tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-314029782024-03-04T23:53:56.014-05:00CharlestonRefOnline Research Tool Tips, Tricks, and Tidbits for the Charleston County Public Library Community.Steven Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15999754649126965797noreply@blogger.comBlogger144125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31402978.post-60340862150248610322010-05-24T11:18:00.003-04:002010-05-24T11:21:16.899-04:00<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3U9A8ghOpGO9x77TmBipF78l53lmwv8wnezGAIZHqw-g7V92FNRdmAUUEZzKuYXmfbt1XdIAv-OFpjniLI_2wofMe149YwZx6ieOU0cAwiVWPR4Q36kx2WhPS5HdJkLAXB9po/s1600/morningstar.bmp"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 247px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5474856676545104210" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3U9A8ghOpGO9x77TmBipF78l53lmwv8wnezGAIZHqw-g7V92FNRdmAUUEZzKuYXmfbt1XdIAv-OFpjniLI_2wofMe149YwZx6ieOU0cAwiVWPR4Q36kx2WhPS5HdJkLAXB9po/s320/morningstar.bmp" /></a>One thing is certain about investing: uncertainty. Morningstar Investment Research Center products teach and inform everyday investors on how to make money with mutual funds, individual stocks and other investment vehicles. Lets look at three parts of the database...<br /><br />- Mutual Fund Analysis - Over 28,000 mutual funds are covered. The depth of each fund covered is different, with large funds tending to get more commentary and analysis whereas smaller funds just get numerical analysis on return on investments, fees, management tenure and track record to help you further your research.<br /><br />- Company Stock Profiles - Over 7,500 individual stocks are covered mostly of larger companies. Much of the research on any company contains an investing thesis of the company, valuation and risk commentary, along with strategy, management and stewardship of resources overviews and analysis.<br /><br />Training Center – Here you will find informative investing tutorials on topics such as what is a mutual fund, exchange traded fund or (ETF), why diversification is good, and how to use the diversification X-Ray tool. Morningstar usually offers a database training session on their website on the first Thursday of the Month.<br /><br /> Today's quest: find a mutual fund or stock you would like to invest in using this database and obtain research on it. To view this and other CCPL Research Tools, <a href="https://mail.ccpl.org/owa/redir.aspx?C=09e76ab1d5a74207a36ba2179f968560&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.ccpl.org%2fcontent.asp%3fname%3dSite%26catID%3d5406%26parentID%3d5373" target="_blank">click here</a>.Steven Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15999754649126965797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31402978.post-22192044850039837852010-02-05T14:14:00.013-05:002010-02-17T11:13:01.157-05:00Recent Updates...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPwLb3mBYjeQQyZZvkYkCOPuZtXep_jl2DhTu8XGk1UZEBp6QZ8NxmND08pkRXHkrlvQqAhNiqgo-F3bkz9OnDziSApLQt4pCF4GkJyrRluQd47MNegXnUwalHPgtvYhH6aowj/s1600-h/appleimage.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 174px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435888374016922786" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPwLb3mBYjeQQyZZvkYkCOPuZtXep_jl2DhTu8XGk1UZEBp6QZ8NxmND08pkRXHkrlvQqAhNiqgo-F3bkz9OnDziSApLQt4pCF4GkJyrRluQd47MNegXnUwalHPgtvYhH6aowj/s200/appleimage.JPG" /></a> Greetings. Much has transpired since the last blog post on December 1st. What follows is an updabe about new resource tools on the CCPL website, our text message service and some general musings on the Gale Apple all things IPhone library app. Note: photo comes from Apple.com<br /><br /><div>New Resources Tools. </div><div><a href="http://www.ccpl.org/content.asp?name=Site&catID=10239&parentID=5406">CultureGrams</a> and a NetLibrary <a href="http://www.ccpl.org/content.asp?name=Site&catID=10239&parentID=5406">Career E-Books Collection</a> along with a coming soon resource called <a href="http://scdiscus.org/">SmartSearch</a> from DISCUS. We are also getting ready to roll out the Ingram Digitial Media product that will contain an opening collection of 500 plus downloadable audio books. On February 3rd, many attended training on the how this product works. We are anticipating a roll out coming out this Spring to very soon. </div><br /><div>Text Message Service.</div><div>We have been offering text message service for the last two months. On average we get one to three text messages questions a day. Promotion has paid off. When we ran a banner ad promoting the service on the ccpl.org homepage use doubled. Time will tell how successful this will be. Harking back to when we first started email ref, it was normal to get a 100 to 150 emails a month. Currently we get about three times as many emails as we used to get ~6 or 7 years ago. </div><br /><div>General Musings.</div><div>The Ipad may be a game changer. The Gale Iphone App (no library card required and authenication is based on your current geography) is now available. Computing devices in many ways are just getting easier to use and "just work" without much effort... If you have used the Gale Iphone App to access CCPL liscensed resource tools in the area, via wifi outside of a branch or on the 3g network, please email and let me know how it is going or place a comment on this blogpost. </div>Steven Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15999754649126965797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31402978.post-36245204064851020162009-12-01T20:11:00.010-05:002009-12-01T20:37:24.078-05:00New Service: Cell Phone Text Messaging Q/A<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUsNASqMzNQCoMznZwEQsGyLTjeVZX8bfVE-Xc56H4oXdVjl-jv1VCPUhh-oKePG0DjBVthBod9sVROXyft-ec8h_bIw24l1OhotF5ARlLbdjdxGDn5Q8Kr0WbYgqpcTJx31Ek/s1600/textus.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5410444897658356850" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 195px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUsNASqMzNQCoMznZwEQsGyLTjeVZX8bfVE-Xc56H4oXdVjl-jv1VCPUhh-oKePG0DjBVthBod9sVROXyft-ec8h_bIw24l1OhotF5ARlLbdjdxGDn5Q8Kr0WbYgqpcTJx31Ek/s400/textus.jpg" border="0" /></a>Today, we started offering a cell phone text messaging question and answer service for any user. Main Reference library staff have practiced, are trained and standing by during normal main library operating hours to answer cell phone text messaging questions. We have also made available to the first two patrons who ask a question a free $5 Starbucks gift card. Text: askccpl (plus a question) to: 66746. Standard text messaging rates apply. A special thanks goes to <a href="http://www.charlestonlibraryfriends.org/">Charleston Friends of the Library</a> that have made this offering possible in paying for the text messaging software and service. See a demo <a href="http://www.ccpl.org/content.asp?id=111630&action=detail&catID=5407&parentID=5373">here</a>.Steven Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15999754649126965797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31402978.post-45474769805653386482009-11-12T14:19:00.008-05:002009-11-12T14:42:24.543-05:00Text A Librarian Cell Phone Messaging is Coming Here...<a href="http://www.textalibrarian.com/about.php"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 133px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403304065496386850" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZx-m9sBmTtwBCj0bGmS64HuSanYOx-Ch-djizjQ2tC5jAIyZedJKRznNqgqlco8Ymm83Hb2_KllS3xibK22y8flALNS6WOvradaia4rAbjIkBZ_qQRKq2UI0Qvsq-qFpDnFcx/s320/text.JPG" /></a>The ink is dry, and we are about to begin the process of adding cell phone text messaging via <a href="http://www.textalibrarian.com/about.php">textalibrarian.com</a> which works with the major cell phone carriers. We have been using the AOL hack of 265010 ccplhelp [What time to do you close?] hack. It works, but we have not been advertising the hack plus and not all cell phone systems work reportedly with this method. Well, we have some training to do and some prep work before rolling out the service, but I wanted to post this note just letting people know askccpl full cell phone SMS text messaging is on the way to <a href="http://www.ccpl.org/">CCPL</a>. On <a onmouseover="window.status='your'; return true" title="your" onmouseout="window.status=' '; return true" href="http://www.lingo2word.com/lingodetail.php?WrdID=82028">yr</a> mark <a onmouseover="window.status='get'; return true" title="get" onmouseout="window.status=' '; return true" href="http://www.lingo2word.com/lingodetail.php?WrdID=98707">gt</a> set <a onmouseover="window.status='for'; return true" title="for" onmouseout="window.status=' '; return true" href="http://www.lingo2word.com/lingodetail.php?WrdID=99287">4</a> <a onmouseover="window.status='cell phone'; return true" title="cell phone" onmouseout="window.status=' '; return true" href="http://www.lingo2word.com/lingodetail.php?WrdID=43600">celfne</a> <a onmouseover="window.status='text'; return true" title="text" onmouseout="window.status=' '; return true" href="http://www.lingo2word.com/lingodetail.php?WrdID=38746">txt</a> <a onmouseover="window.status='messaging'; return true" title="messaging" onmouseout="window.status=' '; return true" href="http://www.lingo2word.com/lingodetail.php?WrdID=6724">msgN</a>..Steven Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15999754649126965797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31402978.post-77941879709850194432009-11-07T15:19:00.021-05:002009-11-07T17:56:50.588-05:00Thoughts on Email Document Storage<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtzSn1eMAeLaEtwrYMOONWe__vBaMUe6oQ1a883rQwMwMUqwq0tQn8q_1CyMmUBAOJPvCg1x68LKQl7DShnYhAcTweZfCdRSkKG5R6_2LRfq9-fXAG_lsOQgba65d_gKP0XJXx/s1600-h/pooch.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 240px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 160px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401496941935956930" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtzSn1eMAeLaEtwrYMOONWe__vBaMUe6oQ1a883rQwMwMUqwq0tQn8q_1CyMmUBAOJPvCg1x68LKQl7DShnYhAcTweZfCdRSkKG5R6_2LRfq9-fXAG_lsOQgba65d_gKP0XJXx/s320/pooch.jpg" /></a>Do you have a mixed relationship with your email accounts? Currently, I do. I have a work email for work, one account for receiving newsletters, forms and online banking, promos and miscellaneous things. And finally, I have another account I use for correspondence among friends and people outside of work and in a pinch I'll pass along my work email account to those who need to contact me pronto for something during the work week... Email is a great way to store stuff, but at times I wonder...<br /><br />What does email have to do with libraries you might ask? The positives. Email is cheaper to use, uses less resources and in many cases is easier to store and find content when in need. When your at a branch and don't have the cash at the time to print a document out, saving it in an email account is practical storage. Would you rather have a filing cabinet of documents/books taking up space or a thumb drive and a backup hard drive in a single drawer? For me, it is thumb drive/backup hard drive.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7FwCK0DB-B2EonwkFrrvFmtyM3UMBAl04CtjNHBay8_380rcU8t0-F1L70ieI9IO0hypuVRN7KRx5R8bhRK6xv2iO0S4BpbVXXrsVJxbEz9Yf99qP1FzzKDYCN1DTj79z7VJ0/s1600-h/web.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 239px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401488060605843522" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7FwCK0DB-B2EonwkFrrvFmtyM3UMBAl04CtjNHBay8_380rcU8t0-F1L70ieI9IO0hypuVRN7KRx5R8bhRK6xv2iO0S4BpbVXXrsVJxbEz9Yf99qP1FzzKDYCN1DTj79z7VJ0/s320/web.jpg" /></a><br />When finding content in blogs or resource tools databases, most of the sources have the email friendly format icons or links. However, it is so tempting to email yourself an article for that "I'll read it later" instead of reading it right then. Chances are, If I don't have time for it now, I won't take time to read something later especially when it comes to blog posts or content on the web.<br /><br />I have to admire two people who have due to necessity gone the opposite direction by abandoning email. <a href="http://jodischneider.com/blog/2009/10/28/weeding/">Ronald Knuth </a>(computer programming genius) who in 1990 gave up email due to so many messages he was receiving. The second is <a href="http://www.elsua.net/">Luis Suarez </a>(IBM Knowledge Management) a leader who is weaning himself off of frivolous email. Both of these guys seem to be doing well professionally after abandoning or limiting their use of email.<br /><br /><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNFgGWSFlPVsFSqXaOscmMApbqNtDyFt4qPQ5iHN3aoMUSnahZDd_dzdbs4roZKDGPQD6VrbbyshHVHq5vjL3IGyO_Ryw4DpQPcNCbXpNJ7b1LrEFPvP9K9kZXpcRBJnrMcI9E/s1600-h/mailbox.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 133px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401498556632396850" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNFgGWSFlPVsFSqXaOscmMApbqNtDyFt4qPQ5iHN3aoMUSnahZDd_dzdbs4roZKDGPQD6VrbbyshHVHq5vjL3IGyO_Ryw4DpQPcNCbXpNJ7b1LrEFPvP9K9kZXpcRBJnrMcI9E/s200/mailbox.jpg" /></a>For me, I'm not giving up email anytime soon. Email is to practical to store reminders, documents, create a history of things, communicate with co-workers, friends, learn about milestones in lives of close friends, but I'm also finding sometimes it is just best to pickup the phone. Maybe someday, I'll put me email account on perpetual "out of office" mode, but until then don't look for me to try this anytime soon -- I like email way to much in the proper amount/form.<br /><br />Photo Credits<br />1) CC <u><span style="color:#810081;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinksherbet/">credit</a></span></u></div><div>2) <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/frozenchipmunk/" rel="cc:attributionURL">http://www.flickr.com/photos/frozenchipmunk/</a> / <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" rel="license">CC BY 2.0</a></div><div>3) CC <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcjohn/">credit<br /></a></div><div about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/frozenchipmunk/85344374/" cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#"></div><br /><div><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" rel="license"></a></div>Steven Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15999754649126965797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31402978.post-67264216669402137962009-10-11T15:35:00.015-04:002009-10-12T14:53:02.212-04:00What is in My Librarian Tool Kit?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHA16kK3Z39lMFnr0WejvKqHe2TwKWtQRLGNp1Tp55MKDlCWnNxTvl9rYsUQUzn8MYPrvpM1hhqtB2VJMg-d55ghyphenhyphenrZpVn3XpjpFQjDUg42KvRjQI89VOnIUV3WPu5SiOJnALT/s1600-h/graphic77.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 217px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391788148359914082" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHA16kK3Z39lMFnr0WejvKqHe2TwKWtQRLGNp1Tp55MKDlCWnNxTvl9rYsUQUzn8MYPrvpM1hhqtB2VJMg-d55ghyphenhyphenrZpVn3XpjpFQjDUg42KvRjQI89VOnIUV3WPu5SiOJnALT/s320/graphic77.JPG" /></a>It is Sunday, a typical day of rest for most folks. But, I'm at work like many others working a service desk... The main thought of the blog post <a href="http://www.librarian.net/stax/3040/whats-in-my-librarian-toolbox/">"What is in Your Librarian Tool Kit" by Jassmyn West </a>got me thinking about mine. What follows are a few Sunday afternoon thoughts while at a service desk...<br /><div>1) Patience.</div><br /><div>Somedays, it is a lot of 'hand holding' such as helping people print documents. Today, it was how to change the font type, spacing, and sizing of text. The amount of traditional reference questions while on the face to face reference desk were limited to a book on costumes and the rules of basketball. There was also the inevitable: where is the bathroom and water fountain and several others...</div><br /><div>2) Sense of What People Want.</div><br /><div>It so much easier to help happy people, even when they are after something not easily findable. It is the grumpy ones that want "free money" and want it right now that are the challenge. Today, I was working with a patron helping her find info on halloween customes. Shortly into it, a second patron approached. I asked the second patron if he had quick question. This relatively quick two sentence conversation caused Patron one to retort. "That's not a quick question with a huff." I appologized and said I'll be with patron two in a few minutes... There is no way to keep everyone pracitically happy. </div><br /><div>3) Sense of Understanding Information.</div><br /><div>Thru practice, it takes me less to time formulate a search stragegy and find desired information or whether or not something is available. I would like to think it is an improved skill set of mine, but it also helps to have great resources available at my fingertips to draw upon. </div><br /><div>4) Being Flexible. </div><br /><div>Functionally, I spend more time on programs, outreach and giving talks then I did years ago and it is even approaching the time/intensity as one of my core work responsibilities. More outreach with less in-reach and staff development. My given priorities shift and change just like the goals of an organization. It pays to stay flexible. No one makes money as a buggy wip specialist any more or making card catalog cards on a large scale. Jobs change over time...<br /></div><br /><div>5) Applying What I Learn</div><br /><div>Thank you <a href="http://www.libraryjournal.com/blog/1090000309.html">Roy Tenant</a>, <a href="http://orweblog.oclc.org/">Lorcan Dempsey</a>, <a href="http://stephenslighthouse.sirsidynix.com/">Stephen Abram</a>, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.librarian.net/">Jessamyn West </a>and many others who blog about content taught at library conferences. Some of the most pracitical tips, tricks and tidbits come from talking shop with others around a meal about what is new in the library world at conferences. I'm so glad you guys take time to share your knowlege in blogs and other avenues.... </div><br /><div>Thankfully there are staff classes and occasionaly State Library training that comes to town. I'm having a blast learning about some open source library software and hope someday to develop a small home grown application I'm learning to write in a production environment. Lately, what I have been doing outside of work -- an exploratory library software project -- is keeping me challenged and inspired at work; and it has been a good sounding board by listening to the needs of people, and for me doing routine things like working service desks.</div>Steven Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15999754649126965797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31402978.post-37312306757585614722009-09-25T12:33:00.008-04:002009-09-25T12:47:28.069-04:00CharlestonRef is Branching Out on Twitter<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDTVNacV4hNQ7Nr7W-26rMq9xp9SSBVwog7K5GyZHq9P8smOyHG01zKxMWn8YywpZdAsPa-Lrm4_jzG9thotfbWnha3owcC393uySWSYZWaklfKffdYK_KHapdV1SWnRqpF5gL/s1600-h/twit.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 222px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5385446222973827282" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDTVNacV4hNQ7Nr7W-26rMq9xp9SSBVwog7K5GyZHq9P8smOyHG01zKxMWn8YywpZdAsPa-Lrm4_jzG9thotfbWnha3owcC393uySWSYZWaklfKffdYK_KHapdV1SWnRqpF5gL/s320/twit.JPG" /></a>CharlestonRef is branching out to <a href="http://www.twitter.com/">twitter</a>. The feed is intended to cover electronic research tools news and tidbits with info about outages, new features, and short announcements that don't need a paragraph or more of explanation. I'm going to place referrals on the twitter feed to the charlestonref blog when such depth is required. What you will NOT find on <a href="http://www.twitter.com/charlestonref/">twitter.com/charlestonref</a> is what I ate for lunch or that some celebrity just made the cover of People magazine.<br /><br />Also, I have done some housekeeping on this <a href="http://www.charlestonref.blogspot.com/">blog</a>. No longer does the marquee say "Charleston Reference" it now says: "CharlestonRef" to match the URL. Some of the widgets, such as the MyPlugoo IM service, Flickr library image pools and others have been removed to reduce clutter. There will probably be a few more tweaks to the <a href="http://www.charlestonref.blogspot.com/">blog</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/charlestonref">twitter.com/charlestonref</a> feed in the coming weekdays as time allows…Steven Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15999754649126965797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31402978.post-88693985561498049502009-09-25T10:47:00.008-04:002009-09-25T11:03:19.493-04:00Ferguson's Career Guidance - Practical and Useful<a href="http://www.ccpl.org/content.asp?name=Site&catID=10239&parentID=5406"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 162px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5385418468799139826" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM4XKFC_2UCIU_uJYLCDDae3aPljluawoT2bucrT1Ppq9V5Z6y9Xb0zdWXut_20Mdid0nhVW-VUvdQcXVKWsbfVumx7VkXlCo_hNgnTvx6EoP3XISMiP-g7mLCkekpxEmPU6vz/s200/ferguson.JPG" />Ferguson's Career Guidance Center</a> is a practical resource to help you find information about an occupation, getting or changing a job in that field and then excelling on the job. If your still trying to figure out what you want to do when you 'grow up' or are in the process of making career changes, <a href="https://www.scpathways.org/EEDA/default.aspx?">SC Pathways</a> website is probably the best product we have to help with that step. If, on the other hand, you know exactly what kind of work you want to do such as a job in the education or the medical field then <a href="http://www.ccpl.org/content.asp?name=Site&catID=10239&parentID=5406">Ferguson's Career Guidance Center</a> is even a better resource.<br /><br /><div>The college section helps match up your education and abilities with the career you may be aiming for next in your life. There is information on picking a college, selecting your major, and setting goals to get there along with funding strategies for your education. The job hunting and workplace skills sections offer great advice. Many resources just provide sample cover letters and resumes, but this section goes into detail explaining what the purpose and reasons for using certain kinds of resumes and the overall goal explaining practical reasons and content that should be contained in a typical cover letter.<br /></div><div>Overall <a href="http://www.ccpl.org/content.asp?name=Site&catID=10239&parentID=5406">Ferguson's Career Guidance Center</a> offers practical advice for career decision making and job finding in easy to use form of encyclopedias, written guides and personal examples in various videos and essays. This website is recommended for people who have a fairly good idea of their own career goals and kinds of work they want to do.</div>Steven Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15999754649126965797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31402978.post-51489266305493846242009-08-26T16:22:00.012-04:002009-08-26T16:59:01.396-04:00CCPL Resource Tools News...<a href="http://www.ccpl.org/content.asp?name=Site&catID=10239&parentID=5406"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 259px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374377753622726882" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY7c67SKjg8OSZHBCAmh6TenZSy9QC0xZfyyqdD4Y0K1vXUBrRj6UY2ofQyJ5_pDXBJH3-ohF34ItBLcKyW6_HV5UgUWCrCYgXjM7ixRNCyT7U8VVDYKJUAWCrCkrBVm-Y0C48/s320/valueline.JPG" />Value Line Research Center</a> is now available to Charleston County Public Library (CCPL) card holders at home and at all branches. Previously, the product was only available at select branches. In the amount of time we have had the product, patrons have been using it at home for the first time and the response has been positive. <br /><br />On the other hand, in the news category, the CCPL Books in Print database was not renewed. Gale has also lost the rights to add new issues of Consumer Reports and Consumer Reports Annual Buying guide to General OneFile and other sources.Steven Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15999754649126965797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31402978.post-41660584972150398932009-07-24T09:28:00.008-04:002009-07-24T10:38:02.376-04:00Best Vacation Reads with Wilson Bibliographies<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzPeoNwespHr3zcC_-Ei6laoW55PdZ7pOmFzms6KloJGMKLNH3lvMGRa0SclD15KZmvLGXaW9shrto7XH2QQ_x1MGxiSIiZL7xIreqAf1Irl-X9zknNjHkir0MT3AkhALTqoIG/s1600-h/wilson3.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 263px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 187px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362032884182211170" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzPeoNwespHr3zcC_-Ei6laoW55PdZ7pOmFzms6KloJGMKLNH3lvMGRa0SclD15KZmvLGXaW9shrto7XH2QQ_x1MGxiSIiZL7xIreqAf1Irl-X9zknNjHkir0MT3AkhALTqoIG/s400/wilson3.JPG" /></a>I'm going on vacation and want to read a great book on the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1803-1806. <a href="http://www.ccpl.org/content.asp?name=Site&catID=10239&parentID=5406">Novelist Plus</a> is available, but I decided to try out the old faithful of <a href="http://www.ccpl.org/content.asp?name=Site&catID=10239&parentID=5406">HW Wilson's Public Library Catalog</a>. This resource is a staple or standard for many public library collection development folks. The reviews are great and generally only the best of the best make it into the catalog. It has been two years since the last time Wilson Web was profiled on this blog, and at the time I was sorting through a good Ronald Reagan biography to find and I did find a good one for a patron... We also have <a href="http://www.ccpl.org/content.asp?name=Site&catID=10239&parentID=5406">Wilson Web Access</a> to the children's, junior high, and senior high core resource catalogs along with core public library fiction catalog. What will I be reading while on vacation in case your curious... David Mcullough's Bridge, Lewis and Clark Journals, and Undaunted Courage. I may not read all three, but at least I'll have some good selections. Enjoy your day...<br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><div></div>Steven Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15999754649126965797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31402978.post-14717021824130551212009-07-15T09:02:00.007-04:002009-07-15T09:27:46.352-04:00Reference USA Website Re-Design<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNj3soulY1BYXQo9HlkZH9BRmax6V_9dDX8q-1JHDhUY-mn5wypUwRaO-OJ7CHbmhZTpp4NXEZ_TiXDeBM7Znl7NBXewG0E5F7PwokKog-2Hz4-GGMMqll91EQ0mcvwCyplz2z/s1600-h/referenceusa.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 228px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358675223044734866" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNj3soulY1BYXQo9HlkZH9BRmax6V_9dDX8q-1JHDhUY-mn5wypUwRaO-OJ7CHbmhZTpp4NXEZ_TiXDeBM7Znl7NBXewG0E5F7PwokKog-2Hz4-GGMMqll91EQ0mcvwCyplz2z/s320/referenceusa.JPG" /></a>The <a href="http://www.ccpl.org/content.asp?name=Site&catID=10239&parentID=5406">Reference USA</a> long awaited website refresh is here. The search interface is streamlined and relatively easy to use. The speed of searching is vastly improved. There are issues on lingering on content thou. For example, my wife is still listed at her old apartment (with maden name) before we got married and that was over a year ago since she last lived there. Companies such as <a href="http://www.collecta.com/">Collecta</a> are not listed. However, I do have to give Reference USA a break since the entire company is based on the work at home model. I do kind of wonder if they do postal address updates otherwise my wife's old address would not be listed in the database... Okay, I'm picky on content, but I just wanted to point out what I picked up on. Bottom line, the search interface to <a href="http://www.ccpl.org/content.asp?name=Site&catID=10239&parentID=5406">Reference USA</a> database is a big improvement.<br /><div></div><br /><div></div>Steven Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15999754649126965797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31402978.post-30032065107756602222009-07-02T16:11:00.005-04:002009-07-02T16:25:32.808-04:00Reference Universe - Worth A Second Look<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqlpCzdeiiMpCjmp2_AP0CGm3nNdMKFBW7Te82-MjPiKgxS8hWCB0K384CoW5qDE-cgqcjh6VNMzIJRgEFfGeQizZMPiPd83bQof2AaqsyTM3VN1iRDaqLkiRLJ8_XkuTCPcVF/s1600-h/refuniverse3.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353961174179312178" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 293px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqlpCzdeiiMpCjmp2_AP0CGm3nNdMKFBW7Te82-MjPiKgxS8hWCB0K384CoW5qDE-cgqcjh6VNMzIJRgEFfGeQizZMPiPd83bQof2AaqsyTM3VN1iRDaqLkiRLJ8_XkuTCPcVF/s320/refuniverse3.JPG" border="0" /></a>It is easy to overlook, but <a href="http://www.ccpl.org/content.asp?name=Site&catID=10239&parentID=5406">Reference Universe</a> is vastly improved in content and searching. For example, a search on Irrigation was slow. Two years ago, this subject search allowed you enough time to 'go for a cup of coffee and come back to get results finally...' to now being WOW... I can say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and get 10 citations on "irrigation" before getting to the "cious" part of the word -- Reference Universe is FAST.<br /><br />There is a higher level of detail in <a href="http://www.ccpl.org/content.asp?name=Site&catID=10239&parentID=5406">Reference Universe</a> then the regular ibistro catalog for hard to answer questions using print resources and it even has a few electronic resources we have access to.<br /><span style="color:#6666cc;"><br /></span><span style="color:#333399;"><strong>Database content...</strong></span><span style="color:#3366ff;"><br /></span>- 20,000 works from print and e-resource form with table of contents and index citations, 100's recently added just in June alone....<br />- Prominent publsher with the books in our collection from Gale, Greenwood, Springer and others..<br />- Patrons stumble upon seredipitous/useful facts to what they are looking for...<br /><br /><span style="color:#6666cc;"><strong><span style="color:#333399;">Keys to searching the database well...</span><br /></strong></span>- Use the browse searching if your unsure how to search. It functions similiar to catalog subject search.<br />- Use of phrase searching is the main way to use the databae.<br />- Use of "and" or "or" boolean searching in a strict sense does not work -- think phrase searching.<br /><span style="color:#3366ff;"><br /></span><span style="color:#333399;"><strong>Things to watch for while searching...</strong><br /></span>- Each result should be checked for a title availability searching in Ibistro. Due to ISBN linking, format, and edition problems e-resources/books we do have in the collection say (prior editions) to links in database might not show up in Ibistro eventhough it is on the shelf or available online.<br />- AccessScience/GVRL direct full-text links within the database recently went down... we are hoping to restore these soon.<br />- If a title sounds to scholary for a public library, we probably don't have it -- try ILL or CofC if this is what the patron wants and it seems there is NO alternative for the needed info...Steven Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15999754649126965797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31402978.post-34772723329901116822009-05-29T14:08:00.010-04:002009-06-08T16:24:29.408-04:00Database Updates: PowerSearch, RefUSA and others...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGg2P6yC3rWXEfzUiTe6A2KVmwIqsZEeoiB59ZDM5RlMUCt0Rzo_nNzMvbm4n9735aaiIo2ABHWUiZsOWEroE4z3hvSg588qWY48WlPGOMRaMz18ZkaGKphz3qAzzR-93N-m6d/s1600-h/powersearch2.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345054784755773570" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 194px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGg2P6yC3rWXEfzUiTe6A2KVmwIqsZEeoiB59ZDM5RlMUCt0Rzo_nNzMvbm4n9735aaiIo2ABHWUiZsOWEroE4z3hvSg588qWY48WlPGOMRaMz18ZkaGKphz3qAzzR-93N-m6d/s320/powersearch2.JPG" border="0" /></a>Spring is gone, and Summer is here. There are a few new and upcoming changes to the <a href="http://www.ccpl.org/content.asp?name=Site&catID=10239&parentID=5406">Resource Tools</a> listings on the ccpl.org website.<br /><div><div></div><br /><div>- PowerSearch is getting a website refresh, with much of the same standard search as norml with new window dressing. The PowerSearch trial version is currently the featured product on <a href="http://www.scdiscus.org/">SC Discus</a>.</div><div>- <a href="http://www.referenceusa.com/au/coming_soon.asp?rusa=1">RefUSA</a> is scheduled to get a website refresh this Summer with new user interface.</div><div>- Salem Press e-resources based on the Magill's Medical Guide and Milestone Documents in American History were added recently to the <a href="http://www.ccpl.org/content.asp?name=Site&catID=10239&parentID=5406">Resource Tools</a> section of <a href="http://ccpl.org/">http://ccpl.org/</a> website as <strong>Salem History</strong> and <strong>Salem Health</strong>.</div><div>- Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL) books are being added with additional volumes such as Business Plans Handbook Volume 14, U*X*L Encyclopedia of World Mythology and others in the Gale liturature for Students series are coming. </div><br /><div>Also, we are in the process of dropping a few electronic resource tools as well due to budgetary reasons in the coming months. As changes are about to happen, notes will be posted to this blog and in other places.</div></div>Steven Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15999754649126965797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31402978.post-3428776736451538682009-05-26T17:03:00.010-04:002009-05-26T17:58:12.290-04:00Career/Job Finding Process Ebooks<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2BWS_Jw0Efz9dqE2hixg8x1_iPpprnTvkFw1wvUrzG7TN5JsThDrCxwZhuBtQDZ-orBT-IeYkJtTmB5vo0pBPc4fDYStMsWWfNInL-giG9gX6_lLWb1vVazJXcaIm3NqUsOoW/s1600-h/learning2.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340254737029184482" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2BWS_Jw0Efz9dqE2hixg8x1_iPpprnTvkFw1wvUrzG7TN5JsThDrCxwZhuBtQDZ-orBT-IeYkJtTmB5vo0pBPc4fDYStMsWWfNInL-giG9gX6_lLWb1vVazJXcaIm3NqUsOoW/s320/learning2.JPG" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.ccpl.org/content.asp?name=Site&catID=10239&parentID=5406">Learning Express Library</a> has a collection of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">ebooks</span> covering career starter guides and the job finding process. A May 2007 <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Charlestonref</span> blog post also provides a <a href="http://charlestonref.blogspot.com/2007/05/practice-tests-tutorials-career-ebooks.html">general product overview</a>. There is a registration process after logging in initially; and this is so you can stop a test or activity and then pick it back up where you left off at a later point in time. Instructions for how to access the product and create a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">login</span> are listed on the <a href="http://www.ccpl.org/content.asp?name=Site&catID=10239&parentID=5406">website</a> for in library and home access use.<br /><div><div></div><br /><div>Once you have logged into the product, to access <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">ebooks</span> within the resource scroll down to the bottom portion of the screen. Keep in mind that you may need to scroll down on the page depending upon screen size. You will need to look for and select the link with an illustrated arrow pointing to: <strong><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Ebooks</span>:</strong> <u>Browse our complete listing of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">ebooks</span></u>. Once you have have clicked on the link, a search dialog box appears for entering your topical terms of interest. What follows are a sample of many of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">ebooks</span> within the resource tool. </div><br /><div><strong>Select Career Starter <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Ebooks</span>:</strong> </div><div>Firefighter Administrative/Executive Assistant Career Starter, 2e, Computer Technician Career Starter, Cosmetology Career Starter, 2e, Cosmetology Licensing Exam, 2e, Culinary Arts Career Starter, Early Childhood/Teacher Career Starter,Hotel/Restaurant Career Starter, Paralegal Career Starter, 2e, Pharmacy Technician Career Starter, Practical Solutions to Everyday Work Problems, Teacher Career Starter, 2e, The Complete Professional, Visual Communication, Webmaster Career Starter, 2e, and others... </div><div></div><br /><div><strong>Select Job Finding Process <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Ebooks</span>:</strong></div><div>Goof Proof Interview, Goof Proof Resumes & Cover Letters, Great Interview, Great Resume, Job Interviews that Get You Hired, Resumes that Get You Hired, Search Smart and Get Ahead,Your Career, and others...</div><br /><br /><div></div></div>Steven Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15999754649126965797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31402978.post-18137511603762947872009-04-28T18:08:00.013-04:002009-04-28T18:50:10.180-04:00Profiling Business and Company Resource Center<a href="http://www.ccpl.org/content.asp?name=Site&catID=10239&parentID=5406"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329873004716585906" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0qzMiJUIg2pKlUOzTx733smOY_SpI4mA7x3BeqW6mNChqjOkPGt5Bdp579as6mCnAUTpV3jItxMdQRVYXxs1J4U9FrHWk7jNxs6rvttNN76ujzXW1N1kLxXscY247cg2YQh1S/s320/businessac.JPG" border="0" />Business and Company Resource Center (BCRC), </a>is deceptively full of little goodies and golden nuggets of business information. The accompanying screen shot of this blog post is to a snip-it view of the balance sheet of Blackbaud's financial year end of 12/31/2008. The resource contains publicly traded domestic and foreign companies with their line item balance sheet, income, and cash flow statements along with ratios. The dashboard sections contains the ability to compare various companies in a list side-by-side view for line by line comparisons.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Digging deeper, you can find mutual fund listings, commodity prices, bank rates, and other goodies as well in (BCRC). At this time, there is not an easy way to get to the financial dashboard section, but typically doing a public company name search and then looking for the financial data tabs this will do the trick. There is a weakness in currency of industry overviews, but in some fields that is not crucial to get the most recent industry data. <br /><p>Historic stock prices in (BCRC), typically go back to 2001 which is good, but not back as far as <a href="http://www.ccpl.org/content.asp?name=Site&catID=10239&parentID=5406">Mergent</a> or even as far as <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/">Yahoo Finance</a> that goes all the way to the 1970s on certain companies. Overall, <a href="http://www.ccpl.org/content.asp?name=Site&catID=10239&parentID=5406">Business and Company Resource Center</a> is a great source to take a look at and use just to see what is in the database if you have not looked business information in while. </p>Steven Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15999754649126965797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31402978.post-45415810915042189652009-03-28T12:44:00.001-04:002009-03-28T12:44:05.008-04:00Select Gale Databases add Great Text to Speech Tool<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKDxv_Sc6q0a4ZeUesojySWmxq7W9N-8CgrKs7DsmJf9IGyHnKKuZ8nnPISJQHywFyx5PZVa-goF759XNICGxTNPxEPG6lx-3zomU_Px_idNy6MZDXJ_Vav6CxcXrmAjLaXJjb/s1600-h/sample+text+reader.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318253239027299170" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 80px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKDxv_Sc6q0a4ZeUesojySWmxq7W9N-8CgrKs7DsmJf9IGyHnKKuZ8nnPISJQHywFyx5PZVa-goF759XNICGxTNPxEPG6lx-3zomU_Px_idNy6MZDXJ_Vav6CxcXrmAjLaXJjb/s400/sample+text+reader.JPG" border="0" /></a>Recently, Gale has added a text to speech feature in a few database such as <a href="http://www.ccpl.org/content.asp?name=Site&catID=10239&parentID=5406">Opposing Viewpoints Reference Center</a>, <a href="http://www.ccpl.org/content.asp?name=Site&catID=10239&parentID=5406">ScienceResource Center</a> and <a href="http://www.ccpl.org/content.asp?name=Site&catID=10239&parentID=5406">Kids Infobits</a>. The feature is machine based text reading which is very impressive. Previously, machine text reading was choppy, lacked timely pauses and words blended together like picante hot sauce on chocolate ice cream - it was edible but not very tastey. The new technology is much better then the old text to machine voice. In places it is a little choppy, but overal it does an improved job pausing between periods, commas and other punctuation marks as words flow off the page much better.<br /><br />The ability to download MP3 sound content is available; however, there is not a way to download a marked list, each story has to be downloaded manually. Patrons may find this sound feature useful at home or in branches with headphones and sound equiped PCs. Overall, it will be great when even more content goes to MP3 audio file format friendly. Such as listen to the Fodor's City Guides found in General OneFile while walking a city. The text to speach feature will also help those who are blind, visually impaired or just want get content on the go in audio format. Kudos to Gale for this text to speech feature enhancement...<br /><br />This announcement comes via the <a href="http://listserv.scsl.state.sc.us/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0903&L=discus-l&P=709">DISCUS Listserv</a>.Steven Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15999754649126965797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31402978.post-65682946838152678072009-03-26T09:38:00.005-04:002009-03-26T09:43:15.450-04:00Job Hunting Resource - Part 4 Furthering Your Education<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJBAfuTO_r6ioPbT3EGHiG-WoctNiXdAO4jhe_ZzFTPz-4qqGMGfvxPQdkEeMOvP2L49deAJvpmvGJaeMoQAax6tCOUJGpcQowQ982fakswjoCDWCPWWkkcMAnlISozDqBKkmV/s1600-h/find+schools.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317491266556615058" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 261px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJBAfuTO_r6ioPbT3EGHiG-WoctNiXdAO4jhe_ZzFTPz-4qqGMGfvxPQdkEeMOvP2L49deAJvpmvGJaeMoQAax6tCOUJGpcQowQ982fakswjoCDWCPWWkkcMAnlISozDqBKkmV/s320/find+schools.JPG" border="0" /></a>This is the forth post in a series on Job Hunting and the <a href="http://scpathways.org/">South Carolina Pathways.org</a> website. Previous posts on the topic are available in <a href="http://charlestonref.blogspot.com/2009/02/job-hunting-resource-helps-statewide.html">1</a>, <a href="http://charlestonref.blogspot.com/2009/03/job-hunting-resource-part-2-sc-pathways.html">2</a> and <a href="http://charlestonref.blogspot.com/2009/03/job-hunting-resource-part-3-picking.html">3</a>. Are you looking at continuing your education in a degree or non-degree program? The Kuter “Considering Education or Training” section may help.<br /><br />The education or training component covers degree and non degree programs for further areas of study you may want to consider. The schools profiled in detail are based on in person classroom settings or online throughout the United States, military installations and US territories. Various tabs such as “name and location”, “school and campus characteristics”, “programs and majors” and “admissions and costs” all allow a person to narrow there list of schools down by various criteria in one search list combined in a “see list” format.<br /><br /><div>Overall, the Kuter education component is very useful in considering furthering your education, tuition costs, application process and other preferences associated with selecting a school of your choice and desired education outcomes. </div>Steven Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15999754649126965797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31402978.post-1054694955468990012009-03-20T16:21:00.025-04:002009-03-23T10:42:54.879-04:00Job Hunting Resource - Part 3 Picking a Specific Occupation<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgn4fun-vfd-7LYa6C3TYtMa0K1oholBm2kJk6HcBbBDEqQXymPklqd9jrkDB-osq3vZZY_KWOxsOnj2sK6OJnnVPQGstPBLXFBjWpDoob3h3prHEUpGP4r2SjhX2wlO2cn7n9/s1600-h/reformated+-+skills+assessment.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315374014094913538" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 218px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgn4fun-vfd-7LYa6C3TYtMa0K1oholBm2kJk6HcBbBDEqQXymPklqd9jrkDB-osq3vZZY_KWOxsOnj2sK6OJnnVPQGstPBLXFBjWpDoob3h3prHEUpGP4r2SjhX2wlO2cn7n9/s320/reformated+-+skills+assessment.JPG" border="0" /></a>This is the third post in a series on Job Hunting and the <a href="http://scpathways.org/">South Carolina Pathways.org </a>website. Previous posts on the topic are available in <a href="http://charlestonref.blogspot.com/2009/02/job-hunting-resource-helps-statewide.html">1</a> and <a href="http://charlestonref.blogspot.com/2009/03/job-hunting-resource-part-2-sc-pathways.html">2</a>. This post covers the Occupation Sugesstion section of the website and the process of examing an indviduals interests, skills, abilities and values and then the survey tool suggests occupations based on those inclinations.<br /><br />The assessment tool is divided into various segments<br />- from preference assessments in part 1 and by education level<br />- Previous skills from previous jobs<br />- Various self rated abilities you have.<br /><br />The self assessment also involves ranking your own skill levels at such functions as public speaking, problem solving and numerous other areas. Each area, you self rate your skill level as being above average, average and below average. A list of occupations will come up that rank highly in your own interests, skills/abilities and values as illustrated above.<br /><br /><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXKXI9SLxC2ruj9zUOYoZTvj0fXF3TJ63PNM6EQ5FRQH_nTNkNh7cVqfpMdL2fxsoVprFYb0iWRVn_gvhyphenhyphendkiUyJ2l9Ux_LJuRGqhBo3QoVuvkSgXIVQ99Ybr2Qfesv9lsRUe_/s1600-h/reformated+-+Occupation+Suggestions.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315373725488888290" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 254px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXKXI9SLxC2ruj9zUOYoZTvj0fXF3TJ63PNM6EQ5FRQH_nTNkNh7cVqfpMdL2fxsoVprFYb0iWRVn_gvhyphenhyphendkiUyJ2l9Ux_LJuRGqhBo3QoVuvkSgXIVQ99Ybr2Qfesv9lsRUe_/s320/reformated+-+Occupation+Suggestions.JPG" border="0" /></a>The second graphic is just a sample of a few of the occupations that generally my survey assessment matched me up with... All I feel are fairly accurate, I do have to chuckle that technical writing was listed. Technical Writing at times is a weakness of mine and I can't imagine myself doing that as a career. Blogging about database is helping to enhance that skill though...<br /><br /><div>Note: Graphics are available for viewing in an enlarged view by clicking on the image.</div></div><br /><div></div>Steven Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15999754649126965797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31402978.post-63086416780007609852009-03-20T11:29:00.012-04:002009-03-20T12:55:31.255-04:00Job Hunting Resource - Part 2 SC Pathways Product<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkEnPr8HOcoe5bizYU0R9VQ-n3Ur5S6MTvRbZb84UJvRiqrBK2xXLJaAyFx9n5WlURcDIfym26GnXYpzkqTdtcfSdAQBh5-ulg-LTVhYIjJZLj-iXltBicispv1nrZ85wAtyXJ/s1600-h/top+clusters.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315306716808178434" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 161px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkEnPr8HOcoe5bizYU0R9VQ-n3Ur5S6MTvRbZb84UJvRiqrBK2xXLJaAyFx9n5WlURcDIfym26GnXYpzkqTdtcfSdAQBh5-ulg-LTVhYIjJZLj-iXltBicispv1nrZ85wAtyXJ/s320/top+clusters.JPG" border="0" /></a>This is part 2 in a series on <a href="https://www.scpathways.org/EEDA3/default.aspx">South Carolina Pathways tool</a> available to all South Carolina residents. Part <a href="http://charlestonref.blogspot.com/2009/02/job-hunting-resource-helps-statewide.html">1</a> is below.<br /><br />In concrete descriptive and measurable terms, it is useful to know what you like to do career wise based on your own personality traits and skills or just confirm that your in a field of work you enjoy. Part 1 of the assessment tool of SC Pathways involves answering a series of questions to help measure in definitive terms what your interests, skills, and work values are. The series of questions develops a greater measure of confidence in knowing that your personality can actually match up with your career choices based on thousands of others who have taken this assessment and found reliable results. This assessment assigns numerical scores for your personality interest based on the kind of work you may want to <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">pursue</span>.<br /><br />Your interests are assigned scores for a cluster of various kinds of work with the ranges being: High Interest 75 - 100, Medium 25-74 and Low 0 - 24. For example, I love tinkering with technology and my Information Technology interest sore of 96 on the survey bears that out. Also on the flip side, I don't like public speaking, but I can do it as a large part of my college studies were in communications classes. My interests in that are a definitive low, a score of 4 points points that out, as a career. A significant number of people will score low in certain areas and that is normal. You can be excellent, really good or do an average job at something such as "Arts, Audio-Video Technology, and Communications" areas, but absolutely dislike doing it and say score 4 points in that category like me. <br /><br />An interest assessment survey such as this can be really useful in changing or confirming that the career you may be in now or in the future fits your personality and interests well.Steven Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15999754649126965797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31402978.post-79967622846490124512009-03-06T09:52:00.007-05:002009-03-06T10:11:22.808-05:00EBooks are Reaching a Tipping Point<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtcX2Q0HJcuDOFKY4akO2g5XfisLZs1TzdlRfZCHkbj78FhfXCE5FFpt7gUNXu-6Me_eQD4bVKEAEkW41kfcF_fst6cDkDmlh2qYrRQ-7bGppwH4UuNQ9ctDucdhOdr4Sji1lm/s1600-h/ebook5a.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 260px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtcX2Q0HJcuDOFKY4akO2g5XfisLZs1TzdlRfZCHkbj78FhfXCE5FFpt7gUNXu-6Me_eQD4bVKEAEkW41kfcF_fst6cDkDmlh2qYrRQ-7bGppwH4UuNQ9ctDucdhOdr4Sji1lm/s320/ebook5a.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5310089083692117186" /></a> The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebook">eBook</a> tipping point is coming. The tipping point is mass ebook adoption/usage. Bear with me for a moment. My wife still buys her music on CD's, but she starting to warm up to the idea of getting music over downloads instead of CDs. The tipping point is having to store the music, whereas I have reached that point where a music download takes up less space on my hard drive virtually then having to haul around the CD, case, and cover art and store the compact disk. My car has an Ipod adapter and able to play music/podcast in my car. My wife uses the CD player in her car and she won't give up cd's yet even though she has an ipod. The music experience is really no different whether it comes from the Ipod or from CD it still sounds about the same...<br /><br />Same thing is applicable to books. If I and others, and this is the big if, can get the same touch and feel out of a book with the content in an electronic form there is nothing stopping me from switching over to books in electronic form. The benefits of not having to physically store the book and portability is what is driving the tipping point. Music formats have changed, think a-track, cassettes, dap (short-lived in the middle) and cd's now in similar quality to MP3's. Yes the drawbacks are hurdles, sharing materials, preserving digital rights to content, and ensuring providers are justly compensated. Technological change has served music well and it will work with ebooks. Only time will tell how... <br /><br />I'm wondering if the tipping point, and making predictions about technology is a risky business? However, it is probably time to say 4 or 5 years from today book purchasing of content online will be definitely higher and maybe where the itunes market was in its' first few years. I know I'm willing to buy a cool ebook reader if it is practical, affordable and will improve my lifestyle freeing me up to do more with less stuff...<br /><br />Bottom line, the following two articles via <a href="http://www.lisnews.com">lisnews.org</a> all occurring in the same month about <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/technology/04kindle.html?_r=2&ref=technology">Amazon</a> selling <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebook">ebooks</a> to Iphone users and Barnes & Noble buying <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/technology/04kindle.html?_r=2&ref=technology">fictionwise</a> ebook retailer are making me wonder. The time is short for the paper book being the only major format for the book. Long live the ebook... Both can coexist. Photo credit to: Wikipedia CommonsSteven Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15999754649126965797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31402978.post-12184416236304216762009-02-28T11:43:00.010-05:002009-02-28T14:12:53.107-05:00The Job Hunting Resource Helps Statewide...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXtc0O-tt6d4ZfVjNHec7mS3XHS74ChrVmJdLzLoPIQUMH_BVW5rR7KsjIH8pJSP-yNKJ3ZdWfrTw1hgFVvXJZ_ZAm3hgN7YesOQN2LcEENepO5iHhWefZq2eTIwvCFhiB1c3H/s1600-h/scpathways.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5307907300079640802" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 78px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXtc0O-tt6d4ZfVjNHec7mS3XHS74ChrVmJdLzLoPIQUMH_BVW5rR7KsjIH8pJSP-yNKJ3ZdWfrTw1hgFVvXJZ_ZAm3hgN7YesOQN2LcEENepO5iHhWefZq2eTIwvCFhiB1c3H/s320/scpathways.JPG" border="0" /></a> A new resource is available for South Carolina residents looking for a job change, wanting directional help in their job search or returning to the workplace after an abscence. The <a href="http://www.scpathways.org/EEDA2/default.aspx">SC Pathways</a> website, which is powered by Kuder skills assessment testing and paid for by various state agencies/organizations, for SC residents is available to adults, students of all ages and businesses for people to find jobs that interest them and businesses to find employees. In the next series of posts, I'm going to cover the four main components of the Kuder resource. Keep in mind this product does require a registration process that takes a few minutes. SC Pathways is available for just SC residents and residents of other states who have paid access to the the following:<br /><br /><div>Skills/Interests Assessments Section</div><div>Occupational Interests</div><div>Education or Training Considerations</div><div>Getting Ready for the Job Search</div><div>= Creating Resumes Online</div><div>= Finding Employers</div><br /><div>Note: SCOIS at this time is not available as part of SC Pathways for adults, but is available to most students state wide through individual schools.</div>Steven Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15999754649126965797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31402978.post-90764697422322857192009-02-19T15:07:00.013-05:002009-02-24T18:22:12.313-05:00Literature Resources from Gale - More Ebooks Available Within<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl2T4oa34z0OVnVRqrmQnOV2a-odXQxiiR2V7eCgrzOEQOHsg0mMmXptc28JDuVhwbEeDU_Rd1_ohy0tikffgDn_6qJ7v5aolCsk59z2JozfCMLxEc2zvHQXjx7_PfvMkHRQ2D/s1600-h/lrcfromgale.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306506446754373074" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 134px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl2T4oa34z0OVnVRqrmQnOV2a-odXQxiiR2V7eCgrzOEQOHsg0mMmXptc28JDuVhwbEeDU_Rd1_ohy0tikffgDn_6qJ7v5aolCsk59z2JozfCMLxEc2zvHQXjx7_PfvMkHRQ2D/s320/lrcfromgale.JPG" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.ccpl.org/content.asp?name=Site&catID=10239&parentID=5406">Literature Resources from Gale</a> now includes additional e-books that were previously just in <a href="http://www.ccpl.org/content.asp?name=Site&catID=10239&parentID=5406">Gale Virtual Reference Library</a>. The purpose of <a href="http://www.ccpl.org/content.asp?name=Site&catID=10239&parentID=5406">Literature Resources from Gale</a> is the ability to search simultaneously Literature Resource Center, Gale Virtual Reference Library, LitFinder, Twayne and Scribner Writers Series in one place.<br /><br />Some of the e-books within <a href="http://www.ccpl.org/content.asp?name=Site&catID=10239&parentID=5406">Literature Resources from Gale</a> include: Contemporary Novelists 7th ed, Contemporary Poets 7th ed, Drama for Students (vols. 1-25), Literary Movements for Students: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Literary Movements 2nd (vols. 1-2), Nonfiction Classics for Students: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Nonfiction Works , (vols 1-5) Novels for Students (Vols 1-28), Poetry for Students (Vols 1-29), Shakespeare for Students: Critical Interpretations of Shakespeare's Plays and Poetry , 2nd ed., (vols 1-3); and Short Stories for Students (Vols 1-26). Over time, additional ebook and other content is being added.Steven Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15999754649126965797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31402978.post-63001419145101611902009-01-16T12:04:00.006-05:002009-01-16T12:23:42.598-05:00Reference Universe - Need for Speed Answered...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHY1UCqNtrkU5ZEnQK1ZbyYIUhyphenhyphenCkgcgPS24ll5biuqDT5Pj3yhl9vwY4HKNbL6k4qIRJTDVkJPkWXv4dV2IXDiOdFFbUZiFuvtZNhSsAuh3O78z3Huvw0Z7afLapRfTOizzox/s1600-h/ref+universe.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291941688903167186" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 207px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHY1UCqNtrkU5ZEnQK1ZbyYIUhyphenhyphenCkgcgPS24ll5biuqDT5Pj3yhl9vwY4HKNbL6k4qIRJTDVkJPkWXv4dV2IXDiOdFFbUZiFuvtZNhSsAuh3O78z3Huvw0Z7afLapRfTOizzox/s320/ref+universe.JPG" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.ccpl.org/content.asp?name=Site&catID=10239&parentID=5406">Reference Universe</a> in the past was a product you could go for a cup of coffee and still be waiting on search results... Recently, search result speed was greatly enhanced. The same general search strategies of using just one or two words in a phrase still works best and it will be nice to see possibly boolean searching become available some day. Bottom line, by far the faster retrieval time of search results is the best improvement to the database outside of content since we got it a couple of years ago or so...Steven Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15999754649126965797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31402978.post-40776175131491750262008-12-23T16:45:00.009-05:002008-12-23T17:24:36.888-05:00Merry Christmas<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdYYnmqRRST4Buu4eQyBN5H4eub66ZZIRMrZigGPhMatKypiYlvIhJjZ2g61CI93F31yk5o27Lw9lURnxN6Ju8I5MukFoGt9HP35ess1RDNImemtlXfhaC8Syuii9L52bKJkVs/s1600-h/tree.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5283113964055014002" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 213px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdYYnmqRRST4Buu4eQyBN5H4eub66ZZIRMrZigGPhMatKypiYlvIhJjZ2g61CI93F31yk5o27Lw9lURnxN6Ju8I5MukFoGt9HP35ess1RDNImemtlXfhaC8Syuii9L52bKJkVs/s320/tree.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="color:#ff6666;"><strong>Merry Christmas!</strong></span> I'm taking a break from shop talk to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I'm also reflecting upon the year in the rear view mirror work wise and individually. On the individual side, I got married and overall had an interesting year of great events with marriage being the biggest. On the sad side, in Fall/Winter of 2008 the passing of Thomas Raines and former coworker Darryl Fraiser took place. It is my hope that 2009 will be a great year for you and your family. Enjoy this image, of Christmas tree where my wife and I spent part of our honeymoon in Vancouver, British Columbia at the <a href="http://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/">Vancouver Museum of Art</a>.Steven Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15999754649126965797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31402978.post-32918940416447291352008-12-16T15:05:00.008-05:002008-12-16T15:57:43.028-05:00Reference USA - Spelling Check Feature<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsl1gb32Hhb0nZJjHzzNTyfEXs3Sm6MiwJ4tmrm8INe8FzpN6jNo57uKHrlLpwpauZ_9rwE8kkj-s1jQP6GHKflS9SvOBNlBWwB67CvoaMjxMv_P5xwZkxXZX9zufzA_dzboGi/s1600-h/refusa5.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 79px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsl1gb32Hhb0nZJjHzzNTyfEXs3Sm6MiwJ4tmrm8INe8FzpN6jNo57uKHrlLpwpauZ_9rwE8kkj-s1jQP6GHKflS9SvOBNlBWwB67CvoaMjxMv_P5xwZkxXZX9zufzA_dzboGi/s200/refusa5.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280494089115804450" border="0" /></a>Spelling a word correctly in a directory search is usually a key factor in the success or failure. Recently, I re-discovered the fuzzy spelling feature in the look-up option. Spelling "elecctrician" instead of electrician may still generate the needed grouping of businesses in many cases if the spelling is close enough. There is also the option of running the word into the Google spell check as well by just typing in the word or phrases and upon executing the searching looking for the <span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102);">Did you mean?</span> link to appear with the hopefully correct spelling to appear.Steven Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15999754649126965797noreply@blogger.com