Some days, it seems like a hat trick.
Librarians are expected to juggle a number of different job responsibilities at
once and must wear many hats. Envision this: There’s the top hat for the
presenter in you—preparing for a presentation can seem very daunting when you
want to make a good impression on your audience. There’s the fedora for the
cool professor—controlling the tempo of your classroom to spark the students’
interests. There’s the beret for the sophisticated artist— making creative
signage for library events is challenging, if the thought of Photoshop makes
you cringe.
For these reasons, it is
essential to have a list of easy-to-use tools at your fingertips to get you
through the workday—tools that do not require one-on-one training from the IT
department. The following programs are my top picks for the everyday law
librarian—or, come to think of it, any librarian. What makes them unique is
that they are free and web-based, meaning there are no installations required
(which sometimes poses issues for institutions with restrictions on unapproved
software downloads). Now, you can take full advantage of these tools and
combine all of your hats into one giant sombrero of productivity and efficiency
by using technology to tackle your daily tasks.
CUT,
CROP, AND CONVERT: MEDIA FILES
Have you ever had
complications editing and adjusting media files to your liking? Oftentimes,
librarians receive media files such as tutorial videos from vendors. However,
sometimes they won’t play on the preloaded programs on our work computer, or
they won’t integrate with an outdated version of a program—because the file
extension can only be used with the latest released version. The
incompatibility of systems and files can present a hurdle if you don’t know
how to conduct simple file conversions. There is the option of asking a
colleague to help you with this, but relying on someone else to do a simple
task for you could delay your schedule, especially if there is a pressing
deadline. Another trick you may need to know is how to trim a media file into
the exact length you want in order to insert it into a presentation or class
lecture. The following websites will help you with these tasks.
Clip
Converter
This will convert your
media file—both audio and video—into any of the following formats: MP3, M4A,
and AAC (for audio) as well as MP4, 3GP, AVI, and MOV (for video). Simply input
the media URL and click Continue, then select the file type you want to convert
to under Conversion Format. Click the Start button below and you are on your
way to a new file conversion in a matter of seconds. Once the conversion is
completed, you will receive a notification to download the newly converted file
to your computer. (Caution: Uncheck the “download with accelerator and get
recommendations and offers” box before clicking the black Download button above
it.) The website is completely free because it runs primarily on advertisement
sales. So be careful not to click on any pop-up ads or make any installations
from the website prompts—or else you might wind up with stuff on your computer
you didn’t really want.
Bonus: With Clip
Converter, there is another equally beneficial feature. It enables you to
download streaming files and save them to your computer. That way, you can
reuse them in your presentations. Sometimes, streaming files are not ideal if
you are faced with unreliable or unavailable internet connections. I have
experienced technical difficulties during conference presentations in which the
hotel Wi-Fi is too slow and causes a YouTube clip to keep buffering and
freezing up, or the internet connection was down that day. Unfortunately, this
can agitate the audience, as they wait for you to remedy the situation. Fussing
with the technology will cut into your valuable presentation time.
Clip Converter helps you
avoid this potential problem by letting you download the YouTube clip to your
computer ahead of time. This way, you can take the file with you and play it
without the assistance of a web browser or an internet connection. Clip
Converter allows you to strip videos from YouTube, Google Videos, Myspace,
Dailymotion, Vimeo, and other streaming services into a downloadable video
file. Although you should be mindful of copyright policies when doing this, a
temporary download to your computer for a quick presentation will not violate
copyright laws, especially if the video file is hosted on a channel that
belongs to your institution or on a public one that allows sharing of files for
educational purposes under fair use.1
Another great use of Clip Converter is to back up those video files hosted
online, so that you can retain copies of them, should the site server crash.
Website: clipconverter.cc
Price: Free with
no restrictions
Compatibility: Web
browser and JavaScript; Firefox, Chrome, Safari, or Internet Explorer 8
Online Video Cutter
A
common request I’ve received from colleagues is to shorten a video file to only
include the parts that they need. You may also have to do this if the file size
is too large and there is insufficient storage space for it, or if it takes too
long to load because your computer lacks memory. Moreover, according to a study
conducted in 2008,2 the average length
of a single internet video is 2.7 minutes, due to the short attention span of
people today. Anything longer will cause one’s mind to wander off. Therefore,
shorter video clips are preferable, especially if they effectively capture the
most important points in that limited time frame.
Online
Video Cutter is an easy three-step website that allows you to pick and choose
the starting and stopping point of your video, and then trim it down to only
include that length of time. Step one: open file. Step two: cut file. Step
three: save file. It really is as simple as 1-2-3. The only drawback is that it
has a maximum file size limit of 500MB. However, with the types of videos that
law librarians deal with, 500MB is a very generous size, considering that a
typical size for a 10-minute video is about 20–30MB.
Website: online-video-cutter.com
Price: Free (max file size is 500MB)
Compatibility: Most web browsers
PICTURE THIS: IMAGES AND GRAPHICS
One
of the essential skills we need as librarians is how to find an appropriate
image or graphic to liven up content. Whether you’re making a No Food Allowed
or special events sign, adding images to your digital display, jazzing up your
lecture slides, or updating your social media pages, an attractive image will
go a long way in terms of making a significant impact. The following three tools
will make it easier for you to design, edit, and input any image to fit your
requirements—and you don’t need a degree in graphic design to navigate their
features.
Canva
What
do you do when you want to make a poster that appeals to others, but you have little
to no artistic skills? Not to worry—Canva can assist you. You can use the
search box to look up any image you desire. The program contains a commendable
collection of free graphics, but there is also a pay-per-image option for $1,
if you find one using its image search engine that you just can’t live without.
The $1 will cover any licensing fees to the owner of the image for widespread
use. Of course, you can also upload your own images for free.
You
can edit the built-in templates by adding or subtracting emphatic lines and
shapes, text, icons, and pictures. After you are finished with your
masterpiece, you can download your beautiful designs as a PDF or IMG file (you
will have to extract the images from a zip file if there is more than one
slide). The preselected design categories for use in PowerPoint, Facebook,
Instagram, and more will provide you with the exact dimensions needed for the
corresponding platforms, so that you can easily upload or insert them without
making additional adjustments (such as resizing or cropping the images).
Alternatively, print them out and use them as signage or include them in fliers
or brochures for promotional and marketing purposes. You can also create
infographics.
Website: canva.com
Price: Free; $1 per premium images (pay as you go)
Compatibility: Browser-based; iPad app also
available
Easel.ly
Speaking
of infographics, this is another free and easy-to-use program. With simple
graphic categories (such as maps, ecommerce, technology, and icons), it is easy
to drag and drop things into your canvas area and edit the infographic to your
liking. There are plenty of free symbols and fonts to choose from, but if you
want even more options, you can go Pro for an annual subscription of $36 to
access even more images and themed templates. Download your work as an image or
PDF, whenever you’re ready; you can also send it to the printer or share a link
to your finished product for online accessibility.
Website: easel.ly
Price: Free; go Pro for $36 a year for additional template
designs
Compatibility: Most web browsers
PicMonkey
I
have a confession to make—I have used this program to edit many images for my
digital photography business (shhh … don’t tell my clients). Although there are
many expensive programs suitable for photo-editing processes, PicMonkey is a
quick and cheap alternative that won’t compromise the integrity of the original
image quality, even after multiple edits. The free features offer a variety of
ways to satisfy your simple image-editing needs, such as applying filters,
tints, cropping, resizing, add-ons, text, smoothening, and light exposures.
Think of it as falling somewhere between Microsoft’s Paint and Adobe’s Photoshop,
but designed with beginners in mind. If you’re looking for an easy fix to a
bland photo, this is the right program for you. Just register for a free
account to get started.
Bonus: You can create photo collages and add in textured
backgrounds as well as frames for special occasions. The program adds seasonal
features throughout the year that will enable you to take your images to a
festive level.
Website: picmonkey.com
Price: Free; about $5 per month or $33 a year for a premium
account to unlock additional features
Compatibility: Most web browsers
TEACH ME HOW: INSTRUCTION TOOLS FOR THE CLASSROOM
One
of our primary responsibilities as law librarians is to educate students. Most
librarians teach one or more classes on legal research or advanced legal
research, and we yearn to deliver the material to our students in an effective
manner—one that will keep the students’ attention and reignite their excitement
to learn. The following tools serve practical, as well as creatively engaging,
purposes to ensure that your students react positively to the implementation of
these tools into your lectures and assignments.
Screencast-O-Matic
Screencasts
have become an increasingly important teaching tool for law librarians.
Students rely on them as walk-throughs for some of the more complex online
research skills used via legal databases (such as Westlaw, LexisNexis, and
Bloomberg). Although students often receive live demonstrations from the vendor
representatives, there are times when they need to review some of the core
navigational steps, and screencasts are a good way to encapsulate the live
demonstrations and slow the process down to a more manageable speed.
Screencast-O-Matic
offers “one-click screen captures” for on-screen recordings of both computer
screen and webcam activity. Not only can you record your mouse and click
movements, but you can also attach a video of yourself describing the actions
as you go. There are few screencast programs that have both these functions,
and that is where Screencast-O-Matic excels. Aside from offering the
downloadable version, there is also a browser-based JavaScript version with no
installation required. However, keep in mind that this means you will need an
uninterrupted and reliable internet connection while recording online (but most
law librarians will need the internet to connect to the password-protected
legal databases anyway).
Website: screencast-o-matic.com
Price: Free for 15-minute video max; $15 per year for
unlimited, plus editing features
Compatibility: Windows or Mac; web browsers with
JavaScript
Kahoot!
Who
isn’t a fan of playing games? No matter what age your students are, it is
possible to incorporate something fun, competitive, and challenging into their
syllabus. It might surprise you how much information your students can absorb
when they have a stake in what is happening on the screen in front of them.
Kahoot! is a quick and innovative way to engage your students in an online
quiz-type game. This instant student response system will allow your students
to sign in using their mobile device or laptop, then answer multiple choice
questions in real time with all of their classmates. You can use this as an
icebreaker start to your class or save it for a review session for the end of
the semester. Either way, it requires very little effort—just creating an
account, plugging in the questions and answers, and giving the URL and pin
number that your students need to join the game.
Website: getkahoot.com
Price: Free
Compatibility: PC or Mac with web browser; iPad,
iPhone, and Android smartphones or tablets
Zaption
This
enables you to add captions, quiz questions, and voiceovers to streaming
videos. When you assign videos to students, you can now double-check that they
are paying attention to the videos and truly learning from them by inserting
pop-up questions that students have to answer correctly to continue the video.
You can add highlights and arrows to emphasize the important details as well as
create voiceovers to narrate the parts that require supplemental explanations.
Zaption adds new improvements to pre-existing videos online to invite more
class interaction and participation with the lessons.
Website: zaption.com
Price: Free; $89 a year for the Pro Classroom edition
Compatibility: Windows or Mac with web browser;
viewable on Apple App Player for iOS 7 or later
SHOWTIME: PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS
Publications
and presentations are vital to most librarians, but for tenure-track
librarians like me, there is an even higher threshold to meet. With the added
pressures of public speaking and eloquent writing skills thrown into the mix,
tools that alleviate some of those pressures in creating visualizations and
conducting the research are welcome. Here are a few tools that can make your
presentations pop and your research process more proficient, so that you can
spend more time perfecting your content.
amCharts
The
ability to create a stunning and informative chart or graph is one of the
things law librarians push to the bottom of their priorities list. However,
adding data visualizations to a presentation or article goes a long way to
explaining and interpreting our research results concisely. amCharts can help
you bring your statistics to life, so you can present your findings
interactively online or print them in a publication offline.
All
you need to do is sign up for a free account, then select the type of chart
you want to create. Fill in the columns with your data and information,
select from a variety of modernized color schemes, and you’re good to go. The
feature that I like the most is the ability to display or hide certain
datapoints by checking or unchecking the boxes next to their names. This
gives you the flexibility to highlight the important parts you want to
discuss or to show the impact of excluding part of the equation. amCharts
also allows you to download charts as images, so you can easily insert them
into your articles or embed live charts into your LibGuides, blogs, or
websites.
Bonus: Try amMaps, which is a related program for creating
appealing national or global maps that feature interactive data, if you have
knowledge about HTML5 web design.
Website: amcharts.com
Price: Free online live editor; one-time
fee of $140 for single-use license to incorporate it into your own website
Compatibility: Most web browsers with JavaScript
iCyte
I
have used this tool for conducting research online and have recommended it to
our faculty members. When researching online, it is tedious to bookmark every
webpage you need as a source or to save a chunk of quotes or texts to
incorporate them into your own work later. With the back-and-forth routine of
copying and pasting—coupled with remembering to write down the title of the
work, author, and URL—publication information can become insurmountable.
iCyte allows you to save time by placing an iCyte button in your browser’s
toolbar that will do the work for you. Just highlight the parts of a webpage
or article you want to save, then click the ‘iCyte’ button. It will not only
automatically transfer the highlighted text, but also extract the metadata
information about the article details and the webpage itself. Then, it will
categorize the information in list form under the folder name you’ve created.
In
just two mouse clicks, you will have the bibliographic information, as well
as the quoted text, at your disposal whenever you are ready to compile the
sources for your research. Plus, you can revisit the link at any time. This
is a perfect organizational tool that will cut your research time down significantly.
In turn, it will also prepare you for an easy transition into creating your
footnotes, as well as a bibliographic or references page for your article at
the end of your research and writing process.
Website: icyte.com
Price: Free iCyte Education account for
students and faculty members (via an .edu email address)
Compatibility: Safari, Internet Explorer, Chrome,
and Firefox
TRYING THEM ON FOR SIZE
There
you have it—the top 10 free computer tools to get you through your busy work
week without requiring the assistance of the IT department. Remember, all of
these programs are free to use and do not require any download installation
to operate (although, a few do come with that option). This means you will
not have to take up valuable disk space or memory to run the program on your
computer. With simple and easy-to-follow setup instructions, you can befriend
technology and use it to facilitate your tasks, rather than letting it
frustrate you. After all, these advances in technology are developed to help
you succeed in your professional roles. What are you waiting for? Go test
these great tools out for yourself!
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1.
17 United States Code, Sec. 107. 2012. Print.
2.
Weinreich, Harald, Hartmut Obendorf, Eelco Herder, and Matthias Mayer. “Not
Quite the Average: An Empirical Study of Web Use.” ACM Transactions on the Web. 2.1
(2008): 1–31. Print.
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Source | http://www.infotoday.com/
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