Wednesday, April 30, 2014

23 Mobile Things, Thing #18: Education

Oh my gosh, I am so excited about this thing!  I used to be a classroom teacher (2nd grade) and I still have loads of teacher friends so I will be sharing these apps with them.  Reading through them, it was very hard to choose just one and I am positive that I will be coming back to this Thing over and over and eventually trying almost all of them.  This is definitely my favorite Thing so far.

Because I had to pick just one and get this blog post written and because I'm super interested in what foods I'm putting into my body lately-- and trying to make better choices -- I tried the "Eat This, Not That" app / game.  It's very interesting!  The app works by showing you two food item choices.  You pick the one you think you should eat.  And then it tells you if you made the healthier choice.  If you play the casual mode, you'll get specific details about calories and fat, etc.  If you play speed mode, you won't, but it's more fun that way because you can earn points.  :)  I was surprised many times by which was the healthier choice.  Lesson learned:  bacon is less calories / fat than sausage.  Of course, I like sausage better...  sigh.


Friday, April 25, 2014

23 Mobile Things, Thing #17: Connecting to Community

This is a great list!  I already regularly use the 511MN app.  It was especially helpful while I was commuting to and from St. Kate's for classes so I could check on the weather/road conditions.  I also used the MN State Fair app last summer and found that very helpful.

For this Thing, I downloaded the MPR Radio app and the Explore Minnesota app.  I love the MPR app and will be using that a lot - it will be nice to listen to while I'm cataloging!  I hit a snag with the Explore app though and it froze up one me.  I'll have to "explore" it again at another time.  (:

23 Mobile Things, Thing #16: Audio

I downloaded and tried the Audioboo app.  I'm not super excited about this app.  I like the other presentation tools much better because you can add visual items like pictures and drawings.  However, I can see how this might be a useful tool to market library stuff to visually impaired patrons. 

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

23 Mobile Things, Thing #15: Infographics

I like infographics!  I'm not sure that I'm interested / ready to create them just yet, so I decided to try one of the apps that helps you find ones that are already made, Info.Graphics.  Unfortunately I didn't get very far with this one because it kept freezing up on me.  Not sure why.  So I downloaded Infographics Hub instead.  This one worked for me but I was bummed that I didn't find anything when I searched for "library."  I did enjoy looking at the ones under the 'food & drink' category.  Other than being interesting, I'm not sure that this is a super useful app to me right now.


23 Mobile Things, Thing #14: Videos

I have to confess I don't spend a lot of time taking videos of any kind.  I'm not sure why; I've just always been more into photos.  But I do really like Vine.  I wish more people would use it -- especially for videos that do not need to be longer than 6 seconds.  There are lots of times when this is true at least with most of the videos I've seen shared by friends on Facebook.  :)  I can see how Vine would be great to give a very brief teaser for a library program or some new books being added to the collection or a new service -- really the possibilities are endless there.

However, I'm looking for something that I could use to make book trailers and promo videos for our summer reading program, so I wanted an app that allows you to make a video that's longer than 6 seconds.  After reading through the apps listed for this Thing, I decided to try Socialcam.  It was very easy to use and within 2 minutes of downloading it, I had already created my first, very short, video to test it out.  I can see how this would be a great app to use for all kinds of library stuff!

Friday, April 18, 2014

23 Mobile Things, Thing #13: Presentations

I downloaded Educreations and I think it's awesome!  I can see tons of great uses for this app and wish I had known about it as a student and classroom teacher.  It's a nice breath of fresh air to switch from always using powerpoint.  This would be a great one to use for doing book talks and other short presentations here at the library.

Here is the practice presentation I made about the best food on earth:
http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/tacos2/20329241/?s=RR4K8v&ref=appemail

What a cool tool!

Monday, April 14, 2014

23 Mobile Things, Thing #12: Books, Books, & More Books

There are three apps on this Thing that I'm interested in: 

I've already been using the YALSA app but I'm not super crazy about it.

The audiobooks app sounds great!  I downloaded it and I'm super excited to use it myself, as well as tell patrons about it.

I couldn't find an app could iStoryBooks through the App Store on my iPad, and I searched both iPad and iPhone; however, I did find one called iStoryTime and downloaded that one.  Unfortunately although that app is free, the books are not.  Wonder why I get no results for the iStoryBooks app??  


23 Mobile Things, Thing #11: Library & Reference

I have always liked the ELM website.  I'm excited to learn that you don't have to download an app to use it on a mobile device - cool!

I used ELM a lot both as a student and when I was a classroom teacher.  As a librarian, I find that I'm using less now for personal use but more that I'm recommending it and explaining to patrons - especially teachers and students working on research projects.  It's just such a rich resource.

Our library does have a mobile app that we can use to access the catalog, place requests, etc. It's offered through Boopsie.  I'm not crazy about it because I keep finding that it only searches our library and if a book is checked out it doesn't show up in the search results.  I'm not sure why it doesn't work the same as our OPAC in that it should search all SELCO libraries and show if we have the book, even if it's checked out.  I should be able to put a request on an item that is checked out.  Perhaps I'm missing something...

We also use Zinio and Overdrive here as well.

Saturday, April 5, 2014

23 Mobile Things, Thing #10: SharingPhotos

I created a personal Instagram account a while ago and though I haven't done much with it yet, I do like it.  I enjoy seeing my friend's pictures that they have enhanced on Instagram, especially those that are made to look like old photographs.  That's cool.  I would eventually like to move all my culinary adventure photos to Instagram instead of Facebook.

However, I will not use Snapchat and here's why:  http://adammclane.com/2013/08/22/why-you-should-delete-snapchat/


23 Mobile Things, Thing #9: Taking & Editing Photos

I love Line Camera and have been using it for a while -- well, ever since LeAnn Suchy's session at MLA!  :)  I like the fun effects and borders and I especially like the stamps.  I just wish there were more free ones. 

I decided to try Color Splurge on my iPad and liked that one as well, though I don't care much for the ads.  I will be downloading that one to my cell phone and can't wait to try it out on my adorable niece.

Does anyone know of a good, free app that lets you make a collage out of multiple pictures?

Thursday, April 3, 2014

23 Mobile Things, Thing #8: Social Media Management Tools

I was a bit perturbed when I read about this thing because in my own personal life I only use Facebook.  So I don't really have a need for a social media organizer.  However, then it dawned on me that I could use one to manage our library's Facebook and Twitter accounts.  Sweet!  I am very good at updating our Facebook but haven't really ventured into our Twitter account yet.  I downloaded the Tweetcaster app on my iPad so that I can manage both accounts.  I managed to successfully post the same update on both accounts... however, here is the problem:  Our Facebook page is owned under a dummy person person account and the update went onto that page instead onto the library page.  Hmm.  Any thoughts on how to handle this dilemma?

23 Mobile Things, Thing #7: Content Saving & Sharing

I am a Pinterest lover from way back!  I've been using it for personal things - saving recipes, workout ideas, teaching ideas (from my days as a 2nd grade teacher), etc. but I've been meaning to create a work-related pinterest account where I could save ideas for book displays, storytimes, and programming, books and articles to read, and all other things library related.  Here it is if you want to follow me:  http://www.pinterest.com/MsDeniLibrarian/

I'm going to try my hand at using Bitly as well.  Sounds useful.

23 Mobile Things, Thing #6: Creating & Editing Docs

I downloaded the CloudOn app on my iPad.  I used it to edit some of the documents I have saved in my Google Drive.  It's pretty cool in that it does exactly resemble Microsoft Office products.  However, here's the thing, I despise typing anything on my iPad.  If it's going to be longer than a sentence, I want a real QWERTY keyboard.  I don't care for typing long things on my smartphone either, but at least it's a little bit better thanks to the Swype function.

The SignNow app seems pretty cool and a lot more functional as we move more and more into a paperless world.  Perhaps someday I'll have my summer reading program performers sign their contracts via SignNow instead of an actual paper copy...  you never know!