Comments on: Reference Question of the Week – 1/1/12 http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2012/01/07/reference-question-of-the-week-1112/ or, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Fear and Loathing at a Public Library Reference Desk Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:43:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Swiss Army Librarian » Freading Ebook Library from Library Ideas, LLC :: Brian Herzog http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2012/01/07/reference-question-of-the-week-1112/#comment-5887 Swiss Army Librarian » Freading Ebook Library from Library Ideas, LLC :: Brian Herzog Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:40:09 +0000 http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/?p=2916#comment-5887 [...] Ebooks are more popular than ever in my library, and our Overdrive ebook catalog (which we share with 36 other libraries in my consortium) just cannot keep up. Patrons are disappointed that everything they want to read isn't available for immediate download (either because the publishers won't deal with Overdrive or because other patrons already have that ebook checked out). [...]

]]> By: Brian Herzog http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2012/01/07/reference-question-of-the-week-1112/#comment-5528 Brian Herzog Wed, 11 Jan 2012 03:38:14 +0000 http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/?p=2916#comment-5528 @Erin: something like the ELMO is exactly what I was trying to recreate. Also, I just saw a Lifehacker post about mounting a webcam on a flexible-arm lamp, so maybe I’ll do that too. The next step would be to output the webcam right to a digital projector, bypassing the PC, but one thing at a time. But you’re right, a document camera is perfect for showing off small-screen devices for any reason.

]]> By: Erin http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2012/01/07/reference-question-of-the-week-1112/#comment-5526 Erin Tue, 10 Jan 2012 23:37:29 +0000 http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/?p=2916#comment-5526 Our library has also found our ELMO document camera (often used for projecting images of paper documents) to be a very successful tool for similar purposes: we used it last year in a workshop to project images of mobile database apps on an iPod Touch. Your webcam solution sounds great, too; I was just thinking that any libraries who already happen to own an ELMO might want to consider it for this purpose.

]]> By: Kathy http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2012/01/07/reference-question-of-the-week-1112/#comment-5511 Kathy Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:53:22 +0000 http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/?p=2916#comment-5511 We’ve been doing a LOT of one-on-one training on the desk and through appointments, but I like the idea of the class. You get more people trained at once that way!

]]> By: Heather B http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2012/01/07/reference-question-of-the-week-1112/#comment-5507 Heather B Sun, 08 Jan 2012 02:18:06 +0000 http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/?p=2916#comment-5507 I’m helping people out with Overdrive at least once every reference desk shift these days. Today there were 4 or 5 people. The demand is crazy; of our consortium’s Kindle-compatible eBooks, there were maybe 70 of 2200+ not checked out this afternoon.

We also offered a class on downloadable books last Thursday. Lots of interest, and about 40 in the room, which is pretty reasonable for an afternoon program here. (We started at 4:30 in an attempt to get the older set.) We’re already planning to offer it again, with a few tweaks.

]]> By: Ariel Cummins http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2012/01/07/reference-question-of-the-week-1112/#comment-5506 Ariel Cummins Sat, 07 Jan 2012 22:56:01 +0000 http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/?p=2916#comment-5506 We definitely have seen an uptick in ereader questions, too. We have drop-in ereader help sessions once a week, and we’ve definitely maxed them out as of late. We’re really pushing having people make an appointment so we can have a member of the ref staff sit down with them for half an hour or so and get them going. It’s pretty fun!

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