My particular area of interest in grad school was remote access, digitization and the potential of the citizen archivist. 
Can you believe this?!? Thankfully not our library, that would just be heartbreaking, but still... WHY?!? Let's get past thinking about the destruction of property and consider the burning of books. Yuck, just yuck.
We are, as suggested above, up and running, open for business, have hung out our shingle and are on the map. Well, soon to be on the map. We are registered and when the nice people at Little Free Library add us you will be able to find Little Free Library #15911 on the map. Stop by and...
Quixey was easy to use and I was pleased to see several familiar titles as well as less well known options for my areas of interest. There seems to be a good selection which is compatible with Kindle even if I can't always download directly from the Quixey site. The interface is clean and easy to navigate and I felt that the search options were easy to use. I liked being able to browse topics and to sort by trending. I will make a point of using this site to research apps I am considering purchasing.
I used to record every book I read in a excel document on my computer. This document was complete with date read, genre and a star rating. In an obvious rookie mistake, about a year ago I fried the hard drive on my computer Among the list of things I lost was this reading list with over three years of titles. Shame on me for not backing up. Finding Goodreads about a year before I lost my list has eased some of my regret and now I use the app regularly to keep track of my reading. I have shelves for a few things, ebook, audio, 5 stars and to remind me which titles in a series I have read, but I don't tag beyond that. It is really easy to add titles by scanning the ISBN barcode on a book so I've installed the app on my phone and Kindle as well as access the site from my laptop. Though I do value the reviews other readers contribute I rarely go beyond adding a star rating and the date completed. Other that the group created by the staff at my library for sharing staff picks I avoid groups and my list of friends is comfortably small. I enjoy seeing what others are reading and exploring titles or authors I'm curious about, but for me just storing the titles I've read is the most valuable element of this app. Clearly I can't be trusted to do it on my own.
I had to know what the big deal was with Candy Crush Saga, so a few months ago I gave in and got this app. Now I get it. It is so mindless, addictive, frustrating and triumphant. I have spent weeks on a single level convinced I'll never get it then surprise, I finally break through to the next level and it is just as challenging. I'm 168 levels in, have it installed on all of my devices and play at least every few days. Bravo to King for creating this monster, you have us hooked.
Although not an addictive as Candy Crush, Bubble Mania hits all the right notes. My kid took to it quickly and it is simple enough that we can work on it together. Watching the cat throwing bubbles is pretty darn cute, he looks so sad when you fail to advance to the next level than you want to keep playing just to see him dance with the tiny rescued kittens.
When I first installed Take Ten I wasn't sure I would care for it. It sounds very simple but it took awhile to get the hang of it. I did find it pretty addictive and played it quite a bit the first few days. I'm likely to come back to this when I need something to do with my hands while watching TV, but more than that I can see it being helpful in learning addition and number recognition.
This has been a very entertaining app to play with. I think I could spend a lot of time revisiting old artists and putting together the "mixed tapes" of my youth.To try out the app I created a playlist of songs I would like my kid to listen to when she gets a little older and doubts how awesome she is, I was surprised to find all of the artistes I had mentally been jotting down for the last few months. I also searched for the original version of a song I've only ever heard the cover of and followed a few playlists I would like to have playing in the background while I do other things. This feels like a really simple way to discover new artists and to share your personal favorites with your friends. It feels much more interactive than Pandora which has been a favorite of mine so I am quite excited to have discovered this app.
10 monkeys multiplication is a fun app for quizzing the user on multiplication tables, but for my user at home who is just learning, the timed element of the game was frustrating and disappointing. Perhaps, saving the monkeys will be fun for her in a few years, or for me as a way to perk up my mind, but for now we will set this one aside
Oh, I think this is more information than I want to know about what I am eating. I have scanned several of the packaged foods I have at home and was not terribly surprised to see low grades for the really processed things. I might use this to compare two items in the grocery store or to keep myself from making uniformed terrible choices in snacking. I liked the food tracking element and the goal setting that the app offers. If seems like a good compliment to other health apps I already use.
I have downloaded the Minnesota State Fair app to my phone for the last two years, on the day we attended the fair. The first year we tried the app it is was terrible. It crashed regularly and was so slow to load that it wasn't really worth anything other than telling us what who was on each performance stage. Moving withing the maps crashed the app and eventually I reverted to a paper map and schedule. Last year the app was much improved and we used it several times throughout the day. It has a great map, the previously mentioned schedule of performances each day, a list of events and theme days. I was happy with the way it performed for the one day we attended the fair. That said, we used the app one day and it takes a ton of memory. Both years I have deleted it after the fair was over and can't really see a reason to keep it installed year round. I will re-install again this year when August rolls around and will be looking for the improvements made over the off season. If nothing else it is a handy way to find the nearest cheese curds.
I loaded the Going Out app on my Kindle and after playing with it a bit came to the realization that it would be much better suited to a phone or a more portable device. I liked the events calendar and the restaurant listings both of which can be selected based on your location. Having the recommendations come from the StarTrib makes them feel more vetted, but I was disappointed to find so few reviews, staff or user, of the places they suggested. As I am finding with several of the other apps I have tried in these activities, Going Out seems like an app that has competition already doing it better. Foursquare, Yelp and others are more established and better developed sources for most of the same information. The best reason I can find for using anything but the events calendar is that is is a local resource and probably more up to date than other sources.
This is one of my favorite apps that I've tried in this project. The variety of material offered is never ending and the format is simple to use. I was particularly happy to see the podcasts and spoken word content. I have been a regular user of Pandora for a while and have been happy with what they have to offer so at first I thought that this was just more of the same. Instead Sound Cloud almost fills in the gaps of what Pandora misses. I like selecting content rather than having it fed to me and I like being able to share selections via social media. While I did enjoy the option of letting it play in the background while I used other apps, I did find it a little difficult to shut the app down when I was done. I was pleased to see the app available on my Kindle and look forward to digging in deeper as time goes on.
This app was downloaded for about 10 minutes and one test video was created before my daughter grabbed the phone and started making crazy kid videos featuring everything from the family dog to her My Little Pony collection to her dad saying "blahhh". Needless to say this app is very user friendly and easy to learn. It would be great for sharing six word book reviews, "why I came to the library..." quotes, or even recording that strange printer, AMH, alarm sound that you can never describe to IT. I like the short length of the videos and the ability to edit video snapshots together.
Once again I was unable to find the recommended app in the the Kindle app store, instead I searched the for presentation apps and discovered Presentation Maker. This is a relatively new app and had only a few reviews but they were favorable so I gave it a try. The selection of fonts, transitions and templates is pretty limited but it does what it promises and allows the user to create a simple presentation with images, text and backgrounds. I can see it being a good introduction to more complicated versions of similar programs or an option if you just don't have access to anything else. After creating the presentation the user can share their work via the most common social media platforms or email. I was pleased with how easily I was able to link to my images and how intuitive creating a presentation was. I did find saving and later accessing the presentation a little tricky, but with a little digging I was able to discover a solution to that challenge. Overall, a nice simple option.
For the audio piece I use both Overdrive and OneClickdigital. I find that they compliment each other nicely and rarely overlap with what they offer. The selection is great and once I figured out what how to transfer the material via OneClickdigital's somewhat clunky interface I have had really good luck with getting titles both through requesting material and just browsing. I have opted for this fee free way of getting audio books rather than going with the subscription service Audible which is offered through Amazon. I know the selection is as good and the means of accessing the titles less cumbersome, but I am at heart cheap and can't bring myself to pay for a book I can't physically hold.
That brings me to free e-books. Again I get most of what I need form Overdrive, but when I just want a classic I have had really good luck searching for a free version directly from Amazon. Unless there is a current movie out for the title it is pretty simple to find what you need. I have had limited luck searching Google for open source titles and reading in the browser but it seems hit or miss when it comes to being readable on the Kindle.
I know that there are many who have issues with the hclib.org app, and I will admit that there are elements that are less than graceful, but I swear by it. I can't explain how much easier it is to manage my account since I started using it.
I have had mixed results with Zinio. I really like the idea of reading magazines without them cluttering my house and the selection is very good, but getting them on my Kindle has been tricky and not always reliable. Initially there was no app for the Kindle and with no factory installed Flash it was impossible to read the titles I downloaded. I eventually found a way to work around both the lack of an app and by installing a new browser and then Flash I was able to read most of what I selected. There are a few titles that don't seem to be in a format that is compatible with the Kindle and I haven't figured out how to tell which file formats are which. I also would like to get rid of older issues once I've read them but that seems low on the list of complaints. It certainly serves the purpose and has helped to cut down on paper waste in my house. This would be a great way to get a title into patron hands when when that specific title is unavailable in a building.
I should use this more. I like the format and I enjoy playing with the editing filters. The ability to share images across several social networking sites make it more appealing. When I was trying to learn Hootsuite I realized that I don't post much to any of the sites I follow, but when I do it tends to be images with short captions. This is what Instagram was made to do. I prefer the visual style of this over the text based Twitter. It is such a simple way to share images of events across platforms that I cam see how powerful this can be as a a way to communicate. I look forward to learning more about the social element within the site since I have never really looked at what others post there without linking to other apps. 
The colorizing part of Color Splurge feels is fun and I could play with with it but I don't think I would regularly use it. I like the ability to highlight areas within a picture, it might be fun for a visual scavenger hunt, players could find the highlighted item. I like the coloring book feel of filling in the black and white images.
Facebook has been a great way to reconnect with people from my distant past, stay connected with people from my recent past and develop sometimes surprising connections with people I might have only chatted with briefly in person. I am a bit of a lurker, meaning I read and like items but rarely post my own news. I think I forget that the people who I feel are right at my fingertips might not even realize I'm out there. I have been known to stop the feed of someone who over-shares or who has vastly, sometimes offensively, different opinions about life that I do, but I have a hard time un-friending anyone.
Foursquare was fun when I first discovered it. I really enjoyed checking in at places and seeing if I knew anyone else who was there. As a person highly motivated by awards and stickers I liked the point system and the badges that they offered. After about six months of checking in at every restaurant, shop and event I attended, my family went to the MN State Fair and I attempted to Foursquare my way through the day. A few hours and more that a dozen check-ins later I realized I was feeling so much pressure to get my points that I wasn't enjoying the day at all. I pretty much gave up on the app after that. I now limit myself to the occasional check-in at someplace unusual or if I suspect that they may have a discount available by checking in. I do frequently use Foursquare to find shops or restaurants in areas I'm unfamiliar with and have found that the recommendations are really spot on and the hidden tips rarely fail to meet expectations.
Twitter is my least favorite "thing" in the list of suggestions. I have always found the interface cluttered and the tweet itself fails to keep my attention. In an attempt to find greater value in the format, I thought about what information I would want quick bites of, or ways I could use it to point me to bigger stories. I decided to get rid of a lot of the celebrity tweets I was following and instead added news outlets. This seems to be the best use of Twitter I've found so far. I don't have time to read every article or watch every clip but I can get a relatively balanced take on a topic by compiling the sources and reading further when needed. I realize that the apps in thing 4 do the same and I think that they probably do it better, but I can't find another way that I would regularly use Twitter.
I have dabbled a bit with HootSuite but by no means feel like I have a strong handle on it. I like that it puts the most used social media apps in one place and allows the user to manage all of them at once. Posting to all of the apps, managing views and feedback would be very useful in an organization where a consistent message across platforms is desired. The ability to see stats would be helpful to see how successful postings are from site to site and how far the postings spread. As an individual, and one who infrequently posts to any of the sites I doubt that I will regularly use it.
