I just attended the Off-Campus Library Service conference in Salt Lake Cityand received many good ideas.  One session discussed using screencasting sofware (e.g. Adobe Captivate) and how the library can track usage with Google Analytics.  It appears the average time a student watches a library demo is about 2 minutes.  A few sessions discussed e-resources (proprietary e-books, e-reference, free e-books, government sites, etc).  Two of the session were trying to figure if students use e-resources and how to make student more aware of them.  Another tried a visual display to simulate “browsing” the reference stacks.   There is no doubt on and off campus want more access to electronic resources, but trying to figure out the best way for students to find and these resources is a challenge.

Today, the WashingtonPost ran an article about WEbook.com.  It is “an online publishing platform that allows writers, editors, reviewers, illustrators and others to join forces to create great works of fiction and non-fiction, thrillers and essays, short stories, children’s books and more.”  For example, multiple people may write one book together.  All of the “publications” are online, but this week WEbook is publishing its first print book, Pandora, written by 72 authors.  I could not think of a more appropriate title.

PC Magazine has put together a list of The Best Free Software.  It places each program into a category (e.g. Operating System, Blogging, Firewall).  I have used some of these, especially the ones listed in the “Hall of Fame.”  Look through this list and see if any of the program will make life a little easier.