Where is the degree symbol on a keyboard? Inserting special symbols in a word document.

Ever have trouble finding a special symbol while typing a document? A patron needed to type in a degree mark for his homework paper. Go to the insert tab and drop down from symbols to find a complete list. Be aware that not all symbols are available in certain font styles, which is the problem that my patron and I discovered. When we changed the font, the degree symbol was then available.
There are also short cut sequences, usually using the alt key in combination with other keys. It can be handy to learn these if a particular symbols will be used repeatedly. Marks that are used in foreign languages can also be accessed this way, such as the tilt and accent marks when composing in Spanish.

Trouble commenting or adding a post in Blogger.com

I wanted to post a comment on an entry, but I kept getting an error message and was getting frustrated: "cookie value is null for form restoration". I copy/pasted the error message into the blogger.com help/search screen and found that I was not the only person with that problem. I noticed a few messages that some of those using IE9 (like I was) thought that was the problem. Also recommended and tried, but not effective: adding blogger.com to my compatibility view settings, under tools. Finally, I decided to access blogger.com using Mozilla Firefox - It worked! Sometimes trying a different browser may help a stubborn access problem.

CamScanner Phone PDF Creator

Did you know patrons can use their smart phones to scan documents and translate them into PDF files? The free CamScan app can be downloaded onto any Droid phone. Once downloaded, take a picture of the document you want to save with the camera and hit the Adobe icon to translate the jpg photo into a PDF file. From there, hit the menu icon and send the file to your email. You can then print the PDF file, send it to someone else, or save it to your computer. It's like having a scanner in your pocket! To read more about the CamScan app, click here.

Showing Formulas in Excel

Press Ctrl and ` (next to the 1 on the top left of the keyboard...looks like a backward apostrophe). This changes the way the spreadsheet displays and makes it easy to find errors.

Downloading Pictures from a Digital Camera

On our Patron Computers there is a small slot just below the DVD slot.  This slot is for the SD Card that is in the digital camera.  When yuou insert the SD Card a screen will pop up called AUTO PLAY-click on Import Pictures & Vidseo.  Then in lower right hand corner of screen click on Import.  Your pictures will show up on the screen.

Manage your separate email accounts using Gmail as your email hub

If you have multiple email addresses; yahoo, hotmail, etc. then you can access the email on all your accounts from a single place using Gmail, Google's email service. You can make Gmail your email hub and not only receive email from other accounts, but also send messages using those email addresses.

The first thing you'll need is a Gmail account. Then, log onto Gmail and then click the Settings link. On the settings page, click the Accounts tab. Then find and click the add another email link. A new window opens that is the first page of a wizard that walks you through the process of adding another email account to Gmail.

You will need to provide basic information about the account that you want to add. In order to let Gmail send messages using the email account that you added, the service will need to verify that you actually own the account and will ask to send verification to that account before it is activated. Once the account is added, you can send and access messages from any account by choosing it from the drop-down list.

tumblr

Does anyone use Tumblr? It looks like a blogging place.

Digital Folio

There's a new way to do comparison shopping. Digital Folio Inc. a Denver Company is creating free downloadable software also called Digital Folio that automates price checking and product comparisons. It not only slashes the time spent in comparison shopping online, but by making software that embeds in a users Internet Explorer or Firefox web browser, have the process be seemless for users whether they're using a computer or smart phone, or going back and forth between them. In its beginning stages it has a few limitations, but looks quite promising. It has five online retail partners-Amazon, Best Buy, Target, Wal Mart and Sears. At present it is limited to only electronic products or appliances. It only works with Internet Explorer on Windows or Firefox on either Windows or Macintosh.

How's the security here?

We often get asked how secure the library WiFi is. Here are a few tips from the AARP bulletin. Make sure the user has connected to our network not a look-alike, pay attention to what type of encryption is listed, WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) is an older system not to be considered secure, look for WPA (Wi-Fi protected Accesss) or WPA2. Patrons can install Force-TLS and HTTPS-Everywhere for free on their laptops. They make sure encryption features are being used on websites visited.

Picasa

I went to the Picasa class and found that it is very user friendly.
It was easy to download and easy to move pictures around.
For patrons that want to store, sort or move pictures from one
folder or album to another.
picasa.google.com

NetGalley

For those of you who love to stay ahead of the latest literary trends, take a look at NetGalley. As a library employee, you are considered a "professional reader" and can sign up for an account to preview books that are soon to be published. This benefits the library employee, who can stay up with the hottest books, and also the authors and publishers, because by the time the publication date happens, the book will already have some buzz via word of mouth.
The ARCs, or "galleys" (advanced reader copies) can be downloaded straight to your computer or an e-reader, or print copies can be requested. I have not personally used this tool, but I am very excited to try!

Better ALD web site searching

I recently asked Cynthia Kiyotake for help in understanding the differences in search results when using the ALD web site vs. the Classic Catalog. Patrons - and I have noticed that when searching under "Books - Title" in the search bar at the top of the web site, MANY items are returned; the one we may be looking for can be pretty far down the list. When a "Title" search is done in the Classic Catalog, the item pops right up. Here's what Cynthia said:

On the website search when you choose books – title you are asking iii to do an advanced keyword search. So it is looking for “how” “to” “be” “lost” whenever it appears in a title field regardless of the order of the words, thus your getting so many results .

The catalog returns results looking in the title field database, and based on the same order you input, thus returning possibly different results than the website.

How to use the website search better?

For a title which has commonly used words like your example try putting the quotes around the title. This forces the search to keep the order.

Another tip is to add an author/actor/director if you know it so:

How to be lost ward is better than just how to be lost

Or

Up asner is much more concise than just a title search on up

Or even

Help stockett instead of just help

"NUM LOCK" on Apple Keyboards, and other tricks...

The questions from patrons about "missing keys" on our Apple keyboards seem to come in waves, and the whereabouts of a "number lock" key is at the top of their list. It is the CLEAR key above the "7" on the keypad on the right of the keyboard. Here's a link to a site which shows the Apple keyboard and a list of keys or key strokes for functions patrons (or you!) might be looking for:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1216

type size

To make a web page look bigger on your screen, hold down the control key and press + on the number keypad. To make a web page look smaller on your screen, hold down the control key and press - on the number keypad. I just discovered this, all by myself (accidentally).

More Free E-books!

I just discovered a new site where patrons can download free e-books.  Besides Project Gutenberg, the latest site can be found at obooko.com and was actually voted the 2011 Readers' Choice Award Winner for the best freebie website.  It's worth checking out and passing on to patrons inquiring about e-books.

Linkedin

I received a message on email that someone looked at my profile for Linkedin. I went into my Linkedin account and found I could view who was looking at my profile by going to the lower right hand corner and click 'Who Viewed Your Profile' and see who did and what date they viewed it. I also learned that you can upgrade your Linkedin website by signing up for a Business or Executive Account. This allows someone many extra privileges and can view up to 300 profiles that looked at my profile. The cost for a business account is $20 a month for a year and $75 a month for the executive account. This would benefit someone who is marketing or selling a product so they could see who is looking at their profile.

Closer means better performance!

A Patron had a bazillion internet tabs open on her personal laptop and complained about how slow the internet was grinding. Rosie H gave me the BRILLIANT! idea to have the patron move closer to the public Wi-Fi router. (Look up at the ceiling at SG near the mosaic wall.) The patron was wowed with the improved performance.

EpicMix

This is for all you ski buffs out there. Vail Resorts is enlisting potentially millions of skiers into its marketing efforts next season. This will be the second generation of its popular EpicMix. This EpicMix will be all about photographs. The company is installing radio frequency chips inside all its passes. Professional photographers at each of Vails six ski areas will be able to scan the passes, shoot still and action photos and immediately upload the pictures-free of charge-into each ticketholders EpicMix account. They are counting on people sharing these photos with other people. The idea is to showcase Vail on the internet. How's that for advertising!

SkyDrive.live.com Get Work Done Anywhere

I came upon SkyDrive.live.com from Microsoft in a magazine and signed up in order to introduce myself to the Cloud. I have used it a couple of times and found it to be easy to sign up for and use. Very convenient.