Big Huge Labs - Writer Text Editor

There is something to be said for simplicity. No bells or doo-dads to get in your way. Just a woman and her text editor. Text editor? Have I gone retro?


Yes, I guess I have. For the moment anyway. I am not forsaking my word processing programs. But there are times when looking at a blank white screen is intimidating. I wander. I find things that I shouldn't be fooling with when I need to crank stuff out.

But for some reason gazing at a black screen with green type takes me back to the days when all I could do was type. And words starts to stream out of my left side of the brain.

Here are some of the advantages of using an on-line text editor:

• You can use it anytime, anywhere that you are on the Internet.
  
• For students it is a quick tool you can use to do research and copy citations and web addresses into the program.
  
• It has a spell checker and a word counter.
  
• Writer will allow you to save what you have written as a text file, or as a .pdf file. You can email it to yourself. I had a problem doing that. It never let me enter my email address.
• It is free as in no cost to you. But if you really like it you can make a donation.
  

You can customize the type and the color. Green is not you thing, go old school Orange/Amber. So everything old is new again. Give it a try and see if it works for you.

Pat's Asterisk - A Woman's Life In Library Time

If you ask most people what is in a library the first word is books. That is understandable because yes, libraries tend to have a lot of books. But the books are the physical container of ideas of the people that wrote them.

The people inside of a library are the caretakers of thoughts, information and connections to people around the world. Sometimes we forget about how the books change us.

Pat's Asterisk is a relatively new blog. Pat writes about what happens in her day at the library, how the current flooding in Cedar Rapids is causing her to reflect on just how much she loves "the library" and the elusiveness of common sense at some of the hotels in Washington, D.C.

Pat also writes about what day or week it is. May 24 was National Tiara day. There are days when things don't go so well and other days seem like a blessing to her.

I enjoyed reading her blog and hope that she continues to write her thoughts about how her life and library intertwine.

Zotero - Reference Manager for Your Browser

Oh the joy, the rapture. I would have paid for it if I had know where to find it. Zotero, where have you been all my life? I learned about this little beauty from the InfoLit ListServ and I have plugged it in for immediate use.

Zotero is a reference manager add-in for Firefox, Netscape and Flock browsers. Yes, you Microsoft Internet Explorer folks are temporarily locked out of this goody. You add the plug in to your browser and then re-start.

You will be able to cite all kinds of material from just about anyway you travel on or off the Net. Books from WorldCat, MP3 and podcast, presentations, webcasts, journals, articles and more. You can copy and past your reference notes and export what you need as a RTF, HTML or even paper format. It is the merger of the best of the old reference techniques and new information management in one package.

All this and it is free.  Free and well documented. There is a demo on the front page that give an overview of the product. There is also a page of screencast tutorials that show you the basic function of how to use Zotero.

After losing all of my bookmarks/favorites not to mention the daily research I do just snooping around the Internet I needed a better way to log my travels. It is becoming increasingly important that we all have to start documenting our sources and find what we need quickly.  Not just for library staff but bloggers, writers, journalists or others who transfer thoughts to a fixed format.

I'm giving it a test run and if there are hick-ups I'll let you know but so far it is quarter past slick.

I feel you pain Mircrosofties so I'll see if I can find an equivalent product for you I.E. folks.

A Look Back and A Step Forward To 2008

I want to give you some of the statistics about the blog readership and related information. There have been about 6,000 visits to the blog since the inception. Now there aren't 6,000 of us in the program so some folks kinda stumble in or are attracted to a particular posted topic.

The visitors are primarily across the United States however we do have readers in Australia, The Philippians, Hong Kong, India and other places I'm trying to figure out where the heck they are on the planet.

There has been minimal advertising about the blog. I do mention it to others and it is on my business card. It is also posted on the PCC Library Technology website.

Many of the visitors come via Google searches and some of the most popular posts (in no particular order) are:

• Fact Check.org
• Library of Congress Classification Tutorials
• Screen Demos
• Employment and Job Leads
• Belinda Beardt on Resume Preparation
• Ready Reference Tools

So what happens now? Well, certainly the blog will continue through June-July 2008. I will scout around trying to find the next generation of LT bloggers. I think some of the paraprofessional staffers have a lot to contribute so maybe they might be interested in adding to the blog.

This is a hint that if you are in the program and want to get you feet wet blogging now is the time to make contact.

As for me? I really want to transition from my current day job to my next adventure. So there may be a lot more posting about employment tools and techniques. But I have a bunch more library technology posts I want to make sure are present for the future classes to come.

This blog would not have been possible without Mary Ann Laun. It was her idea and I just went along for the right. It has been a great one so far and I invite you to continue checking in from time to time.

Wikis - A Brief Introduction

I feel bad for Wikipedia. On the one hand, I'm glad the news media had something else to talk about besides under fed singers and actresses in rehab. Wikipedia took a hit this week and I still hear the chorus of "I told you so!"

I just wish they dug a little deeper. It might have helped to first understand what a wiki is before you start ripping into Wikipedia.



A wiki is used by a group of people to collaborate on projects. The software makes it very easy for team members to share information and to make adjustments without having to tear down and rebuild a web page. It is almost (but not quite) as easy as using a word processor but with the added benefit that that the team members or users do not have to be in the same location.

In fact that is one of the major attractions. For example there will be a "un"conference called BarCampUSA that will happen in Wisconsin in August.

BarCamp, (WineCamps, CoffeeCamps and all other camp permutations) are designed to help people learn things one to one or in groups in a casual minimally structured setting. This originally happened in bars hence "BarCamp".

There are people who have never met each other who are organizing this national event. Check it out for yourself http://www.barcampusa.org At BarCamp people volunteer to conduct workshops, get information about the event and put their two cents on what they want to see happen.

Wikis make it easier for people to collaborate who can't physically be together. Everybody has a voice and an opportunity for input. You might have heard terms like social networking and collaborative media. This is one form of it.

To learn more:

• LIS Wiki http://liswiki.org/wiki/Wiki
• PB Wiki - To create a free wiki site http://pbwiki.com
• What Is A Wiki and How To Use One for Your Projects http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2006/07/07/what-is-a-wiki.html
  
• Wikia - content based wiki sites http://www.wikia.com/wiki/Wikia
  

Other wikis to check out:

• Bullet Physics Library http://www.continuousphysics.com/mediawiki-1.5.8/index.php?title=Main_Page
  
• Library Success - A Best Practices Wiki http://www.libsuccess.org/index.php?title=Wikis
• Book Lovers Wiki, Princeton Public Library http://booklovers.pbwiki.com/Princeton%20Public%20Library
  
• Wiki How - User generated "how-to" do things like http://www.wikihow.com
• Wealth of Network, How Social Productions Transforms Markets and Freedom http://www.benkler.org/wealth_of_networks/index.php/Main_Page
  

Religion Newswriters Online Library

It it a rough time for the word "religion". For some folks it is right up there with the "F-Word". What? I was going with "faith." What were you thinking?

How do you find information about the various faith based systems. Well for writers and journalists (and info junkies of all permutations) you might want to visit the Religious Newswriters Associations Online Library.

Two items of interest that you might want to put in your tool kit. First, on the right side of the screen is a link to a Adobe PDF book about writing on religion.

It is a 53 page primer on how to find reliable experts, the worlds largest believe systems and information about the three main groups in America. It is a good tutorial on faith based systems and how to locate solid sources.

Second, there is a meta - listing of various religious organizations links. For example if you or a patron was looking for information about religion and ethics as it pertains to medicine there is a link to the Center on Biomedic Ethics from the University of Virginia. Contrast that link with the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics.

Definitely worth a visit http://www.rna.org/library.php

I'm sure I've mentioned it before but just in case you also want to visit Beliefnet at http://www.beliefnet.com They have an extensive collection of reports about faith systems, opinions, articles and using the prism of religion to view the contemporary world.

For research, I'd start at Beliefnet but for tips and suggestions on how to find people or books I'd check out the primer at RNA.

Psst... if you just need to know what "Jainism" means then visit the Religion Style Book, click the letter J and get the strait skivvy.