Screen Shots: I’m ready for my closeup, Mr. Deville…(49)

Have you ever seen a demonstration where a presenter shows web pages right in their Powerpoint – without going online? How about when someone asks for help getting an image from the web into their project, but Cut & Paste will not work? Or maybe you’ve been asked by a support line to Email a picture of the error message appearing on your screen?

Screen Shot is a handy way to include a snapshot of a web page image in Emails, Word Documents, or Powerpoint slides.

How does Screen Shot work?
If you’ve done Cut & Paste in Windows, then this will sound familiar. First, locate the web page using your browser. Set up your screen to show exactly what you want to show, by changing the Window size or View. Once your screen looks exactly as you want to show it, you’re ready.

2. Next, click Start >

1. Type PRINT SCREEN key at the top right of the keyboard.
2. Next, click on Start Menu > Accessories > PAINT.
3. In Paint, Edit > Paste.
4. Save this File to your Desktop. Select “Save as Type”: JPEG.
5. Use Insert > Picture (from file) to add this image to any Powerpoint or Word file. Use Attachment to include the file with an Email.

Tips

• Paste a Screen Shot directly into a Word or Powerpoint without saving in Paint for one-time Screen Shots.
• Use Picnik (online image editor) to crop or resize it.
• Use ALT + PRINT SCREEN to reproduce a selected Window, rather than the entire screen.

Google site search (48)

Let’s face it, websites can be big. Really big. And sometimes even the best planned websites make it hard to find what we want.

If you use Google, and I know you do, there’s a simple way to take control and search a site for the information you want.

It’s called Google Site Search

It’s most basic use is to search a site. Let’s say you want to know which library in our system has Spanish language materials. You could look through each branch page until you find the answer. Or you could search in the catalog to see what comes up. Or, you could do a Site Search in Google.

That search would look like this:

Take a look at the results and you’ll see how helpful site search is. One quick search tells me which branches have a Spanish language collection (Thompson Lane and Southeast). It also reveals that there are Spanish language books available in the Tumblebooks database!

How does it work?

Type your search terms in the Google search box, then type site: and the web address you want to search in. We searched for: spanish collection site:library.nashville.org

But wait, there’s more…

Site search can help with narrowing your results list. Why wade through tons of useless sites when you can better target the kind of information you’re looking for? Let’s take a look at an example.

Say you’re looking for information vaccinations. You could do a basic Google search and you’d probably find some good websites, but you’d probably have to wade through a bunch of not-so-great sites too. Sites that end in .gov or .edu might give you more accurate medical information. So why not narrow your search from the start?

Let’s search for information on vaccinations and ask for results ONLY from government information sites. That search would look like this:

This search will exclude .com, .edu, .org, and any other site that doesn’t end in .gov. This can be useful when doing research and you know what kind of information you’re looking for. But, beware that you may be excluding useful information.

If you need help remembering this and other search tips for Google, you can print out this cheat sheet (pdf), shown at left, and stash it by your computer.

And if you have any search tips, please share them in the comments!

Your mission, should you choose to accept it: 1. Do a search in Google for Disaster Preparedness. 2. Do a search in Google for Disaster Preparedness and limit to sites that end in .org. 3. Compare.

And the winners are…

I don’t know about you, but I don’t like it when I enter a drawing and a) don’t get to see the drawing and b) never find out who won. We didn’t want to put you through that kind of misery, so we videotaped it!

Ten names were drawn – these staff members will be getting a spiffy new mp3 player.

We didn’t want to share this silliness with the world, so please head on over to the Intranet and see if you won.

And the winners are…

Wednesday 15th is the mp3 player drawing! Last chance to enter!

You could win one of 10 mp3 players!

If you’ve completed seven Staff in the Know missions (this includes Tenn-Share Learn & Discover activities) this summer, you’ve earned a T-shirt from the Friends of the Library.

If you’ve reported your progress, you have also been entered into a drawing for one of ten mp3 players!

What’s that? You did the activities and didn’t tell anyone? No worries – there’s still time!

To enter, Email Kyle Cook or Jenny Ellis and ‘CC’ your library manager. You MUST enter by 8pm on October 14th to be eligible.

Check Staff in the Know and the Intranet Bulletin Board for the winner! The drawing is October 15th.

IM Made Easy with Meebo (47)

Instant Messaging is so simple and convenient. I can talk to all of my friends just by chatting online! Well, it should be simple and convenient. But it isn’t. Here’s why:

My mom uses AOL Instant Messenger.
My brother uses Google Talk and AOL (to talk to mom).
My best friend uses Yahoo Messenger.
My sister-in-law uses Windows Messanger (MSN).

And the list goes on, with hardly anyone using the same service. What should I do? I cannot login to all of these at once. No way. Can you imagine what a pain that would be?

That’s why I signed up for Meebo.

Meebo is a Instant messenger site where you can use all these services at once, on one screen. It works online, so you don’t have to download anything. Once you sign up for the service and set your username and password for any IM network you’re with, you’re set. After that, one login to Meebo automatically connects you to all the other IM networks.

And, so what if I’m so happy that I sound like one of those product placement deals in the old TV shows? You know, where the mom turns to the camera and says “Jimmy, would you like some Choco-milk Powder?” And Jimmy says, “Gee, mom, that’d be great. It’s so tasty and I can feel my muscles grow with each swig.”

Meebo is that cool.

“Jimmy, would you like to chat with all of your friends online after dinner?”
“Sure, mom! Since we signed up for Meebo, it’s real easy to catch up with Billy, Sam, and Ronny. I haven’t missed a baseball card trade in weeks!”

Be like Jimmy. Try out Meebo.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it:   1. Visit Meebo.  2. Login with any ID you already have: Yahoo, AOL, Google, MSN. 4. Take the survey.