Computers in Libraries 2015: Cool Tools to Use Today
by Rebecca Starr
Computers in Libraries 2015, held in Washington, D.C. at the
end of April, was abuzz with the latest technology, fun new apps, and
innovative strategies to bring both to your community. While the total list is
quite exhausting, here are some of my favorite tools that can be used
on-the-job or shared with your patrons.
Educational
Mary Ellen Bates introduced these websites in her
presentation, “Super Searcher Tips and Tools”:
●
Microsoft Academic: When Mary Ellen is
tackling a search about which she knows very little, she will type it into this
search engine to find dominant keywords, authors, and authoritative websites.
●
Google Trends: This site is great for those
obscure “Most Popular Searches” questions. It also houses great data
visualizations of searches from around the world.
Finally, for those of you who answer technology questions or
teach classes, be sure to visit NYPL TechConnect’s website. They host all of
their presentation handouts and tutorial videos here!
Creative
In her presentation “A Thousand Voices: The Power of Storytelling”,
Diane Cordell offered these digital tools to help patrons of all ages tell
stories of their own:
●
Zooburst: This application let you create
digital 3D pop-up books! (If you closed this post now in favor of playing with
this tool, I wouldn’t blame you.)
●
Shadow Puppet: Upload images, add text, and
set them to narration to create your own video story. One classroom used this
application to create a listening center.
●
Thematic: Create a narrative using your images
and text...think Medium, but for photos. Here’s a cute example.
●
Storybird: Users of this social media-esque
site can create stories using illustrator-developed work and share them within
the Storybird community.
Just For Fun
Gary Price, the co-founder of INFODocket,
shared some of his favorite apps, both old and new:
●
TinEye: This app allows you to upload an image
and conduct a reverse image search. It may be handy with those “What is this?”
questions where someone just has a photo.
●
AudioNow: Users can listen to radio stations
from around the world on their phone for
free. This site lists all of the phone number for different radio stations.
●
Office Lens: This scanner for smartphones
“clears up” images that are otherwise hard to read (such as receipts and
whiteboards).
To view additional presentations, head over to the Computers in Libraries website. I highly
recommend this conference for all librarians and IT professionals.
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