BetaZone

Just a quick note to let you know that we’ve got a couple of new browser plugins you can install to put UNL Libraries searching capabilities right into the built-in search box of either Firefox or Internet Explorer, in case you aren’t a fan of the full-fledged search bar.

Head over to our brower plugins page to install them.

So last week I mentioned that might be some more search tools available this Monday.  Well, after working with them a bit, I’m going to have to say - check back next week.  The search plugins aren’t quite ready for a release, even a beta one.

I do want to say thank you to all of the students who stopped by Love Library last week to be part of our Invitation to Explore event.  I was pleasantly surprised at the reaction for our search bar.  The search UNL Libraries from other website, like Amazon.com, feature was  universally liked.  There are plans to add a few new features to that search bar, but if you have ideas feel free to send me an email or comment on the blog.

Finally, after a bunch of things outside of anybody’s control, we have the blog up and active.  Check back often, or subscribe to our RSS feed.

Expect an update Monday introducing a couple of new search tools.  After that I plan on making weekly updates here, either introducing a new project or asking for some feedback from you on what we are doing here.  As always, if you have a question, comment, or anything else you would like to share - please do so!

Welcome to those of you who found out about this site from yesterday’s Scarlet. As you can see, things are just getting started here. For example, the article mentioned a blog. Well, as with every beta test, there were a few bugs. I plan to get the complete blog, complete with RSS feed & the ability to make comments on posts, in this space by Monday. In the meantime, this psuedo-blog will have to do. There’s also a couple more search widgets that should find their way to this page by next Friday.

If you have any suggestions for new tools or web services that the UNL Libraries can look into, I’d love to hear them. My contact information is available on the “Contact Us” page.

The UNL Libraries is developing some new tools and we want you to have the earliest access possible to them. We have just launched this new BetaZone website that will showcase projects and experiments using web technologies to deliver new services and access what we can provide to you.

Our initial offerings include a search toolbar that lets you search our ENCORE system at anytime without needing to go our webpage, as well as putting links in amazon.com results, New York Times book reviews, and other similar websites to let you easily find out if we already have what you are looking for available to check out.

There are also two new things that were ready for public consumption before we even launched this site. One is a Twitter feed that will lets you know if there are any major problems with computers in the public areas, as well as any other relevant UNL-wide computing updates. Follow it at http://twitter.com/unllibcomputers. The second project set up access to a UNL Libraries reference desk via Skype or your favorite instant messaging service over at our Ask a Question page.