Regional Library Computer Center

http://bplolinenews.blogspot.com/2008/02/take-flying-leap.html

http://bplolinenews.blogspot.com/2008/02/leap-year-video-from-bpl.html

While surfing through the many, many blogs I read, I came across another helpful online tool. It is BookletCreator. Basically it takes a PDF document and creates a booklet from that file. It reorders pages so that after printing and folding the pages you get a small book.

Click here to see how it works.

Here is the original link.

Basic PC:  March 1st, March 10th

Child Friendly Web Sites:  March 8th

Microsoft Excel:   March 3rd

Microsoft PowerPoint:  March 11th

Microsoft Word:  March 15th, March 25th

Microsoft Publisher:  March 17th

Internet Basics:  March 18th

Student Resources on the Web:  March 22nd

iGoogle:  March 29th

Creating Tables and Templates:  March 31st

To register for any of the above classes please give us a call at 205-226-3799 or 205-226-3798. Pre-registration is required. Classes are held on Monday, Tuesday and Saturday mornings. All classes begin at 9:30 am and end at 11:30 a.m. You can also click on the ”Classes” link at the top of the screen to see a listing of the current class schedule.

When purchasing both my desktop PC and laptop, I wasn’t given many options in regards to a word processing suite. If you wanted Microsoft Office there was an additional cost to have it added to the PC. With both my computers I was given Microsoft Works, which is basically a watered-down version of the Microsoft Office suite. To be honest with you, I am not that fond of Works. First of all, it doesn’t have all the features of Microsoft Office. Second, I don’t like the interface of Works. Third, sometimes it is not compatible to other programs.

Without going into debt, there are other alternatives to Microsoft Office and Microsoft Works. There are online programs such as Google Docs that is capable of handling most formats. There is also alternate office suites which can be downloaded to your computer at a very reasonable price…free! Open Office is one such example of free word processing. The multiplatform and multilingual office suite is free to download, use and distribute. For Open Office 2 the system requirements for a Windows-based system are as follows:

• Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000 (Service Pack 2 or higher), Windows XP, Windows 2003, Windows Vista (enhanced Vista integration from version 2.2)
• 128 Mbytes RAM
• At least 800 Mbytes available disk space for a default install (including a JRE) via download. After installation and deletion of temporary installation files, OpenOffice.org will use approximately 440 Mbytes disk space.
• 800 x 600 or higher resolution with at least 256 colours

Other system requirements can be found by going here.

This Microsoft Office alternative has basically the same features of Microsoft Office, just without the high price.

There are several components to Open Office. In some ways I believe that Open Office is a better program than its competition. Here are the components:

• Writer
• Calc
• Impress
• Draw
• Base
• Math

Each of these components can be examined further by visiting: http://www.openoffice.org/product/product.html.

I am constantly reading blogs in search for new tools that I can write about on this blog as well as use on my personal computers. I came across one called FolderShare, which has blown my socks away! With Foldershare you can access, share and synchronize your files from any computer.

“FolderShareTM allows you to create a private peer-to-peer network that will help you to synchronize files across multiple devices and access or share files with colleagues and friends. You no longer need to send large files via email, burn them to CDs/DVDs and mail them, or upload them to a website. FolderShare allows you to share and sync important information instantly with anyone you invite, making it the perfect solution for personal or small business use.”

How can I use it?

• Synchronize all your devices - Retrieve work files at home or access photos at work. With your devices in sync, you no longer have to be frustrated that your information is on another computer.
• Share files, photos, and home videos with your peers - Select the content you want to share, invite members, and they will be able to access the shared files directly from their device.
• Access your computer or device remotely - FolderShare mobile access allows you to access your computer from any web browser.

Any restrictions? We’ll let you decide…

• Share files up to 2 GB in size
• Unlimited file transfers - no limits on quantity or size of files transferred
• Any file type - files are synced and transferred in their original format

How much does it cost?

FolderShare is now free of charge.

Today I had a situation in which a patron needed to view a Word 2007 document and wasn’t able to because we have Office XP installed on our machines. There is a simple solution to this problem. Microsoft Office released a compatibility pack for those who don’t have Office 2007. The pack would allow users to view Microsoft Office 2007 documents using previous versions of Microsoft Office. The pack is for Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

 ”By installing the Compatibility Pack along side of Microsoft Office XP, or Office 2003, you will be able open, edit, save, and create files using the Open XML Formats new to the 2007 Microsoft Office system.”

I was able to open the document on my pc because the compatibility pack had been installed, otherwise I would have been in the same situation as this patron. Since I had the pack on my pc I was able to open the document and resave it under “.doc” instead of “.docx”.

There is another solution to this problem and that is by using http://www.zamzar.com. Zamzar converts one file type to another file type depending on what type of file you need. In this sitiuation I could have used Zamzar to convert this patrons document from “.docx” to “.doc”. The converted file is sent to your email account. This website has rescued me several times so I highly recommend it.

February is Black History Month and the Birmingham Public Library is well-prepared for this annual event. There are several online databases available on the Birmingham Public Library’s website. To access the free databases click on the “Databases” link, which is located at the top of the page. Once there you can have immediate access to “Black History” resources by scrolling down to the “Subject” list and selecting “African American”. This will immediately take you to a listing of all African American Resources or databases available only through the Birmingham Public Library and the Jefferson County Library Cooperative.

Another resource for Black History Month can be found by going to the Library of Congress website. Here you can find a wealth of information on Black History. Of course, you can always “Google” Black History Month and find a few helpful websites.