Thing 22 - What did I learn today?

I will try to post to this blog at times, just to keep up one skill anyway. There is a lot to learn in 23 things and I hope I can take more time in the future to learn them but at least I know they're out there.

The only way I learn is to use tools/sites daily. Whether I'll be able to use most of these tools is doubtful but I'll try to incorporate at least a couple into daily work life.

Thing 21 - Beyond MySpace: other social networks

View my page on 23 Things on a Stick


As mentioned in previous posts I see a lot of use for social networking in the library world since many, many people are comfortable with this new technology but it's not something that has a place in my personal life.

I took a look at another social networking site on collies. Lots of information and content but I have to wonder whether people realize that the information isn't necessarily correct. If I am researching a breed for my family I would certainly want to look at a source that I know to be expert. I guess that's the big danger I see with these sites: inexperienced people take the information found there as gospel when it probably isn't so.

Thing 20 - Libraries & social networks - Facebook

Well I invited a couple of friends and looked at some of the postings on the group I joined.

Again, I can see the use for library applications but don't feel a need for it in my personal life.

Thing 19 - Podcasts

I thought that Podcast.net and the Educational Podcast Network directories were the most intriguing. They were pretty easy to navigate.

I listened to several Grammar Grater podcasts and a JetStreaming podcast. They were really interesting. If I had a portable device I think this is a piece of technology that I would use in my personal life.

There are lots of uses for podcasts to promote libraries and library service. Since this is a technology that lots of people use we should probably take advantage of it.

Here's a Grammar Grater to listen to:

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/radio/podcasts/grammar_grater/

Thing 18 - YouTube and other sites

YouTube baffles me. Most of the video is grainy and unsteady. I can see the attraction for families if they have video of family interest to share but I don't think I would use it.

I think YouTube and its ilk do have fun library potential, especially for kids and teens. If we can get patrons to talk about programs, books, media, reading programs, etc. and encourage others to use the library and its technology I think that would be great.

In the meantime here's a cute sketch from the Muppets (featuring a possum of course):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSs4lSYVCKE

Thing 17: ELM productivity tools

1. I couldn't find the instructions to create a search alert.

2. I enjoyed creating a folder with interesting articles and then creating a Web page. It saved to my computer the second time I tried.

3. I skipped this one. I've already created a web page in #2 and I don't have a flash drive so it seemed a waste of time.

4. Adding notes in NetLibrary is a very handy way to compile usefule bits of information. I plan to use this in the future for work as well as recreational topics.

If we all had a bit more time I think the articles folder and the NetLibrary information and notes could be useful at work. It's definitely something we should share with our student patrons. I need to explore the web page part in more depth so I hope I'll be able to do that at some point.

Thing 16: Student 2.0 tools

I liked the Assignment Calculator a lot. I think that tool and the Research Project Calculator should be definitely be links on the Teen page. They are designed for older students so may not be as useful on the Kids page.

The AC would be great for a complicated library project and might be helpful for an employee who has time management problems. Since the library is heavily involved in homework help and Tutor.com these tools fit right in with our efforts to help students close the achievement gap. It might be interesting to figure out a way to inform teachers of these research helps so that they can pass the information on to students.

I wish I'd had such a thing for college research projects!

Thing 15 - Online games in libraries

Puzzle Pirates looked fun but I didn't have much time to pursue it. I've signed up for so many pages and downloaded so many sites doing 23Things that I just can't keep track!

Thing 14 - LibraryThing

This was a fun exercise with very useful implications for library use. We constantly have people asking to know which titles in a series they've already read. Here is a way for them to keep track of things like that. I think LibraryThing would be a lot of fun for kids; perhaps there is a way to use it for summer reading fun.

Unfortunately the LibraryThing widget wouldn't paste into this blog.

Thing - 13 Online Productivity Tools

I set up a homepage on Yahoo. This was easy to do and if I needed a homepage this is the one I would use. The calendars all have interesting features. Right now GroupWise is adequate for using at work. It does almost everything I want. For now I wouldn't use the homepage or calendar at home since there's no need.

Of all the tools we've learned so far the calendars seem the most useful for productivity. We can track meetings, time away from office, program attendance, schedules, etc. I depend on GroupWise for a lot of information every day. Whe I have some time I'd like to explore more of the productivity tools.

Thing 12 Newsvine

As usual for so many of these "things" the directions looked easy but evidently steps were skipped assuming one would already know what to do. I find this extremely frustrating and the whole social networking phenomenon truly weird. Who cares what I read or think about an article? I certainly don't want to read what some other person thinks about the news, I just want to read the news. It makes no sense to me.

As usual I can't get the link to work the way the directions say it will and there is no other help available.

Seed Newsvine

Thing 11 - tagging and del.icio.us

This Thing was fairly easy to do and I tagged some of my posts. I can see the uses for del.iciu.us for tagging and marking things on the web but I have to admit I would be extremely uncomfortable having so much of my personal information or choices available for just anyone to see. I guess I'm not the social networking type; I see it as a rather strange form of narcissism in our society today. Everyone thinks everyone else is deeply interested in what they do and think - and I guess some of them are!

Thing 10 - wikis

It's fun and easy to edit the wiki. I see that they are a useful resource for patron input, staff sharing, etc. but I wouldn't count on any wiki for sound, accurate information since anyone with a bias can alter it.

Thing 9 - Collaboration

Well GoogleDocs wouldn't let me edit it. If we're supposed to sign up for an account that ought to be noted in the instructions. I see others are having the same types of problems so I suspect there's glitch somewhere. I've send email to be invited to edit with ZohoWriter. Perhaps that will work better.

Later the same day: I could get into the Zohowriter document but couldn't edit it. I then signed up for an account but then could no longer access the guest document. I give up.

Thing 8 - Sharing photos

This was a fun exercise and I found it easy to navigate PictureTrail and Flicks but difficult to figure out how to paste the slideshow to the blog. That's where the directions on the 23 Things pages seems to fall down. It says copy the posting code and paste in the blog but it won't let me do that and the directions don't say how. Too much knowledge is taken for granted I'm afreaid. I only managed to get the link in, not the slideshow.

The library applications of photo and image sharing are vast and would be great to do. Albums of storytimes, programs, etc., could add zing to our homepage.

http://www.picturetrail.com/flicks/4576754/preview

Thing 7 - Communication

Email and electronic calendars have certainly changed life in the library. Email now allows me to inform everyone on my staff of updates, news, procedure changes, etc., at the same time. No more routing slips -hooray! We get so much more done by sending information by email and only meeting when absolutely necessary.

Reference staff use instant messaging and chat to serve patrons and I hope that our division will begin to use some of these tools after everyone has had a chance to sample them with the 23 Things program. We already get emails from patrons to which we respond. I don't use chat or IM myself (no one to chat with) and texting is beyond my eyesight capabilities but I certainly see uses for them in the library world. If we could receive texting on our work screens it would be another way to give service to our patrons.

I haven't yet attended an OPAL or MINITEX webinar but I've attended a Sirsi webinar. The format is somewhat cumbersome but useful for getting information out to a widely scattered audience. As long as they are short ( 1 hour or less) I think they are handy but much longer than that and you lose the audience.

Thing 6

And my trading card is - guess what! I do have a fondness for these creatures and have been feeding several that live near our house (under the porch actually) to get them through the winter.

I thought this was another fun exercise with good instructions. I can't think of a good library use for trading cards just at the moment but I'm sure someone in my division or the group as a whole could. I also can't think of any other images illustrating my 23 Things activities but I'll keep pondering on it.

Thing 5 - More Flickr

This was not an easy exercise. I wanted to do something with Color Pickr but couldn't figure out how to upload it. I just don't have a lot of time to spend at this so used Splashr. Here are some Australian possums to enjoy.

These tools would definitely be fun to learn about and use to jazz up our website and/or department pages.

Thing 4 - Photosharing with Flickr

Flickr is an interesting experience. The cutesy spelling and word-making is a bit off-putting but there are definitely some useful tools there. I found a lot of interesting photos and a lot of pretentious ones. I still find it hard to understand why so many people think the entire world wants to see what they've been doing but I guess I'm just not in that mindset.

The Clemens library display was really great. What a creative use of this product! I definitely can see uses for our library there.

While searching Flickr I found a series of cute photos of possums. Possums are a most interesting critter and now that they seem to be a permanent part of the Minnesota landscape it's fun to find out more about them.

I had a lot of trouble uploading this image. This photo is from Possum Lady. It's not mine, just found on Flicker and the instructions aren't very complete.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22814387@N03/2209456497/sizes/s/ is the best I can do. There was no jpg link even though it seems to be in the public domain.

Thing 3 - RSS

This is a very, very handy bit of technology. It's easy to do and manage. If I want to keep up with news or research on a particular topic I can do so. This was a fun exercise.

Thing 2 Library 2.0

I read through quite a few articles. My reaction is "plus ca change....". 30 years ago OCLC and MARC were revolutionary, then online catalogs and ILSs. The library world has always adapted to and used new technology. Changes come faster these days but eventually a certain level of change will come to all libraries. Web 2.0/Library 2.o, whatever you call it it's a good opportunity to keep the library relevant to the high-tech oriented segment of our population. We do, however, have to remain relevant to those who aren't as comfortable with these changes. The baby-boomers will remain an enormous population bulge for years to come but there is also another huge population peak coming along as the birthrate in the US spikes so we will need to be aware of ALL our users not just the technolgically sophisticated ones.

23in08

Thing 1, Blogger. The instructions made it fairly simple to set up this blog. I can see the attraction for people to share comments but I do wonder where they get all their time! The avatar took too long and I don't think it's really necessary. Perhaps I didn't explore enough but all the images were young and unrealistically thin. A poor example for our young people, particularly girls.