resource spotlight: rasterbator

The Rasterbator

The scourge of university IT paper consumption worldwide, The Rasterbator, has existed in one form or another since 2004. It started at the now defunct artsy site of general weirdness homokaasu.org and there is also the standalone version.  The Rasterbator is provided for your pleasure and convinience by Matias Ärje, an Internet enthusiast and connoisseur.

This would be a great resource for art in the afternoon, bulletin boards, or patrons with art projects.  Check it out at http://rasterbator.net/.  Thanks to Jennifer for sharing this awesome free resource!

literacy connections "hot spots"

Literacy Connections is the new group/committee that has formed in Rowan County.  The primary purpose of this committee is to develop “Hot Spots” – free Wi-Fi locations run by volunteers where school kids can go to work on homework.  The goal of the school system is to have 100 hot spots set up throughout the county.  Jennifer, Jane, and Melissa are on this committee.

Please periodically visit www.rowanhotspot.com .  Although no “hot spots” are listed to date, there are at least 34 in development.  This is the website you would refer parents & students to when they ask about where the hot spots are.  The website itself is in development as are many of the procedures and policies about setting up a hot spot.

If a student has trouble logging into their school account, they will need to contact their school media coordinator or teacher.  “PowerSchool #” is the unique number assigned to each student that they use to log in to their school account and school library.  There might be some confusion among students as some of the documentation says they can login to “the library” – not making the distinction between the school system libraries and the public library.

We do not have any way to assist students who have forgotten their PowerSchool # or password as this is run through the school system.

resource of the week: data resources

Check out the following FREE resources to help you make the most of available data on a budget:

CTCC - http://ow.ly/xmHCT
FactFinder.gov - http://ow.ly/xpzzW
Melissa Data Lookups - http://ow.ly/xpxoY
Website-Watcher - http://aignes.com

As featured in "More Data for your Dollar" in the June 15, 2014 edition of Library Journal.

resource of the week: NC211.org

Help when you need it most!  Dial 2-1-1 or visit NC211.org to connect with a network of over 18,000 resources in North Carolina including:

- Food Pantries
- Smoking/Tobacco Cessation Resources
- Holiday Assistance

The first step in finding help is knowing who to call. 9-1-1 is for emergencies, 4-1-1 is for directory assistance and 2-1-1 is for finding community health and human service resources.  Thanks so much to Pam Bloom for sharing this excellent resource!

new overdrive app

OverDrive is pleased to announce a new app for Android, iOS (iPhone/iPad/iPod touch), and Windows 8 is here!

This update features the long-awaited elimination of the Adobe Authorization step from the app installation process—one of your most frequently requested enhancements! We expect this change will significantly reduce library support questions and provide excellent benefits to users like syncing reading progress across multiple devices and saving libraries and common searches.

First-time users will now be prompted to create an OverDrive account. There is no change for existing users who already have an Adobe ID or OverDrive account associated with their OverDrive app, even after they update to the newest version.

Users under the age of 13 can anonymously authorize the OverDrive app without creating an OverDrive account.

OverDrive v3.2 also includes the following updates:

*The app name has been shortened from "OverDrive Media Console" to "OverDrive." To support the new name, the app website has moved to http://app.overdrive.com.

*Users will be able to return Open EPUB titles before the end of their lending period. All formats that the app supports can now be returned before expiration.

OverDrive Help articles and videos have been updated to reflect the updates in OverDrive v3.2.

We hope you enjoy the new experience.

resource of the week: North Carolina Literary Map

Want to learn more about the lives and creative work of authors to real (and imaginary) geographic locations?  Look no further than the North Carolina Literary Map, a searchable and browseable data-driven online map where users are able to access a database, learning tools, and cultural resources to deepen their understanding of specific authors as well as the cultural space that shaped these literary works.  (Thanks to Gretchen for suggesting sharing this on the blog!)

free webinars from ProQuest

ProQuest has updated their calendar of scheduled webinars, available here: http://prq.st/1tNUtOo  

These webinars are aimed at all library staff and are intended to help library staff become familiar with these new resources, which will become available from NCLive in the new year.

Can't make it to a live webinar?  You can watch webinar recordings, available at the bottom of this page: http://prq.st/1tNUtOo. Scroll down below all of the live events to the "Event Recordings" section. 

Questions?  Please don't hesitate to contact the NC LIVE Help Desk.