Safe Public Computer Tips

Did you know that keyboards can carry germs? In the midst of Cold and Flu season, it can be important to make sure you keep yourself germ-free on our public access terminals!

Use Hand Sanitizer
Using hand sanitizer before and after using one of our public computers will reduce the chance of harmful germs being transferred.  Hand sanitizer is located at the front desk.

Do not touch your face while using the computer
While using hand sanitizer will kill the germs before and after you use the computer, during computer use, any germs that may be on the keyboard will be transferred to your hands. According to research, this increases the chance of catching a cold/virus.

Wipe the keyboard
If you're worried about germs on the keyboard, you can wipe down the keyboard with an antimicrobial wipe. Wipes will soon be available at the library during the cold and flu season.

Don't forget - these tips aren't just for keyboards! You can also find out more about cold and flu prevention by reading FOX's "Tips for staying healthy during cold and flu season"

Sharing Link Bundles with Students

If you have ever tried to get all of your students to the same set of websites at the same time, you know that just a couple of mistyped characters can create a frustrating experience. One solution is to post all of the links on your course blog. Another solution is to use a link bundling service that will group all of your links together into one package. Then instead of sending out a bunch of individual links you can just send one link that will open all of the bundled links for your students. 

Bundlenut is a simple service for organizing a set of links and sharing them with others. To use the service just visit Bundlenut and start entering the links that you want to include in your bundle. You can include comments about each of the links. When you have added all of links that you want to include in your bundle, Bundlenut will assign a unique url to your bundle. Anyone with access to that url will be able to see all of your links and comments about those links. You can use the service with or without registering. The advantage of registration is that you can go back and modify your bundle whenever you would like to.

LinkBunch is a free service that you can use to quickly send a group of links to your friends, colleagues, and students. To use the service just visit LinkBunch, enter the links that you want to share, and click "Bunch." When you click on "Bunch" you will be given a URL to share with anyone you want to see the links in your bunch. When someone clicks on the URL for your Bunch he or she will be able to open the links you bunched together. 

Bitly is one URL shortener that I have been using for years. It's simple to use, especially if you use the bookmarklet, allows you to customize URLs, and it offers good statistics about the use of your links. Bitly offers an option for bundling bookmarks into one package that you can share with just one link. Bitly bundles can be created collaboratively if you invite other Bitly users to bundle links with you.

New Items Available for in Our Travel 2.0 Collection

7" Dual Screen Mobile DVD Systems

It features built-in stereo speakers, a headphone jack, remote control, 

mounting kits, AV cables, car power adapter, and AV input & output jacks.

Each Mobile DVD System checks out for 1 week with the option to extend the
checkout to 2 or 3 weeks. As with the other Travel 2.0 items, the Mobile DVD
systems are first come-first serve with no renewals.

Introducing Playaway Views

Playaway View is the simplest way to enjoy digital video
content on the go. It comes with the video content already
pre-loaded on it and ready to play. Each Playaway View has a
3.5” full-color LCD screen, weighs just over 5 ounces and holds
up to six hours of content.

Playaway View offers our library and our patrons access to
award-winning programs from providers such as PBS, National
Geographic and more. With Playaway View, our library can provide our
patrons with portable educational programming and entertainment that
was designed with libraries in mind.

youTube

youTube

a Popular Websites for Beginners Overview

What is youTube?

youTube is an online video website. Users create content (videos) and upload them to youTube to share them with friends, family, or just the world. Users can visit youTube to watch videos, create playlists of videos, and comment on videos.

In recent years, more commercial entities have partnered with youTube in order to offer official channels with official content (i.e. Music videos from Vevo).

There are all sorts of videos on youTube: friends taping birthdays, animals playing outside, indie web shows (like television shows), and more!

Who uses youTube?

A lot of different people are using youTube for a variety of reasons. Children use youTube to look up video game walk throughs, Teens use it to listen to music. Many adults use it for friendly how-to videos. Some use it to watch the news.

What can I do with youTube?

• Submit/Upload videos
• Watch Videos
• Comment on Videos
• Create Video Playlists
• Rate Videos

How do I get started?

You go to youtube.com. You can watch videos without an account, but in order to upload content or comment, you will have to create an account.

Go to youTube.com

For more information 

 Online Resources:

• youTube's "Getting Started" page: http://www.youtube.com/t/about_getting_started
• Lifehacker's "How to Upload Videos to YouTube (for Beginners)": http://lifehacker.com/5804501/how-to-upload-videos-to-youtube-for-beginners
• FastCompany's article "The Brief But Impactful History of YouTube": http://www.fastcompany.com/1514469/brief-impactful-history-youtube

Library Resources:

You can request books in our system about youTube. Click here to see what is available in SWAN.

About Popular Websites for Beginners series

Popular Websites for Beginners is our bi-weekly series that highlights a trending or popular website. We'll give you an overview of the website and resources to learn more about it. If you have a specific website you want us to highlight, drop us a comment!

For more posts in this series, click on the 'Popular Websites for Beginners series' tag below!

What to expect when you're expecting Office 2013

You may have heard that there's a new Office coming to town... and it's true. Office 2013 is scheduled to be released in early 2013. While you're waiting for the release, here's some good articles that will tell you all about the changes to expect in 2013! (Please Note: The views expressed in the articles are not the views of the library.)

Arstecha's Office 2013 Preview
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/07/office-2013-preview-the-speed-read/

"Microsoft has released a wave of preview versions of its upcoming Office 2013 office productivity software and services, with the first public preview released on July 16. Ars continues to dig into the previews, looking at each aspect of the platform’s client software and cloud services—including the apps for the Office add-in developer framework. So far, here’s what we know, and a round-up of our in-depth reviews:" [Read More]

Office 2013 Beta Review:
http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/office-2013.html

"How do you know Microsoft is a huge corporation? Because it launches products with a staggering amount of inconsistency among them, including some super-cool solutions alongside dreadful concepts that never should have been born. There are a few things that Microsoft really excels at, and that's being a player in the big league, top-notch support, serious business attitude, a strong presence and dominance in the office space." [Read More]

Computer World's Office 2013 Beta Review
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9229157/Office_2013_beta_review_Microsoft_almost_nails_it

"The just-released beta of Microsoft's Office 2013 gives the application suite one of the biggest aesthetic facelifts the package has ever received, with a flatter, Windows 8 Metro-like look, Ribbonless operation for those who favor a cleaner interface, better integration with the cloud, and a number of features designed for tablets and touch devices. The look of the new suite fits right into Windows 8, but works just as well on earlier versions of Windows." [Read More]

If you're interested in testing it out, you can preview and learn more about the new Office 2013 at Microsoft's Office Preview website: http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/en

Learn More about Office 2013 and when it will be released:

• ZDNet's "Microsoft Readies Office 2010 to Office 2013 upgrade program": http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-readies-office-2010-to-office-2013-upgrade-program-7000004138/
• ABC New's "Office 2013: Redesigned for Tablets, Skype Integration, Cloud Connectivity": http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/microsoft-office-2013-word-powerpoint-excel-outlook-redesigned/story?id=16788109#.UIMWcqDvjTo

Reddit

Reddit

a Popular Websites for Beginners Overview

What is Reddit?

Reddit is a bookmark/link community. The main purpose is to submit links and then you can comment, rate them up, or rate them down. It's also known as a social news site [Definition: A social news site is where users submit news (or links) and where they rank on the front page is determined by popularity instead of relativity or content].

Reddit has a lot of subreddits [Definition: Topics, i.e. 'Technology" "World News", etc.] to which content is posted.

Who uses Reddit?

Reddit is mostly used by Young Adults, of which most of them are male. If you're interested in knowing more statistics, there is a fun Prezi you can go through with more breakdowns [Link to "Who uses Reddit?"]

What can I do with Reddit?

• Bookmark/Submit Links
• Comment on submitted Links
• Vote Up/Down Links

How do I get started?

You go to reddit.com and create an account. Creating an account is easy and does not require an active email account to use. Once you have created an account, you can start submitting links.

Go to Reddit(.com)

For more information 

 Online Resources:

• Know Your Meme: Reddit http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/sites/reddit
• About.com's Reddit Article http://websearch.about.com/od/blogsforumssocialsites/qt/reddit.htm
• Reddit's FAQ http://www.reddit.com/help/faq
  

About Popular Websites for Beginners series

Popular Websites for Beginners is our bi-weekly series that highlights a trending or popular website. We'll give you an overview of the website and resources to learn more about it. If you have a specific website you want us to highlight, drop us a comment!

For more posts in this series, click on the 'Popular Websites for Beginners series' tag below!