Top Ten Tuesday: Stay Informed

The following list, in no particular order, offers links to Tarleton resources that will help you stay in the know.

• Tarleton homepage
• Check out news releases, spotlighted announcements, and upcoming events notices.
• Current Students page
• Learn about campus life, technology & support, news & events, student activities, and health & safety, as well as locate featured links from the Bleed Purple page.
• Bleed Purple page
• Find links to all things purple:
  Tarleton on Facebook, Tarleton YouTube videos, Tarleton blogs, photo archives, the Purple Book, and more.
• J-TAC
• Read articles about campus life, sports, and entertainment, along with editorials and letters to the editor.
• Post comments to the message board.
• Tarleton Radio KTRL 90.5 FM and The Planet 100.7 FM
• Listen to music, announcements, and live broadcasts.
• Texan News Service, sponsored by Tarleton's Communications Studies Department
• View Texan TV News and read feature, sports, and news stories.
• University News from the Marketing & Communications Department
• Read press releases, submit event information, search for subject experts, and access the Publications Guide.
• Tarleton Today
• View articles about Tarleton events, athletics, and activities, as well as campus announcements.
• Submit event information for inclusion in future postings.
• University calendar
• Look up events by dates and categories.
• Code Purple
• Enroll in Code Purple to receive notifications about health and safety emergencies, closings or delays due to weather, and crime or other events that pose a threat to those on or coming to campus.

Today in History - The Library of Congress American Memory

The staff member who was supposed to post in the Library Online Lounge is out today with an injury, and I did not remember this until a half-hour before I'm supposed to go home! Scrambling around for something to post, I Googled "today in history" and came up with this.

The Library of Congress' American Memory website

provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience. It is a digital record of American history and creativity. These materials, from the collections of the Library of Congress and other institutions, chronicle historical events, people, places, and ideas that continue to shape America, serving the public as a resource for education and lifelong learning.

Poke around their collections sometime - there's everything from baseball cards to Coca-Cola TV advertisements to daguerreotype photos; panoramic maps to WPA posters to quilts.

YouTube Offers Online Video Editor

The post "Edit Video in the Cloud with the YouTube Video Editor" on Broadcasting Ourselves recently announced YouTube's launch of its online video editor, which lets users

• Combine multiple uploaded video.
• Trim the beginning and/or ending of videos.
• Add soundtracks using YouTube's AudioSwap song library.
• Create videos and easily publish them to YouTube.

Available in TestTube, the YouTube ideas incubator, the video editor is ready to use. No software downloads required. Yea!

The post also offers videos with tips for using the editor, examples of others' videos and feedback, and links to help center support, as well as asking for feedback. Check it out!

Flip Video Cameras

What is a Flip Video?

Flip Videos are pocket-sized, battery-operated, portable camcorders with LCD screens, one-touch recording, and digital zoom. They hold up to 60 minutes of TV-quality video on 1GB of built-in memory; no tapes or additional memory cards required (recording time may vary based on recorded content). A built-in USB adapter plugs directly into your computer for easy uploading and sharing of videos (however, you can only do this on your own computer, not a campus public access computer). Built-in software lets you easily e-mail videos, share them on YouTube and Grouper, do very simple editing like trimming the beginning and end of your video, and capture still photos from video. Or, you can watch videos instantly on TV with the included cable.

The Circulation Desk at the Dick Smith Library currently has two Flip Videos available for check out for one week loan (no renewal, and overdue fines are $2 per day). The camera comes in a case with cables and instructions.

What can I do with a Flip Video?

Record, edit, and share videos, just like any other video camera.

Since the camera connects directly to your computer, it’s fast and easy to upload videos to the internet or your hard drive, so Flip Videos could be used for simple video assignments:

- To show before and after.
- To demonstrate a procedure or process.
- To entertain or add a personal touch.

Flip Video Tutorials

Introduction to the Flip Camera by Learnthisthing.com (different model, but the same idea):

How to install Flip Video editing software by Learnthisthing.com

How to upload, organize, and share video by Learnthisthing.com

Audiovisual Collection

As you exit the stairs or elevator onto the lower level of the Dick Smith Library, just to the right is the Audiovisual (AV) Collection. For you commuters or anyone about to take a long road trip, there is a growing collection of audiobooks in CD format, with many audiobooks still available in cassette format. Suggestions for CD format audiobook purchases are always welcome; use the comments area below!

There are also small but growing collections of DVDs and music and other information on CD, primarily to support the university’s educational programs. There are also (for now) VHS videocassettes, audio cassette tapes, 35 mm slides, and even vinyl phonograph records. Faculty may check out items for a full semester; students, staff, and others may check out CDs and DVDs for 7 days and all other media (except records) for 28 days.

Listening and viewing equipment is provided for individual and group use, in a small AV room in the area, plus some individual study carrels. Media equipment available for use on-site includes televisions with VCR and DVD players, a slide projector, a stereo phonograph, and an audio cassette and CD player. Microphones and headphones are available for use with this equipment.

Some specialized equipment is also available for public use in this area, such as a VideoEye video magnification system and a TeleSensory Vantage CCD (both used to magnify print and objects), and an opaque projector (to enlarge drawings for tracing, as in the photograph to the left).

Special Services Librarian Amanda Pape and Special Services Assistant Vickie Sowell are available to assist patrons in locating all media materials and in using the media equipment from 8:00am to 5:00pm, Monday through Friday. For assistance beyond these hours contact the Information Desk or the Circulation Desk on the main floor.

[photo: opaque projector in use - Special Services Department]