Usability fail: New York Times
Dear online information providers: disabling your users' browsers is not the way to keep them coming back to your site.
I was trying to use the New York Times' online book review page in a screenshot as an illustration for a web guide this morning. The feature I wanted to show involved the right-click context menu. What happened when I selected some text on NYtimes.com and right-clicked? This:
See that little question mark next to "Amityville Horror"? That's where my context menu should be. It took me about three tries before I figured out what was going on -- and I supposedly know what I'm doing here.
If you click on the question mark, it searches the NYT's site for your selected text. Why would I want that instead of the standard right-click menu I've been using for ten or fifteen years? (Hint: I wouldn't.)
Book swap shelves
One of the casualties of budget cuts at my library was the size of our browsing collection -- the rotating collection of books for pleasure reading that we display near the front entrance.
I love the countermeasure that the library came up with. There's now a shelving unit near the circulation desk for the Book Swap collection. They're books that anyone can pick up and take for free. We seeded them with books donated by library staff, but the idea is that once you read a book, you can put it back, or keep it, or bring in books from home you no longer want.
I've had a lot of old novels at home that I've been giving away on Bookmooch one at a time for a while to make shelf space at home, but I'm going to start bringing them in to work a stack at a time now and adding them to the swap shelves. (And this morning I found a novel that I didn't know about by a fantasy author I like. I'll re-swap it when I've read it.)
My essential browser add-ons
Marianne Lenox's "My Favorite Browser Add-Ons" post caught my eye, and I thought I'd post my own list. I'm intrigued by the fact that there was zero overlap between our lists.
Image by "*Sparrow"
When I get hold of a new computer for the first time, there are a few browser add-ons I have to install before I feel at home. Oh, and Firefox comes first. Do I even have to say that?
Zotero: Well, duh. You knew this one too, right? If you do research at all, you must have Zotero. I've discussed this at some length elsewhere.
Adblock Plus: I'm always vaguely surprised when people complain about banner ads on the web, because I almost never see them. Adblock Plus does a brilliant job of keeping them off my screen.
Delicious Bookmarks: Replaces the old-fashioned on-disk bookmark list with easy access to my Delicious account. (I do use local bookmarks only on my browser toolbar, but my big list of bookmarks is all online at Delicious.)
Mouse Gestures: Allows you to execute common commands by using the mouse to draw simple "gestures" on the screen. I'm so used to using it for forward/back navigation that I'm often slightly confused when I try to navigate on a computer without it. This add-on has many more functions than I'm ever likely to learn -- I just find it handy for for forward and back browsing, and opening and closing new tabs.
LibX: I think of this as a counterpart to Zotero in many ways. LibX is an open-source library toolbar that can (must, actually) be customized for your particular library. It functions as a catalog/database search bar, but to me the coolest part is what it does to page contents. It adds library links to Amazon item records, auto-links ISBNs to your library's OpenURL server... Actually, it's worth a separate post in itself. One of my summer projects is to improve my Libx guide for GSU users.
ACRL webcast on podcasting, June 2
I'm very pleased to announce that I'm giving an ACRL webcast on "Podcasting for Libraries." It's June 2, 11am Pacific/2pm Eastern.
photo by Valeria Melissia Rosalez
Webcast description:
Podcasting is like an Internet radio show, or a blog with audio. It uses the power of RSS syndication to automatically deliver new episodes to listeners. There are millions of podcasts available, covering nearly any topic imaginable. Any library can produce a podcast using free software and inexpensive hardware. If you can post to a blog and talk into a microphone, you can create a podcast. How can your library use podcasting as a tool for teaching, promotion, outreach and programming?This session will explore:
• What a podcast is and isn't
• How RSS makes a podcast work
• Free and cheap hardware and software for podcasting
• Recording and production
• Publishing and sustaining a podcast
• How libraries can use podcasting
• Finding the right voice to reach your audience
Registration isn't open yet, but I'm checking with ACRL to find out what "soon" means. I'll post again (and update this post) when you can actually register.
Registration is now open. (Scroll to the bottom of the page.)
I'm excited, and a little intimidated, by the opportunity to give an ACRL presentation. I think and hope it'll be interesting and fun for all parties concerned.
Be Adventurous
Photo by Chris Campbell
Instruction librarians and library instructors: would you like to contribute a segment to the next episode of Adventures in Library Instruction podcast?
We're looking for short (c. 10 minutes) audio segments on topics of your choice related to teaching in libraries. Techniques, class activities, theory, teaching tools, interviews, just about anything goes. For the next episode, we'd like them done by the end of April(ish). We will even interview you via skype if you're shy about flying solo.
E-mail me or drop a comment here.
April 15: panel discussion on GA Library Education
On April 15, next Wednesday at 2pm, I'm participating in a panel discussion on library graduate schools and distance learning at the GSU library. We no longer have a library school in Atlanta -- the only one in Georgia now is at Valdosta State, four hours south of Atlanta -- so most Atlantans do some form of distance ed for their MLIS programs.
I'll be talking about my experiences earning my degree via the Florida State distance ed program, along with three current MLIS students from other programs. Details on the GSU Library blog if you're interested in coming!
I’m a podcasting fool
So without my planning on it, this has been a podcast-intensive week.
At work, I posted the first episode of the GSU Library Insider podcast for students, about EndNote and Zotero (since it's the end of the school year and students are furiously writing papers). (Episodes, RSS Feed)
On my own time, I'm pleased to debut the Adventures in Library Instruction podcast, co-produced with my friends Anna Van Scoyoc of New Jersey PL and Rachel Borchardt of American U. This will be a monthly thing, and we're hoping to get other people involved in future episodes. (Episodes, RSS Feed)
Update: I was also on T is for Training! I promise to stop podcasting now.
Instruction skills and conference presentations
I try not to just link to other posts very often, but I've been in catch-up mode since returning from Computers in Libraries late last week and haven't had time to blog about it. However, among the many other cool things I did and saw at CiL was meeting Catherine Pellegrino, who this morning posted on her blog about What Instruction Librarians Could Teach The Rest Of Us About Conference Presentations.
This is one of those head-slap moments. I'm supposed to know how to be a good teacher; why don't I use any of those active learning techniques in my presentations? I have no idea. I'm going to think about this before the next time I give a presentation.
My Zotero book
Adventures in Library Instruction podcast
- Episode 35: The Guide on the Side w/ Meredith Farkas
- Episode 34: Discovery Layers in the Classroom
- Episode 33: Love the Cataloger; Hate the Catalog
My posts @GSU Library
I Support
Twittering
- Online Zotero workshop July http://t.co/9MFg75aH