Author: Karrie McLellan

Gmail Tips

gmail logoI am a Gmail power user.  I use labels, labs, IMAP and all kinds of tweaks to personalize my email experience.  Even so, I learned a bunch of neat tricks from this post, “Top 10 Clever Tips Built Right Into Gmail,” by Lifehacker.  My favorites are:

#5 – Sort Gmail messages by size and get rid of data hogs.

#3 – Access Gmail when it’s down.

#2 – Set Gmail as your default email client.

If you use an iPod/iPad/iPhone for your Gmail, you may also be interested in:

#4 – Set up Gmail on iOS like it was meant to be.

What’s your favorite Gmail feature/tip/trick?

OverDrive Catalog Updates

The Upper Hudson Library System has been selected by OverDrive, our e-content manager,  to take part in a pilot program that will add functionality to our current digital collections catalog.  The change is slated to take place Monday, May 7.   The new catalog will add three major features:

  1. Recommend to library – allows cardholders to browse the entire OverDrive catalog and suggest the purchase of titles to the library.  Within the recommendation screen, you can choose whether to be emailed if the item is purchased, automatically added to the request list, or both.
  2. Buy it now – if a title is unavailable for immediate download, there will be an additional option to purchase the title (for personal use, not for the library) from a list of vendors.  Side note:the library system gets credit toward e-content for every purchase made through the OverDrive catalog.
  3. Advertising – There will now be a space for advertisements from publishers, OverDrive, and member libraries.  When the pilot program is concluded, the library system will receive credit towards e-content in exchange for the ad placement.

Hopefully, these changes will be a win-win.  Patrons will be able to have a say in the development of our e-collections, as well as the option to get immediate access to desired content.  Libraries will not only benefit monetarily, but will also be able to build collections that may more accurately reflect the tastes of our patrons.

Let us know what you think of the changes, once the new catalog is up and running.  We look forward to your feedback!

Kindle Glitch with New Harry Potter E-Books

As announced by OverDrive, the e-book and audiobook versions of the Harry Potter series became available for download today (through the library).  Unfortunately, there seems to be a glitch with the Kindle version.  Amazon is aware of the issue and working to correct it.  In the meantime, those users attempting to download Kindle versions of the Harry Potter series will receive an error message.

The ePub and audio versions of the books are not affected.  We’ll let you know when this issue is fixed.  Thanks for your patience!

“Send To” Somewhere Else in Windows Vista/7

As you may know, right-clicking a file or folder brings up a window called a “context menu.”  This is a list of actions that can be performed with the file or folder.  One of those actions is “Send To.”  This can be an extremely handy shortcut.  For instance, if you choose to Send To and Desktop (in the resulting menu), a shortcut to the file will be placed on the desktop.  Send To>Documents will create a full copy of the file/folder in your Documents folder, leaving the original intact in its location.

While several options are available in the Send To menu by default, you may want to send items to a location that isn’t listed.  To do that:

  • Click the start button.
  • In the search box, type %appdata%/Microsoft/Windows/sendto and hit “Enter.”
  • In a new (second) window, open the folder that contains the location you would like to include.  (Example:  To add the Pictures folder to the Send To menu, open C:/Users/[your profile name here] folder in a new window.  Please note that opening the “Libraries” folder will not work for creating a shortcut.)
  • Right-click the My Pictures folder and select “create shortcut”  This will create a shortcut in the same folder.
  • Click and drag the new shortcut to the open Send To folder and release the button to drop it in.
  • Once it is in the Send To folder, you can rename the item to remove “Shortcut” from the title.

Next time you right click a file or folder, the new folder option should appear.

Trouble Contacting Us?

If you tried to use our library’s contact form on February 15th or 16th, you may have had some trouble.  Yesterday, I received an email from JotForm, the service we used to create and host our form.  The email stated that the JotForm.com domain had been suspended by GoDaddy, and proceeded to give instructions on how to get the form up and working again easily.  I must say I was very impressed by the speed at which JotForm users were contacted with a solution to this issue.  In fact, no one had even complained about the form on our site being broken yet!  I am thankful we weren’t one of the users who had upwards of 50 forms to fix, though.

Because the email was vague, my curiosity got the better of me, and I did a bit of research.  As it turns out, GoDaddy was responding to a government order, and JotForm was under investigation by the Secret Service.  Despite my initial panic (what had I gotten the library into?!?), I read on to learn that one of JotForm’s millions of users *might* be using JotForm for a phishing scam.  JotForm was eager to work with the government to resolve the issue, but was put off because “a few days” were needed to review the case.  Meanwhile, those millions of users are stuck finding staff/personal time to fix all of those forms.  My question is, why couldn’t the case have been looked at *before* shutting down an entire domain with no warning, inconveniencing all those people and companies?  I can appreciate the interest in protecting the public from a phishing scam, but the reaction seems a bit like clear-cutting a forest to take care of a single diseased tree.  It also feels a bit like SOPA/PIPA to me.  Is anyone else nervous?

For more on the JotForm story, see this c|net article.