Task #10: New Website

First things first, I got some more books for Christmas: see photos below. Awesome!

The new website is looking good. I like the catalog search box a lot--no drop-down menus to block it when you're trying to search! I like the easy account log-in box as well. It's great that both of these stay at the top of the page even when you navigate away from the main page.

I must say that the only problem I have with the drop-down menus on the "old" website is when they block the catalog search box (which, admittedly, is all the time)--otherwise, I really kind of like them. Am I the only one? On the old site, for instance, it only takes one click to get to get to "Premium Resources A to Z," while on the new site it seems to take two clicks. On the other hand, you can see the Events calendar at a glance on the new site--zero clicks. That's pretty slick.

Speaking of the new Events calendar, I think it is vastly improved over the old one because of its calendar-like layout. With the old one, it was easy to get mixed up about what day you were looking at.

I think the two clicks to the "Premium Resources A to Z" issue I mentioned above is an isolated incident because everything else seems to be easier to get to. I like the footers because everything seems to be there without having to dig (it's organized logically--yay!), and it looks really sharp.

I think, like anything, a lot of people (staff and patrons alike) may need some time to get used to the change, but in the end, I think everyone will embrace it as a vast improvement over to old one.

Task #9: Universal Class and Life Enrichment

Universal Class looks like a great resource. I didn't actually sign up for any classes or for an account, though. I'm just not ready for any kind of structured learning right now (it's only been a year since I finished school--I need more time).

It looks like there are some great life-enrichment courses that would be fun to take, for instance: "Dog & Cat First Aid, Care & Maintenance," "How to Can, Freeze, Dry and Preserve Food" (although, if I had named the course I would have called it "How to Can, Freeze, Dry and Otherwise Preserve Food"--I think "Otherwise" adds something special, don't you?), "Soap Making 101," "Therapeutic Bathing 101" (I noticed that under "Other Related Classes in Alternative Medicine," it listed "Sewing 101"--Really? I did not realize that sewing was alternative medicine), "Birdwatching 101: Food, Feeders and Behavior," "Braiding Hair 101" ("...for the aspiring hair braiders who would like to start a hair braiding salon"--????), "Animals for Everyone: Penguins," "American Literature Review" (oh wait, I have a degree in lit, maybe a "high school level" course wouldn't be that enriching--hmm...), and "Horseshoeing Basics: An Overview."

I must say I was surprised that there was no basic course specifically geared towards first-time home-buyers under the Real Estate Section. There was a course entitled "Eleven Best Kept Secrets to Buying Real Estate," but it seems to maybe focus more on investing in Real Estate than on the needs of a person who just wants to buy a house and has never done it before.

One thing I noticed that would be especially great for patrons is the section on GED Training--I'll definitely keep it in mind to recommend to people.

As far as staff training goes, I found a course entitled "Basic Research Skills." Unfortunately, I am a little skeptical after finding the following sentence in the course description: "While some people might prefer books to be organized by authors, when you are organizing reference books." I'm sorry, but this sentence is not valid.