Reflections......

Truthfully, this has been lots of fun. There were times when the "lessons" took longer than expected. But, on the whole, it was great. The explanations each week were basically sufficient, so on-site help wasn't needed too often (except in the beginning). Also, quite often, problematic explanations were covered in comments sent in by other staff members.

It will definitely be interesting to see how all of this translates to on-the-job helpfulness. I think, though, that even just recoginition of online terms and options and choices will help.

I do enjoy blogging. Between all of the participants, there must be thousands upon thousands of words out there now. (Most of them unread by anyone else!) Getting to know and feel at home with the process is a good tool to have.

What did I enjoy the most? Playing around with the Online Generators is fun. As is YouTube. YouTube, of course, is not new to me; but the Online Generators are. I also enjoy Overdrive (but again, not new to me) and LibraryThing. Wikis, Flickr and Mashups are fun to explore.

It would be great to have update sessions as technology advances. They could be in the same format -- a combination of narrative, podcasts and links to the pertinent applications.

I would most definitely participate in this program again; and recommend it to any and all.

As for suggestions for the future.... Well, that's not easy for me since I am not on the cutting edge of all of this. I truly have no idea what else to recommend. Whatever seems appropriate, interesting, do-able in a library setting I guess. Much of what we've wandered through probably only has minimal linkage to a library -- but with the internet such a big part of our service offering, it's important to be aware and at least conversant. A "what's new" column in the Memo from time to time could be useful.

So, The End.

Overdrive

I am very familiar with Overdrive. I've been spending time at home going through the KCLS catalog of Overdrive titles. It's amazingly easy to "check out" the titles and then transfer them to your mp3 device. I started doing this a few months ago in anticipation of a long trip that I'll be taking in the autumn. I've already downloaded about 20 titles and I'm not even 1/2 way through the long list of Overdrive titles.
Overdrive is a service that will probably become more and more popular in years to come as more people use mp3 players for more than music. Especially as people buy new cars and have the ability to use a mp3 player with their car sound system.

Peas in a Podcast (or somesuch)

Wandered around the 3 podcast directories, listening to library-related items at Podcast.net and Podcastalley.com. The Sunnyvale Public Library Mother Goose storytime intrigued me. But, I could barely hear it, even with the volume way up. Same with their "A Prune is a Prune" (great title). I then went over to the Kankakee Public Library podcast with Barbara D'Amato. No problem hearing that.

Using the search term "library 2.0" at Podcastalley resulted in many of the same connections; even though I'd used only "library" at Podcast.net. Podcastalley, however, seemed to require downloading of more software. So I didn't pursue that.

The RSS fee that I added to my Bloglines came from a search at Yahoo Podcasts. Used the search term "Jon Stewart" and connected with something from Podzinger. None of the library-related podcasts appealed to me; but I'll look further next week and update this entry then.

YouTube

Yes, I do like YouTube. I've been looking at videos there for quite a while now; so this isn't a new arena for me (unlike some of the other areas we've explored). I really like the idea of online storytimes, beyond the Dewey and Sketch series. If kids could see their local children's librarian presenting storytimes; well, I think they would get a kick out of that.

I just used the exploratory term "silly peacocks" to see what would come up. I found a very short animated film that was cute. Here is the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QK_i7gfZShM I'll also see if I can embed it. That's it for the moment !

So, I embedded it. Because of the size, it is cut in half. However, if you double-click on it, a separate window opens with the full picture.

Chapter 22

Blogniscient is kinda cool. (It was #2 on the Award Winner list). It tells which blogs in the computer universe are being looked at most, at any given time. Where is everyone congregating? What are they looking at? This site answers that question. http://blogniscient.com/

It even rates the political articles "left" (with a blue icon) and "right" (with a red icon). So if your political slant determines what you want to read, it's mapped out for you here.

There are several categories, like sports, entertainment, sci/tech, etc. Each of these blog links also have an icon that helps categorize things.

A drawback, though, is that it doesn't seem to be updated in real time. I went back a few days after my original viewing and it looked like the same blogs were listed, with dates from March (?). Something to keep in mind.

How does this translate into helping patrons? Again, kinda nebulous. Maybe if someone had a hot topic, this site could be used to connect with pertinent (if any) blogs.

Online Software

I did this a bit out of order. Assignment 21 was done and posted before #20. But so it goes. It's all here.

Quite liked both Google Docs and Zoho. And, it is great to know about them. Brand new info for me. Something to definitely share with patrons.

A 'Googlin We Shall Go

Labs... Makes me think of mad scientists with wild, wacky hair working into the dead of night. Trying to to come up with that "eureka" moment.
But, I guess if you are in "perpetual beta" that moment may never come.

I sauntered around Google Mars, just 'cause I wanted to visit outer space for a bit. It was mostly very colorful maps and links to NASA articles. Fun.

Google Trends just puzzled me a bit. I decided to compare "lollipops" and "mp3 players". Charts popped up, and links to articles about these subjects. "Candymakers, hemp advocates debate over marijuana-flavored lollipops" and "Narcotic lollipops new drug hitting Philadelphia streets". Hmm; I notice a trend there, even though the articles are years old. The mp3 stuff was more mundane. The problem that I had with the charts was that there was no context. What do they mean; there was no scale given at all. Not really useful.

Another Week

Before I start blathering about this week's assignment, I wanted to say this........ It's really incredible what some of you out there have put on your blog sights. Really fun, creative stuff. It's great just to wander around the participant list and see what comes up.

I've been hesitant about posting anything truly personal. Just don't feel at home in this workplace format. But I must say that I am now more inclined to set up a personal blog that could be more reflective of who I am.

Nuf said.....

Library 2.0 Articles

The "Icebergs" article was interesting. But, it was written from the perspective of a university librarian. Whole different angle than what we face at KCLS. He mentioned a "55% drop in circulation rates over the past 12 years." Not our case at all. Phasing out our book and media collections -- not going to happen. We'll be updating, keeping an eye on the flow of what's going on, trying to respond. We are a popular internet center of our communities. But, our core as a public library are the items that patrons want to check out and take home with them. The author does make some valid points about "just in case" collections, though.

The "New World of Librarianship" read kinda goofy to me. I guess 'cause I kept laughing at the innumerable references to "This librarian". The traits of a "Librarian 2.0" that were mentioned and the tools that can be utilized were all a nice synopsis. It's just the writing style was awkward.(And, I can laugh easily......)

And, lastly, off into the future with Wendy Schultz. She heads off into Library 3.0 and Library 4.0. Way beyond reading, into virtuality and interacting, experiencing. Will these ideas come to pass?

Searchin'

As per usual, I bumbled around a bit with this next exercise. I played around with searching (via "KCLS & Neighbors") in both Rollyo and Google. Truthfully, I just didn't feel comfortable with Rollyo. I didn't like the format in which the search results were posted. Probably just a preference. I'm so used to the look and feel of Google searches that I could relate to those results much better.

As for potential uses -- well, I draw a blank there. I guess just to gather together, under one umbrella, the search results for a specific thread. Could be used for assignments, or readers' advisory, or somesuch.

I linked a Google custom search tool to my blog. It pulls together some web sites pertaining to an upcoming trip that I'll be taking -- to Machu Picchu, the Galapagos and parts of the Amazon.

Problematic, Sporadic.......

I'm going to remove something from my blog now. It stopped working, for some reason, a few days ago. I had created a message with twinkly letters from a specific site listed on the Generator Blog. It's no longer generating. Maybe it had a shelf life ? So, bye-bye. If I have time later, maybe I'll post something to replace it.

Cartoon Land

Took a bit of work (and asking advice from others), but I finally was able to download the Simpsons and South Park images. Kinda goofy; but oh well. That was fun to play with.

Frozen and Unbuttoned

Do Dah!

Wiki Wiki

I lived on Maui for 10 years; so wiki-wiki will always mean "hurry up" to me. Of course, I went on super-drive to get through this exercise (#15). And, I'll probably wiki-wiki through this narrative also....

I've been familiar with and enjoyed Wikipedia for a while now. It's really fun to wander around, linking all over the site. You can find some interesting, if not authoritative, stuff there. Of the wiki links from this exercise, my favorite was the Book Lovers Wiki. It's a small site, but a nice application of book club reviews and insights. I can see how this could be a template for usage at any library. There are, of course, many wiki roads that could be followed in a library setting -- book talks, internal staff info., storytime theme exchange, etc.

I'm ending now because it's dinner time and I have to get out to the Info Desk right after that. Wiki-wiki........

LibraryThing

Well, that was fun. I only looked around LibraryThing. I'll have to try Shelfari and GuruLib to see how they compare. I added a bunch of titles that I own to "My Library" on LibraryThing and then posted it here on my blog. Added some weird tags to some of the titles.

So, I'm finished for this week. Now for a weekend of rest, relaxation and whatever happens.........

The Latest-- #12

Just finished dabbling in the 1st step of this week's exercises. Del.icio.us. A simple site. Was interesting, I guess. Can see the value if you work at several computers or if you get confused about which bookmarks you have at which computers. Not much else to say about it..........

MySpace

Just did the basic instructions today. Didn't do much beyond that -- maybe it's because I'm not feeling well. On MySpace I was able to upload a photo from my desktop. So that added a bit of color to the otherwise barren landscape. (Well, barren except for the dancing ads and the general busy-ness of the site.) As to what I think of MySpace ? ? Not much beyond the realization that it is incredibly popular. I will do more investigation in the upcoming weeks though.

Social Networks

Social networking and libraries... Hmm. Again I am taken aback by the amount of time that can be spent doing these things. Time that is spent surfing in anonymous hyper cyberspace. It is all so immediate, but it doesn't involve the face-to-face interactions that are so important to human relationships. Ah well.
I am not a troglodyte; far from it. It's just the isolating quality that gets me. If social networking brings teens and anyone else into the library, that's great. Then we can have the conversations, the book talks, etc.

Just my thoughts.
(After all, my site is named "Talking Story".)

RSS, etc.......

Truthfully, these exercises take WAY longer than anticipated. Must be my slow brain cells. Anyway, I subscribed to 2 RSS feeds, 2 co-worker blogs, the KCLS Leaning 2.0 feed and 1 of the library-themed feeds (from the Reader's Club New Review feeds). That's a lot of looking, wandering and deciding. And, I'm not sure how often I'll use it. On a personal note, I like to go to certain news sites for my daily information. Can't think how RSS will help that. It's way too condensed for my eclectic tastes; and, not visually oriented. I like the whole spread of a good website. It's just easier for me to go to my websites than enter a list on bloglines. Professionally, I can't think of a way to incorporate into helping or informing patrons. Maybe my co-workers have some ideas.

Mashups

I wandered around the mashups and the one that I had the most fun with was Flickr Color Pickr. It's a really cool, rapid way to find photos with similar color themes. I just clicked away at that for several minutes. It's a fun visual -- not sure of its practical applications beyond compiling artistic montages.

Flickr

By the light of the eclipsed moon.......

(It took a long time to download this from Flickr. Finally had to do an end run around it all).

A Personal Photo......

Summer in the Tetons......

I lived in and around the Tetons for about 5 years. It is beautiful country, no matter the season. This photo was taken by my son during a long hike we took there a few years ago.

It was my first trip back in many years; and alas it is true that you "can't go home again". So many changes in Jackson, Wilson and Teton Village. But, once you got out, several hours into a hike -- then it was the same. The mountains at their best.

A Blogging.....

Hopefully this will become more intuitive as time goes on. Right now I 'm spending way too much time just navigating everything....

In the Beginning.....

I'll be starting this out, much like everyone else..... By saying that I made it this far and that's good!
We'll see how this goes from now on and how a blog fits into the incredible "busyness" that is life in the public library.