Internet for School Librarians

ToonDoo Evaluation Was the comic strip easy to create? This site was very easy to use. Toondoo lets you create comic strips and cartoons easily with just a few clicks, drags and drops. Was it easy to save? Once you create a free account you can easily save your comic strips. You then have the option of sharing or printing your comic strip. Did the site offer enough variety? This site offers a great variety of characters and backgrounds.  Unlike some cartoon sites, which only allow you to import images, ToonDoo offers an ample library of clip art and the ability to doodle your own pictures. The site also has some nifty ways of encouraging users to participate: In addition to making their own comic, users can also like other creations or add captions to other users' cartoons, if the owner allows it. Would students be able to use it? Although I really liked this site and found it easy to use some of the images that I found under characters were definitely ...

YouTube is widely used by our students starting in elementary. Creating a channel for your library can be a great way to promote events, book talks and book trailers with students. I noticed many of the videos uploaded on these channels were created by students. Once again this can be an engaging way to promote our library services. The NHS Library 1) Most helpful video for students: Norman Public Schools Celebrates Your Freedom to Read 2) Video that students would like best: Tiger Visits The Norman High Library The Unquiet Library 1) Most helpful video for students: Finding and Using Wikimedia Commons Images 2) Video that students would like best: New Arrivals, April 2012 Pikesville HS Library 1) Most helpful video for students: Registration Process 2) Video that students would like best: The Panthers Library Shakes BB MS Media 1) Most helpful video for students: MAP...

Screencast-o-matic Screencast-o-matic was very easy to use. I had seen several videos done by my professors and I never knew that making a video could be that simple. I am really excited about using this to create short tutorials for students and teachers about library resources available. Showing them exactly where to look and click will have a tremendous impact on the actual usage of the resources. I can email the link to them or even embedded them on my library webpage for everyone to see and use. Here is a link to my first screencast: MackinVia Tutorial Instagram Instagram can be a great tool to use for promoting events happening at your library. This year I used it to promote our display of Bluebonnet Books. Although I currently don't have an Instagram for my library I do have a personal account. I am hoping to start a library Instagram account, once I get clearance from my district. Instagram seems to be more popular than Facebook amongst young users, therefor...

Blogs and Blog Readers Trying to keep up with blogs on multiple sites can seem like a never ending task. If you try visiting all those blogs individually, you will be wasting a lot of time checking the sites every day for new content and you’re going to be missing out on content that might be more useful to you. Having a blog reader can make a big difference. After comparing three of the best RRS feed reader apps I decided that Feedly was the best fit for me. Mostly because it was free and very easy to use. Feedly  Cost: Free According to Zapier, when Google Reader was being discontinued, Feedly gained 3 million new users in less than a month. It's not hard to see why Feedly is popular—its clean and simple interface is a perfect solution for the casual reader who wants to see all of their websites in one place. Feedbin Cost: $3.00 a month According to Zapier, once you’ve subscribed to your favorite sites, you can use Feedbin’s tagging system to orga...

Message Design and Infographics Web apps to create infographics: Piktochart Piktochart is a web- based infographic application which allows users to easily create professional looking infographics using themed templates. An important feature of Piktochart is its HTML publishing capability, which generates infographics that are viewable online with multiple clickable elements for users. The program also provides tools to add interactive maps, charts, videos and hyperlinks. Easel.ly Easel.ly is a website that features thousands of free infographic templates and design objects which users can customize to create and share their visual ideas online. Using the site is as easy as dragging and dropping design elements, and users can either choose a template from our extensive library, or they can upload their own background image and start from scratch. Infogr.am Infogram was founded to make data visualizations engaging, interactive, and beautiful. Launched as an infog...