Choice Online - Our eResource of the Month

Choice Online  database provides consumer information on various products and services. Choice can only be accessed within the library, with a maximum of 10 concurrent users allowed at one time. To access a full report, customers need to login with the email address and password. Staff can access these by locating the Choice database on the Databases page of the library website, clicking on ‘Password required', and entering the password'infos'. Do not give the password/email address to the public.

Choice Online has five sections:
• Reviews and Tests – containing in-depth reports on consumer products and services 
• Blogs – where consumers can interact to discuss various topics 
• About Us – information on Choice, including how the company is run and how they test products
 • Campaigns – information on the various campaigns that Choice is involved in
• Media and News – media releases, consumer news and product recalls.
* Choice Online also features Web 2.0 features, such as Videos, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Searching Choice:

*Current reviews/tests and news/features are featured on the homepage.

*Browse subject areas by scrolling to the bottom of page and viewing hyperlinked subject categories or by passing the cursor over the tab labelled ‘Reviews and Tests’. Alternatively, utilise the A-Z guide, as it provides lists of all of the topics that Choice covers. The A-Z guide mainly lists current reports (or reports that are only a few years old); for older reports, use the search box. The 'Popular Searches' link lists the most common/popular topics that are regularly searched.

*If a customer is looking for a specific subject or article, use the search tool, which indexes articles by title and keywords.

*The search engine doesn’t use wild card symbols, so it is unnecessary to use a search term such as ‘child*’

* Single search words work better on this site than long phrases.

* Use quotation marks when searching for the title of a report or to narrow search results.

* When a search is returned, further refine results by clicking on the hyperlinked categories/sub-categories section or by utilising related hypelinked search tags.
* Don't forget the sitemap! This is a guide to specific pages on the website and may help if you are having trouble locating a certain feature of Choice.

Be aware that there are differences between the hardcopy Choice and the online Choice:
* While all of the reviews/tests are featured in both versions of Choice, not all of the news/features in the hardcopy edition are found in online Choice. On the plus side, the online Choice may contain fuller, more up-to-date reports.
* If a customer wants to find a certain article in online Choice (that has appeared in the paper mag.), the title and date of publication may slightly vary. Do not attempt to find the article using the title headlining the story; instead, use the title found in the Contents (and even then, it may slightly vary). The content of the online article may vary slightly from that in the hardcopy edition.

Answer the questions below, email Rayyan and win a prize! (most correct number of answers wins)

1. A customer has read an article in the paper-version of Choice and wants to find the same article in the online version, so that she can email it to a friend. You check the hardcopy Choice and find that the article is published in Dec/Jan. 2012. The title in the Contents is "Baby Food" and the headline of the article is "Hey Baby".Can you find the corresponding online article?

2. A customer has just heard that a certain product has been recalled and is worried because her family has been using this product. Where would you direct her to look on the Choice website?

3. A customer has been reading the introduction to a report on Camcorders, but when he tries to go into the section on "Camcorder Tips", a sign is displayed that says "Member-only content". He is annoyed and asks you why he can't access that part of the report.

4. A customer wants to quickly browse recent articles on baby food. List some of the ways that you could look for this information, without being overwhelmed by search results.

Latest Books..for Libraries & Museums May 2012

If you think any of the following books would be of interest for the professional development collection email Sue or Ann. Sometimes we can borrow the books from other libraries.

Open Conversations : public learning in libraries and museums David Carr,2011
This is a provocative book that is designed to offer courage to cultural institution administrators and staff even as it opens their eyes to the possibility that their facilities can offer more than they are. Rather than offering prescriptive answers, the author invites readers to consider museums and libraries in fresh ways.



Marketing your library : tips and tools that work
Carol Smallwood (Ed) et al, 2011
Concise, how-to case studies from practicing public, school, academic, and special librarians provide proven strategies to improve brand management, campaign organization, community outreach, media interaction, social media, and event planning and implementation. 

Bite-Sized Marketing: Realistic Solutions for the Overworked Librarian  Nancy Dowd Written and designed to reflect the way people read today, this book is structured to quickly impart simple and cost-effective ideas on marketing your library.

Defusing the angry patron : a how-to-do-it manual for librarians
Rhea Rubin,2011
To help librarians know how to react in the face of patron anger, Rubin adds five new coping strategies to the 20 basic ones she introduced in the first edition. All of them have been updated them in light of key changes, including virtual reference service and the Web 2.0 phenomenon.

 
Lean library management : eleven strategies for reducing costs and
improving customer services    John J. Huber , 2011
This new book shows you how to apply lean principles and practices--how making small, simple changes in everyday routines will reap large time- and money-saving results.

Listening to the customer   Peter Hernon ,2011This book explains how a voice-of-the-customer program for libraries can give customers the opportunity to make their opinions known, enabling libraries to develop services that meet or exceed their patrons' changing expectations.

 The Cybrarian's Web: An A-Z Guide to 101 Free Web 2.0 Tools and Other ResourcesA great starting point for learning about Web 2.0 tools that can be used to innovate and improve library services.

Do You Web 2.0?: Public libraries and social networking . Linda Berube
The author not only reviews these tools and provides practical advice and case studies on how they can be applied in the public library setting, but also recommends the policies and business cases that begin to create a new strategy for public libraries.

And in the Press..

National Library of Singapore To Open World’s First Green Library for Kids

Dogs make good listeners at the Public Library
Dwayne,the library dog visits the Bella Vista Library for scheduled appointments for children to read to him and  for monthly storytimes. This program is helping kids overcome their fear of reading aloud and fear of dogs.Dwayne is very popular and an excellent listener!