This month we will be introducing Macintosh iMacs to all the branches for public use. Each branch will have two iMacs equiped with Microsoft Office software, however printing will not be available from the iMacs until the new printing and photocopying solution is in place.
Watsonia Library will be the first branch to go live with the new printing and photocopying self service system. This will allow patrons to print and photocopy in black & white or colour, in A4 or A3 sizes, single sided or duplex.
A new self-service touch screen kiosk machine, a bigger brother to the current SelfCheck machines, is a key component of this system. Patrons will be able to interact with it and other equipment to add money to their library card account via cash or credit card, to pay for and release their print jobs, and check for and pay library fines.
These updates will be rolled out over the course of the month and into November.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Web News #16
Welcome to Web News #16
This one was recommended by one of our email subscribers! Thanks, Linda! For a great online presentation tool have a look at Prezi . The man in the introductory video doesn't seem to do it justice, but even if you don't use it for your own presentations there are some great ones on there that you can view as well!
My Ebook is an online ebook creator which allows you to create and share ebooks, ejournals, photo albums and more. For budding graphic artists and designers, as well as authors!
Check out Shahi - an online visual dictionary. Not only do yu get the definition of the word but you also get images!
Planning an overseas trip, or want to expand your knowledge of foreign languages? Check out the BBC Languages site. Free audio and video tutorials, as well as tips for teachers and TV stations.
This clip/tune was made entirely with Windows 98 and XP sounds, using the ModPlug Tracker software. Very clever!
Here's some brain-training for you with this Multitask game. Once they threw in the third stage I didn't last long!
And finally, just something to instill a bit of fear - check out What The Internet Knows About You . Based on those findings, I don't think it knows too much about me! Which is good!
This one was recommended by one of our email subscribers! Thanks, Linda! For a great online presentation tool have a look at Prezi . The man in the introductory video doesn't seem to do it justice, but even if you don't use it for your own presentations there are some great ones on there that you can view as well!
My Ebook is an online ebook creator which allows you to create and share ebooks, ejournals, photo albums and more. For budding graphic artists and designers, as well as authors!
Check out Shahi - an online visual dictionary. Not only do yu get the definition of the word but you also get images!
Planning an overseas trip, or want to expand your knowledge of foreign languages? Check out the BBC Languages site. Free audio and video tutorials, as well as tips for teachers and TV stations.
This clip/tune was made entirely with Windows 98 and XP sounds, using the ModPlug Tracker software. Very clever!
Here's some brain-training for you with this Multitask game. Once they threw in the third stage I didn't last long!
And finally, just something to instill a bit of fear - check out What The Internet Knows About You . Based on those findings, I don't think it knows too much about me! Which is good!
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Copyright Seminar
Yesterday I attended two Australian Copyright Council seminars. One for Websites & Online Publications, and the second for User-generated Content; Web2.0
It was really interesting to get a perspective of how Copyright applies within Australia (it's been a longgggg time since I attended the info sessions at the State Library of Victoria when the laws changed in 2005 - although it seems like longer!), particularly for web content.
The presenter discussed the three A's - audit, admin and advice (as in legal).
One particular important piece for the audit part was the questions of what you (or we) do with the content we create/present, but also what our users are going to do with the content within our webpages.
Another interesting point is that the Copyright law which applies will always be Australian Copyright law, not the Copyright law of the country of origin. However, the flip side of that is that our content may be created locally, but if it is viewed internationally then there is a difference in Copyright within another country. For example, Project Gutenburg - George Orwell has about 10 titles listed in the Australian version of Gutenburg, whereas the US version has one.
I could probably go on with my notes, as I took a fair few, but I also found myself getting sidetracked thinking about our website redevelopment project and other various projects that we could do here at YPRL.
I did like that there was discussion of Creative Commons, however one attendee brought up an instance where CC licenses can be altered easily online, so if you were free to use something a certain way at one point they can easily change their mind. So note: always take a print or screen shot of the license at the time of access.
RSS is a new one. I read a blog article recently about what I think was subscription vendors within the health industry not having their websites live updates feed through RSS. You could add them, but content would never display. Sneaky, really. It doesn't seem right, unless they intend to start charging for that information then to disallow feed access is just mean. But whoever said vendors weren't mean?! I am completely neutral...!
I did feel bad for the presenter in the second session. I don't know if I'd been there too long (really not that long at all) or if I just found the content not quite as interesting or as specific for me as I would have liked. A lot of stuff about YouTube and commercial Copyright, whereas I'm more interested in user contributions (comments etc) so I got a little bit sidetracked during that one. I'm quite pleased with myself for resisting the urge to look at my mobile phone with 10 minutes to spare, considering Mr Cool Hair-do across from me sat on his iPhone the whole session.
Oh and the golden moment for the entire morning was that government bodies have a whole lot more flexibility with Copyright than commercial bodies - YAY! But we still have to have good manners, which really should be a given.
It was really interesting to get a perspective of how Copyright applies within Australia (it's been a longgggg time since I attended the info sessions at the State Library of Victoria when the laws changed in 2005 - although it seems like longer!), particularly for web content.
The presenter discussed the three A's - audit, admin and advice (as in legal).
One particular important piece for the audit part was the questions of what you (or we) do with the content we create/present, but also what our users are going to do with the content within our webpages.
Another interesting point is that the Copyright law which applies will always be Australian Copyright law, not the Copyright law of the country of origin. However, the flip side of that is that our content may be created locally, but if it is viewed internationally then there is a difference in Copyright within another country. For example, Project Gutenburg - George Orwell has about 10 titles listed in the Australian version of Gutenburg, whereas the US version has one.
I could probably go on with my notes, as I took a fair few, but I also found myself getting sidetracked thinking about our website redevelopment project and other various projects that we could do here at YPRL.
I did like that there was discussion of Creative Commons, however one attendee brought up an instance where CC licenses can be altered easily online, so if you were free to use something a certain way at one point they can easily change their mind. So note: always take a print or screen shot of the license at the time of access.
RSS is a new one. I read a blog article recently about what I think was subscription vendors within the health industry not having their websites live updates feed through RSS. You could add them, but content would never display. Sneaky, really. It doesn't seem right, unless they intend to start charging for that information then to disallow feed access is just mean. But whoever said vendors weren't mean?! I am completely neutral...!
I did feel bad for the presenter in the second session. I don't know if I'd been there too long (really not that long at all) or if I just found the content not quite as interesting or as specific for me as I would have liked. A lot of stuff about YouTube and commercial Copyright, whereas I'm more interested in user contributions (comments etc) so I got a little bit sidetracked during that one. I'm quite pleased with myself for resisting the urge to look at my mobile phone with 10 minutes to spare, considering Mr Cool Hair-do across from me sat on his iPhone the whole session.
Oh and the golden moment for the entire morning was that government bodies have a whole lot more flexibility with Copyright than commercial bodies - YAY! But we still have to have good manners, which really should be a given.
Monday, April 20, 2009
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