Thing #7: Blog About Somthing Tech: Library Books & Library Elf

Whilst trying to follow another link from 23Things, I wound up on the LifeHacker blog, at a post called "13 Book Hacks." One of those "hacks" described 2 ways of managing your library accounts.

My favorite by far is the "Library Books" program for Mac computers (I use a Mac at home). It's a freeware downloadable that took about 4 minutes to download and set up. I input the URL for COSMOS, identified the catalog type as Sirsi/Unicorn/iBistro, and gave it my card # and PIN. Now this little program hangs out in the toolbar on my computer desktop with a small icon (a star) and the number of library items I have checked out. The star changes color when something is due, and turns bright red when something is overdue. If I click on the star, it drops down a list of all my library items by due date. With a single click, the program will open my browser to the renew-items page in COSMOS and automatically log me in.

I use the Mac calendar, iCal, to keep my appointments and to-do list; I sync it with my PalmPilot, which I also sync with Outlook on my work PC. The Library Books program has an option to automatically insert renew/return reminders for library items into my calendar. I have turned this option off for now, since I check out items so frequently and don't want to clutter my calendar. But if I had to pay overdue fines like an ordinary citizen, I'd turn this on to get pop-up reminders to return my stuff on time!

Alas, this fantastic program is only available for Macs. As a booby prize to you poor misguided PC-using souls, the Lifehacker Blog offered a link to a free online service called "Library Elf." Library Elf has you select your library, then enter your card # & PIN, and your email address. It then checks your library account every day, or a few times a day, and sends you the email alerts that you specify. You can choose to receive alerts a set number of days before an item is due, or on its actual due date, or when it becomes overdue. Library Elf also has an option to generate an RSS feed with these alerts instead of sending you email.

Alas, our library system is not on the "supported" list. I used the link provided to request that they add us, but I am not especially hopeful because iBistro wasn't on the list of catalog types that they work with.

Library Books and Library Elf (if they add us) could be the perfect solution to offer those power-user patrons who are always asking for more and earlier direct notification about their due dates. Not to mention, the Library Books widget for the Mac is just plain cool.