I'm a Reference Librarian at the University of Kansas, Edwards Campus, Regents Center Library in Overland Park, Kansas. Librarianship is a second career for me. When I began in 1986, I learned to code pre-browser Internet—text based. What a technological adventure we have been on since the late ‘80s! I’ve had a wonderful time, haven’t you? I invite you to visit the blog I manage: Dissertation Research Blog
 

Lissa's Top 10 Tools as at 22 July 2008

1. CutePDF - I picked this little jewel up from the 25Tools page. I show students how to create PDF files from almost any printable document. It is free and has no watermarks, no pop ups.

2. Fifty Writing Tools: Quick List  - I recommend this as a handy reference for good writing. Copy it and keep it in your wallet and on your desk. Read it or listen to the Podcast, download or drag it to iTunes. Authored by Roy Peter Clark of the Poynter Institute.

3. 43things - I recommend this motivational list maker for the beginning of a new semester. It is more than a simple to do list. The "social computing" aspect of this site is that you can search your goal and come up with other folks doing the same thing—an opportunity to use networking as a guide for keeping on track!

4. JingProject - I never heard of this wonderful little tool until I snooped around the 25Tools site. It is too good. I capture screens and paste them into my slideshows for tomorrow’s class. It is so easy and sits at the top of my screen, hovering and ready for action.

5. TinyURL  - Like JingProject, I could not work without it. I like concise one page handouts that include the URL for all sites I’m talking about. TinyURL works for me. I do suggest that you tell your students about the program so they won’t think all your sites are coming from the same source.

6. slideshare - Now, how could I share my slides without slideshare? Yes, there are other ways but slideshare is true community. You can provide all the boundaries you want or leave your slides out on the table to be "borrowed" by just anyone. I figure no one would copy EndNote slides if they didn’t need them. I search slideshare for topics I’m interested in or need to know about and the presentations I find are so helpful to me I do download them and study how someone else did what I want to do.

7. Worldcat  - is a catalog that will find books and articles, e-books and e-articles in response to a search. Worldcat searches libraries worldwide and your search returns records complete with library locations. Add your zip code and possibly the library down the street has what you’re looking for.

8. Google Alerts - Google Alerts will repeat your good search strategy automatically and when results turn up Google will email you and include the annotated links in the message. It is like having a reliable research assistant!

9. Google Directory  - Most search engines have directories hidden away behind the scenes. I recommend Google’s directory (which is hidden away) when you are trying to find something somewhere and end up with nothing nowhere. You’re going to like it.

10. EndNote - The articles and books used in research need to be cited in literature reviews, theses and bibliographies. EndNote collects citations you enter during research, inserts these citations when you are writing your paper and builds your bibliography. EndNote cites resources in formats you designate (i.e., APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).