The Carroll Community College Library Blog

OpenOffice software compatibility at CCC

Are you using OpenOffice software at home? If so, you may have already experienced problems trying to access or print your OpenOffice documents at school and here's why:

The OpenOffice word processing program called Writer can open most Word-created files, but Microsoft does not return the favor!  Microsoft Word can NOT open a .odt file, and unfortunately, the OpenOffice software default is to save files in OpenDocument (.odt) format.

Bottom line...CCC computers don't have OpenOffice, and if you need to open an .odt file at school, you'll be in for a headache!

Now the good news: there is a way to save your documents to make them compatible with the Microsoft products that are installed on CCC's computers. Follow these few simple steps when you initially save your document, and save yourself a load of trouble if you need to access your OpenOffice document at school.

    To save a document in a Word-compatible format in OpenOffice:

1. Open the File menu
2. Click on Save As
3. Enter your file name, then click on the down arrow next to Save as type
4. Select Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP (.doc) and then press the save button.
                                   

Thanks to LT Student Aide Matt Brown for his technical know-how and writing skills in contributing to this post.

            

Meet Sue DiFonzo

   Spotlight On …….

This month’s spotlight is on Library staff member Sue DiFonzo.  Sue is our newest staff member and works with Blackboard and distance education.  She has been with the library for about 6 months but has been at Carroll for seven years where she worked in the Office Technology program.  Sue assists with setting up Blackboard courses and providing support for faculty and students.  One of her goals is to be able to spend more time creating learning objects using the variety of creative software available on campus.  Learning objects can be used to effectively provide course content for distance education students. She is also working to automate some of the routine Blackboard tasks to give her more time to be creative.

Before coming to Carroll, Sue has had various positions in programming and prior to her marriage was a hospital nurse for ten years.  When her son was in elementary school, she enjoyed volunteering in her son’s school.  Sue has a B.S. in Nursing, a certificate in instructional design from McDaniel College and has completed coursework in the fields of business administration and programming. She is currently working on a master’s degree in curriculum design at McDaniel.

Sue was born in Yonkers, NY but grew up in the Bronx with an extended family of grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, parents, and her sister in the same big house.  She and her husband, Peter, have been married for almost twenty years and have one child, Anthony who will be seventeen.  Her husband is from Carroll County and they have lived in New Windsor since they were married.  They share their house with Spartica, the cat who rules.  In her spare time, she would like to go to a spa but usually goes camping instead.  She is looking forward to traveling with her husband who will soon be an instrument-rated pilot.

WORD 2007 SINGLE SPACING

It seems that Research Assignment Deadline season is upon us, and that means typing, typing, typing! Many of your papers need to be single-spaced, which in the pre-Office 2007 world, was no big deal.  In Word 2007, it's still not a big deal, but it does require an extra step due to Microsoft-installed defaults.  Here's the deal and how to fix it:

The default when you open up Word will be to a font style called Calibri 11 point, with a line spacing default of 1.15 instead of single spacing, and the program will also want to put extra space automatically after each paragraph. To change the settings:

• From the Home tab use the drop down menus to change font style and point size, if desired.
• Under the Home tab click on the arrow next to Paragraph in order to open up the dialog box.
  • Line Spacing – choose Single or Double
  • Spacing, After – change to 0 pt
  • Click the box next to “Don’t add space between paragraphs of the same style.”   

BLOG MASTER CLARE SEBOK BIDS CCC “ADIEU”

It is with sadness that the Carroll Community College Library says a fond farewell to Clare Sebok.  Clare has been an Adjunct Public Services Librarian here since 2003.  In addition to providing outstanding reference service and research instruction to our students and faculty, Clare has also been editor of the library’s newsletters and blog.  She has been Blog Master and main contributor to our blog since its inception on 2005. The fresh and informative nature of our blog content is primarily due to Clare.  We will miss her professionalism and dedication to excellence as well as her calm presence at the desk.  We thank her for her 5 years of service to us and send her best wishes for the future.

MLA and APA Help Available

At this busy time of the semester when many papers and projects are due,  documenting sources in MLA or APA style can seem confusing and overwhelming. The Carroll librarians are here to help!

Whether you have one question or many, you are welcome to consult the librarians at the reference desk in person or by phone (410-386-8340). You can also e-mail the librarians at ref_desk@carrollcc.edu.

We also provide many resources on the Citing and Evaluating Sources section of the Library’s web site. Consult this page for handouts, sample papers, and a link to Noodlebib, an online tool for creating Works Cited and References pages.