Merry Christmas and a Happy 2010!!

Merry Christmas to all my followers!! I have completed QLD State Library's Licence 2 Test Drive Program and I am happy to announce I will continue with Rhy in the Sky and update you with the latest technology, Library jokes, polls, book reviews and of course. . . Twilight! If you have any suggestions for Rhy in the Sky 2010 please leave a comment!

Have a Fantastic Christmas and a Great 2010!!

A big shout out to all of you out there who were born on Christmas day!

I hope you enjoy your day and just remember everyone in the world is partying along with you on your day!!

Midnight Sun

Midnight Sun was to be part of the twilight saga until someone had leaked it to the media. Stephenie Meyer had then decided to scrap the book. There are many rumors flying around about who had leaked the book, one of them being Rob Pattinson himself! (It can't be true!) Rob had obtained a copy from Stephenie to help him develop Edward's character but i doubt he leaked it! It is still unclear if it will be published in future. Here is the link for all of you who would like to read the leaked 12 chapters/ 176 pages!! Midnight Sun  Remember this is written through Edward's eyes, although when reading it there are some discrepencies. You be the judge.

Videos Online

Online videos have become so advanced in technology over the past few years with the introduction of digital video, mobile phone cameras and high speed internet. As well as video sharing sites such as YouTube, Google video and Vimeo (just to name a few) are becoming more and more popular. Anyone can create and upload a video online. Its easy!! Go and check them out now!

Who Loves Librarians?

Looking for Adventure??

Carnegie Library - The Greatest Escape from andy kelemen on Vimeo.

Library Joke of the Week

A kindergarten teacher escorted her class to the Library and then asked them before going in...

"And why is it necessary to be quiet in the Library?"

Little Annie replied "Because people are sleeping!"

Lotsa Google!

Welcome to Rhy in the Sky
Benvenuti a Rhy in the Sky (spanish)
Willkommen bei Rhy in the Sky (german)
Bienvenue a Rhy dans le ciel (french)
Benvenuti a Rhy nel cielo (italian)

Google Translate
I have just discovered another valuable google application called Google Translate. As the title suggests it will translate any words, phrases or paragraphs of text from one language to another. But the very best feature of Google Translate is its ability to translate whole web pages! This would be a fantastic tool for our international visitors who frequent our library and for those who have learned english as a second language. A great device to break the language barrier!

Google Books
Google Books have obtained permission from various book publishers and books out of copyright to access  entire contents of selected book titles. Now you can download a copy of the book for a small price or read it online for free! Should you choose to read it online there are a few features which will make it easier including: Zoom in/out, 1or 2 page spread  and view as thumbnails. Google Books also have a 'My Library' feature which is very similiar to Librarything.

I-Google
I-Google is your very own personalised Google home page. The first 3 things you choose to decorate your homepage are the background, (about 10 to choose from) your favourite things (news, sport, music, books etc.) and your location for weather updates. You can 'add stuff' to your page , practical things like a calendar, dictionary or currency converter or you can add fun things like games, virtual pets, joke of the day and much more. Whatever you want!

Google Calendar
Google Calendar is a free online calendar that you can access from all over the world and share eith your friends and family. Keep track of important dates and meetings and even recieve email or sms reminders!  It has a 'quick add' feature or you can 'create event' which can add specific details about the event, email guest invitations  and send a reminder (email/sms) 10mins before the event. The calendar can be displayed as a day, week or month spread. This would be particularly useful in the library as members can view activites and events held in the library and plan their calendars accordingly.

Google Maps
In Google Maps you can search for directions or businesses. Google maps stand out from other mapping sites because you can create personalised maps, you can add your business and review locations. Check it out!

Web Browsers

A web browser is the software loaded on your computer which you use to connect to the internet. There are many different web browsers including Windows Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari and Google Chrome. You can download any of these web browsers for free!! The most popularly used is the Windows Internet Explorer.

I took an online tour of Google Chrome and found it combined a minimal design with sophisticated technology. Some of its more appealing features include:

*The address bar which doubles as a search bar and matches your bookmarks and history as you type

*Web page tools are all conveniently found in the page menu (cut, paste, copy, enlarge text etc.)

*Extra tabs at a click of a button, change tab position and view thumbnails of open tabs for easy selection

*Easy to use technology to make the web faster and safer

*Go incognito and leave no trace behind - I am not sure if it is a good or a bad feature! If your children knew about this feature there would be no way of checking up on them but if you were to buy your spouse a present online it would cover your tracks. I like to think the cup is half full!

I also took an online tour of Firefox to compare it to Google Chrome and this is what I found:

*First up is the humbly named Awesome bar (address bar) Type in the Awesome Bar and the auto-complete function includes possible matching sites from your browsing history, as well as sites you’ve bookmarked and tagged in a drop down. The Awesome Bar learns as you use it—over time, it adapts to your preferences and offers better fitting matches.

*Private browsing (incognito)

*One click bookmarking

*Location aware browsing – if you upload your location Firefox will suggest local websites and other local information

*Remembers your zoom settings and saves tabs and sessions

*The best feature of Firefox 3.5 is its many add-ons, I’m talking 1000’s! Google ‘Firefox add-ons’ to find out more! Everything you need to customize your browser and PC!

Library Joke of the Week!

Q - How many Librarians does it take to change a light bulb??

A - Five. One changes the light bulb while the other four form a committee and write a letter of protest, because after all, changing light bulbs IS NOT in their position descriptions. (six if you count the librarian they all report to)

Blog Action Day 2009

Do you care for the environment??
But you ask... What can one person do??

Just watch this!!



Be part of something bigger than yourself!!

Library Joke of the Week

Knock Knock

Who's there?

Winnie

Winnie who?

Winnie you going to bring back that overdue book, Hmmm?

Podcasts

A Podcast is a non-music audio recording which is dispersed throughout the internet by amateurs and professionals. A Podcast can include interviews, radio shows or discussions about a particular subject. Listeners can hear them on their computers, MP3’s or mobile phones and receive updates through RSS feeds when new content is posted no matter where you are.

To find some podcasts that would interest you, just google ‘podcast’ or check out the Podcast directory (http://www.podcastdirectory.com/) or Podcast Alley (http://www.podcastalley.com/)

A podcast that was of interest to me was called A Juggling Mum (you can look her up on itunes) She tells her story of a working mum with 4 children, a husband and a home business. With hints and tips for juggling work, home and a social life!

Podcasts could be used in libraries to inform members of upcoming events or what’s new in the library, to explain how to use the catalogue or to share book reviews.

Library Joke of the week

Once a blonde went to the library to get a book. A few days later, she returns and says to librarian at the counter,
"This book was very boring. It had too many characters and too many numbers, so i would like to return it."
The librarian says to the other librarian, "So that was the person who took our phone book!"

Mashups

Mashups? (Sounds like what I’m having with my meat and veg for tea tonite!!)

A Mashup is a web application that uses content from more than one source to create a single new service displayed in a single window. A Mashup brings applications together, enhances existing data, improves usability and makes a web page or blog more dynamic and engaging!

To get a better idea of Mashups I headed to The Mashup awards website (Http://mashupawards.com/winners) and I found some amazing Mashups you must try!!

Twitrans
This is a Mashup for all you twitter lovers out there, just say, you have a friend on the other side of the world and you speak different languages and find it hard to communicate. Simply tweet to @twitrans Eg. en2de Hello! Wait for the translators to do their job and it will be translated on your home page. Eg. Gutentag!
en2de is code for English to German. Here are the rest of the language codes:
Ar – Arabic, Zh – Chinese, NL – Dutch, ES – Spanish, Fr – French, RU – Russian,
EL – Greek, HE – Hebrew, HI – Hindi, JP – Japanese, PT – Portuguese and IT – Italian.
Check it out at http://www.twitrans.onehourtranslation.com/

140it
One more for the Twitterers! Do you find it hard to keep to your tweets 140 characters or less? Then this little Mashup is for you! It works by reducing words and removing spaces, shrinking URL’s and exchanging company names with their stocktwits logo. There is more information and a demonstration video on the website. http://www.140it.com/

Pixelpipe
Liberate your media!! Upload photos, videos and audio through the pixelpipe gateway and distribute your content across 100+ social networks, photo/video sites, blogs etc. with mobile and desktop applications. No more loading the same photo over and over again, do it once! Distribute your content to any of these: Flickr, YouTube, FaceBook, MySpace, Hi5, Bebo, Picasa, Photobucket, Zooomr, Photobox, Snapfish, Shutterfly, jaiku, Blip.tv, Twitter and Blogger… just to name a few!!! Check it out yourself!! http://www.pixelpipe.com/

Google Docs

I use Google and Gmail almost everyday and always wondered what all those google applications were. Well, today i'm going to tell you about Google Docs.

Google Docs is a free online service where you can design documents and publications online and save them securely for future use. I have made a small presentation on Google Docs called Strange...but True! and then published it onto Rhy in the Sky for all to see. (Below)

The best thing about Google Docs is I can allow collegues/small group of people to edit the presentation and add their imput without overlapping. Also if you dont have any word processing software on your computer as long as you have a web browser and an internet connection your hot to trot. Upload from and save to your desktop , edit anytime from anywhere, pick who can access your documents, share changes in real time, files are stored securely online and it's free!

This software would be useful in a Library environment because all library staff could have their say on the same document/presentation while sitting at their stations, bouncing ideas of each other.

Strange...but True!

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Bella Swan, a regular seventeen year old girl moves from sunny Arizona to live with her father Charlie Swan, the Local Police Chief in a gloomy small town called Forks. It rains in Forks nearly all year round and Bella longs for the sun to kiss her skin as it once did in Arizona. She has to start at a new school and make new friends and she doesn’t expect to like it.

Bella finds her place at school and everyone is very welcoming. Sitting with her friends in the cafeteria at lunchtime Bella scans the room and her eyes lock on a table in the corner. Sitting at the table are the most beautiful looking people she had ever laid her eyes on. Her friend Jessica tells her they are the Cullen’s, all brothers and sisters adopted by local doctor Carlile Cullen and his wife Esme. Emmett is the largest and strongest looking of them all, Rosalie has long blonde hair and a stunning face, Jasper doesn’t say much and always looks like he’s worried about something, Alice has the features of a perfect pixie and Edward.…Edward was the most beautiful with his porcelain skin, golden eyes, mesmerizing voice and irresistible charm.

As Bella and Edward become more infatuated with each other - for entirely different reasons – a diverse romance blossoms. What Bella doesn’t realize is the closer she gets to him, the more she is putting herself and those around her at risk. With the odds against them, how can a human love a vampire?

Deeply seductive and extraordinarily suspenseful, Twilight is a paranormal romance like no other. New Moon is the next instalment in this emotionally addictive series.

5 out of 5
This is one the most inspiring and captivating books I’ve read in a long time.
I thoroughly enjoyed it and I hope that you do too!!

Library Joke of the Week!

Index of Forbidden Books for Children

The boy who died from eating all his vegetables

Curious George and the high voltage fence

Daddy drinks because you cry

Daddy's new wife Robert

Eggs, toilet paper, and your school

Fun four letter words to know and share

The kid's guide to hitchhiking

The little sissy who snitched

The magic world inside the abandoned refrigerator

The man in the moon is actually Satan

Places where mummy and daddy hide neat things

Pop! Goes the hamster... and other great microwave games

The Pop-up book of human anatomy

Some kittens can fly

Strangers have the best candy

Things rich kids have, but you never will

Whining, kicking and crying to get your way

Why can't Mr. Fork and Mrs. Electrical outlet be friends?

You were an accident

Your nightmares are real

You're different and that's bad!

Angels and Demons

Robert Langdon, a Harvard professor specialising in symbology is rudely awaken to identify a mysterious symbol burned into the flesh of a dead scientist on the verge of a scientific breakthrough.

On the other side of the world, the catholic community mourns the death of their pope as the College of Cardinals gather in conclave. The Swiss Guard is on high alert as an outsider has infiltrated the walls of Vatican City, abducted four greatly respected cardinals and hidden a weapon of mass destruction counting down to destroy the City and all its irreplaceable historic archives, art, libraries and not to mention the most highly regarded Catholics in the world.

Robert and Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and talented Italian scientist discovers the Illuminati, an ancient brotherhood that has been silently waiting for 400 years to destroy religion as we know it. The only hope to save the Vatican is for Robert and Vittoria to follow an ancient path and decipher the clues and symbols to find the Illuminati lair.

Angels and Demons is a fast paced adventure with conspiracies plus twists and turns that leave you desperate to read the next page. If you liked The DaVinci Code, you will love Angels and Demons.

Don’t Forget! Read it First!
The books are always better than the movies.
4 books out of 5

Library Joke of the Week

Knock Knock

Who's There?

Cardigan

Cardigan who?

Oh no! I

forgot my

library card-i-gan!

Library Thing

I highly recommend library thing to all avid readers!! If you have a hard time remembering all the books you've read, this may be the solution! Library thing's function is to create an online catalog of your own personal library. Once you add your books to your library you can give them a rating out of 5 stars, add tags to find similar books of interest, choose the same cover of the book you have read to display in your collection and write your own review.

Here is a link to my Library Thing... www.librarything.com/catalog/RhyB

Library thing also has a social network component, once you've added your books you can see other people's lists who have similar reading interests. Library thing early reviewer provides free pre-release books to members willing to review them. Be quick and check to make sure the book or ebook is for an Australian audience and remember...

you've gotta be in it to win it!!!

Del.icio.us!

Delicious is a great way to have all of yourbookmarked sites ("Favorites") in one easy to use location. In the library we use alot of different computers whether that be public computers, personal computers or a work station. Instead of bookmarking the sites on each computer, we can access them through delicious and once we have bookmark our favorite sites we can share them socially through blogs (like this one!) Not only that, del.icio.us even offers RSS feeds or...Real simple syndication.

I have provided a link to my Del.icio.us bookmarks. http://delicious.com/RhyB

My 2 favorites are:-

• My award maker - print out certificates/awards for every occasion


• Make your own wordsearch - kids love wordsearches particuarly when they are searching for their names and their friends names

So... Check it out! Ya neva no if ya neva go!

Library Joke of the Week

Q - Why did the Librarian slip

and fall in the library ?

A - Because she was in the

Non-Friction section!

Interesting Facts

I have found another website filled with very interesting facts. You can find it at http://www.interestingfacts.org/ They have a great list of facts including People, Sports, world, technology and politics just to name a few.

Here are some amazingly interesting facts:

• Barack Obama smokes ciggarettes


• What happens when a male lion and a female tiger breed? A Liger! It is the largest of all felines (over 320kg and 10 feet long on average)


• It deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are witren, the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef but the wrod as a wlohe


• The Hawaiian alphabet contains only 12 letters. inc a,e,i,o,u,h,k,l,m,n,p and w


• Google founders got the name from the word googol which represents number 1 followed by 100 zeros


• A company in Brazil has constructed a building in which each floor can rotate 360 degrees. Each building has 11 apartments and each apartment can spin individually in any direction, One rotation takes a full hour

There are so many facts to learn on this website and there is a search facility if you are searching for a particular topic or fact. You can also check out interesting facts.org via Facebook or Myspace. I hope you have learned something new today!

Library Joke of the Week

Q - What did the Librarian say to the man who was checking out 30 books?

A - Don't Overdue it!

Real Simple Syndication

RSS or Real simple syndication is the latest internet tool I am exploring. An RSS service brings information of your choice to one easy to use location. Updates are automatically sent to you on the subjects you enjoy. Think of it as your own personal newspaper!

These are some of the RSS feeds i subscribed to :-

• Opal Training


• Powerhouse museum - Photo of the day


• BBC news - World Edition


• Quotes of the day


• Library Stuff

This would be a valuable tool in the library industry, I particularly found the Library stuff link to be very informative dealing with current library issues such as :-

• Books Vs E-books


• Bringing youth back to the library


• latest book reviews etc.

Library book and Facebook

More and more of us have been sucked into joining an online social network such as Facebook, Twitter, Myspace etc. Catching up with old friends and meeeting new ones, these social networks have become part of our everyday life. Keeping up with technology is hard enough but who would have thought that you can add your library as a friend and recieve updates on special events, newly released books and other library news. More libraries are becoming part of this online phenomenon and it is such a wonderful idea.So... What are you waiting for???

Be a friend to your library!!

Wiki What?...

A wiki space can be changed or editied by anyone unlike webpages. Although that information may not be correct or simply be one person's opinion. But for those living in the fast lane as librarians there is a great wiki just for us. www.libsuccess.org/index.php?title=Main_Page It has some great fundraising tips, other blogs/websites to watch, information for various libraries and even team building and management hints. If you have had any great ideas for your library that you have tried and tested, why not post them! You may even find a solution to a problem. Thats what wiki is all about!!

Your Choice...

Flores - Flowers
Originally uploaded by fotos_ilca

Have a look at the photo of all these gorgeous flowers. Each one is unique and has its own admiring charm. But which one appeals to you?...
Is it the colour or the shape? We all have choices and some of them are obviously right and some of them we wish we could go back in time and change. But sometimes we make the right decision and sometimes we have to make the decision right. If you always do what you believe is right you will never go wrong! So... take your pick! Which one do you choose??

Did you know?...

~A giraffe can clean its ears with its 50cm tongue
~The heart of a blue whale is the size of a small car
~Sharks are immune to all known diseases
~When rain falls from the sky it is not a tear drop shape but perfectly round. http://www.flickr.com/photos/oddball7/556912755/
~All the planets in the solar system rotate anticlockwise, except Venus. It is the only planet that rotates clockwise.
~Mel Blanc, who played the voice of Bugs Bunny, was allergic to carrots
~We actually do not see with our eyes - we see with our brains. The eyes basically are the cameras of the brain. One-quarter of the brain is used to control the eyes
~Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails
Find these and more interesting facts at http://www.didyouknow.org/
From a young child learning to read, to an elderly gentleman learning to use the internet to communicate with his family from all over the world, we all continue to learn over our entire lives.
Lifelong learning enhances and refreshes our view on the world.

I believe...

I believe you learn something new everyday! My grandfather told me that, I may not have thought about it much as a child but as an adult it has a whole new meaning! It may not be a life changing lesson but to learn a new fact or a new skill promotes growth and change. I know alot of people don't respond well to change, but where would we be without it? Right now I am learning, learning how to write a blog! I can't wait to see what else i will learn along the way!!