C-Span’s Not So Boring

While C-Span may be not always produce scintillating television, it has managed to produce a pretty cool website. Like its television progenitor, the site is heavy on content, but on the web you have the ability to pick and choose the content that most interests you and discover people and issues you might never have thought to explore. And there’s PLENTY of people and issues to explore!

Our favorites include:

Presidential Libraries
An exploration of the Presidential Library collections from Hoover through Clinton. Lots of old video and memorabilia — very cool.

Lincoln - 200 Years
Online version of C-Span’s ongoing Lincoln Bicentennial programming.

Booknotes (duh!!)
THE place for non-fiction junkies! Featuring 500 of the 800 author interviews from the show’s 16 year run. A great place to meet America’s contemporary scholars and thinkers.

Politics
If you can’t keep up with the current campaign ads and stump speeches, this site has them all, as well as many, many interviews with the candidates. A great resource for the still-undecided.

Small Business School

Small Business School is an award winning program on entrepreneurship shown on Public Television across the nation — and now you can visit the program via the internet.

SmallBusinessSchool.org is the beginning of your adventure in the challenging world of small business.

This online library of videos and detailed courses will take you on an ‘insiders’ journey to meet best-of-the-best small business owners — owners who share their secrets and their success in turning ideas into products and services that improve the lives of their customers while creating a more meaningful life for themselves.

These owners were carefully chosen from the 25 million small business owners in the U.S. because they are exemplary businesspeople. They have been creating jobs for over 10 years; they are considered to be leaders by those in their industries; and they are loved in their communities.

You’ll have to log in to search this outstanding database and view the videos. Keep the login information handy — you’ll be using it again and again.

Go to http://www.smallbusinessschool.org and use the following to log in:

Your User ID is: ecodev@ebr.lib.la.us
Your Password: EcoDev (letters are case sensitive)

The 24 Hour Library

There will be a series of short one-hour seminars at the Main Library called The 24 Hour Library: Web 2.0 Tools @ Your Library. This series will cover the Library’s web-based tools, what they are and how to use them.

Free Books Online: Thursday, May 8, 7pm: Learn more about the Library’s eBook collection and how you can access it 24/7 from the library’s website.

Intro to Web 2.0 Tools: Thursday, May 15, 7pm: Learn what Web 2.0 tools are all about. The seminar will cover blogs, wikis, RSS feeds, social bookmarking, and collaborative software.

OverDrive: Thursday, May 29, 7pm: Learn how to use OverDrive, the Library’s new digital library. OverDrive allows you to check out and download audiobooks, eBooks, and videos from the comfort of your home.

They will be held in the auditorium of the Main Library at 7711 Goodwood Blvd in Baton Rouge. Call Library Information at 225-231-3750 for more information.

Footnote.com

History buffs and genealogists can have a lot of fun trolling through the trove of historical documents and photos on Footnote.com. A sampling of the free resources provided by the National Archives to Footnote.com includes:

• Brady Civil War photographs — contains over 5,600 photos commissioned by Matthew Brady, featuring portraits of officers and soldiers, landscapes, and battle scenes.
• Photographs of Presidents, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Harry S. Truman, and Dwight D. Eisenhower.
• Federal court records pertaining to the salvage of the Spanish schooner Amistad, a ship carrying slaves seized by the US Navy in 1839.
• Office of Special Investigations records and case files about UFO sightings investigations.

Beyond simply providing access to these documents, Footnote.com also allows visitors to leave comments, annotations, and story pages. Thus, the creators of Footnote.com hope to harness the power of social networking, allowing visitors to contribute to the website and creating a sense of shared history.

The most interesting example of this shared history is the Interactive Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial. Nearly 1500 images are stitched together to make one 5 gigapixel image of “The Wall”. Visitors can search for individual names and then upload pictures, leave comments or create tributes.

A paid subscription to the website allows access to more collections, including many that may be of interest to genealogists.

Jott

You never know when you’ll need a question answered — that’s why you need to “Jott” Library Information!

Jott?? What’s that?

Jott is a really neat service that converts your voice into emails, text messages, reminders… Use it to send a reference question to the Library whenever you need information! All you have to do is call Jott’s 1-800 number and create a voice message. Jott will then send us your message via email.

To Jott the Library, you’ll need to set up an account with Jott. (Don’t worry, it’s free!) And you’ll need an email address so we can send your information to you.

Go to http://jott.com to sign up, and add our Electronic Reference email address to your account. It’s eref@ebr.lib.la.us.

Then you can Jott us every time you have a need to know!