Thing 22:Staying Current

My progress through the 23 Things has been slower than others and did not meet the original NEFLIN April 15 deadline. I wonder if I had had the advantage of theStudent 2.0 tools at an earlier date, I might have made the first deadline. Just kidding. When I told someone that I misscd the April 15 deadline, they very kindly remarked that if I had made it to Thing 16, which I did, it was something and at least it was all mine. Thanks again to that colleague, since they gave me the encouragement to carry on. Luckily, our library district encouraged it's staff to soldier on just for the experience. I must say that I couldn't have done it without the encouragement of the Adult Services staff at ACLD. They gave me advice and assistance.

Looking back on the first of the "Things", when I was not even sure how to register my blog, I have come a long way from that nervous moment. Now, I can read a little HTML and look forward to experimenting with it in the future. In retrospect, I have really enjoyed the whole experience, and, learned so much. The NEFLIN 23 Things were challenging in a way that was not too threatening and allowed the participants to learn at their own pace. The results are pretty amazing. When I go to my exercise class, populated by young women thirty or more years younger than myself, and I can say I have a Facebook site, the ones who know what Facebook is, are absolutely surprised. Others have no idea what a "Facebook". When I suggest U-tube to them to see how to do a particularly difficult exercise known as a Burpee, they don't seem to realize what a great tool it is.

I have also found out that having a Delicious account is valuable as a backup. I have moved around a lot between January and April and Delicious is turning into a real rock in the river of change. The news reports I receive from Reddit and Digg are unusual and they do not seem to make it to the mainstream media. The image generators were a lot of fun to manipulate. I still want to add a sequence mix of the images of the demolition of the Carstairs grain elevator to my blog. And, yes, I intend to keep up my blog, at least for a while, just to let my children see what I have been up to, and work on manipulating HTML to make cool images.
Lastly, I will return to many of the sites mentioned in the 23 Things, keeping my notes for reference and lengthening my list of sites on Delicious. Thanks Neflin.

Thing 21:Student 2.0 Tools

Wow. Both the Assignment Calculator and the Research Calculator are great tools, not only for college students, but for junior and high school students who show up at the reference desk and ask the reference librarian for suggestion on all sorts of topics.I will probably bookmark both sites. These two sites, along with their user guides, suggest common sense tips to direct any information search. I think either one of them could be modified, and added to the Science Experiment Page of any public library website. Maybe there is such a site out there for the public school elementary/secondary crowd but I have not found one yet. It is always helpful to explore new ways to guide, present and organize the information students need. Every student presents librarians with new opportunities to explore and different obstacles to overcome. It would be great for students who are new to researcing essays to be able to have a skeleton to hang their research on. Good for librarians helping them too. When it comes to helping students at the reference desk, I will take any hlep I can get and taior it to the student.

Thing 20: Books 2.0

I have a new cell phone and checking out BooksinMyPhone I saw a diagram of my very phone. It is exciting to know that I could download a book to it and read from it when I need to amuse myself while waiting for an appointment. I could read Middlemarch and let George Eliot's elegant prose calm me down.But would I settle down at night with my phone, or a Kindle, if I even decided to buy one? Would I even borrow a Kindle? Not likely. But, maybe this is the attitude of an older, shall I say, a more mature person. Just as many library users really like audio books on the self contained Play-Away devices instead of going online and going through the hassle of downloading an audio book, technology is way ahead of most mature readers. As to the younger folk, I personally think it would be great if they were plugged into a great YA book instead of Eminem.This opinion is shared by the parent referred to in the New York Times article, who is just glad her daughter is reading at all and not too concerned that all of her reading is done on the Internet. I guess I am willing to settle for any reading rather than holding out for the ideal of just contemplative and detailed reading from a book, even though the the esperts are sure that reading alters the circuitry of the brain. The article is full of interesting contradictions. Low income students who are given Internet computers raise their reading scores. Yet, educators deplore the trend to bit-length information, and, in their opinion, the lack of cognitive and lengthy contemplation that book reading fosters. Then, they alude to the fact that a lot of jobs are going to be computer or Internet based. You can't have it all.

Thing 19:Other Social Networks

I had a lot of fun hacking my way through the social network jungle. Web Junction and its usefulness to librarians was familiar to me since last year I tried to participate in their online class on library service to Spanish speaking patrons. I got a taste of what it is like to take an online class. Ning has a fair amount of depth but Gather seems too new to have a well stocked list of interests. The Ning participants were more knowledgeable about their individual adventures and interests. I tried putting in "Knitting" in both Ning and Gather and got the best return from Ning. Browsing through the Educational social networks gave me the idea to pass these on to my sister who is a professor of elementary education. She is always looking for ways to keep up with her young students. The What's on My Book shelf site presents a unique way to network: trade books with others. For public libraries, LinkedIn, the social network for aspiring business people could prove a helfpful resource in helping the public with their job applications, and goals. After this long slog through the social network environment,I loved the windup of this section with the humorous article from PC Computing. I thought the writer's comparisons of various social networking sites to a list of his favorite bars and his evolution away and out of them was spot on.

Thing 18: Facebook and MySpace

I have a presence on Facebook. A much younger colleague asked me to sign up so we can communicate after I retire. While signing up I found out I had another friend on Facebook. Surprise, surprise! This really made me feel a little more up to date...almost with it. Facebook is famous since Iran banished it and maybe it will become even more au courant. I see that Facebook's modus operendi is to bringing in more and more friends. this would work well and could be used to spread the word about library book clubs, discussion groups and young adult programming.

Thing : Podcasts

Checking several of the podcast directories, it becomes apparent that there is a lot out there and quality varies a lot. I saw one podcast on growing english garden peas that seemed to have just photos but the commentary was so charming that it made up for the lack of visuals. Unfortunately I was not able to
Podcasts (with visuals)are fun to make using CaptureFox but scripts have to be honed to a fine polish or they are blather. I am working on editing and rehearsing a podcast on using the financial database Morningstar and, since this is even ever changing medium, I have to extemporise on the results of the fund screener and this is shifting ground.I am delaying posting my finished product as it is polished up. Myfirst attempt produced a 13 minute presentation. This was way to long. However, I have learned so much working on this. I hope to get it onto our ACLD website for our library database user to access.
For now, I am adding a buddhist podcast to my blog...should be interesting.
http://podcast.com/show/6751/

Thing 16: Discover You Tube and other sites

Libraries have posted several advertising videos. This is one of my favorites because its not too loud and it has the soundtrack from "Spirited Away" on it. I can't believe how quickly I was able to add this to my blog. I will never make the April 15 deadline but I want to add one more "thing" just for old time's sake.

Thing 15: Rollyo

Rollyo has absolutely cutest logo, so cute you could eat it or chew it, so I tried it out before signing up for one more account. The lure of creating my own search engine faded when I realized that the amount of work in setting it up really did not equal the reward. However, after reading some of my colleague's blogs, I realize that may be there is a purpose after all for Rollyo...and maybe even in a reference roll-ee-o.

Thing 14: Online Productivity Tools

I already have a calendar in my e-mail but I took a look at the Google calendar which looks fairly cute. Since we are getting a new system to keep track of programming (Evanced) I am not sure how these calendars would work in library settings but it is possible that staff scheduling might be lurking in there somewhere. The most fascinating tool I found was the one which added up all the time one spends on a project. I wish I had found this earlier so I could add up how much time I have spent on the 23 Things.

Thing 13: Library Thing

Where the wild things are

Library Thing initially looks like a really useful online tool: finally a site for book lovers with the ability to paste in book covers to make it visually attractive. I could see this being a great site for reading groups and library programming gigs. For myself, though, I am thinking about this and wondering who would want to know what is in my library. Not only that, I have already signed up at so many social sites such as Digg, Zolo Wiki, Flickr, that I am beginning to feel like a flighty, thrill seeking butterfly. Library thing is a fascinating concept though. I did find some lists on Florida hurricane fiction that looked really interesting.Mmm. Nothing on Gainesville and no reading groups.My inner cataloging alter ego says that I better shelve my misgivings about another account, sign up, learn the ropes and revisit this site when I have more time to catalog the collection in our house, including my husband's entomology and biology books. For posterity and bug lovers all.

Thing 12:Wikis

I have used Wikipedia as one of my go-to sites for at least two years. It is a great tool but not an authority. However, the ability to keep database information evolving by sharing the work and input has lots of uses in any library. I am thinking of our local community database which I have been working on with a colleague. The St. Joseph County Library subject guide's ability to integrate the catalogue records with photos of books, and links to websites was a new concept for me. Sort of another version of AquaBrowser.
I went to Zoho.com and signed up for my own wiki. I have a personal/editing/writing project on Florida place names that I have tried to put into a computer file at least two times in the last few years. Because of the potential input from the public, I think a wiki could actually be the answer to my nagging problem: How to post my work for the benefit of the public and harness their editing power. More on this later.

Thing 11: Social Media

Digg has variety ...science to politics. . I read an article about a cloned extinct mountain goat. First time I have ever heard of this! So I added a Digg widget so I can keep up with science and wow my husband with the stories.Then I tried out Mixx which had an article about the evolution of the human jaw and how it eventually affected the size of the human cranium and the size of the brain. More wow! I even e-mailed this one to my husband. Then, I found an aritlcle on Reddit revealing a new planet in the Hubble telescope data. Pretty interesting stuff. Maybe I need a widget for all three. I think I am an information junkie and I think even the truly useless information is great. You just never know who or what may pop up on the public reference desk and find this useful. I can see that new channels for information are necessary if you are in the information business. Let's go for it. Unfortunately, social media has edged out the RSS feeds in my list of favorite things.

Thing 10: Tagging and Delicious

I signed up for a Delicious account at least a month ago because one of my co-workers said it was really great. My favorite websites have traveled well, sticking like glue on my network account, always returning on Internet Explorer, as I moved from workstation to workstation so I really did not see the need for another way to keep them by my side. But, I signed up anyway since it is the thing to do in "23 Things". Then a problem: layers of Delicious address lines and subscreens were loading whenever I just wanted to answer a question at the Reference desk.I started going into "Tools" and "View" and removing address lines, but never actually going so far as to dump Delicious because I needed to work up a resounding and fascinating post about it. I even learned how to disable add-ons. So Delicious, if nothing else, you have taught me a few tricks on how to manage the myriad of new gadgets, widgets, add-ons and general paraphenalia that comes with this exercise. Reviewing Delicious, I ran through the five most popular sites and found one that put a group of gorgeous blogs together in one place. All these sites would really help a library programmer because they are so full of graphic detail that takes creativity to new heights. Tagging my favorite sites was fun and it is supposed to bring new friends and contacts, so we will see what happens with that endeavor. For the meantime, I've got my Delicious Badge.

Thing 9 : Sharing: slides, photos, databases

Searching around for something to put on Slideshare, I found an old PowerPoint presentation on the duties of a Library Page at my former branch. Dusting it off and updating it took a minute and then I finally was able to upload "Page Power" to Slideshare. I was not able to embed it because my workstation has an identity crisis. However here is my link:

http://www.slideshare.net/secret/aVMem4qSlApWEY

Looking through Slideshare, I saw a lot of good presentations...even on library topics, so there are lots of opportunities to review what others are doing to publicize their efforts. Letting the world know the role that libraries the new W.2 world is a big job and we need to use every tool we can to accomplish this.

Back to Flickr where I went to a gadget that allowed me to display my two lion photos vertically and horizontally ....but they look like so many more!

Thing Eight: Communication Web 2.0 Style

Instant messaging has always been very mysterious to me. I have even accidently helped library patrons get onto the Yahoo instant messaging software ages ago but never had the nerve to take this up as a hobby until now. First, I decided that I would experiment with Meebo because I did not have to sign up for another account. However, after I downloaded their widget I am not sure how to figure out when the NEFLIN folks are online.Oh well, deciding to go for it I realized that back on Flickr I had a Yahoo account. So, now I have Yahoo Instant Messenger as well. But, in editing my site I lost my Meebo! Horrors! This means that I have to keep working away at the 23Things and not let a day go by that I do not work on it. Why? Just because its like my exercise class...chipping away at the pounds and strengthening my body has a lot of the same discipline that I require to master the Internet environment and get comfortable with Library 2.0.
As for library applications, I wonder if this could be used between the two reference desks upstairs and the staff offices downstairs in the library where I work...another way to keep relay messages and keep in touch.
SMS or short messaging service would be ideal to let cell phone users receive messages about their library accounts. Australia and New Zealand, served by the information system company Civica, have adopted the Spydus library automation system. Their website displays an endorsement from the Lord Mayor of Wollongong City, who makes no bones about the convenience it offers to users of the city library and the time it saves carrying out routine transactions. Since cell phone users are legion over here, wouldn't a similar system be great to help our patrons attached to their cell phones, keep up with holds, overdues, ILLs , and purchase requests?

THIИG SЗVЭЙ (Thing Seven)

The instructions to Thing 7 included the word "fun". So, I happened to find the license plate page in Image Chef and lo, there was the Wild Rose County plate with the added bonus of allowing me to imprint "23 Things" across the front of the plate. Then, I found a text generator (created by a University of Florida student) which changed my title into Fake Cyrillic script. http://www.theworldofstuff.com/ One more thing: I need to add a cute little game to my blog. Everyone needs to know more about the Middle East, right?

Geography Middle East Show yourknowledge of thegeography of SouthAmerica.

Play this free game now!!

Thing Six: Flickr Mashup

After much trial and error, I finally got my letter mashup arranged. Mashup is such a Jamaican word. The variety of letters from this source would be great when making posters. Maintaining a theme and continuity could be very time
consuming, but fun.

Thing 5: Flickr

It was easy setting up a Flickr account because I just transferred my hotmail username and password to Yahoo (easier to remember). Now I need to take some photos, which means borrowing my husband's digital camera and downloading the pictures. I needed a nudge to learn this so I won't cringe when patrons ask me to help them. At Flickr, I uploaded photos my daughter took of lions in the Sabi Sands Reserve of South Africa, (our one and only family holiday). I nearly uploaded the photo of Cullin's Rainbow on the Isle of Skye(Thing 2) but decided against it. It was sent to me from a fellow tourist and since it is not my photo I won't send it out to the public. It can reside on my blog though since my NEFLIN colleagues won't rat on me.In the meantime, I found Flickr to be a repository of amazing photos. I found great photos of my old home town featuring the last giant grain elevator , and this time the photographer gave his blessing in an email to my Flickr account that I have his permission to display this great photo. So Florida, this is a western prairie grain elevator.

Thing 4: RSS and Newsreaders

I skipped Thing 3 and did this first.This task really is useful to me and I immediately added my favorite British news sources, the BBC and the Guardian. Now I don't have to use Google to get their addresses. I will spice this selelction up with some blogs later. I look forward to fine tuning this account in the future. Now, onwards and upwards to Thing 5.

Thing Three: Checking out the Blogosphere

After checking out Technorati and Google Blog Search, I discovered a whole world of bloggers I never knew existed before. Thanks to Technorati's grid I can analyze the blog search engines. Through Google Blog Search I found Blog-Bib, a source for librarians to read and explore the possible implications of blogs for libraries. I know that a lot of my co-workers are producing really unique and unusual blogs. Not surprising to find out that one out of four bloggers ten hours or more blogging per week. This is getting to be a habit.

Library 2.0 and what it means for me

After reading the footnotes to the Wikipedia entry, I think I have a much better grasp of Library 2.0 and what it means for the future of public libraries and librarians. I like the quote from Sarah Houghton " Library 2.0 simply means making your library's space (virtual and physical) more interactive, collaborative, and driven by community needs." Others suggest that "L2 is partially a response to a Post-Google world". Since Google is my absolute favorite Internet tool, I think there are other new ways out there to find and share information and opinions with the public.Having been a librarian for a lot of years, from my perspective the whole scenario was started when Public Libraries seriously took up the provision of the internet to the waiting public as a way to remain relevant. As long as libraries can assist the public while they cope with changes in their environment, we will remain important to them. So onwards and upwards to the other 21 things and hopefully I will find another "Google" out there.

Hello world!

This is my very first posting. It was not easy for a bookworm to negotiate the instructions but at last I have arrived in Blogville.