My library is in the process of re-doing all of our public computers. One major change we’re making is to switch to Firefox for our web browser, instead of the Internet Explorer/Public Web Browser combo we’ve always used.
The reason we’re switching is a simple one - Firefox is just cooler. It lets us have more control over how the browser functions, and lets us offer more tools integrated right into the browser. Better for us, better for patrons.
Here’s a list of the customizations we’re making:
Add-Ons
Public Fox - this is designed to make Firefox a public web browser, as opposed to being used and customized by a single, private person. We’re using it to lock down add-ons, preference, about:config, and a few other things, as well as control what file types can be downloaded
Menu Editor - also for the control freak in us, this one lets us remove menus from the tool bar (we’re getting rid of bookmarks, help and history)
Greasemonkey - one of my favorites, this lets us embed custom coding on webpages, such as a link from Amazon to our catalog, and helpful links on our catalog’s “no search results” page (more info on those on our Tech Tools page)
Add To Search Bar - this fun one lets us easily add our library catalog right to Firefox’s search bar. The other searches we chose to include are Google, Yahoo, Amazon, the Internet Movie Database, Answers.com, Wikipedia, and Merriam-Webster
IE Tab - For all of those “Best viewed in Internet Explorer” websites, this one lets you toggle back and forth between the Firefox and IE rendering engines, so IE-only pages and scripts will load in Firefox
Image Zoom - just like what it sounds, this adds zoom controls to the right-click menu, to make images bigger and smaller. This one is most useful to patrons who get emailed digital photos at 1024 x 768 resolution, which is too big for our screens. This lets them zoom out so they can see all of their grandchild’s face at the same time
Options Settings
Turn off all automatic updates - we use Deep Freeze, so we do our own updates
Turn off all warnings, except when redirecting from secure to an unsecure page
Don’t remember anything, delete cookies and clear private data when Firefox closes
Other Customizations
Disable mailto: links - one repeated tech question from patrons is “I want to send an email but I’m getting some connection wizard.” This happens when someone clicks a “mailto” link on a webpage, and Outlook launches as the default email program. Since patrons need to log into their own web email to send messages, making nothing happen when someone click a mailto link is actually an improvement
We also took whatever steps we could think of to ensure computer security and patron privacy - this means not keeping any history, and making sure that when Firefox is started, it does not restore from a previous session
A lot of these were judgment calls, and there is no single right way to adjust your settings. Also, there’relotsofotherusefulAdd-Onsouttheretoo, and more at https://addons.mozilla.org. If you have any suggestions for security or usefulness that we didn’t include, please let me know in the comments.
Here’s a neat web tool I’ve been waiting to use ever since I read about it a few weeks ago on the Library 2.0 Ning group - the Awesome Highlighter.
It lets you highlight a portion of a webpage, send someone a link, and then they can see exactly what you highlighted. Great for virtual reference work, but also just good in general.
One of our more tech-savvy patrons emailed me asking if there was an easy way to search the Library’s catalog right from book’s page on Amazon. There is, using Firefox and Greasemonkey, and it is outlined on my Library’s Tech Tools page.
But instead of just sending him the link to the Tech Tools page, I ran it through the Awesome Highlighter, so I could send him a highlighted page, with focus on exactly the portion of the page I wanted him to see. Not that he wouldn’t have found it on his own, but it just makes it a little bit easier - especially the “jump to highlights” link at the top.
On the Ning page, there’s some discussion about the highlighter working or not working depending on whether the user is signed in. I’ve only used it a couple times, but I haven’t had any trouble. The great thing is that someone from the company is participating in the discussion, so hopefully whatever bugs do exist will be corrected as a result - much like Jessamyn’s comments on SWIFT.
If we never speak up, then we’ll never get tools that do exactly what we need (I’ll refrain from inserting my ILS soapbox here).
Occasionally spam email messages catch my eye. I recently saw one with this subject: “Send Email and Photos to Loved Ones Who Don’t Use a Computer.”
I’m not promoting this service, but I think it’s an interesting idea, and I’d never heard of it before. The company is Presto.com, and what they sell is a way to electronically communicate with someone who doesn’t have email.
The product is a printer that plugs into a home phone line, and their service converts incoming emails into color printouts - with no user intervention.
The demo is worth watching, but how it works seems fairly simple. Each HP printer gets an email account (which is managed by someone who is comfortable with the internet), and in addition to printing messages from loved ones, the company also provides free content like crosswords, recipes, and newsletters. And since you control the “approved sender” list, it means no spam and no ads.
I keep thinking this might actually have a place in a library, but I can’t exactly figure it out. I certainly would rather teach someone how to use email than give them a crutch, but lots of people don’t have the time or desire to learn - but do want pictures of their grandkids.
The catch would be if each printer is only associated with one email address. If it could handle more, then this might be a service we could provide to patrons. They set up an account with us, and then we hold whatever printouts they receive just like we hold their requested books. That would definitely strengthen the library’s sense of community, but perhaps this product is better suited for senior centers or retirement homes.
Besides, kids today are practically issued cell phone numbers and IM handles at birth, so this type of technology is probably pretty short-lived.
One of our regular patrons has a radio show on a local station. He found some copyright-free songs on YouTube, and wanted to know how he could record them to play on his show.
However, most of the usual ways require more access to the computer than we allow the public to have. Patrons cannot install software or get to Windows Sound Recorder, so he wanted something easier.
An internet search lead us to the website vixy.net, which is exactly what he wanted. Enter the url of the online video you’d like to record, choose the output file type (mp3 is an option), click start, wait, and then download the audio file. Nice.
The system is still in beta, and lists right on their homepage some of the errors you might encounter (after working with it awhile, the patron said he got an error on about one in three attempts). But when it works, it works, and it gave the patron exactly what he was looking for - mp3 files he could save to his flash drive.
But let me leave you with what I told him: just because something is possible doesn’t mean it is legal. It is up to you to check to make sure the copyright on published work allows for this type of recording.
Something I’ve been seeing a lot of lately are websites with free television shows and movies. I mentioned hulu.com on a previous post, and it’s also been talked about elsewhere.
(I tried it out this weekend, and watched quite a few shows and a couple feature movies - all for free, with no problems, and very minimal commercial interruptions. This is the first time I’ve watched television or movies online, so I guess this is something for my Tech-YES list. But it did occur to me that, come Feb 17th, 2009, instead of buying a new set or digital cable box, I might just get rid of my television entirely and rely on the internet for shows and movies [then I could add “no television set” to my Tech-NO list])
Another free source, reported on Boing Boing, is the South Park Studios website. They just announced they are making all South Park episodes available free (but I noticed a few are not, due to contractual issues). According to creator Matt Stone, they’re doing this because “we just got really sick of having to download our own show illegally all the time. So we gave ourselves a legal alternative.”
A slightly different approach is AnyTV, discussed by LibrarianInBlack. I haven’t tried this, but it looks like you download and install their AnyTVplayer on your computer, and then can stream a large number television channels, radio stations and video clips - free. Sarah also bring up the idea of installing this software on public library computers, to allow people to use their internet time to watch television. Hmm.
Finally, LifeHacker offers a long list of free online resources for online videos. I checked out a couple, but none seemed as easy to use as Hulu.com. http://tv-video.net did seem to have more episodes of certain shows, but that might just be because Hulu.com is still new.
Of course, this is all in addition to what the networks themselves off on their websites: ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, PBS. These, like the South Park guys, have the edge because they are the source. If all information is free and legal, the only reason to go to the middlemen aggregators (like Hulu.com, et. al.) is ease of use of the interface.
My library is in the process of re-doing all of our public computers. One major change we’re making is to switch to Firefox for our web browser, instead of the Internet Explorer/Public Web Browser combo we’ve always used.
One of our regular patrons has a radio show on a local station. He found some copyright-free songs on YouTube, and wanted to know how he could record them to play on his show.
