Need a Shorter URL?

 For so many, this is old information, but it still comes in handy on occasion.

Do you ever cringe at seeing interminable website addresses (URLs)?  If you ever need to shorten up a URL, just go to Tiny URL: http://tinyurl.com/.  It will assign a shortened website for you that you can share more easily with others.  You do not even need to sign in or pay for this service.  By the way, URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator. 

How have you found the Tiny URL to be helpful?  When do you use it?  Have you ever found it problematic?

I have seen instruction librarians stick a tiny URL to the back of their business cards that they then hand out to their classes, especially if they have created a specific resources (pathfinder or Libguide) page for that particular class.  It diminishes the amount of confusion for students, and they can find the page again later--as long as they don't lose the business card, I suppose.  : )

Spanish Resources and Declassified Documents

Today I taught a Spanish 3381 class, which was a welcome opportunity to practice my Spanish-speaking skills.  The instructor asked that I show students how to find resources that will help them with their assignment.  Students need to write a paper and give an oral presentation on a Latin American country, focusing on a specific current event (last 50 years more or less).  Additionally, students are encouraged to search out declassified documents to see, as much as possible, the United States involvement in some of these events.  Of course, they are also asked to look for sources in Spanish that will help them understand their topic, such as the Dirty War in Argentina, Pinochet's government in Chile, the overthrow of Arbenz's government in Guatemala, or Madero's in Mexico.

Fortunately, one of my colleagues had taught this class five years ago and had a handout with a list of resources to get me started.  Database subscriptions change over time at academic institutions, and ours is not exception.  The part that worried me the most was finding declassified government documents.  In a casual encounter with the instructor last week, she indicated that Georgetown University had made resources available for researchers to find declassified documents.  When I looked at their site, I found that they do have databases for searching these documents; however, they required a login and password.  Again, a colleague of mine who is the government documents librarians really helped quite a bit in pointing me in the right direction.  Her efforts helped me improve upon the resources my first colleague shared with me, and the results can be found on this Declassified Documents page.

To see all my resources for this class, go to the Spanish 3381 site I created.  Here is the Tiny URL for the site: http://tinyurl.com/4sh9ywd.

Si quieres encontrar documentos desclasificados, utilice al siguiente sitio: Declassified Documents.  Claro, la mayoria de los documentos que se encuentran en los sitios del gobierno de los Estados Unidos de America son en ingles.  Si necesitas una traduccion de la pagina <<Declassified Documents>> dimelo.  Tratare' de ayudarte.

Assessing Library Instruction

As a librarian I belong to the American Library Association (ALA). The organization makes it easier to connect with other individuals in the profession. While many think of librarians in the generic sense, each librarian fills a different role within the library. For example, the Eli M. Oboler Library has only one electronic resources librarian, though she also has reference, instruction, and collection development duties. (Yes, variety remains one of the positive aspects of librarianship.)

So what do you do if you have a question or problem that none of your immediate colleagues can answer? Well, that's part of the beauty of ALA. Many others in similar positions around the country (even the world) willingly share their expertise with fellow, like-minded librarians. Last week I wanted to know how to assess my colleagues and their library instruction, so I sent out an email to other instruction librarians, including many coordinators of instruction.

The Association of College and Research Librarians (ACRL) manages a number of listservs. One of these, the information literacy and instruction listserv (ili-l), devotes itself to instruction and info-lit issues. We talk about teaching in libraries, developing information-literacy skills, and so forth. A fair number of librarians responded to my question about assessing library instruction, so I created a Google Site to summarize their responses.

With so many libraries scattered throughout the country, ALA is huge, and so is ACRL. Library school seems like a good time to consider which nook within the larger library umbrella you wish to make a name for yourself. More and more young librarians seem to be entering the academic libraries as instruction and reference librarians. ACRL's Instruction Section can be quite supportive of instruction librarians, depending on your level of involvement.

If you are searching for academic library reference and instruction job positions the ili-l listserv frequently sends out job postings. To learn how to sign up for the listserv/discussion list, go to this link.

More screencasting software available

Patrick Griffis wrote an article that highlights a few free screencasting software that would be helpful for librarians who create quick tutorials. First he talks about Jing, which I have discussed in a previous post. Then he introduces Trailfire, Wink, and Slideshare. These all offer ways of sharing screenshots or presentations, and possibly even adding audio at the same time.

Take a look at them, and let me know what you think of them.

Graffis, Patrick. "Building Pathfinders with Free Screen Capture Tools." Information Technology and Libraries 28.4 (December 2009): 189-90.

Using Google Sites as Library Guides

Idaho State University stopped using a webmail service back in October 2009 and switched to Google Apps. I have migrated completely from the Microsoft Outlook to exclusive usage of the Google Apps. It has many advantages, though many of my colleagues may argue otherwise. They have stayed with Microsoft Outlook, preferring its system of folders, which is an advantage in many instances. Today's news says that 25 million people use Google Apps.

I like the greater capacity to collaborate with the Google Apps. It seems to be easier to share calendars, share documents, collaborate on websites, etc. Google Sites in particular makes it easy to create webpages. True, they may not function as well as LibGuide's product; however, the price tag, or lack thereof, really makes Google Sites more of a realistic option in today's down economy.

As part of my duties, I teach lots of different classes and have created handouts for many of them. Unfortunately, some students will discard them immediately after the class, so rather than print handouts that may get wasted it may make a bit more sense to create websites and include digital copies of the handouts and worksheets that they can print or use digitally themselves.

Here are some of the Google Sites I have created thus far:

• Comm.101


• Eli M. Oboler Library Tutorials


• English 102


• Grad Students


• PE 473/573


• PE for Grad Students


• Spencer Jardine's ISU Work Site


• Theatre Resources

Let me know what you think of them and please share any suggestions for improving them.

Mass Communications Handout

Potential Sources for Advertising Information, Notes, and URLs
1. CACI Marketing Solutions OR CACI Marketing Systems. www.caci.co.ui/msd.html

2. Adweek: Includes many articles on AOL (American Online). Look for the A to Z Journal List on the following research page, which is free to ISU students. Also found in Business Source Complete. www.adweek.com http://www.isu.edu/library/research/

3. Advertising Age: Look it up in the A to Z Journal List, found on the following research page. LexisNexis Academic has the longest coverage, but other databases also provide access. www.adage.com

4. BPA Worldwide: Provides Circulation Statements/Audit Reports, US Consumer AuditVAR, Trend Reports & Analysis, etc. Access to this library is free, but a user ID is required. http://search.bpai.com/ OR www.bpaww.com/library/index.cgi.

5. Taylor Nelson Media Intelligence: They can provide industry analysis. They do look at the media industry and focus on competitive advertising information. Also do an Advanced Search on Taylor Nelson Sofres to find more ad information. www.tnsglobal.com/market-research/media/ OR www.tns-mi.com/.

6. Consumer Reports: Use the A to Z Journal List, which can be found on the following research page. Oldest data found in LexisNexis = 1988. Business Source Complete = 1991. It gives reports on products and services. www.consumerreports.org. Free to you as an ISU student. [Technically, you and Idaho taxpayers have already paid for it with your tuition fees and state taxes.]

7. Facebook Ads: This blog entry describes a feature for purchasing ads directed at college-age persons and anyone using Facebook. "Called Facebook Ads, the new program is threefold: advertisers can create branded pages, run targeted advertisements, and have access to intelligence and analytics pertaining to the site's more than 50 million users. Partners can participate in all three components of Facebook Ads, or a combination of them.”

Note among the tags on the left-hand side that "Facebook" has been tagged 19 time (probably more if I haven't updated this blog recently), meaning that the author has posted 19 entries on the topic. http://onlinesocialnetworks.blogspot.com/search/label/Advertising

8. Editor & Publisher: Market Guide which may provide valuable demographic information of the U.S. and Canada. www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/index.jsp

9. AdNetTrackUS: This business-related site offers business persons links to online advertisers, airline tickets, starting a business from home, business offers, etc. www.adnettrackus.com

10. Harris Polls: Conduct an Advanced Search on Google. One result: www.aboutjunkie.com/paid-surveys/harris-polls.php. They seek to gain input from teenagers. Tip: When using Google use the “Advanced Search” option and limit your searche to English, United States, in the last year, to show 50 results on a page, etc. www.harrispollonline.com

11. National Cable Communications [NCC]: If you want to advertise on cable TV, here’s a good place to find out about the networks and where you might want to advertise. They can help you locate the consumers you want to target. www.spotcable.com/index.html

12. Anastasia Goodstein: Author of Totally Wired: What Teens and Tweens are Really Doing Online. Her blog focuses on this demographic and what they do. http://totallywired.ypulse.com/.

13. Nielsen Media Research: go here to find TV’s top 10 programs of the previous week. They can monitor local, national, cultural, and sporting networks. www.nielsenmedia.com/nc/portal/site/Public/

14. Hey!Nielsen: Allows people to rank stars, shows, songs, videos, etc. This social networking site allows individuals to offer their own views on popular media persons and products. www.heynielsen.com/

15. Media Rating Council: Includes many of the major television stations in the U.S. It appears that they gauge the sizes of television-viewing audiences and their makeup. In their own words: “To secure for the media industry and related users audience measurement services that are valid, reliable and effective.” www.mediaratingcouncil.org/

16. MRI: MediaMark’s Research & Intelligence: The Survey of the American Consumer™ collects information on adult consumers' media choices, product usage, demographics, lifestyle and attitudes. Usage of nearly 6,000 product and service brands across 550 categories are measured, along with the readership of hundreds of magazines and newspapers, Internet usage, TV viewership to the program level, national and local radio listening, Yellow Pages usage and Out-of-Home exposure. www.mediamark.com/

17. MRI Plus: It allows you to register for a free account. Select Top-Line Reports, then choose MRI Cyberstats for a detailed chart showing detailed internet usage statistics. www.mriplus.com

18. Journal of Marketing: LIBRARY HAS CURRENT SUBSCRIPTION. Periodicals (3rd Floor). An online version can be accessed via Business Source Complete with coverage extending back to 1936. HF5415.A2 J6. See also the A to Z Journal List on the following research page. It should appear on the second page of results due to the alphabetized listing of results.

19. MarketingVOX: The Voice of Online Marketing: Found using a Google Search and the following terms: “nielsen ratings millennials generation Y.” www.marketingvox.com/
www.marketingvox.com/categories/?c=17,50

20. New Content for a New Generation: Gives insights into the world that exists today with many comments about Gen Y and their influence on the Media and advertising practices/trends. Good for certain statistics. Source found using Google Search in www.generatela.com/pdf/Generate_White_Paper.pdf

21. The Long Tail: A Public Diary on Themes Around a Book.: Increasingly, people talk about meeting the unique needs of individuals and how the internet makes this profitable. Source found using Google Search in #19. www.thelongtail.com [a blog]

22. Pinpointgolf: It can help you advertise in an outdoor setting. Pinpoint Golf is the largest provider of advertising and marketing opportunities at golf courses and golf ranges nationwide. www.pinpointgolf.com/

23. Statistical Abstract of the United States: Find demographic information about U.S. citizens and residents, that is by age, sex, race, religion, income, education, etc. www.census.gov/compendia/statab/

24. Claritas: Zipcode marketing. “Identifying the right market research solutions for customer acquisition, customer retention, market analysis and site location strategies can be challenging. Your marketing success depends on the right marketing analysis tools, along with reliable consumer information about the US population and dependable business data.” www.claritas.com/claritas/Default.jsp

25. Survey of buying power and media markets: Published by Sales & Marketing Management--found in the library catalog. An annual publication that provides household demographics, buying power and spending, and retail sales. Library has most current volume. HF5438 .A34 Periodicals (3rd Floor)

26. Simmons Market Research: *Do an advanced Google search.
27. Spectra Zipcode Marketing. Another Nielsen product or service. www.spectramarketing.com

28. SRDS: *Need to subscribe to use web site. The Lifestyle market analyst, 2004 : a reference guide for consumer market analysis. www.srds.com
HF5415.33.U6 L54 2004 Reference Collection (1st Floor) - NO CHECKOUT
29. Media Dynamics: is a full-service, media production company. www.mediadynamics.com/main.htm

30. U.S. Government Printing Office: Statistics, health, government, laws, enforcement, foreign affairs, agriculture, parks, judicial system, labor, etc. www.access.gpo.gov
http://usa.gov = official website of the U.S. govt.


Books, Articles, and Videos on the Subjects of Advertising, social networking sites:
1. Colin McDonald Advertising reach and frequency : maximizing advertising results through effective frequency. HF5827 .M19 1996 Main Book Collection (2nd Floor). Found in the library catalog

2. [Note the subject headings that may be of particular interest to you in this project.] Marketing information. Marketing --Information services --United States --Directories.
Marketing research --Information services --United States --Directories.
Advertising --Information services --United States --Directories.
Marketing --Bibliography --Periodicals.
Advertising --Bibliography --Periodicals.
HF5415.124 .M36 Reference Collection (1st Floor) - NO CHECKOUT

3. Larry D. Kelley and Donald W. Jugenheimer. Advertising media planning : a brand management approach HF5826.5 .K45 2004 Main Book Collection (2nd Floor).

4. Helen Katz. The media handbook : a complete guide to advertising media selection, planning, research, and buying HF5826.5 .K38 2003. Main Book Collection (2nd Floor).
5. Hodgkinson, Tom. “Why you should beware of Facebook.” Article retrieved 23 January 2008. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/01/18/1200620184398.html

6. [Video] “Does what happens in the facebook stay in the facebook?” URL: http://albumoftheday.com/facebook/

7. Joseph Ostrow Do a Google Advanced Search with his name in the title. "Setting Effective Frequency Levels", Effective Frequency: The State of the Art. New York: Advertising Research Foundation, Key Issues Workshop, 1982, pp. 89–102.


Core Databases:
• Academic Search Complete (EBSCOHost) Look for databases here.
• Business Source Complete (EBSCOHost)
• LexisNexis Academic
• LexisNexis Statistical
• Mergent Online

For other relevant databases consider looking at the Resources by Subject pages for Business and Communication, Mass Communication, & Rhetoric.

Look for the A to Z Journal List on the following research page:
It can help you find access to all journals in the library, especially electronic ones. This is where you go for full-text articles.
Click on A-Z Journal List in the Library Quick Links drop-down menu.
Also: www.isu.edu/library/research/.

Company Information: AOL LLC AOL (Time Warner)
AOL home— www.corp.aol.com
AOL within Time Warner www.timewarner.com/corp
Business Source Complete (EBSCOHost) CO “AOL” = company search
Mergent Online (formerly Moody’s) www.mergentonline.com/compsearch.asp (When off campus, access this database via the “Database” link in the Library Quick Links drop-down menu on the library’s home page (www.isu.edu/library).

Internet:
See the list of links on subsequent pages.
Google www.google.com
Yahoo www.yahoo.com
Clusty http://clusty.com/ (It’s a metasearch engine, meaning it searches many search engines.)
Ask www.ask.com

Reference Sources: Search the library catalog for more.
AOL in Wikipedia www.wikipedia.org
The Advertising Age Encyclopedia of Advertising. (HF5803 .A38 2003) Reference Collection (1st Floor) - NO CHECKOUT
Editor & Publisher Market Guide. (Ref HF5905.E38, latest edition is 2007)
Encyclopedia of Consumer Brands. (HF5415.3 .E527 1994) Reference Collection (1st Floor) - NO CHECKOUT
Encyclopedia of Major Marketing Campaigns. (HF5837 .E53 2000) Reference Collection (1st Floor) - NO CHECKOUT
International Directory of Company Histories. (Ref HD2721.I58 1988+ ) Includes references to AOL Time Warner Inc & AOL, Inc.
Marketing Plans: how to prepare them, how to use them (HF5415.13 .M369183 2002) Reference Collection (1st Floor) - NO CHECKOUT
Statistical Abstract of the United States full-text tables www.census.gov/compendia/statab. Print copy: (Doc Ref Desk C 3.134:2007.)
State and Metropolitan Area Data Book. (Doc Ref Desk C3.134/5:2006.)
U.S. Government’s official web portal: http://usa.gov.
World Almanac. (Ref Desk AY67.N5 2007.)

Photo-Sharing Pathfinder

The following links may be useful in helping you to quickly learn how to share your photos with friends, co-workers, students, etc. A majority of these links were used in a Web 2.0 workshop on photo sharing, which was given in the Eli M. Oboler Library on December 11, 2007. A brief description and or title accompany each hyperlink.

What is photo sharing?

· Quick Online Tips says: “Flickr is a revolution in photo storage, sharing and organization, making image management an easy, natural and collaborative process. Get comments, notes, and tags on your photos, post to any blog, share and chat live and more! Flickr claims to be the best online image management and photo sharing application.

“If you are a Flickr newbie, read How to get the most out of Flickr, Tips for Flickr Beginners and the Official FAQ. You can also combine Picassa and Gmail to upload photos to Flickr, turn your blog into a moblog and listen to the Flickr Song. Did you know the most popular camera on Flickr was the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT.”

The rest of the page offers links to official Flickr tools and third-party tools for Flickr.

· Notice the link above titled, "How to Get the Most Out of Flickr." It tells you some of the potential uses for Flickr. It can tell you how to use Flickr with your blog, cameraphone, RSS feeds, etc. Also, the page gives instructions on how to organize your photos, create a group for a wedding, reunion, or event, and share private photos with family and friends.

Which photo-sharing services are the best?

· Many like their Flickr.com accounts: Webware Article. This link points to an article written November 13, 2007 and announces the fact that 2 billion photos had been uploaded to Flickr.com. They mention that Photobucket and Facebook sites had already reached that milestone months ago.

· Some prefer Picasa Web Albums: Picasa vs Flickr. Rob Neville shares his opinion that Picasaweb surpasses Flickr in its ease of use, user-friendly features, and its off-line editing program.

· Still, others choose different services: Web Photo Sharing Site Faceoff. While this article is rather dated as far as technology and Web2.0 are concerned (Sept. 5, 2005), it does name 14 photo-sharing services one can choose from. A couple of graphs lay out the data, showing the capabilities of each service for easy comparison.

· There are lots to choose from: Online photo sharing for snapshot photographers. Here you can look at a graph that rates 21 photo-sharing services, while also detailing storage space, fees, viewer experience, uploading management, file types, resolution, and special features. After checking the links for each service I discovered that three no longer work: AGFAPHOTO, Image Station, and Yahoo! Photo. The AGFA link would not load. Image Station will no longer accept new members; its site officially closes February 1, 2008. Yahoo! Photo died, because Yahoo! decided to devote all its photo-sharing energies to Flickr—it’s more popular and successful service.

· In this YouTube video (requires high-speed internet to view) a young, computer-savvy person discusses the question of which photo-sharing service is the best. He ventures to say that it depends on what you want to do with your photos and where your friends are. Additionally, he recommends that you save your digital photos on several photo-sharing websites, since one site may vanish at any given time: Best Photo Sharing Site. [Chances are that Picasa and Flickr will be around for a long time, as well as photo-sharing sites backed by large corporations.] Length of time: 1:31.

Getting started with photo-sharing services, or how is it done?

· Note: high-speed internet may be necessary to access and view the following video clips.

· See YouTube clip title “ Using Picasa – Part 1”: Picasa 2 (newest verion) can be downloaded at the following website: http://picasa.google.com/download/index.html. The video lasts seven minutes fifteen seconds (7:15), and it shows you how to get started with the Picasa desktop program for working with digital photos.

· “ Using Picasa – Part 2”: In this second video, you can learn how to create web albums, email photos, print photos, order photos, select photos, and transfer photos from your camera. It is well-done and focused on the task at hand. Length of time: 8:33.

· This YouTube video clip stars a young man who explains how to use Picasa in very straightforward terms: Jasonthenerd. Length of time: 9:13.

Future impact of Social Networking:

· This blog includes the comments of a panel of experts on the future of social networking. It does focus more on the relationship between this phenomenon and libraries than on society as a whole.

RSS Feeds, Websites, and Blogs:

· It is possible to upload photos to your Flickr.com account and create an RSS feed that updates photos on your website or blog in real time. This could potentially save on staff time by circumnavigating the webmaster; whether your administration trusts you enough to do that may be another matter.

On resizing photos:

Learning how to resize photos has been a real challenge for me, and I confess that I still am not sure exactly how to do this. It may be necessary to purchase or download an editing program in addition to Picasa to resize photos. The first link below includes some programs with reviews that can edit photos and potentially resize them.

1. Edit photos and resize them with these programs.

2. Discussion on Picasa-Help page regarding resizing photos and how many pixels to keep for optimal resolution.

3. More on resizing within Picasa Web Albums.

4. Picasa-Help links about how to resize photos using Picasa Web Albums.

Please offer me any feedback you have regarding the content in this post, my workshop, information-literacy topic, or social networking issue.