June 2007
Volume 27 No. 12

MySpace is Our Space - BALIS Workshop - May 31, 2007
Eighty people saw how a MySpace page was put together, viewed sample sites, received a webliography and bibliography, previewed a teen avatar contest, and learned about a safety program at BALIS's annual workshop.

Here are the links, presenters' materials and more.
MySpace is Our Space: Public libraries' presence on MySpace.com

Note: June is Internet Safety Month, per Senate Resolution 205.

California Library Association's PRExcellence Award 2007 - August 7, 2007
Showcase your 2006-07 marketing and public relations campaigns and materials by entering them for CLA's PRExcellence award. See the winners for 2005-2006. The CLA's Public Relations Committee will post the entry form and details by July 1. This year's winners will receive their awards at the CLA Conference in Long Beach, October 26-29, 2007.

Big Read Grant - Preliminary Intent - June 29. Deadline - July 31, 2007
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), is again accepting grant applications for The Big Read. If you missed applying for Big Read grants announced in previous issues of Search, here is another chance. Details.

Reference Picks
Summer time! It's time for travel - actual or virtual.

Fly Me to Some Fun
Here are resources for library patrons planning air travel. Some aggregators will also search hotels and cars. Encourage patrons to compare the first four airfare links as prices among routes vary from service to service and from day to day.

• Kayak - Fare search engine. This site is the easiest to use both in starting a search and modifying it. www.kayak.com
• Airlines of the World - (AOW!) - Another fare search engine, with links about aircraft, connecting travel and more. www.flyaow.com
• Farecast - Fare predictions and histories. Links to ticket sites. www.farecast.com
• Transportation Security Administration - TSA - Review what's allowable before you fly. Regulations change, and this is the way to know them before you get to the airport. www.tsa.gov
• Seatguru and Lovemyseat - Reviews of floor plans and plane configurations. Both URL names link to www.seatguru.com

Live Maps
It's hard to miss the buzz about live maps, with articles and listserv postings about their live traffic views, hybrid 2-D and 3-D topography, and photos.

Recently, we tested three sites. When they work, they're great for trip planning and viewing. Results vary from day to day, browser to browser, computer to computer, and home or work. Sites continue to add features. In the test, Yahoo and Google misspelled a critical street name when compared with Maps.live.com on the same home computer on the same day, but by the time you read this, the error may be corrected.

• Maps.live.com - This is Microsoft's live search. You can pinpoint your location on the "Locate Me" tab. An older version will use your computer's IP address. The newest uses WiFi, but requires a download. In a recent comparison on a home computer, Maps.live.com didn't display.
• Google now has street views for five U.S. cities. Google's aerial views are the most complete. You can now get aerial views of small suburban lanes down to the house level.
• Yahoo doesn't have as many features as Google, but it has just brought its map feature in house, so watch for changes.

Content Maps
Though the dazzling features of these software companies' live sites will overlay route maps with topography, show photos of intersections, and move your avatar, the strategy of the following publisher sites is to deliver content as an evolution of their founding print products.

• RandMcNally - If you want to drive to your destination, this is the site to use. The directions are clear and include whether the turns should be to the right or to the left. You can print out a map of the entire trip and enhance your own version by including mini-maps of your key intersections. In our test, it was the most accurate. If you are running errands, you can input a list of up to 10 destinations, and the site will calculate the most efficient way to travel to all of them. www.randmcnally.com
• World Atlas - How far is it "as the crow flies?" Find the direct distance between two locations. This site calculates distance using latitude and longitude. Since this site isn't trying to catch up to Google, it's consistent from day to day. There are links to free map images, country flags, population statistics, and timelines. www.worldatlas.com

Short Road Trips
These planning sites can quickly help you plan a weekend getaway, a night out, a tour for out-of-town guests or a day's outing.

• San Francisco Chronicle - Travel section. Archives of columns, e.g. "Follow the Reader," "Literate Travel," and "Guidebook Guide," go back to 1995, and searches are free. This site has suggestions for local and distant travel and armchair trips. sfgate.com/travel/
• Metroactive - Find local concerts, art shows, museum exhibits, movies, festivals, and performances by category, region, or keyword. calendar.metroactive.com/gyrobase/Events
• Bay Area Kid Fun - Find kid-friendly activities - www.bayareakidfun.com

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News from our Members
Members' Web 2.0 Tools
Member libraries utilize Web 2.0 tools for staff training and communication, on their web pages and in services to patrons. At the systems' adult services committee meetings, members often share and compare experiences with Web 2.0 tools. From time to time, Search will publish a snapshot of members' utilization taken from these reports.

Santa Clara County Library System
The Electronic Library 24/7 page of the Santa Clara County Library links to several Web 2.0 tools. On the navigation bar, just to the right of center, are links to the library's event blog and RSS, as well as the library's pilot of Brainfuse. Through Learning Express, the library offers extensive online tutorials with pretesting features for Microsoft products. 

The library and The Tech Museum of Innovation collaborative LSTA-funded project, Get Tech @ the Library, is aimed at 7th and 8th graders. During this last school year, the Get Tech page has had a monthly interactive scavenger hunt, ending with June's.

In addition, the teen page has a new book/materials blog that allows comments by teens. In addition to their branch links on the library's site, there are MySpace pages for the Los Altos, Milpitas and Morgan Hill libraries.

"How to" Gems found by Santa Clara County Library
Do you need to help someone learn to use a mouse, or are you asked to show someone how to use Excel formulas? The tutorial link on the Santa Clara County Library's Electronic Library 24/7 page directs you to these resources:

• Palm Beach County Library's Mousing Around Tutorial - Using a Mouse
• Florida Gulf Coast University Tutorials - Microsoft Office
• ITM Online Help Collection - University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
  Software and computing applications including Microsoft Office.

Questions and Answers
Some "Q&A" stories remain our favorites. We received this question at the time of the funeral of Pope John Paul II in early April 2005.

Sweet Smell of Success
"Is there special incense that is burned only during the ceremonies surrounding the death of a pope?" Our patron heard a news report about such special incense and wanted to know if the story was really true.

Since we were dubious that an email request for information would be taken seriously, we decided that phone research would be best. Here are the results of our calls.

The Vicar General of the Diocese of San Jose, Monsignor Fran Cilia, was certain the same incense is used at all Vatican liturgical ceremonies. So was the assistant to Cardinal Egan of the Archdiocese of New York, who said, in a pronounced Brooklyn accent, that the Vatican gets its incense, which is not available to anyone else, from a supplier in Rome. All Vatican incense is therefore special, but none is reserved for special usage. Pat Kelly, head of the Office of Worship of the San Francisco Archdiocese, rounded out the tale by informing us that the Vatican’s Sacristan is responsible for the incense and chooses from the available supply whenever it’s needed.

Though the local librarian and we thought that we had a good answer, our patron decided he would only accept an answer from the Vatican, and the local librarian asked us to pursue the patron's request.

Doubtful that we would get a response, we contacted the Vatican Library. That library suggested we appeal to the Ufficio delle Celebrazioni Liturgiche del Sommo Pontefice, so we sent them a fax. Piero Marini, Archbishop of Martirano and Master of the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff kindly answered, confirming that the incense used for papal funerals is the same as that ordinarily used at papal liturgical celebrations.

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