[Publib] Car Manuals & Computer Training

[Theresa Grieshaber]

  Hello Everyone,

           I am killing 2 topics with 1 email.  

            CAR MANUALS:     My library has Ebscohost's Auto Repair Reference Center.  When presenting it to customers, I always tell people that it's like the little girl in the old nursery rhyme.   "There once was a little girl with a very little curl/Right in the middle of her forehead./And when she was good, she was very, very good/ And when she was bad, she was horrid."

             The indexing in this database is quirky and unreliable. Sometimes you KNOW that the information has to be there, but you can't find it.  Some cars are so old that the owner really needs a priest to give it a proper burial, and not a mechanic to fix it. Coverage for these elderly vehicles  is very spotty.  

              Printing is quirky, too.
Customers must be reminded that they must first use the Print icon within the program itself before they use the Print function in their browser under Find.

              Don't get rid of your books because you will need them to fill in the gaps in this database.  I echo those who say that some customers dislike using computers.
My library does not buy individual titles, such as "Fix your Volkswagen".  Instead we have the Motor's and Mitchell's and Chilton's manuals.  I'm told that some of these are no longer going to be produced in print.

               COMPUTER TRAINING:  My library uses the Mousing Around tutorial for our Computer Basics class.  It's excellent.  For Internet searching, you can't beat the "Bare Bones" tutorial offered by Beaufort Library at the University of South Carolina.  It's 25 lessons.  The URL changes periodically so I google Bare Bones and Beaufort Library to find it.  Here is the current web address:

http://www.sc.edu/beaufort/library/pages/bones/bones.shtml

               To quote Bugs Bunny,  "That's all, folks!"

               Theresa Grieshaber
                Modesto, California