Category Archives: Tech

Communication, Tech, Training

CMLE Resources: Get Started Podcasting

We hope that you have been enjoying CMLE’s podcasts: Linking Our Libraries and Reading With Libraries! We have so much fun sharing library training information and exploring different book genres with you. We’ve also learned (and continue to learn!) a ton about the process of putting together a podcast.

So we thought we should share some of that knowledge with you! There are several great library podcasts out there in addition to ours; check out this post that lists a few of them. But what if you want to start your own? We’ve compiled a list with photos and affiliate links to Amazon (if you make any purchases through these, a small portion is donated to CMLE!) to help show you the supplies we use for our podcast. When we were first starting, we wished for a list like this to help take some of the guesswork out of it!

(Note: there are definitely alternative ways to podcast, and your taste or need for equipment may be different than ours. We are not experts but felt the need to share what we have learned!)

  • Download your software. We use Audacity (it’s free!) for recording and editing and winLAME for converting the audio files into mP3 format.
  • You will need a host for your audio files, and we use LibSyn which works nicely with our WordPress website. LibSyn also allows you to embed audio players into your website and social media platforms. 

Decide on your mic, and make sure you purchase any accessories needed! We use a Samson C01 Condenser Microphone and are pleased with how it works. You will also need to order an XLR cable to connect your mic to the phantom power source. Our mixer contains phantom power. Also pictured is our Samson SP01 Condenser Microphone Shockmount.

Below is the way we situate our mics. We updated the mic stands we use and purchased these desktop adjustable models. They are more portable and easier to see over than our old stands. Another component of this picture is the pop filter. We use DragonPad Pop Filters.

Finally, this is the mixer that we use. You may not need one with this many capabilities, but since we want to be able to record from four mics at once, we needed a mixer with space to plug in four mics. Keep in mind that you’ll need a USB cord to connect the mixer to your computer! The mixer we use is the Behringer Xenyx 1204 USB and it contains phantom power which we need to power the mics. We definitely do not know even half of this mixer’s full capabilities but hope to continue learning more!

Please let us know if you have any questions about this process and we will answer them to the best of our ability! We are not podcasting experts but enjoy continuing to learn all the neat capabilities that our equipment can do for us!

And of course, don’t miss our podcasts Linking Our Libraries and Reading With Libraries and our mini podcast, Book Bites!

We love sharing library and book information and connecting with our awesome community. And a GIANT thank you to all our members who have been Guest Hosts on the show! 🙂

School Media Specialist, Tech

AASL Recommended App: Humanities and Arts: NMAAHC Mobile Stories

This summer, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) announced their Best Apps for Teaching and Learning 2017. The apps encourage qualities such as creativity and collaboration, and encourage discovery and curiosity.

 

The app National Museum of African-American History and Culture (NMAAHC) is a story driven app. It allows the user to experience the museum virtually through images, audio/text transcripts, and video clips. “Designed to be used during a museum visit, students can virtually experience the museum by viewing the exhibitions online and seeing artifacts like Harriet Tubman’s shawl, James Baldwin’s passport, and a segregated railway coach.” For questions and activities that can be used with students, check under the “For Families” section.

This article from Clearly Innovative gives a detailed description of the app and its capabilities. For videos and to learn more about the National Museum of African-American History and Culture, check out their Youtube channel here. 

Level: Elementary +
Platform: iOS and Android
Cost: FREE

School Media Specialist, Tech

AASL Recommended App: Organization and Management: IFTTT

This summer, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) announced their Best Apps for Teaching and Learning 2017. The apps encourage qualities such as creativity and collaboration, and encourage discovery and curiosity.

The app IFTTT stands for “If This Then That” and it is used to create applets. Applets (also called “recipes”) have the ability to link two services (your apps or devices) together as conditional statements which then automate certain tasks.

Level: High School +
Platform: iOS and Android
Cost: FREE

Some of the examples of ways to use the app include “get an email when a new bestseller appears on the NY Times list; save favorite tweets to a Google spreadsheet, get an email whenever the President signs a bill into law; back up photos to Google Drive. The opportunities are endless!” Get more ideas for ways to use the app by visiting their blog.

PCMag has a review of the app, and they awarded it Editors’ Choice for productivity services. Digital Trends also has a great review of IFTTT and they include some tips on ways to get the most out of the app.

Watch this video for a tutorial specifically for teachers using IFTTT:

Communication, Tech

CMLE Weekly Training: Defending against Ransomware

Ransomware-picRansomware is around, and we are hearing stories about it happening to schools around Central Minnesota!

You have probably heard stories about ransomware already, but may not be sure about it, or may think your little library does not have anything worth stealing. But criminals know your data is important to you, no matter what it may be.

Most of our members are part of larger organizations: schools, colleges, and other parent groups. If they have an IT department, it would be worth your time to ask what they are doing to protect your website. And if possible, it may be worth backing up your site and your data yourself – just in case!

What is ransomware? It is software that blocks access to your files; or threatens to publish your files. Picture a criminal holding your patron registration hostage, threatening to release names, addresses and circulation data. Or pulling up your website, only to see a skull and crossbones – and a demand  for bitcoin.

Short version: it’s bad.

But the good news is that you can take some steps to avoid this problem.  And be sure you are backing up your site, so if you are hit by ransomware, you can just move on! (Well, it’s still going to be a hassle and problems for your library – but everything is  not destroyed, and you do not have to pay money to anonymous criminals. So it is pretty much a win!)

We have a few resources here for you to browse, as you work to put together your own disaster plan for a ransomware attack.

General ransomware articles:

Sources for data backup

Materials, Tech

Day Eighty Eight of the CMLE Summer Fun Library Tour!

We have said before: digitization of resources is  a lot more work and time and effort than people may realize. So it is inspirational to see smaller libraries working to preserve their history using these neat tools! Sharing resources with their communities is always the mission of all libraries.

Derry Public Library efforts save history in digital form

“Many people have kept scrapbooks detailing life moments, special occasions and historical events.

Derry Public Library is now on the preservation bandwagon, taking on projects to preserve past memories, town and library history while keeping it safe on digital files for patrons to enjoy.

Library staff members recently discovered several scrapbooks compiled by past librarians and directors, filled with newspaper clippings, photos, letters, and special community programs that describe Derry’s history dating back decades.

Reference librarian Courtney Wason said it’s the library’s goal, as well as the goal of many libraries today, to preserve historical documents and artifacts in digital form and make them available online — making it easier to access the information.

The library’s New Hampshire Room, opened to the public in 1990 when an addition was built onto the original 1927 library building, is one space where much local and state history is already kept very secure in books, binders and on shelves. That includes town and state records, photos, yearbooks, news sources, books, and other periodicals that are often called upon when someone needs to do family research or other historical work.

“It’s a wide breadth of information,” Wason said.

Shelves are full of town and school reports, burial records, American Legion war records, Pinkerton Academy yearbooks, and histories of Derry and surrounding towns. There are also papers and documents on Alan B. Shepard Jr., and poet Robert Frost, and now digital issues of The Eagle-Tribune’s sister publication, the Derry News, dating back to 1891.

The scrapbooks, dating back to the 1920s, will also be put into digital format, according to Wason. Finding the added bits of library history in the classic scrapbooks was a great discovery, showing the effort past library staff took on to preserve history, Wason said.”