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Search Your Local Library’s Catalogue

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Saw library lookup generator the other day via The Jaldous Journal. For those who don’t know, I am the systems administrator for the County of Lennox and Addington public libraries, so this little applet  really caught my eye.

First off, you need to save it in your link bar as a hyperlink. Then when you are on a page with an ISBN number, click your link on your toolbar and in a window will pop up the book in your library’s website, provided they have the book.

For example, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in our system is ISBN10 1551929783. When I click my applet I see our book in our library system. I can then login to my libraries system and place a hold on this book. Very handy as it will save you time not having to cut and paste.

The code for this bookmark applet for my library is

javascript:var%20re=/([\/-]|is[bs]n=)(\d{7,9}[\dX])/i;if(re.test(location.href)==true){var%20isbn=RegExp.$2;void(win=window.open(‘http://lennox.canlib.ca’+’/uhtbin/cgisirsi/x/0/0/5/?searchdata1=’+isbn,’LibraryLookup’,’scrollbars=1,resizable=1,location=1,width=575,height=500′))}

Changes to Service Providers for Microsoft Exams

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I’m a little slow at posting this, but if you haven’t heard Microsoft has dumped Pearson VUE in favour of  using only Prometric as a testing provider effective August 31st, 2007. 

For me this means I have to travel about an hour and half to Ottawa to write exams. Of course there is always the chance that the local shop will change and become a  prometric site. As much as this should be an inconvenience for me, it should work out okay, as CTE Solutions in Ottawa is a prometric site, and I am up there most Monday nights as part of the MCSE study group. I’ll just need to try and schedule my exams for Mondays and head up a little earlier.

Microsoft has said this will help streamline their process and make it easier to get exams out and also help the integrity of their exams. I am really skeptical on that, but I guess wait and see. Microsoft Learning is aware of the MCP’s complaints, with the main one being the location of the testing centers, thanks to Trika’s blog. Just remember guys, she’s just the messenger and I think most have realized that.