as you add friends and they update their status messages.

6.4.    See the box that says “What’s on your mind?” click on that box and you can type a quick message in it. Then click share.

6.5.    You might get a pop up message about the post being visible to everyone. Facebook has many settings to control your privacy, but if you accidentally set them wrong, then your friends and family will not be able to add you as a friend or see what you post on facebook. So for now, click continue.

6.6.    Notice that your own status messages go into your newsfeed, and that it will show you how long ago the message is from. Also notice that under you status are two links one of them is labeled comment. The other is labeled like.

6.7.    You can click comment to post a short message that is associated with the original post. And when you click the comment button after that, it gets added.

6.8.    The link labeled “like” is a quick way to indicate you agree with or were entertained by what they posted. It does not require a message though you can certainly leave a comment by clicking the comment link also. The person who posted the status, and anyone else will be able to see the list of everyone who used the like link on what was posted.

7.       That covers the basics of how to communicate using facebook. There are a lot more options that you are encouraged to try on your own.  Some things you’ll want to learn about as you use Facebook more are:

7.1.    Privacy Settings

7.2.    Using applications and playing games online

7.3.    Other ways to share picture and videos

Me, Myself, and I...

There has been questions recently about what can you share on social networking sites while being a professional. I've heard this issue brought up before and it has perplexed me because I don't see a pronounced difference between who I am at work versus who I am at home.

I think there's a concept buried in people's heads that when they show up to work, or begin acting in some professional capacity, their name changes to "Representative of ..." I've always looked at it as more spending that time to accomplish the goal of furthering the interests of your employer (for which they gratefully compensate you). What this means, in my mind, is that you don't have two different personas that you change just like your work clothes, but rather that when you're accomplishing a "professional" goal your demeanor might shift some, but it's not like you have to completely pack your personality away.

 I understand there is a question about what content is appropriate to communicate. On this my answer is it depends on what the name of the account is. If it is a library account, then it is not the right venue to share your love of knitting scarves for kittens, however if it is an account in your own name, then you are free to communicate anything you like.

The other issue that comes up is when you are trying to build a personal brand does what you can communicate change. I don't believe it does. Even if it doesn't seem like it, your "brand" is a result of your love of dogs who swim in lakes that have 5 letter names. Personal things do affect your approach to professional matters, and, unless you are a robot, they should. So if you want to share about your love of 80's martial arts movies with Hispanic protagonists (are there any?), then by all means please do.

Related posts:
I'm not narcisitic, you're eavesdropping by Bobbi Newman - an older post but a good take on social networking
Personal Accounts, Work Accounts - What to do? by David Lee King

A Bright Idea of using DimDim.

Last week I had my first time of using DimDim as a tool for providing a presentation. Let me say at the beginning, I did not use this tool to it's full potential, or even half of it's potential.

The Situation
I finished writing the software for our new online meeting room management system and needed to demonstrate it to the managers who had rooms at their branches. The issue I'd had in past training sessions was that some of the managers were... less adroit at using a web browser. Since this session was more demonstration than training, I did not need them to remember which options to select, I only needed to show them the different options that were available. I wanted a tool to put everyone on the same page at the same time.


Using DimDim
I had the idea to use DimDim's desktop sharing even though it was a face to face meeting. That way, rather than telling them to look for a specific button and click on it, I could tell them just watch where the mouse went. Since the view could be made full screen, I could show them my desktop but it would look fairly close to what they would see when they did it for real. The idea worked with only two hitches which I'll explain below.

Issues
The issues I experienced during the live presentation somehow didn't happen when I did my full practice the day before. The first actually happened before the meeting began; the computers they were to sit in front of went into screen saver mode. This was easily solved by disabling the screen saver and putting the desktop sharing back to full screen. The second was more entertaining. DimDim is an online meeting platform with voip capabilities and so I started hearing myself echo from their computers. It took me a minute to realize why, but that was also quickly solved.

Future Use?
This first use was very much an experiment, but it was successful which has me wondering when I'll be able to use it again. Currently, I'm planning to use it to do the actual training on the system with the managers at their own branches as a further experiment. Right now, I consider DimDim to have a major drawback that might inhibit it's usefulness for training: it cannot let me turn desktop control over to another user (e.g. I can't say now you show me where to click to do X). Despite its drawbacks I think DimDim could be useful in providing future training.

Reporting Your Success - How to Do It and Why It Matters

The why should be fairly obvious, but just in case here goes:

Your place of work has made an investment in you, reporting your success whether in the form of a monthly report, or simply face to face during employee evaluations and review is your chance to show them the value they are receiving from their investment and asserting that they made the right choice in picking you to fill the position, and that the job they hired you for warrants the scale of the investment they made. This is in essence the same principle as when you were applying for the job, but, hopefully, with less competition.

How to toot your own horn, without getting off-key
The process of how to go about this is actually much simpler than it seems. Your objective is to show how well you're fulfilling the requirements of your position, and then how far beyond those requirements you go.

Use all your accomplishments
Let's start with your to-do list. As items move from to-do to done, they magically become what are known as accomplishments. An item might be a small accomplishment, but it is one all the same. Make a list of all your done items over the time period. Some items you'll group together (e.g. I don't list out each website edit in my final report, I group them all together under "updated public website"). If something was a major item such as a project that lasts a week (for a monthly report), it doesn't get grouped; When you're finished you can adjust which items you group together for length.

Let other people play too
I love it when someone e-mails me to say thank you, or to tell me how great a job I did. Not only is it nice to know you're appreciated, but when it's typed out, it becomes something that you can pass on. These might point out a few little things that you skipped adding to your to-do list, and it lets your boss see how highly your coworkers think of you. It's even better when you can produce an e-mail from someone who is over your boss complimenting your work.

Just remember this should never cause you stress; this is the time to pat yourself on the back for a job well done.

Dealing with Rejection (and Failure)

Recently, I was a guest on the podcast "T is for Training"; one of the subjects discussed was dealing with failure which sparked a discussion on how do you get over the fear of failure. Somewhat flippantly I suggested "practice, practice, practice," and I wanted to take a minute to dig a little deeper into what I meant.

Practice your presentation. 
Lifehacker had a great post about how to improve your presentations. All you need to remember now, is that everything is a presentation. From the time you present your idea to get permission or buy-in, through every moment of it's execution, to the "debriefing", or to explaining why it failed, you are in the middle of a presentation. This means your actions during this entire period should ideally be planned almost to the point of being scripted. Of course you can't anticipate and script every little thing, but the more things you have planned for, the fewer things can catch you by surprise. The key focus of this type of practice is so that regardless of what comes, you can maintain your demeanor and poise. Many people are impressed when someone demonstrates the ability to keep their equilibrium when things fall apart.

Practice handling failure
Not only do you want to be able to keep your head when things spin out of control. You also want to demonstrate that you can handle failure, rejection, and criticism gracefully. I want you to visualize being told "no" or worse being told your idea is a bad idea. How humiliating it is to hear that, especially if it comes from someone you expect. Did you cringe? Then do it again. And again. And again. Until you can visualize hearing those words and still visualize yourself gracefully accepting the words and moving on, repeat the exercise. Then, for good measure, repeat it some more. A majority of times this is your worst case scenario and you just showed yourself how to get through it repeatedly. You might note this is an implementation of "expect the worst and all your surprises will be pleasant." Repeat this step through implementation of the project, figure out what ways it could fail, then try to address those weaknesses, and finally prepare for them to fail anyway.

Practice letting go
Most AA style programs have as a step believing that your fate is in the hands of a higher power. I am not going to be so cruel as to suggest that the deity of your choice might want you to fail; however, the reason for this is that you need to realize there are things you cannot control. Flip a coin and try to make it land on heads 100 times in a row. Sure if you do it enough it will happen, but it's more likely that was the law of averages happening. The truth is you cannot prepare for everything. When I worked for a radio station we had an Italian engineer who, when things went wrong that he didn't predict, would say "f***ing Murphy," referring to Murphy's Law. You need to realize that if you did your homework and prepared for as much as you could expect, if things go wrong then it was just "f***ing Murphy." Take a deep breath and say to yourself "Oh, I didn't realize that could happen like that," and prepare to take the lumps you practiced for earlier.

No, the gut wrenching feeling when things slide out of control will never go away. No, the gut wrenching feeling that things might go wrong will never go away. Accept that practice doing your best when faced with the worst.