Thursday, June 25, 2009

Want to Improve Pacer? Sign the petition so your voice will be heard.

There is a petition going around that supports improvements to Pacer. For more information about the petiton and to sign it if you are interested, click here.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Guide to Better Google Searches

We may want to resist it, but our patrons love to research on Google. With that said, it doesn't mean we can't teach them to use Google more efficiently. Here is a Guide to Better Searches on Google created by Google. The guide provides and defines modifiers to help you make a stronger Google search.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Do you get what you pay for? Evaluation of Free Case Law Sites

A colleague sent me a link to an article that evaluates 10 free legal case law sites. The article appeared on the Law Technology News site and was written by Robert J. Ambrogi. This article is great for a quick description and comparison and can help you point your patrons in the direction best for them.

The following sites were evaluated:
AltLaw
Casemaker
Fastcase
FindACase
FindLaw
Justia
Legal Information Institute (LII)
LexisONE
PreCYdent
Public Library of Law (PLOL)
Public.Resource.Org

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Will Bing Rule the World?

Currently, there is a LOT of fuss about Bing. At work, all of the homepages for the public computers have been set to Bing. Also, my home page for my cell phone was set to Bing (without my doing). It seems to be that Bing is taking over, so I wanted to experience Bing for myself.

I found some information on Law Librarian Blog that lead me here. PC World compared Bing, Google, and Yahoo. The comparison is complete with screen shots.

I decided to do my own comparison between Google, my preferred search engine, and Bing. I looked for my apartment complex. I have to say I like that Google gave me a map of the location, but other than that, the info was pretty much the same. Bing keeps the left side of the page clean where Google has ads. Bing also keeps track of your search history on the right side of the screen and has related search options. Google also does this if you click "Show Options".

I don't think that I am ready to switch to Bing full time as of yet, but I definitely think it is a viable search engine.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

PowerPoint How Tos - Office 2007

I have to admit, I am not a huge fan of PowerPoint 2007, but I am warming up to it. I feel like some of the functionality that I had in the 2003 version is gone. However, all is not lost. I found a 'PowerPoint How Tos 2007" guide created by Microsoft. If you like to give your PowerPoint presentations that extra zing, this is the guide for you.

To access the 'PowerPoint How Tos 2007" guide click here.

Friday, June 5, 2009

SERU

As a member of the CRIV committee, I developed a proposal for the DC conference on Shared Electronic Resources Understanding (SERU). Unfortunately, the program was not accepted, but we were able to get a grant and turn the program into a webinar! You can find more information about the webinar below. The program is called The Shared Electornic Resource Understanding (SERU): Can it work in my Library? and will be held Tuesday June 9 from 1p-2p. The program is sponsored by NELLLCO and co-sponsored by CRIV. For more information, click here.