This Thing looks at ways we can connect with our community via apps! I think this Thing is super important, for a number of reasons. First, I tend to (perhaps optimistically) think of libraries as a center of community life, and as a part of the a connection to all the other goings-on in the community. Keeping up-to-date with community news and events is a key part of that, and apps such as the ones I'm about to review can be key in that. Secondly, a library is often a first stop after new people or families have settled into town, and I think these would be great resources to add to the library's newcomer's kit (be it formal or informal).
For this app I downloaded St. Paul Connect, Going Out, and Explore Minnesota (all available for Apple and Android).
St Paul Connect allows users to user the app with or without creating an account. The apps main focus is not on events so much as on giving residents/visitors an opportunity to connect with the city of St. Paul. For example-if you spot something that seems wrong/out of place/broken in the city (examples included abandoned vehicles, noise complaints, parks and trails, graffiti, tree issues and much more!), the app allows you to snap a picture of it, add a description, it automatically adds a location based on the GPS in your device, then your issue is submitted and forwarded on to the proper personnel! You can also see a map of reported issues in your area (again, based on GPS)! Near one of the libraries I work at I spotted reports of potholes, a broken traffic light, parking violations and excessively tall grass. The feature allows you to see when something was reported, and you can even see issues that were reported and resolved. If you live in St. Paul, you can register to be shown in the "Neighbors" feature. I don't live in St. Paul, but think this app is GENIUS. I didn't actually submit a report myself, but the process seems super easy and I like that you can check the map to see if someone else has already reported the issue, and how recently. More cities should have apps like these!
Going Out, made by the StarTribune, will ask for your current location when you open up the app. Then, you'll see a list of 10 options, including Art & Museums, Stage & Comedy, Movies, and more. Click on a category and you'll see a listing of events that fit in that category that can then be filtered by near your current location, a specific zip code, date, venue, or searched by keyword. When applicable, there are direct links to purchase tickets, which is really nice! Overall its a good, very easy to use app that will certainly come in handy, but it has a few setbacks. For example, ongoing events (a Beatles exhibit, for example), will be listed repeatedly for each date they run, rather than just once with a date range (example: Monday-Sunday, June 1-30). A single listing and date range would do a lot to clean the app up visually and improve user experience. But overall, I like the wide range of events gathered on this app and will definitely keep it in mind!
Explore Minnesota's app is targeted at having active users-the logo even contains the word "Active," so the information it provides is all about getting active in the great state of Minnesota! The app itself is simple and requires no login. When you open it there are two options-Experiences or My List. Clicking into Experiences brings up a menu of options including golfing, hiking, paddling, runs and walks, and more. In theory, you click into any of the categories and, using your GPS, the app will find listings of events near you. I LOVE the idea of this app. About a year ago I lost a significant amount of weight and have become much more active. I love running, walking, and hiking and just tried kayaking for the first time last week. This app would be perfect for me as it could help me discover new places and events to help me stay active. The bad news? Whenever I opened the app, I got an error message saying Google has disabled the Maps feature on the app and if you were the app owner, you could visit a website for more information. That disabled feature seemed to prevent me from seeing listings of events-I would only ever see a "Loading listings..." message. But, I'm so in love with the idea of this app that I contacted Explore MN (to make sure they're aware of the issue) and I'll keep checking back to see if it gets fixed sometime soon!
Next time I'll be posting about a big one-Thing 18-Education! Until then, cheers!
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Thing 16-Audio!
For Thing 16 we are discussing apps that record audio! The timing for this Thing was almost too perfect. I have always disliked the sound of my own voice. Recently, I started visiting a new chiropractor, who mentioned that I should consider a second career in voice over acting, as I have one of the most beautiful voices she's ever heard. Wha? The comment caught me so off guard! Then this Thing rolled around and presented the perfect opportunity to record my voice and check out my future possibilities as voice over actor! ;-)
The first app I tried out was Audioboo, available for Apple and Android. Audioboo lets you record up to ten minutes of audio that can then be 'published' to a variety of social media outlets such as Facebook, Audioboo, Twitter, etc. The app required creation of an account to get started, which makes sense since publication of audio files is one of the key features of this app. Once you log in, there isn't really a tutorial but using the app is pretty simple. You can record audio (there are a few simple editing tools as well), or browse things others have published on Audioboo to see how everyone else is using it. Once you've recorded your audio, you can also add an image, a text description and tags to make it searchable on Audioboo. Much of what I listened to seems to be podcast-y in nature, if you're at all familiar with podcasts. The first thing that came to mind regarding this app and libraries was using it to record booktalks! If you're not familiar with Reader's Advisory, a booktalk is a short blurb ('speech' seems too formal-they are often just a minute or two, though they could be longer) a librarian (or someone else) might come up with that gives an audience just a little bit of info about a book (plot, setting, characters), without providing a synopsis or reviewing the book. Just enough info and intrigue to make them want to go out and pick up a copy for themselves! This app would be great for recording and sharing booktalks, which in turn could help boost circulation and also acts as a bit of free marketing for the library! Overall a very easy to use app that could definitely have multiple applications in the library!
The next app I tried is SoundCloud (available for Apple and Android), which seems to have an even more social focus than Audioboo. Once again, you have to sign up to use it. Once you've signed up, you're presented with a list of music genres (and representative artists) as well as audio styles (news, sports, religion, comedy, etc.) for audio broadcasts and asked to mark your favorites. This becomes a list of people and/or genres you follow on SoundCloud, meaning they go into your stream of audio (your personal SoundCloud, filled with audio you like to hear). The stream essentially works like a newsfeed in many social media applications, except that instead of your friend's latest news and images, SoundCloud lists audio files from the people/entities you follow that you can then click into and listen to. Of course you can edit your stream, search for new material and so on. It reminded me of Pandora, only with more variety as Pandora is pretty much just for music. And while you can record audio, it seems like listening to/discovering other audio is really the main function of this app. I personally don't see as much application/use for this app within my libraries. but I did enjoy playing around with it and seeing what it found for me to listen to. It did find quite a bit more variety than I would normally hear on the radio or via other apps like Pandora, so I will probably keep it for that reason.
In the end, I'm not convinced of my future career in voice over acting (let's just say I didn't share any of my audio bits...haha!), but I guess I won't completely ignore the possibility. As they say, beauty is in the eye (or ear, in this case) of the beholder, right?
That's all for now; look forward to Thing 17- C0nnecting to Community, which will immediately follow this posting!
The first app I tried out was Audioboo, available for Apple and Android. Audioboo lets you record up to ten minutes of audio that can then be 'published' to a variety of social media outlets such as Facebook, Audioboo, Twitter, etc. The app required creation of an account to get started, which makes sense since publication of audio files is one of the key features of this app. Once you log in, there isn't really a tutorial but using the app is pretty simple. You can record audio (there are a few simple editing tools as well), or browse things others have published on Audioboo to see how everyone else is using it. Once you've recorded your audio, you can also add an image, a text description and tags to make it searchable on Audioboo. Much of what I listened to seems to be podcast-y in nature, if you're at all familiar with podcasts. The first thing that came to mind regarding this app and libraries was using it to record booktalks! If you're not familiar with Reader's Advisory, a booktalk is a short blurb ('speech' seems too formal-they are often just a minute or two, though they could be longer) a librarian (or someone else) might come up with that gives an audience just a little bit of info about a book (plot, setting, characters), without providing a synopsis or reviewing the book. Just enough info and intrigue to make them want to go out and pick up a copy for themselves! This app would be great for recording and sharing booktalks, which in turn could help boost circulation and also acts as a bit of free marketing for the library! Overall a very easy to use app that could definitely have multiple applications in the library!
The next app I tried is SoundCloud (available for Apple and Android), which seems to have an even more social focus than Audioboo. Once again, you have to sign up to use it. Once you've signed up, you're presented with a list of music genres (and representative artists) as well as audio styles (news, sports, religion, comedy, etc.) for audio broadcasts and asked to mark your favorites. This becomes a list of people and/or genres you follow on SoundCloud, meaning they go into your stream of audio (your personal SoundCloud, filled with audio you like to hear). The stream essentially works like a newsfeed in many social media applications, except that instead of your friend's latest news and images, SoundCloud lists audio files from the people/entities you follow that you can then click into and listen to. Of course you can edit your stream, search for new material and so on. It reminded me of Pandora, only with more variety as Pandora is pretty much just for music. And while you can record audio, it seems like listening to/discovering other audio is really the main function of this app. I personally don't see as much application/use for this app within my libraries. but I did enjoy playing around with it and seeing what it found for me to listen to. It did find quite a bit more variety than I would normally hear on the radio or via other apps like Pandora, so I will probably keep it for that reason.
In the end, I'm not convinced of my future career in voice over acting (let's just say I didn't share any of my audio bits...haha!), but I guess I won't completely ignore the possibility. As they say, beauty is in the eye (or ear, in this case) of the beholder, right?
That's all for now; look forward to Thing 17- C0nnecting to Community, which will immediately follow this posting!
Monday, June 9, 2014
Thing 15-Infographics!
This Thing is actually very appropriate and well-timed with goings-on in my library. One of the libraries I work in recently held an infographics contest. While I wasn't able to participate (it was only for students), it did spark an interest and, at the time, it hadn't occurred to me that there may be a tool I could use to create and view infographics on my phone!
I originally intended to download two apps for this Thing-info.Graphics (Apple only) and Infographics Hub (Apple and Android). I shortly realized that Infographics Hub, which I couldn't find in my app store, was only available for the iPad. I then tried to download Visualize (Free), but I couldn't find that one in my app store either (under either name)! When I tried to find it on Apple's website, I got no results, so I'm thinking that perhaps that app is no longer available at all, at least not for Apple.
In any case, I was able to get a hold of info.Graphics, and it is optimized to function with iPhone 5, which is perfect for me! Upon first opening the app there was no tutorial, no login, no how-to, just straight to a feed of infographics (recent? popular? I'm not sure, it wasn't specified). Just click on one to expand it (usually what you see in the feed is just a small portion of the infographic). You can browse those, or look at graphics that have been categorized (business life, education, food and beverages, and movies are a few of the eight main categories) if you have certain interests or information needs. I noticed the app, though a great idea, was also sort of glitchy in practice. Several times when I opened the side menu to view categories it froze, and had to be closed and re-opened. Another feature that would greatly improve the app is some sort of search system, perhaps by keyword or hashtag (#library would have been my first search, but was, sadly, not an option!). But, this app serves its purpose by putting tons of infographics right at your fingertips! I wish I had known about this app while we were running the contest-I had several people ask what an infographic even was, so it would have been great to whip this out and show, rather than just explain. It also could have served as inspiration for students considering entering the contest.
There was one lingering thought regarding info.Graphics...They provide all sorts of infographics, and invite users to share them via social media, but where do they come from? I wasn't able to find an "About" section or anything of the like to explain that....Hmmmm.....[tries to ignore copyright and related concerns....]
Overall (and I can't say I blame them!) there doesn't seem to be much you can do from a phone in terms of creating infographics. Its just not practical. Even viewing them can be a bit of a stretch (lots of zooming to view all the details). But-chalk up another reason for me to upgrade to an iPad! Many more creation and viewing options seem to be possible at the tablet size. Anyway, join me soon for another post-next time on Audio!
I originally intended to download two apps for this Thing-info.Graphics (Apple only) and Infographics Hub (Apple and Android). I shortly realized that Infographics Hub, which I couldn't find in my app store, was only available for the iPad. I then tried to download Visualize (Free), but I couldn't find that one in my app store either (under either name)! When I tried to find it on Apple's website, I got no results, so I'm thinking that perhaps that app is no longer available at all, at least not for Apple.
In any case, I was able to get a hold of info.Graphics, and it is optimized to function with iPhone 5, which is perfect for me! Upon first opening the app there was no tutorial, no login, no how-to, just straight to a feed of infographics (recent? popular? I'm not sure, it wasn't specified). Just click on one to expand it (usually what you see in the feed is just a small portion of the infographic). You can browse those, or look at graphics that have been categorized (business life, education, food and beverages, and movies are a few of the eight main categories) if you have certain interests or information needs. I noticed the app, though a great idea, was also sort of glitchy in practice. Several times when I opened the side menu to view categories it froze, and had to be closed and re-opened. Another feature that would greatly improve the app is some sort of search system, perhaps by keyword or hashtag (#library would have been my first search, but was, sadly, not an option!). But, this app serves its purpose by putting tons of infographics right at your fingertips! I wish I had known about this app while we were running the contest-I had several people ask what an infographic even was, so it would have been great to whip this out and show, rather than just explain. It also could have served as inspiration for students considering entering the contest.
There was one lingering thought regarding info.Graphics...They provide all sorts of infographics, and invite users to share them via social media, but where do they come from? I wasn't able to find an "About" section or anything of the like to explain that....Hmmmm.....[tries to ignore copyright and related concerns....]
Overall (and I can't say I blame them!) there doesn't seem to be much you can do from a phone in terms of creating infographics. Its just not practical. Even viewing them can be a bit of a stretch (lots of zooming to view all the details). But-chalk up another reason for me to upgrade to an iPad! Many more creation and viewing options seem to be possible at the tablet size. Anyway, join me soon for another post-next time on Audio!
Thing 14-Videos!
We're on to Thing 14! But first-updates! I got an email the other day informing me that Springpad (used way back in Thing 5-Notetaking) is shutting down! I'm kind of bummed, as I had actually used that app several times after my report on Thing 5 wrapped up. They are offering export of data to Evernote though, so they aren't leaving users hanging.
Now-to the task at hand-Videos! I downloaded and used Vine and Magisto (both available for Apple and Android) for this thing. I had heard a lot about, and seen a few Vines prior to this thing, but had never seen or heard of Magisto.
Vine, like most apps, required an account for use. The purpose here is to create videos up to six seconds long. Six seconds sounds too short for just about anything, but honestly it seemed like an appropriate length once I got started. With the digital world and the immediacy of information, it seems our attention spans keep shrinking. I rarely just watch TV anymore, with undivided attention. Instead, I am reading on commercial breaks, playing games on my phone during the show, surfing the internet and catching up on email, playing with the dog-you name it. I just don't have the attention span to devote myself to TV, and nothing else. Vine, then, is genius because it only requires your attention in up to six second spans! Its perfect! If a picture says 1,000 words, a Vine can say so much more, without boring people like a longer YouTube video might! I can definitely see this app being great for libraries-it could be a great marketing tool (I'm picturing Vines posted to the library's Facebook, and think that would go over well!). Overall the was very easy to use. It could have been my internet connection, but I was sort of surprised that my short videos took several minutes to upload. One other thing I really enjoyed was scrolling through the video feed of popular Vines-not only were they entertaining, but it was great to see all the ways Vine can be used!
Magisto is more of a movie making too than a video taking tool, if that makes sense. It takes video clips and photos right from your own photo stream on your device and turns them into a movie (or perhaps I should say a "movie," as it isn't really a movie, but more of a video presentation). Magisto actually has an option to create an account or try it out as a guest, which is nice. Once you've chosen your login method, there is a four-screen slide show that describes some of the features. Then, as you begin to create your first movie, pop-ups guide you through each step. First, you choose your videos and photos (up to 10 in the free version), then your theme (there are 16, ranging from 'Summer' [bright and cheery with uptempo songs] to 'Country' [sepia and faded, with country songs]). You can also choose to add a song from your own library, which is awesome. Then, when you're set, you submit your movie for compiling. Mine took less than five minutes and was then ready to view and share. One major gripe, and a reason why I probably wouldn't use this app professionally, is that I used one video and 9 pictures in my movie, but it spliced up the video and put a clip there, then some pictures, then a clip there, and so on, in a random order that I couldn't choose. If I were going to use this professionally, I'd want to design that myself, not leave it up to fate. Beside that, it was a super easy to use app and has the added bonus in that you can control who sees the video-just you, everyone, certain people, etc. I'll definitely keep using it for my personal stuff, as it was fun and easy to use, but don't think I'd use it (at least not the free version) professionally.
That's all for videos, but stay tuned! I'll be posting about infographics shortly!!
Now-to the task at hand-Videos! I downloaded and used Vine and Magisto (both available for Apple and Android) for this thing. I had heard a lot about, and seen a few Vines prior to this thing, but had never seen or heard of Magisto.
Vine, like most apps, required an account for use. The purpose here is to create videos up to six seconds long. Six seconds sounds too short for just about anything, but honestly it seemed like an appropriate length once I got started. With the digital world and the immediacy of information, it seems our attention spans keep shrinking. I rarely just watch TV anymore, with undivided attention. Instead, I am reading on commercial breaks, playing games on my phone during the show, surfing the internet and catching up on email, playing with the dog-you name it. I just don't have the attention span to devote myself to TV, and nothing else. Vine, then, is genius because it only requires your attention in up to six second spans! Its perfect! If a picture says 1,000 words, a Vine can say so much more, without boring people like a longer YouTube video might! I can definitely see this app being great for libraries-it could be a great marketing tool (I'm picturing Vines posted to the library's Facebook, and think that would go over well!). Overall the was very easy to use. It could have been my internet connection, but I was sort of surprised that my short videos took several minutes to upload. One other thing I really enjoyed was scrolling through the video feed of popular Vines-not only were they entertaining, but it was great to see all the ways Vine can be used!
Magisto is more of a movie making too than a video taking tool, if that makes sense. It takes video clips and photos right from your own photo stream on your device and turns them into a movie (or perhaps I should say a "movie," as it isn't really a movie, but more of a video presentation). Magisto actually has an option to create an account or try it out as a guest, which is nice. Once you've chosen your login method, there is a four-screen slide show that describes some of the features. Then, as you begin to create your first movie, pop-ups guide you through each step. First, you choose your videos and photos (up to 10 in the free version), then your theme (there are 16, ranging from 'Summer' [bright and cheery with uptempo songs] to 'Country' [sepia and faded, with country songs]). You can also choose to add a song from your own library, which is awesome. Then, when you're set, you submit your movie for compiling. Mine took less than five minutes and was then ready to view and share. One major gripe, and a reason why I probably wouldn't use this app professionally, is that I used one video and 9 pictures in my movie, but it spliced up the video and put a clip there, then some pictures, then a clip there, and so on, in a random order that I couldn't choose. If I were going to use this professionally, I'd want to design that myself, not leave it up to fate. Beside that, it was a super easy to use app and has the added bonus in that you can control who sees the video-just you, everyone, certain people, etc. I'll definitely keep using it for my personal stuff, as it was fun and easy to use, but don't think I'd use it (at least not the free version) professionally.
That's all for videos, but stay tuned! I'll be posting about infographics shortly!!
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Thing 13-Presentations
Love 'em or hate 'em, presentations of varying degrees of formality are pretty commonplace in librarianship. This Thing looks at some apps that can be used to help create presentations. I scoped out two apps-Haiku Deck (Apple only) and Deck Slideshow Presentations (Apple and Android) for this thing.
Haiku Deck-Right after opening the app for the first time, there is a brief presentation about Haiku Deck (promotional more than informational). Then, as with anything else these days, you have to create an account to get started. Once you've done that, you'll see your "decks" (presentations). At this point, there is just one-"Meet Haiku Deck for iPhone." That is when I realized that Haiku Deck currently has limited functionality for iPhones. You can view decks but you cannot create or edit them on iPhones. Supposedly this ability is coming soon, but in the mean time if you try to click on the "+" to create a new deck, you are offered email links for the web version of Haiku Deck or a link to the iPad version of the app. I don't have an iPad, so I had to check it out online. For anyone familiar with Microsoft PowerPoint, Prezi, or any other slide-based presentation application its easy enough to use, even without a demo or tutorial. One really slick feature is the image search box. Pop in a search term, "beach" for example, and up pop a bunch of beach photos you can use in your presentation (of course you can also upload your own photos). Supposedly (hopefully) the images are all free, Creative Commons licensed images (more info here: https://haikudeck.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/202231193-Free-Images-Licensing-and-Commercial-Use), which is a GREAT feature. And, if you've typed some text onto a slide it might automatically find relevant images for you. For example, I created a slide that had the text "What about libraries?" on it, then clicked on the images button and it automatically searched for 'libraries' images for me! Neat! In my honest opinion (and in my limited user experience since I cannot use my phone to edit/create decks), that is the app's coolest feature. Overall, it was very easy to use and a fun alternative to the more commonplace PPT or Prezi. I will definitely keep this in mind next time I have a presentation, and hope for continued updates that bring more functionality to the iPhone app.
Deck Slideshow Presentations-This app does actually allow users to create and edit slideshows on their iPhones. It is simpler, doesn't require an account, and has no tutorial or anything upon start up. Its focus is on 'Twitter-like brevity" (from the Sample Deck that comes pre-loaded on the app)-it actually limits the number of characters each part of a presentation can have. This is great-many people put WAY too much text on their slides, then simply read the text...BORING. This app might help eliminate that problem. The app itself has a selection of 'professionally designed' themes-you choose the one you want, punch in your text and data, and you're good to go! Some (like Paper Planes) are fun, but could get old fast (imagine orange and grey paper planes unfolding and refolding, and flying across the screen to reveal your text...cool right? Only for so long, and only ONCE. Show the same group of people that same theme again and it loses its cool factor-in my opinion!). Anyway, most the themes are pretty nice and creating a deck is pretty simple-there is a very clean, easy to follow layout in the creation phase. There is also an option to create and input your own charts and graphs-Probably not ideal if you have a lot of data, but easy enough to use. Overall, this is a great app! Easy to use, really fast, and worth a download if you're looking for something fresh (note-you will have an ad message at the end of your presentations-"Effortlessly create unique presentations with Deck at deck.com" or something along those lines).
I haven't had to do a presentation that required a slideshow or anything of that nature for at least a year (when I finished grad school), but believe it or not-with these apps I'm sort of excited for the next opportunity to come up! Cheers!
Haiku Deck-Right after opening the app for the first time, there is a brief presentation about Haiku Deck (promotional more than informational). Then, as with anything else these days, you have to create an account to get started. Once you've done that, you'll see your "decks" (presentations). At this point, there is just one-"Meet Haiku Deck for iPhone." That is when I realized that Haiku Deck currently has limited functionality for iPhones. You can view decks but you cannot create or edit them on iPhones. Supposedly this ability is coming soon, but in the mean time if you try to click on the "+" to create a new deck, you are offered email links for the web version of Haiku Deck or a link to the iPad version of the app. I don't have an iPad, so I had to check it out online. For anyone familiar with Microsoft PowerPoint, Prezi, or any other slide-based presentation application its easy enough to use, even without a demo or tutorial. One really slick feature is the image search box. Pop in a search term, "beach" for example, and up pop a bunch of beach photos you can use in your presentation (of course you can also upload your own photos). Supposedly (hopefully) the images are all free, Creative Commons licensed images (more info here: https://haikudeck.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/202231193-Free-Images-Licensing-and-Commercial-Use), which is a GREAT feature. And, if you've typed some text onto a slide it might automatically find relevant images for you. For example, I created a slide that had the text "What about libraries?" on it, then clicked on the images button and it automatically searched for 'libraries' images for me! Neat! In my honest opinion (and in my limited user experience since I cannot use my phone to edit/create decks), that is the app's coolest feature. Overall, it was very easy to use and a fun alternative to the more commonplace PPT or Prezi. I will definitely keep this in mind next time I have a presentation, and hope for continued updates that bring more functionality to the iPhone app.
Deck Slideshow Presentations-This app does actually allow users to create and edit slideshows on their iPhones. It is simpler, doesn't require an account, and has no tutorial or anything upon start up. Its focus is on 'Twitter-like brevity" (from the Sample Deck that comes pre-loaded on the app)-it actually limits the number of characters each part of a presentation can have. This is great-many people put WAY too much text on their slides, then simply read the text...BORING. This app might help eliminate that problem. The app itself has a selection of 'professionally designed' themes-you choose the one you want, punch in your text and data, and you're good to go! Some (like Paper Planes) are fun, but could get old fast (imagine orange and grey paper planes unfolding and refolding, and flying across the screen to reveal your text...cool right? Only for so long, and only ONCE. Show the same group of people that same theme again and it loses its cool factor-in my opinion!). Anyway, most the themes are pretty nice and creating a deck is pretty simple-there is a very clean, easy to follow layout in the creation phase. There is also an option to create and input your own charts and graphs-Probably not ideal if you have a lot of data, but easy enough to use. Overall, this is a great app! Easy to use, really fast, and worth a download if you're looking for something fresh (note-you will have an ad message at the end of your presentations-"Effortlessly create unique presentations with Deck at deck.com" or something along those lines).
I haven't had to do a presentation that required a slideshow or anything of that nature for at least a year (when I finished grad school), but believe it or not-with these apps I'm sort of excited for the next opportunity to come up! Cheers!
Thing 12-Books, Books and MORE BOOKS!
Whew-its been a while but I'm back! Feeling refreshed after a long weekend and ready to finally type up my next blog post :) This time we tackle the arguable "meat and potatoes" of librarianship-books!
When I got my first iPhone about five years ago one of the first apps I downloaded was Free Books (available for Apple and Android). However, I didn't use it much. It provides access to thousands of eBooks, mainly public domain titles, but I quickly found that I just don't like reading eBooks on my iPhone screen-its just too little! So, after a few attempts, I eventually just deleted the app. In the future, if I get an iPad, I would almost certainly download it again, as it was an easy to use app and who doesn't love free books!
On a related note, for this Thing I also downloaded Audiobooks (Apple and Android). Audiobooks is pretty much the audio version of Free Books-Thousands of (mostly) public domain books in audio version! The app itself is great-books are listed by title, author, genre, popularity, even narrator (which I really like-I'm kind of picky about my narrators and when I find a good narrator I want to listen to everything they've done! This saves me a lot of steps of looking them up online, finding the titles they've recorded, then searching through the app for those titles). The app remembers where you are in a book and automatically resumes when you close and re-open the app. The main downfall is that (at least for the free version) you cannot download audiobooks-you can only stream them! This stinks for a few reasons. I have about a 30 mile commute to work-PERFECT for audiobooks, but not if I've got to stream them (I have very little data on my phone plan, since I typically have wifi access, and those overages are STEEP!). So unless I'm at home, its not very practical. Also, even if I am at home, I get nervous. I was out doing yard work and listening to some Dickens and kept checking my phone to make sure I was still in wifi range! But, I'll definitely keep the app as it did seem to have (based on the handful of titles I tried) good quality recordings, and sometimes I just feel like being read to rather than reading!
I'm not sure I'd really recommend either of these apps to patrons, due to their limitations. (Also, I still get a lot of patrons that don't have at home wireless internet, so streaming is more or less out). I suppose if they were tech savvy and particularly interested in something other than our own eBook/eAudiobook collections, I might mention these apps. I would certainly promote our collections before promoting either of the apps I used here, but they might be a good second option for someone looking for more.
When I got my first iPhone about five years ago one of the first apps I downloaded was Free Books (available for Apple and Android). However, I didn't use it much. It provides access to thousands of eBooks, mainly public domain titles, but I quickly found that I just don't like reading eBooks on my iPhone screen-its just too little! So, after a few attempts, I eventually just deleted the app. In the future, if I get an iPad, I would almost certainly download it again, as it was an easy to use app and who doesn't love free books!
On a related note, for this Thing I also downloaded Audiobooks (Apple and Android). Audiobooks is pretty much the audio version of Free Books-Thousands of (mostly) public domain books in audio version! The app itself is great-books are listed by title, author, genre, popularity, even narrator (which I really like-I'm kind of picky about my narrators and when I find a good narrator I want to listen to everything they've done! This saves me a lot of steps of looking them up online, finding the titles they've recorded, then searching through the app for those titles). The app remembers where you are in a book and automatically resumes when you close and re-open the app. The main downfall is that (at least for the free version) you cannot download audiobooks-you can only stream them! This stinks for a few reasons. I have about a 30 mile commute to work-PERFECT for audiobooks, but not if I've got to stream them (I have very little data on my phone plan, since I typically have wifi access, and those overages are STEEP!). So unless I'm at home, its not very practical. Also, even if I am at home, I get nervous. I was out doing yard work and listening to some Dickens and kept checking my phone to make sure I was still in wifi range! But, I'll definitely keep the app as it did seem to have (based on the handful of titles I tried) good quality recordings, and sometimes I just feel like being read to rather than reading!
I'm not sure I'd really recommend either of these apps to patrons, due to their limitations. (Also, I still get a lot of patrons that don't have at home wireless internet, so streaming is more or less out). I suppose if they were tech savvy and particularly interested in something other than our own eBook/eAudiobook collections, I might mention these apps. I would certainly promote our collections before promoting either of the apps I used here, but they might be a good second option for someone looking for more.
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Thing 11-Library & Reference
This Thing mainly covers library mobile apps! I work for Anoka County Libraries and it is also my home library system, so I downloaded the ACL app for this Thing. Curiously, I didn't have the app before (if, for example, I needed to renew something I would use the link in the reminder email and it would open my account in my internet browser on my phone. I guess I didn't realize there was an app, or feel a great need to look for one). I did check out the reviews before downloading, and the main complaint I saw was that although it was a great app it was too slow. Always good to keep an eye out on what the users think of our products...
Upon downloading I did a few different things-placed some holds, looked things up in the catalog, some of the more common things patrons might use the app for. Interestingly, I was unable to renew materials using the app. I tried several titles that all were eligible for renewal and yet none would renew. We have had prior sporadic reports of the renewal feature not working on the app; I guess I caught it at a bad time! This does highlight a major problem with the app though-there was no error message to indicate my items DID NOT renew, I had to re-examine my account to determine they had not renewed on my own. Some patrons may not take this step and simply assume their items were renewed-this could of course lead to confusion, late fees, and upset patrons. Hopefully a permanent solution (or at least an error message of sorts!) can be found/created.
Anyway, back to the good! The ISBN lookup feature is really slick. It allows you to scan the barcode of a book and will then search the catalog automatically for that title! Handy for when you see a book of interest but wouldn't want to purchase the title yourself- just scan and request (provided ACL has a copy in its holdings-it doesn't let you request ILL using the scan feature). I also really like the Library Locator feature. It pulls data from your phone's GPS to determine how far you are from each of the ACL branches and can generate driving directions via Google Maps. Great feature, and it could very likely come in handy when patrons travel to and from branches to pick up materials (some prefer to pick them up themselves rather than have them delivered for various reasons).
I will agree with the reviewers about the app's speed. It is slow moving between screens and a speed boost could greatly improve the app's overall usability and the user experience with the app. Overall, though, it is a good app and easy enough to navigate. I would definitely recommended it to our patrons!
I also work at a small private academic library. As of yet, there is no app for the library. We do, however, (much like ELM, the Electronic Library for Minnesota) have a responsive webpage that automatically re-sizes itself to fit to whatever screen size you are using. Granted, that is pretty much the standard with web design these days, but its better than nothing at all!
Next time, we move onto what some would consider the meat and potatoes of libraries-Books, Books, and MORE BOOKS! Stay tuned :)
Upon downloading I did a few different things-placed some holds, looked things up in the catalog, some of the more common things patrons might use the app for. Interestingly, I was unable to renew materials using the app. I tried several titles that all were eligible for renewal and yet none would renew. We have had prior sporadic reports of the renewal feature not working on the app; I guess I caught it at a bad time! This does highlight a major problem with the app though-there was no error message to indicate my items DID NOT renew, I had to re-examine my account to determine they had not renewed on my own. Some patrons may not take this step and simply assume their items were renewed-this could of course lead to confusion, late fees, and upset patrons. Hopefully a permanent solution (or at least an error message of sorts!) can be found/created.
Anyway, back to the good! The ISBN lookup feature is really slick. It allows you to scan the barcode of a book and will then search the catalog automatically for that title! Handy for when you see a book of interest but wouldn't want to purchase the title yourself- just scan and request (provided ACL has a copy in its holdings-it doesn't let you request ILL using the scan feature). I also really like the Library Locator feature. It pulls data from your phone's GPS to determine how far you are from each of the ACL branches and can generate driving directions via Google Maps. Great feature, and it could very likely come in handy when patrons travel to and from branches to pick up materials (some prefer to pick them up themselves rather than have them delivered for various reasons).
I will agree with the reviewers about the app's speed. It is slow moving between screens and a speed boost could greatly improve the app's overall usability and the user experience with the app. Overall, though, it is a good app and easy enough to navigate. I would definitely recommended it to our patrons!
I also work at a small private academic library. As of yet, there is no app for the library. We do, however, (much like ELM, the Electronic Library for Minnesota) have a responsive webpage that automatically re-sizes itself to fit to whatever screen size you are using. Granted, that is pretty much the standard with web design these days, but its better than nothing at all!
Next time, we move onto what some would consider the meat and potatoes of libraries-Books, Books, and MORE BOOKS! Stay tuned :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)