comparing the three search engines.

I conducted three separate searchs on the Blind engine search. Google which is my favorite search engine was voted one out of three times. This tells me that I need to keep an open mind about Bling and Yahoo. I rarely use any search engine other than Google.
Cindy Groover 01-26-1010

exercise #55 facebook

I began to utilize Facebook in 2007 when I participated in the first set of ihcpl exercises. Several people invited me to be their friend not long after I registered for an account with Facebook. I am now Facebook Friends with at least eight other people that are members of Harris County Public Library, and am Facebook Friends with nine people with whom I graduated from college. I got in touch with all of these folks through Facebook, because they all contacted me through Facebook. The extra application that I used in Facebook was Flowers for Friends. I sent a flower to all of my Facebook friends. I have also utilize the status attribute where I tell all my Facebook Friends what I am currently doing. I attempted to see if my sister and niece had a Facebook account and I found both both my sister and my niece. I found both of these people by utiizing the search option. I invited them to be my friends. I found it quite simple to apply for a Facebook account, because I just had to enter my e-mail address, and assign myself a user pass word. I intend to continue to utilize Facebook, since I have heard from people that were previous classmates. I am hoping to hear from more classmates.

Exercise 3 of module 54

I searched the book Fair is the Rose in the social networks Shelfari and Goodreads. The reviews to this book in both networks were quite similiar. I actually find a review written by the same person in both networks. Both sets of reviews praised this book for the most part, and most reviewers in both networks were emotionally involved with the story and characters.

exercise 2 of module 54

These are the steps that I would take if I want to begin a bookclub. I would first choose a particular day of the week that I can conduct the book club. I would give myself two or three months to advertise that I am beginning a bookclub, so I could get a list of people. I would create fliers to post in-house, send news releases to the local newspaper, and post fliers at local organizations and businesses. I would limit the members of the bookclub to 10 to twelve people, so every member of the book club will have a chance to state their opinion. Once that I generate an interest from at least twelve people, I would try to obtain an idea of the type of reading material that each member enjoys reading. After I obtain an idea of what type of literature that the majority enjoys, I would select the first title for the month. I choose Shelfari to seek a book that I would consider for the book club. The book that I choose was the Centurian's Wife. Shelfari has good and bad reviews for the Centurian's wife.

exercise 1 of module 54

I have attempted to start a bookclub at Baldwin Boettcher Branch Library. The only participating experience that I had in a bookclub once when one person attended the bookclub. I prefer a traditional book club when you actually see the other members face to face. I think that an online bookclub is too impersonal. I prefer to meet the folks with whom I discuss the book.

exercise 3 of module 53

The initial search of seeking a e-book to read is pleasantly easy. I choose the spanish book Jesus el hijo de hombre, since I wanted to take the advantage of the opportunity to practice reading the Spanish language. I selected the Spanish language as a language option, and typed the English word bible. This strategy is how I found the book Jesus el Hijo de hombre. The advantage of reading a book online is that you don't have to be concerned about tearing pages of the book. You only have to click an arrow to proceed to the next page. I like the format of the e-mail because you can view the table of contents and view a chapter within the book at the same time. I like the convenience of clicking the word index to view the index of the book instead of having to turn the pages of the particular book. I find that reading an e-book is uncomfortable because you are forced to sit upright at a desk. You can read a traditional book sitting in a chair or lying on a bed. You can travel with a traditional book, because you can place it in a purse or suitcase. I find that reading an e-book is a strain on the eyes due to the computer glare, and you don't encounter this problem when you read the traditional book.

part 2 of module #53

I searched the book Fair is the Rose, since this is the book that I used in module 52I first found the book in the Barnes and Noble Store and the price was $13.99 for a new book copy. The price for a used book copy was $1.99. I also searched for this book at the Borders website. The price for a new book copy was also $13.99. The price for a used copy of the book was $2.00. I checked Harris County Public Library Digital Media Catalog and 20+ Places for Public Domain E-Books, but I did not find Fair is the Rose as an e-book or audio book.

exercise one of module #53

I will discuss the three bookstores that are near our library location, and I discovered them through Houston.com directory. The first bookstore that is near our library is Half Price Books and Records. This bookstore also has a website called www.halfpricebooks.com. This website has a products search option which features a special book for the following categories: Book of the Month, In the Kitchen, Children's Pick, Media Mix and Gift Idea Spot. This website has a book search option that connects the searcher directly to the amazon website. The website has a store locator where you can find the store nearest to you.
The second store that is near our library is the Barnes and Noble bookstore. This book store has a website that is as importants as the amazon website. This website sales a variety of items such as DVDs, Text Books, Out of Print, Children's Books and magazines. This website contains several types of best seller lists such as top 100 in books, New York Times best sellers and best selling books by subject. Barnes and Noble has an advanced search option that allows you to narrow your book search by keywords, format, price and age range.
Bookland is one of the bookstores close to our library location, but this bookstore does not have a website.

Part 4 of module #52

In order to learn the name of the series that Alanna: the first adventure belongs, and the order of the next books, I utilized the database Mid-Continent Public Library. The database gave me search options, and I choose the Book Title Option. I learned that the name of the series is The Song of the Lioness. The next three books are in this order:
In The Hand Of The Goddess
Woman Who Rides Like A Man
Lioness Rampant

exercise 3 part 2 of module 52

My second endeavour involving finding similar authors to Dean Koontz was the use of Novel list Plus. Novelist lists a search option entitled Author Read Alikes. I choose the option Authors K-L. Dean Koontz name was listed and an article is included that discusses the type of genre setting in which Dean Koontz writes. Three authors were mentioned who writes similarly to Dean Koontz. The authors are Greg Bear, John Saul, and Charles Grant.

exercise 3 of module 52 part one

I tried to locate three similar authors to Dean Koontz, and this is my first strategy. I used the resource Librarian in Black and arrived at Sarah's Reference Warehouse. I utilized AllReaders.com. I clicked the heading Crime Thrillers. This option listed several authors along with a certain book that they wrote. I clicked intensity by Dean Koontz. The similar authors where Lawrence Block, Ticket to the Boneyard, James Patterson, Along Came a Spider, Bonnie Ramthan, Thirteenth Skull.

More on Exercise 2 of module 52

I conducted another search attempt for the thirteen year old who likes ghost stories. I placed the term ghost stories in the search box in Novel List Plus. Where we are commanded to limit I chose the teens limitation. I limited the seach to fiction stories. I found another book entitled Restless: A Ghost Story by Rich Wallace.

exercise part 2 of 2 #52 module

This is my strategy for seeking two books about ghosts for the thirteen year old. I used Novelist Plus, and I chose recommended reads for teenagers. I choose the horror category and find a book entitled ghosts. This book is a compilation of ghost stories. I also chose the heading curiosities, and I found a book by Judy Allen which is entitled Unexplained. This books discusses all types of paranormal experiences including ghosts.

exercise 2 of module #52 part one

When I was seeking books for the nine year old girl who likes animals I used the database Novelist Plus. I clicked the heading on the left side of the page that said older kids 9-12. Under this heading I clicked recommended reads. Under the recommended reading heading I clicked nonfiction animals. The first book was entitled Mammals and the second book was entitled Marine Animals.

exercise one of module 52

I chose Liz Curtis Higgs as my favorite author and I used her title called Fair is the Rose. After I typed Fair is the Rose, I clicked the command twice that says find similar books. This option included all the subject headings that were included in the description of my favorite books. I had the option of checking all the headings that I wished to include in finding similar titles. I received over 107,996 titles since I checked all of the subject headings. I found similar titles such as Highland Princess, and Primose Wedding. These books were similar to Fair is the Rose because the story lines occured in Scotland in the eighteenth century, and they were romance books as Fair is the Rose.
I utilized Fiction L Booklist and I also used the title Fair is the Rose. I had several different Book lists in which to choose, and I choose miscellaneous titles. I had more categories from which to choose, and I choose inspirational and religious titles. This search result for this endeavour included other religious titles such as Orson Scott Card who wrote Rebekah, and Francine rivers who wrote redeeming love.
The third database that I used was What Should I Read Next. This database specifically asked for an author and title. When I typed Fair is the Rose by Liz Curtis Higgs, I got four search results titles. They were all books with religious themes.
The one similiarity that I noticed with all of these databases is that all the searches provided books with a Christian theme. Novelist was differant than what do I read next and Fiction L Booklist, since it not only provided me with Christian theme results, but it also provided me with books with a historical and romance setting. Novellist Plus and What should I read are similar because they are both title and author specific. I found What should I read next was much more narrow than Novel list plus, because it only provided me four titles that also have a Christian theme. This database instantly gave me the results and did not provide me the option of subject headings. The Novel List is much more broad in scope because it provided the subject headings option, and I received literally over 100,000 titles. Fiction L booklist is completely different from Novelist Plus and What do I read next because this database is category specific and not author and title specific. This search engine provided more results than what do I read next, but was not as broad in scope as Novel List Plus.

I have neglected you

Sorry for neglecting you, but I have not submitted hcpl exercises in a while. Talk to you soon.
cindy

A couple of items that I forgot to mention regarding exercise 28

I did read the article about GTD, and I used the suggested Bla Bla to do list. I will continue to use this list, because it is an excellent guideline for daily tasks. I believe that the bla bla list ties in with the review principle in GTD. I can use GTD in learning to prioritize the tasks that I need to daily attend, and the future projects that have a dead line.

My work with the S, P and Z drive

I had many archaic files dated as earlier as 1999 in my Z files, and I deleted them, since they are no more use to me. I had a copy of of a standard volunteer application which I moved to my P file. This was the only file that I did not delete from the Z file. I copy one of my files from the P drive to the S drive and then deleted the file from the s drive. My P drive demanded the most organizing of all the files. I had several fliers saved from previous library programs. I deleted some of them, and made a special flier folder. I saved all the fliers that I want to keep in this particular folder. I put all my news releases for the past year in a folder. I have to submit a volunteer community report each month, and I put all of those in one folder. I made a folder for permanent forms such as a volunteer application, volunteer sign up sheet, and program sign up sheet form. I saved all my pictures taken during the summer reading program in my flickr account. I made a folder for all my young adult material such as my summer reading program calendar.

My organizing system

I begin an organizing system a month ago that works for me. I bought one large file container with several compartments where I store different types of paperwork. In this container I have a file for gift book forms, young adult material, reference librarian forms, and and news releases. I work with these catagories on a daily basis. This organizing works well for me, because I can carry the file container anywhere that I needed to go, and this is like having a portable desk. I keep a separate file for patron count week, because this is a project that only occurs three times a year. I keep the phone numbers and addresses of patron counters in this file. I also keep past patron count schedules in this file. I also keep a ring binder notebook for volunteer applications to prevent losing them, and the application are less like to wrinkle.

cleaning e-mail

This is my progress for cleaning my e-mail files. I deleted all
my 2006, 2007 and some 2008 e-mails from my inbox and trash can. I
created six folders to organize my current e-mail which are Beth Krippel,
Nancy Agafitei, Proctoring Folder, Branch Manager, Sacred e-mail and
volunteer folder. I put Monique Franklin, Kathleen Green, Bonnie Langan,
and Rosalind Alexander in my address book, since I e-mail these ladies
quite frequently. I will make it a point to either delete e-mails after I have read them, or storing them in one of my folders.