Blogs

Let Hemingway Proofread Your Documents

Submitted by schwarz on

Don't have the luxury of having someone proofread what you write?  Try Hemingway, a free tool that helps clarify your writing by analyzing the text for the number of ...

  • sentences that are hard to read
  • sentences that are very hard to read
  • adverbs (aim for 2 or fewer)
  • words or phrases than can be simpler
  • uses of passive voice (aim for 2 or fewer)

... and totals these up to assign a grade level and overall readability score.

Memorable First Sentences: Can You Guess the Novel?

Submitted by schwarz on

Test your literature knowledge with the quiz at Can You Guess The Classic Novel From Its First Sentence?

And a thumbs-up from me if you know the classic novel that begins with this very loooong sentence:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

Source: Can You Guess The Classic Novel From Its First Sentence? at BuzzFeed Books

Spring Cleaning Time... For Your Social Network Connections

Submitted by schwarz on

cleaning toolsIt's time for spring cleaning, and for more than just your house — it's also time for a checkup & cleanup of services that have access to your social media accounts.

Do you connect your Facebook or Twitter accounts to apps or free services you've forgotten about or don't use any more?  Lots of free services offer the option to use your existing social media accounts to register, that look like this one:


Here's what Nick Bilton says in the NYT Bits Blog:

Whether you realize it or not, dozens — if not hundreds — of apps and services have access to your social accounts and can see everything you’re doing online. Tweets, Likes, your location, are all there for the taking. What’s worse, there’s a pretty good chance you unwittingly gave them permission.

I noticed that hundreds of old apps have access to my Twitter, Facebook, Google and LinkedIn accounts.

It was time to do a little cleanup.

Just like the spring cleaning rule that says, “If you haven’t worn it in six months, throw it out,” you should use the same edict with your online data: “If you haven’t logged in to an app or site in six months, revoke its access.”

5 Tricks to Make Your Spreadsheets Easier to Read & Understand

Submitted by schwarz on

spreadsheet towerWell-formatted text and cells can draw attention to specific parts of a spreadsheet, and make it more visually-appealing and easier to understand.

Five simple things can make your spreadsheets easier to read and understand; you can ...

  1. choose a better format for numbers by using "long dates" and converting decimals to percents
  2. use color to differentiate the header from the data
  3. change size, font, and style to make the important text stand out
  4. maximize readability by choosing an appropriate alignment
  5. add borders to define areas

Take 4 minutes to watch this video from GCFLearnFree — it shows how you can use all 5 tips to improve your next spreadsheet:

Create Book Spine Poetry

Submitted by schwarz on

book spine poemHere's a fun way to celebrate National Poetry Month in April — create some Book Spine Poetry.

Use books from your library's collection or book sale to make a cento (a literary work made up of parts from other works) by stacking them up and reading the spines as a poem.  Consider making a display, and inviting your library's patrons to create poems too!

Just create your own book spine poem, snap a picture, and email it by April 1st to be part of the Book Spine Poetry Gallery.

Rotate Those Facebook Photos

Submitted by schwarz on

Sometimes when you upload a photo to your library's Facebook page, it ends up cattywumpus, sideways, or even upside down.  This usually happens because the camera or phone was turned in order to take a vertical shot, as opposed to a horizontal one.

Good news — you don’t have to settle for that; here's how to fix it.

Edit Images for Emphasis

Submitted by schwarz on

If you want to add emphasis to an image in a Word document, you don't need a special piece of software or app to edit it — you can use a tool that's built right into Word.

Here's a Word document "sampler" showing different ways I modified one image to create different effects:

George Washington

Watch this 30-second video to see how you can do it too:

How to Open Outlook Mail, Contacts & Calendar in Separate Windows

Submitted by schwarz on

If you work in Outlook most of the day, you may need to navigate from the Mail view to the Calendar, then to Contacts, and then back to Mail. Juggling those aspects of Outlook can be awkward.

Instead, try this simple tip to open Mail, Calendar, Contacts & Tasks in separate windows, it works in Outlook 2003, 2007, and 2010:

Kitty Lit: Cattified Classics

Submitted by schwarz on

Sure we love classic novels.  But so many are missing an important feature — cats! 

So the folks at AbeBooks stepped in with their "Put a Cat On It!" campaign, and created titles (complete with cover art) like...

  • Lord of the Fleas
  • Litterbox-Five
  • A Tale of Two Kitties

Bonus: BookRiot suggests titles to read to a cat.  :-)   Similar to libraries' Paws to Read programs where kids read to dogs, the Animal Rescue League of Berks County’s “Book Buddies” program invites children in grades 1-8 to read to shelter cats.

Read about all of them here:

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