Making an Impression

Is the information your genealogy or family history society distributes attractive?

A recent review alerted me to the inadequacy of some of our print materials.

Enter Canva for Non Profits. Through our free Pro account we now have access to a wide range of templates that make updating our image easy. Last week I made a new trifold brochure for our group, a simple process and our group members are pleased with the result. I have no design or artistic talent but thanks to Canva's wide range of professionally designed templates our signs and posters have received a refresh.

Trifold print brochure

Outside of trifold

Inside of brochure

Next time before printing I will revisit and add a qrcode for our website.

Update - 1 week

Received, great price, beautifully packaged and printed, a high quality product from an Australian based company. Thanks Canva.

This post first appeared on https://carmelgalvin.info

Is it mobile friendly?

Have you checked your blog?

In response to Jill Ball's post A  Blog Reader’s Plea here are two, less than 30 second videos, demonstrating how to check whether your blog is mobile friendly.

These videos were made with Quik, a free, very easy to use video editor available for ipad, iphone and Android. Add videos, photos or screenshots to make a video. Choose from the music which comes with the app. Titles and captions can be added where needed. Save and share to a variety of platforms.

Blogger

Wordpress

Have you tried an easy video editor to share family photos?

This post first appeared on https://librarycurrants.blogspot.com

Congress on Slate

Here's an elegant new way to share your stories from your ipad. Just add text, photos and links to the app Adobe Slate.  Professionally designed layout features add another dimension to your content. This easy to use tool may appeal to family historians who would like to present their information in a visually attractive manner. Your story can include headings, text, quotes, images and buttons to link to websites.

Slate pages can be public or private, can be embedded on your blog or website as below, or shared via email and various other social platforms. There are 11 different themes to choose from so with a simple click the page or post can be modified to your preferred style. I've used the 'Tereza' theme. I've added only small snippets of text but longer blocks of text can be written.

If you have an ipad why not try it? Photos can be added from your own collections whether stored on your device or in Dropbox. There is a Creative Commons search if you do not have suitable visuals and the sources are credited at the end of your page. This is a free app, you will need to use your free Adobe ID as the pages are stored on Adobe's servers.

Here's an overview of last weekend's Congress made in Slate on my ipad. Click or tap on the picture below then scroll to view. The back button will return you to this post.




This post first appeared on http://librarycurrants.blogspot.com/2015/04/congress-on-slate.html

5 simple steps to a Scoop.it widget on your webpage or blog

Scoop.it widgets 
Many people are curating the best resources they can find using Scoop.it. You can use their expertise to display this dynamic content visually via a widget on your website or blog as shown with these 2 examples.

      


Scoop.it provides 2 alternatives for delivering content, an RSS feed and a widget. Once you are logged in choose Manage/ Export to find these options.
For the widget:
1. Choose shape - square or rectangular
2. The number of posts - default is 3 but I suggest 5
3. Select time to display, the widget above is set on 5 secs, the one on the right on 10
4. Use the slider to determine the width of the gadget.
5. Preview, adjust as desired then grab the code ready to paste to your website or blog.

How to grab other folk’s scoops using the widget 

Simply copy and edit the code below:
1. Replace the URL http://www.scoop.it/t/ebooksk12 with the address showing in the URL of the Scoop you want
2. Replace the title ebooks with the title you want displayed at the top of the widget

I have removed the first < from the code before the word iframe,  Insert it and remember to close the iframe at the end with < and /  to get your widget to work.

Code
iframe> align="left" frameborder="0" height="250" scrolling="no" src="http://www.scoop.it/t/ebooksk12/js?format=square&numberOfPosts=5&title=ebooks&speed=5&mode=normal&width=250" width="250"  iframe>

Notice that you can also adjust the size of the widget here too by altering the height and width numbers that currently are set at 250.

I've used Scoop.it widgets  here on our ipad page to display the wonderful resources that others are finding.

Have fun!

Keeping the school community informed

This is a brief overview of the world of ebooks published as the Academic Focus article in our Head Master's Bulletin, a weekly newsletter.

What's happening to books?
This question concerns many as they see the gradual closure of bookstores and the reduction in the numbers of print titles on library shelves across the country. Be reassured, books are alive and flourishing in many different formats in our school.

In our library we have an excellent mix of good quality reading material for curriculum purposes and for recreational reading. Some of these books and magazines are in traditional paper format but increasingly many are electronic files, ebooks and audio books across the range of fiction and non-fiction.

A wide variety of ebook formats are available on the market. With the ubiquitous spread of mobile platforms, many students are now able to access books on their portable device. The blend of text, interactive games, animation and learning software enhances many books. Ebook formats allow the reader to highlight information, look up unknown vocabulary, add notes to the text and navigate quickly to any part of the book. Text size can be manipulated and accompanying audio is often available.

Some formats can be used on computers only; others are suitable and available for downloading to a wide range of portable devices. These include smart phones, Android or Apple, along with a plethora of other devices, ereaders of many varieties and idevices such as iTouch and iPad. The almost universal access students have to MP3 devices widens the possibility for book access through audio. Access to books on mobile platforms is provided through apps, some examples of which are provided here. One does not need to have bought a Kindle to read with the Kindle app as it is available across operating systems. This comparison chart guides you to the file formats suitable for use on your device.

Many other academic texts are available through databases accessible from the Library Home Page. The number of other etextbooks, both paid and free increases daily. A compilation of these sites and others providing access to ebooks, is located here for your perusal. Many titles located through the listed sites, can be downloaded to the platform of your preference.

During this last week the newest form of digital book has been promoted to be read on iPad and iPhone. The TED talk entitled A Next-Generation Digital Book by Mike Matas runs for 4m 35s and is well worth viewing. In this talk you will see the new book from Al Gore, Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis. This book uses the newest technology available, enabling the reader to manipulate the book and its contents in a surprising range of ways. It is indicative of the directions in which books are heading. This book is available for reading on library iPads.

Self-publishing sites have opened the ebook world to many previously unpublished authors and to those who wish to have more control over their own material. The results of their efforts can be seen at this range of sites. If you have a budding author in your family these sites provide a starting point for publishing an ebook.

With such a wide range of publishing options available and such easy access to ebooks, what is the library’s role?
Just as we continue to select the best in print books, so too, we concentrate on selecting the best from the ebook market for students. The library now has some Kindles for loan and students may request titles for adding to the Kindles. The iPads are available for in-house reading and other ebooks and etextbooks are housed on the library website. Audio books too are available for borrowing along with our range of printed books and the ever popular graphic novels.

Suggestions for students - Download some reading apps and add some titles. Use your device for more than music and games. Catch up with all those great classics you’ve not had the chance to read; they are free and often available as text and/or audio. Borrow ebooks and audiobooks from your local library, the Overdrive app brings remote borrowing to your device.

The world of books is being revitalised in previously unimaginable ways. Enjoy this renaissance of reading.