Around and around we go!

Now this is truly nifty, especially if you do ILL or your library has a Reserves service for faculty.

It's a Copyright Code tool.

The Section 108 Spinner lets you determine if a request meets code standards quickly and easily.

Really, I kid you not - it's interactive and everything. You can "grab" the wheel with your mouse and roll it around to whichever section addresses your particular question.

So if you happen to have a special collection or archives, and you have an unpublished manuscript that's gradually fading away, the spinner says....

Libraries or archives may make up to three copies of unpublished works for preservation or security purposes, if:

Dant! dant! da!
Cliffhanger

It's sort of like a Crazy 8 Ball,
but with more applicable answers!

It's a countdown!

Here's something fun - have you ever wanted a way to show visually your library's progress toward some goal? Maybe you have a YA group reading their way through 100 books, or you'd just like to track how many blog posts you manage in a month.

Here's a tool for you:
The Ticker Factory lets YOU
create your very own graphical tracker.

Although the main push of the site appears to be tracking for babies, ovulation/menstruation, the trackers available include some for building your savings, crafts & hobbies, weddings & birthdays & special events, weight loss & fundraising. With a wide variety of ticker rulers to choose from, you can create and re-configure to your heart's content.

I created this one for a fictional event to take place next month.

After selecting the ticker & slide you like, the site generates the html code for you - you can choose from large or small image size, light or dark backgrounds, and then just select the code appropriate for your particular intended use. The tickers can be used on Facebook, message boards, MySpace, MSN, webpages, blogs (duh!), and are even with iGoogle.

Forgive me, I've been slacking & Oh No Robot

In spite of my best intentions to keep up with at least one cool new-to-me technology/tool/gadget/widget every week, I let the holidays and then the rush of the new school year get the best of me. Must have been all the fruitcake! So this is my first appearance since.... the LibraryThing lesson.

This week's cool tool is Oh no Robot

With its Google-esque minimal-image screen and cute mechanical mascot, Oh no Robot is certainly innocuous looking enough. But what, you ask, does it DO?

Ah....

Do you like webcomics? Are you a closet Unshelved fan?

*Aside* If you haven't encountered Dewey, Mel, and Buddy the Book Beaver yet, where HAVE you been?

Would you like to be able to search for your favorite characters, specific episodes, or strip series?

If you answered YES to any of those questions, then Oh no Robot is your thingie. It's a personalized web comic search and transcription tool.

Yes, that's right, you can even help transcribe your favorite comic - If the author of your favorite webcomic has set up an Oh no Robot account, you, the reader, can assist in making all of the episodes easy to find. How it works: the comic author creates an account; the author, and any interested readers transcribe the content according to simple directions provided on the transcription form; the completed transcription goes to the author for review, and if approved, is added to the searchable database - pretty nifty, huh?

For a fun few minutes of screen flipping, see if there are any un-transcribed Unshelved episodes here - it's pretty popular, so don't be surprised if someone's already beat you to the latest one.

But if you can't find an Unshelved episode to transcribe, you can always take advantage of the site's random comics browser or help transcribe another comic's episodes. Or take a chance, and Let the Robot decide!