Jan 26th, 2010
by pollyalida.
And now you can have one easily and without breaking the bank! LibraryThing announced their new Library Anywhere project at ALA Midwinter last week. Today they’ve posted prices for the service.
Key features listed in their announcement:
- A mobile catalog for any library, up and running in minutes.
- Mobile web and apps for iPhone, Blackberry and Android.
- Cheaper than you’d guess.
- Search, place holds, and more.
- Showcase hours, branches, and events.
- No installation process.
- Works with 90% of current OPACs.
- Comes with an “accessible version” that provides a fully Section 508-compliant version of your existing catalog
- (via LibraryThing)
They’re looking for beta libraries now. This is one of those times that I really wish I was still working in a library and could be part of this. And as a patron, I’d really love it if my own local library got in on this. I’ve been trying to use my library catalog on my phone and it’s not a pretty experience!
Posted in: Libraries, catalogs, mobile.
Tagged: library anywhere · librarything
Jan 13th, 2010
by pollyalida.
I love words and pictures and storytelling. And I love playing with tools that help us tell our stories. So it’s no surprise that I’m having great fun playing with Flickr Poet from Stories in Flight which I discovered last week from a colleague’s flickr stream. Pop in a poem, song lyrics or just random thoughts and see what you get!
Flickr poet pulls in photos from flickr that match your words in some way. Click on “Show Story” over and over to get different interpretations of your words. What a great way to enhance a poetry or storytelling project.
For a school project, it might be more interesting to have students pick out photos themselves and create their own presentations.
Tools to find photos
Finding photos is pretty easy, finding photos that are licensed for reuse under Creative Commons can be a bit more of a challenge. Continue reading →
Posted in: Photos, Poetry, Storytelling, flickr.
Jan 12th, 2010
by pollyalida.
Maurice Coleman, wrangler extraordinaire for the T is for Training podcast group, has challenged each member of the group to answer these 27 questions as a getting to know you exercise. Who am I to ignore orders!
1) Your One Sentence Bio
My business card reads: librarian . techie . trainer . consultant – to which I’ll add amateur gardener, foodie, reader, photographer, traveler.
2) Do you blog? If yes, how did you come up with your blog name?
Yes, here at pafa.net, very uncreatively named for my uncreatively named business, PA Farrington Associates.
3) What is your professional background? Continue reading →
Posted in: Life, Training, fun.
Tagged: tisfortraining
Dec 31st, 2009
by pollyalida.
It’s a blue moon tonight, though it’s not really blue or green or made of cheese. It’s just that not so rare, second full moon in a month. I asked my local astronomer in residence if the moon ever appears blue. And guess what? Yes, it can be blue! And it is indeed rare and unpredictable, true to the meaning of the phrase “every once in a blue moon.”
There are several definitions of the term “Blue Moon”. Today we have an example of one of them, “the second full moon in a calendar month”. For me, this occurrence is not very interesting – a statistical artifact of our calender that has absolutely nothing to do with the Moon’s color and isn’t even particularly rare (it occurs every 3 years or so and is entirely predictable). A much rarer, far less predictable, and much more interesting situation can lead to a Blue Moon that is true to its name. Continue reading →
Posted in: Fun Facts, Life.
Tagged: astronomy · blue moon · New Year
Dec 29th, 2009
by pollyalida.
Google Goggles uses pictures to search the web. This conjures visions of magic glasses that capture the world around you and flash back info right through the magic glasses. Anyone remember the tv show Romper Room? I really, truly believed that the magic mirror was real. Well Google Goggles is indeed real and it’s kind of what I was imagining it to be, sans glasses.
It currently runs on Android mobile devices and takes advantage of the great camera, GPS and tight integration with all things Google.
Open up the Goggles app, take a picture of product, a logo, a book – and the search tries to find something about the items in the image. Continue reading →
Posted in: Droid, google, mobile.
Tagged: apps · augmented reality · Droid · google goggles · search
