LibGuides (v2) Summer

"What did you do this summer?"

The perennial inquiry from returning students - and student workers - has a different flavor this year. Prior to their May departure preliminary second floor moves and collection weeding led to reorganization of activity books, curriculum text books, big books, book kits, and award book areas. Next in the grand plan was back-shifting the juvenile collection into a full row of newly empty shelves. It was on my summer 'to do' list.  However as LibGuides administrator, my time and efforts were focused mainly on the project. Instead of floor moves, summer moves were of the digital variety. We migrated and went live with LibGuides v2 and E-Reserves to start the new academic year (woot!).

A new platform is a great opportunity to re-brand our guides and feature what they offer to faculty. Effort by our web services team, marketing, and information technology department helped us seamlessly integrate LibGuides v2 with our existing library and IRC web sites. Initial marketing of the updated resource includes information posted on the IRC and Library blog, accompanying tweets and Facebook posts, and will be followed by a short video overview of what LibGuides can provide for course support, instruction, research, and general library resources.  The video will post this week, as soon as I decide which to use.








Library and IRC blog posts are planned to feature information about E-Reserves, A to Z Databases, LibGuides and library instruction, IRC LibGuides, and course support guides.  I have already created two new library guides to support education course assignments and the response has been very favorable. It has also been a stark reminder that I need to consistently promote what these guides offer beyond traditional instruction resources.

more with Pinterest

One of my newer LibGuides supports a freshman level phonics class. The professor developed an introductory scavenger hunt, highlighted with an embedded Glog in the LibGuide, which requires her students to visit the library, become familiar with the IRC physical space and collections as well as online resources.  During the term, an assignment activity requires students to locate pattern books, also known as cumulative tales, in the juvenile collection. Subsequently, the LibGuide includes a Pattern Book tab providing additional information (reference resources, catalog links, and samples). While revising the guide, I decided to develop a Cumulative Tales board on Pinterest; the board presents examples of cumulative tales currently in the juvenile collection.

I work primarily with Amazon and Barnes and Noble for pinning book covers as Pinterest does not recognize book cover images (size)in our library catalog. After pinning the image, I provide a catalog link in pin descriptions with the call number and book location. However, when electing to pin larger images, they were often watermarked with a copyright statement. Discussions with our campus copyright advisor helped me refine use of these resources with attribution. Changes to Pinterest over the last few months, including updated guidelines and a code snippet that protects images (users see "This site doesn't allow pinning to Pinterest. Please contact the owner with any questions. Thanks for visiting!").

An increasing number of sites are providing 'pin it' buttons with their share buttons (like LibGuides). Today when working with the Cumulative Tales board I noticed both Amazon and Barnes and Noble have added Pinterest to their share options for books.

Amazon's share button details book title and a persistent link in the pin description. If electing to not use their text, attribution is noted on the pin and the link directs users to the title. In my opinion, the best reason to use their pin button is the image promoted is NOT the 'click to look inside' image.

Barnes and Noble's share button works in a similar manner, I did note some of the older titles pinned smaller images with an abundance of white space around the image. There was not an option to select a different image on the page when using their 'pin it' button. In both instances, if using the Pinterest book-marklet, a number of book image options display. Pinterest continues to refine their product and it seems more sites are facilitating it as a 'share' choice along with Facebook and Twitter.

LibGuides & Pinterest

When revisiting Pinterest a few weeks ago, I noted an academic library - Valencia College West - pinning selected LibGuides to their boards. Yesterday I spent a bit of time tweaking images pinned to the IRC & LibGuides board, in some cases adding QR codes to pages with limited pin-able images, to better reflect the content. What I did not notice until editing a guide this morning was that Springshare has added Pinterest  to the Bookmark & Share menu (see below).

When selected, the Pinterest icon provides users with images from the guide that are available to pin; even better, it's possible to pin the main LibGuide page and/or individual tabs/pages within guides. Yes, it is still possible to use an installed Pin it button, but if students are using a lab or classroom computer (sans Pinterest) they may not be able to install to their browser. LibGuides facilitates Pinterest use immediately; students can pin after instruction sessions, directly from LMS embedded course guides, and while perusing the library's LibGuide collection.

Kudos to Springshare, they consistently keep LibGuides up-to-date for librarians and users.

Protopage (replacing Pageflakes)

At the conclusion of this term, students creating their electronic portfolios were greeted with an unpleasant surprise when their Pageflakes portals were unavailable. The site suffered a number of significant outages between mid-October and the end of November and even this evening, is not available to users. I have been researching any number or web sites that could provide the same LibGuide-like results for students to use; the assignment is a great ice-breaker, students use a 2.0 technology and put the first building block in place with ease. I may have found a perfect companion to Netvibes, replacing Pageflakes, with Protopage.

A 2.0 start page, similar in nature to Netvibes, iGoogle, and Pageflakes (without the previously mentioned spotty usage reports) it provides users with opportunity to personalize their web experience.

"Protopage leverages Web 2.0 methodologies to create a very smooth drag-and-drop interface that acts more like your desktop than a browser home page, and not only does it have just about everything you will want in a start page, but it does almost everything well." -- The Scoop on Protopage, Daniel Nations, About.com Web Trends

I registered for a free account and quickly created a usable page. Not as flashy as Netvibes, it does provide easy options for text with wysiwyg editors and 'sticky notes,' video with html options in the text editor and widget boxes for video, and several different options to create bookmark lists and news feeds.


This afternoon I wrote and revised a short series of storyboards for video tutorials. I used Screencast-o-matic, along with a little help from YouTube's Video Editor, to produce two video tutorials (in HD). The videos, Protopage Introduction and Adding Widgets to Your Portal, will be featured this spring replacing the Pageflake videos.

Next I plan to move forward with incorporating Google Docs Forms in the classroom. I used Google Forms to develop surveys for student input on LibGuides created for two courses (take a sneak peek at one embedded in a LibGuide) and would like to add forms as an addendum of sorts to the Google Spreadsheet assignment.

How LibGuides Link Librarians

I'm not sure how many of you use LibGuides at your libraries or how many of you have even heard of LibGuides. Just in case here is a little background. LibGuides is a knowledge sharing system which allows librarians to create individual guides or pathfinders that link users to library resources. While providing access to resources these guides also embrace the push towards web 2.0 by allowing librarians to share RSS feeds, podcasts, videos and polls.
I have had the pleasure of using LibGuides for the past few years while working at Ashland University and at my current position at Stark State College. I love the simplicity of creating guides for my patrons and the fact that I can update or change information in the blink of an eye. Along with the ease and enjoyment of creating LibGuides I'm finding there is an added bonus feature, so to speak.
LibGuides are a great way for librarians of all walks, to network and share ideas. I know I am always looking to my colleagues for ideas and I'm finding that LibGuides is wonderful for this! One way to gather ideas is to use the LibGuides Community Site. The Community Site is set up as a database of its own. You can search for guides by subject, school, author or keyword. I not only get ideas about guide design and layout but I find great links to online tools and resources. But this isn't the best part. If you find a guide that you would like to re-create but you don't know how or you find a tutorial created by another librarian you can contact them! Each guide has the author prominently displayed along with their contact information.
In the past three years of using LibGuides I have been contacted by four librarians from all regions of the country, asking me how I created something or asking if they could use a particular activity I posted. On the flip side, I myself have contacted numerous librarians asking them similar questions and never once has a librarian ever said "no".
So many of us are working on similar projects or putting together similar courses for our students and faculty without much time to get them done. Why reinvent the wheel when we can work as a community and share are ideas. The networking options through LibGuides and other social media tools are endless for librarians!

Screen Capture: Screencast-O-Matic

I'm lucky enough to have Camtasia Studio on my work computer; as such, it's easy to get spoiled having immediate access to software for creating video tutorials. To create screen capture projects on my home computer, I've been exploring free options, specifically one that I would not have to download. I found Screenjelly, Screenr, Jing, HyperCam, and most recently Screencast-O-Matic. This summer, students in my technology class were very interested in using Jing and several wrote interesting reviews on the product. On the verge of downloading, I decided instead to try Screencast-O-Matic.

"Screencast-O-Matic is the original online screen recorder for creating screen capture video recordings (aka screen casts) with free hosting all from your browser with no install!" -- Welcome page (8/24/10)

Several reviews noted five minute videos were free, but the web site FAQs state fifteen minute videos (subsequently hosted on YouTube) are free. It is necessary to have java installed with your browser to access the product, but it does not seem to differentiate when using updated versions of either Firefox or IE8; I have used both browsers to create screen casts without issue. I was happy to learn it is possible to export completed projects directly to YouTube as an HD movie, as an MP4 file, or an AVI file for Movie Maker.

The product is easy to use and intuitive; it

• provides opportunity to select video size from a list or adjust the screen to suit your needs
• includes a pause button (or alt+p) during capture
• starts each capture, both fresh video and after pausing, with 3,2,1, go!
• has an option to reset the video and start again

After making screen casts on my work computer and on my personal computer, I noticed choice of microphone makes a significant difference, my $3 work microphone audio narration sounds a bit "tinny," however my $9 home microphone provides adequate results. There are interesting visuals included on the screen cast, it highlights mouse movement with halos and short bursts as the video producer moves through the story. I did not notice these features when creating the video, but when processing the finished product there is opportunity to opt out of any and all of the colored (yellow and blue) highlights.

Since I opted to use the free version, there is a Screencast-O-Matic watermark on the bottom, left corner of the video. It is less obvious than the Animoto markings and I found it easily ignored. If you do not want or like the watermark, pro accounts are reasonably priced ($9 per year) and provide editing tools and options of one hour video lengths.

Below are two videos recently created with Screencast-O-Matic. I elected to keep the mouse highlights on both videos; each was exported to my YouTube account, saved as MP4 files, and later embedded in separate project. This is a great product to create free screen cast videos, especially when taking into consideration it is not necessary to download prior to use.

LibGuides: EDEC 323 Children's Book Reviews

Angel Learning Management: Netvibes: Using the Link Module

Literature rack & QR codes

I have been considering different ways to utilize QR codes in the IRC since returning from the Computers in Libraries conference this spring. I think they have potential to be an interesting creative outlet (instruction session scavenger hunt and student interaction, saving LibGuides to phones and simple signage tools) and they are a quirky fun technology. I wanted a way to make them feasible, functional, and visually appealing.

I created new signs for the Newbery and Caldecott sections of the juvenile collection; they lead-off the stacks. Signs are complemented by small literature holders with print copies of LibGuide pages, a more traditional handout format. New signs were created with screen shots of the LibGuide and a side bar with a QR Code displayed and text: "Snap! Send the QR Code to your Web Enabled Phone for the URL." My student workers thought it was fun after I explained, but there was not much interest in the signs (library wallpaper).

After contemplating the empty literature rack, I tossed all of the handouts at the end of the spring term,  trying to decide if it needed to be removed and what could be displayed in its place, I remembered the QR codes. Instead of updated handouts I generated QR codes for seven of my most popular education LibGuides and the IRC blog. After laminating, they fit cleanly into the rack with a small bit of tape securing them. The ninth opening has a definition of QR Codes and a small recycling statement.  I have not wasted paper on multiple copies, students can save URLs to their phones and print if they want a particular LibGuide and the rack has helped green the IRC. It remains to be seen if the rack/display garners interest or increased LibGuide use, but I am pleased with the result.

ALA 2010: The Stacks

There is always something about entering "The Stacks" at ALA that reminds me of a carnival atmosphere. Maybe it's the sound of wheels spinning for prizes, or even the vendors pitching their sessions like barkers, regardless it is an atmosphere of fun and prizes. I convince myself not to pick up any more pens (I really do not need them) and limit the number of ARCs to what I can comfortably transport in my ALA bag.

This plan worked until I arrived in one of the children's book aisles, was offered a copy of Nikki Grimes new book, A Girl Named Mister, autographed by the author. No line. No waiting. Very gracious author signing books. A few booths away I met Janet Mullany, the author of Jane and the Damned, due out this October. One more autographed book. To the delight of my niece I found several titles of interest for eight year old girls before the bag was full.

Arriving back at AU, I compared notes with our technical services and government documents librarian who also spent quality time in The Stacks. She had opportunity to talk with the EBSCOHost vendors and learned about a new customizable search box builder now available on their support site. One of their integration tools, the Search Box Builder allows users to "Choose your search parameters and customize your search box size and style to fit your site." I have already created one for our LibGuide widget library that will search Academic Search Complete, Education Research Complete, and ERIC (for the education page). Alas, attempts to paste the code here for an example were spectacularly unsuccessful (at least visually); but it works fabulously.

Ahh, but when it works

One of the most popular tabs on the Ed.D. Research: Doctoral Program in Leadership Studies LibGuide is AU Dissertation and its corresponding drop down menu of dissertations, grouped by year, added to ProQuest Dissertation Abstracts and the OhioLINK ETD. When Sara (fellow Library Cloud contributor and former AU librarian) and I created the Ed.D. LibGuide we felt it was imperative to consistently update the information for current doctoral students and incoming program cohorts. How so? Use ProQuest alerts for new dissertations published by Ashland University; quick, simple, and efficient. Alerts are not frequently published, so I was pleasantly surprised this morning when my inbox announced:

Below are the latest results for your alert.
Click the links to view an article in ProQuest.
Databases selected: Dissertations & Theses: A&I
1 new articles found for: SCH(ashland university)

I followed the link directly to the database, located the dissertation information, logged into LibGuides, and created and updated a new 2010 Dissertation ProQuest page. Even better, I finished in less than twenty minutes. I moved to the OhioLINK ETD and updated newly published dissertations from that resource as well (alas, they don't offer the alert or feed). As we move towards the end of this term, there will be program graduates and a new doctoral cohort to support. I'm pleased the dissertations are updated for both groups of students.

Even better the technology worked; I am still not convinced Bloglines caught all of my feeds during their maintenance yesterday (hah!).

CIL 2010: My Presentation

With tremendous relief and very little fanfare, I completed my presentation LibGuide for Computer's in Libraries next week. LibGuides: Web Tools to Enhance Information Fluency was the 74th guide in AU library's LibGuide collection. I will be the first, or second, part of a panel session presenting on Monday, April 12, at 4:15 PM – 5:00 PM.

Presenters were asked to upload presentations beginning yesterday to provide opportunity for attendees to peruse sessions prior to the conference.  I created a friendly URL and submitted my information this afternoon.  One of the benefits of using a LibGuide as a presentation tool is the opportunity to update before, during, and after the session. The URL remains and I will be able to craft the introduction without issue.  A few weeks ago Sara mentioned using Prezi as a presentation tool, I registered for a free account and hope to develop a short visual introduction that can be embedded within the guide - and here.

There are a number of social tools and resources available for CIL 2010 conference attendees, presenters, and interested blog readers:

• Computers in Libraries 2010
• CIL on Twitter
• CIL Wiki
• CIL Blog 

Now that's customer service!

The library is currently weathering an unexpected adjustment to our proxy server. An innocent bystander, our collection of LibGuides chock full of links to database resources, electronic books, and articles using the proxy URL for authentication. Each of the estimated 1000+ links now rendered useless by the change. But this is a post with a happy ending.

One of our IT people suggested we contact LibGuides and ask if they could query our full content, remove the incorrect proxy string, and replace it with the new. We were secretly doubtful, but all things considered nothing ventured, nothing gained. Sara, fellow blogger and our liaison with LibGuides, contacted them with the request Wednesday evening. Almost immediately, their response was yes! This morning they completed the task and our guides are once again the shining star of our library resource page.

The Springshare About Us page states: "Our goal is to have each and every client say 'this is a great company to work with!'" In my humble opinion, you have more than met your goal.

Springshare is a great company to work with!

Zero to Sixty

Yesterday Sara and I put finishing touches a "summer" project, a new LibGuide for the Dwight Schar College of Education Doctoral Program in Leadership Studies. We started by evaluating our existing online resource and determined the information and users would be better served in the AU LibGuide environment. A quick needs assessment, in the form of three simple and individualized SurveyMonkey surveys, was sent to doctoral faculty, current doctoral cohorts, and recent program graduates. We worked to facilitate their requests and provide quality library information resources:

• Library Mentor Program
• Using the Library Catalog
• Electronic Book Resources
• Library Database Resources
• ERIC Digital Library
• Education Journals
• Dissertation & Literature Reviews
• AU Dissertation Links (by yr)
• Citation & Plagiarism
• 2.0 Research Elements
• Quick Links
  

Tags and a unique URL were created, the guide quickly and effortlessly associated with education resources category, a bit of finessing done with the title (we still are not thrilled), and without more ado, the guide was ready: Ed.D. Research: Doctoral Program in Leadership Studies. A soft roll-out began with an email to the doctoral faculty, soliciting feedback so we can make changes to suit their needs. Currently under a web content freeze, the University will be unveiling a new web site soon; links from the library web site are on hold. However, we plan to email guide links to survey participants and post an announcement on the Library News Blog and IRC Blog. After publication, I verified our link from the library's LibGuide home and noted guide numbers; we are starting our second academic year with LibGuides and have gone from zero to sixty during that time.

Then, because the sheer joy of publishing the finished product made me a bit giddy, all I could think of was Alabama's song, "I'm In a Hurry" ... "I don't know why I drive so fast, my car has nothing to prove, it's not new, but it'll do zero to sixty in 5.2." It has been stuck in my head for two days now, so for my viewing pleasure, and maybe yours as well (after the requisite advertisement).

LibGuides @ ACRL

There were seven different LibGuides presentations, in session, panel, poster, and Zed Shed format, at ACRL last week. Marc Bertone at Springshare has put together a Conference Presentation LibGuide (ACRL Tab) with information about each session. The listing is alphahbetical, ours is near the middle of the page, and has links to poster images, slide shows, and guides created to support presentations. Additionally, there are links to presenters LibGuide profiles (though my profile link is suspiciously absent from our listing).

Interested in more LibGuide links?

• LibGuides Help Page: Conference Presentations: ACRL
• Guides to Go: Using LibGuides to Deliver Information
• AU LibGuide: Learn About Our LibGuides
• AU LibGuide Home Page

If it's not one thing

Technology is great, technology allows us to reach users/patrons/students both in-house and over distances with regularity, technology facilitates classrooms around the globe, and most importantly technology is not infallible. I do not mean simple, or even complex, user error which happens. I do mean the times when severs are down, systems hiccup, and software updates to make things better make them, well, temporarily worse. That doesn't mean my love affair with technology is over; it does mean the relationship is complicated at times.


The library and resource center use Meebo chat/IM services on the library web site, IRC web site, and within many of our LibGuides (See Children's Literature Resources). All are strategically placed to allow patrons the opportunity to choose this mode of communication if they desire. This morning Meebo mysteriously went off-line for several hours. There are so many other ways to get help from a librarian that waiting for the problems to be resolved was only a minor inconvenience. Interestingly enough, the Meebo Blog post updating users was dated Tuesday and our service had been working all week.


We have been using LibGuides at AU since late summer. I am a BIG fan of the content management system and, along with other librarians on staff, have worked to create several education guides for a wide variety of topics. In fact, three AU librarians, me included, will be presenting a poster session at ACRL in Seattle, Washington and a session at the 2009 Learning, Libraries, and Technology Conference in Columbus in March. Since LibGuides has instituted updates the end of last year, there have been a few technology glitches to overcome. We have had issues with guides not displaying in IE (fixed for users, but still a problem with administrators), tags and the tag cloud functioning improperly, and our library header style sheet continues to not function within the LibGuide environment. Customer service is great at LibGuides and I am confident these problems will be resolved. But they are part and parcel with using web 2.0 technology.


This week was fraught with course management system "glitches." I am teaching two educational technology courses using Angel, both had serious glitches to start the week. Last week I set target dates to start (ie open to students) on Friday morning. Monday morning a quiz for one class and several discussion boards for another mysteriously set themselves back to the fall semester dates rendering them unavailable to students. Luckily, eagle-eyed students brought them to my attention and it was something that could be easily fixed. While I feel it is imperative when working with an online course the technology work the first time, part of using the technology is being able to trouble-shoot when things go wrong; because they will.


Before lunch I began editing a Content Cafe screen capture video created to highlight it's capabilities to students. I need to insert a few finishing touches before producing it for use. Ultimately, it will be posted on one the Book Reviews section of my Children's Literature LibGuide. I have registered for a Springshare webinar this afternoon and am looking forward to the session. As with any complicated relationship, there is always more to learn.