Just one more...

Here's one more library related You Tube video...

Wrap Up

In pondering my time with the 23Things, I am encouraged that our library system is moving forward with today's technology. As a new(er) employee, I am glad to be able to use these technologies in our day to day work activities. I've covered quite a bit of these 23 Things in library school, but am glad to see them here in the real library world! Seeing technology in action is even more exciting than reading and talking about it.

I've enjoyed being able to play at work as well. I place a large amount of value on being able to have fun at work and with work, so to speak. Most of these technologies have been fun to play with, but will also some fun to our work. Our branch's RA committee has implemented a wiki to share authors and it is fun to play with and to use for work! So thank you 23 Things, for making at least some of our work FUN! :0)

My favorite things were learning about wikis and I love all of the Flickr fun. The only thing I would have like to have covered and discussed is social networking sites. I know that they are harder to discover without joining and many people would not have felt comfortable doing so. Some discussion in depth would have been nice. Otherwise, I feel like everyone who completes this hefty project has been stretched and must have learned something.

Overdrive

Overdrive is a great idea! I haven't really used this service, but learning more about it has been enlightening. I think that if you can find something that you want/need, then the Overdrive books are great. But the selection is a bit slim and many people find the incompatibility with Apple products frustrating. If they could work out that issue, I bet more people would be inclined to use it.

In looking through the titles, I decided that I would look at the titles that are always available. Also, as an audio book neophyte, I decided that listening to something that I've already read might be a good idea. So I listened to the excerpt of Emma. Listening to the witty banter of the characters adds a new dimension to this classic. I will try out more audiobooks in the future!!

Podcasts

Podcasts, like the YouTube videos, can be used to help promote libraries and provide instruction. Another great thing that I noticed libraries doing, particularly public libraries, is posting a book discussion as a podcast that patrons can download and listen to. I think something like that could be very useful in our libraries. Many times we hear from our working patrons that they would like to be able to participate in the book discussions available here at the library, but can't make it to the daytime program. A podcast of the book discussion on the webpage would great for this patrons.

I love the NPR podcasts! I have a cousin who is a producer for NPR and now I can listen to his work more easily due to the podcasts. One is biggest projects is the This We Believe program. Great listening!

YouTube, We All Tube!

I love YouTube. I'm totally addicted to watching funny videos while attempting to weed out the nastiness. I think it is a great resource for all kinds of things for libraries. Libraries can create celebratory videos, such as this one. In fact, I know the creator of this video and it took him some time to get all the footage and edit it, but it is fun to watch! Another promotional video for my alma mater is here!

Libraries can also tap in to YouTube to create informational and instructional videos about particular services that the library provides. The video format will make the instruction more fun for reluctant students. Here is a funny example!

In short, used properly, YouTube is a great tool for libraries.

Web 2.0 Awards

Of all the Web 2.0 award winners, I love Facebook the most for my own personal use as well as it's potential us in libraries. It's a great social tool that connects users to each other and to tools and applications. Facebook has allowed me to keep in contact with friends that I have made from high school, college and grad school. Since many of us are spread out across the country, this is an easy and inexpensive way to keep in touch.

In terms of library use, I definitely think there are ways that libraries of all kinds are using Facebook. I have mentioned this before in another blog post. Facebook can help libraries promote themselves in a new way. They can make a catalog search box on their profile page. Many libraries provide email address to contact the library and even librarians. The social aspect of Facebook can foster a feeling of community at a library too. Users can interact with each other about their experiences at the library by posting on The Wall. Blogs of librarians can be linked to the Facebook account and inform users of upcoming events.

Here is a great example of a library Facebook page- Seattle Public Library.

The library posts blogs about library related programming and news. They can also post interesting article that relate to libraries. Also, users have posted things to the page as well. This is just another way to market libraries and library service to a new audience.

Welcome

 

So I think I will write my blog post about Zoho writer here on my Zoho Writer document.  This is a pretty awesome idea.  That's what all these "things" are, but this and the wikis seem like really applicable things to our day to day work in a library.  This is a fun tool that you can really customize to your own needs and preferences.  I know I'll be using a wiki in the future, but it is good to know that something like this available for collaborative work. 

Library Wikis

I enjoyed looking at the other library related wikis. I in fact was just discussing with a coworker that the Wikimedia style wiki was reassuring to me because it was in a familiar format. I also found a wiki that has links to other library blogs and breaks them down in particular types of libraries. http://www.blogwithoutalibrary.net/links/index.php?title=Welcome_to_the_Blogging_Libraries_Wiki That could be interesting to take a look at and is a new way to publicize library blogs and use a new technology.

I like that wikis are user friendly (for the most part!) and are user generated. The issue of security is obviously a large one. Being able to invite users like we have with our wiki is one way to control who can and cannot edit the wiki.

I also like that multiple people can work on the same project from any location. Some of us here are currently looking at working on a large project this way. Fantastic!

So the world of wikis is wild and wonderful. This one of the 23things that I can really see using the most in libraries.

PB Wiki

Well, I have successfully added to my favorite books and movies to the PBCLS wiki. That was fairly simple, which was a bit surprising to me. I have been a bit nervous about wikis since they are something that I don't know as much about. So this was a great exercise and one that I will be building on in future projects.

In addition to adding on my favorite movies and books, I added my blog to the favorite blogs list on the wiki. This was a bit more challenging, because there is another blog on Blogger that is almost identical. So I kept trying to add mine and it would link to this other person's. I finally got it right and now it links up correctly!! Yay!!

Technorati

Well, I keep trying to access the Technorati webpage in order to explore it, but at least here at the library I keep getting an error message. I don't know why that is, unless it is because everyone is trying to look at it simultaneously.

So I can still blog about the usefulness of tagging your blog and making it available for searching. I think tagging is a great idea and if you do it well, then your ideas can become far more accessible to more people. I have been trying to accurately tag my own blog posts. I haven't had any response beyond our own little project, but who knows? That's the joy of tagging!

Delicious!

I have heard of Del.icio.us before, but had not really used it. I really like the social aspect to it. Being able to see what other people are looking at and enjoying is very interesting. It even helps you discover new websites.

I have a somewhat similar add on to my personal web browser, called StumbleUpon. You can "stumble" and discover new websites that are selected based on interest areas you enter when you download the toolbar. You can invite friends and make friends based on your favorite sites and interests.

Perspectives

I'm currently reading over the five articles posted to the PBCLS 23 Things blog about Web 2.0. I really like have these different perspectives, because it reminds me that Web 2.0 is a dynamic thing. I may be prejudiced, but I enjoy Michael Stephens' perspective. I was privileged enough to have him as my professor for Internet Fundamentals and Design in my masters program. I think that his encouragement of experimentation in libraries is to be commended. If we all sit and think and talk about Web 2.0, but never do anything, we're really just wasting our time. He also makes the point that adding new technology to library services and use is always for a purpose. In other words, we use blogs or wikis for a specific purpose, not just because it's the "cool" thing to do.



I also liked the point made by Rick Anderson's article about user education. With all of this changing technology, there will be the patrons who do not know how to keep up with these changes. His ideas about removing barriers between the user and their information needs makes sense to all of us.

Over all, I think it is good to see new thoughts and perspectives about everything.

Warholizer

Here's the lovely Warholized picture I created using fdflicker toys. Take a look!

Bloglines

I already have a Bloglines account that I created last year for one of MLIS classes. I hadn't actually been using it too much recently, so it was nice go back and revisit what I had feeds of. I had all of my classmates blogs on there as well as my teacher's. I have a wide area of interests, so I had some pop culture blogs in there as well as some fun websites of games and web cartoons. I should start adding other PBCLS blogs to my feed as well. I'd forgotten how fun something like this can be and now I'll be keeping up with my feeds more regularly!!

Slideshow fun

Well, I decided that since I like everyone else's fun slide shows so much that I'd add one of my own. I couldn't seem to get Blogger to find my specific Flickr photos, so I have Chicago architecture, which is one of my interests. Chicago is great city and a great city for libraries. After all, it is the headquarters for ALA!

Technology and Libraries

I think the most intriguing mix of technology and libraries is the new trend of libraries creating their own Facebook pages. Many libraries around the world have done this. Some are more creative than others, but at least it gets a presence out in the web. For an example, Baylor University Libraries has a Facebook page that connects the user to the catalog, allows them to IM a librarian and provides basic information about the library. Facebook users can become "fans" of these libraries, which brings more attention to them. This is not exclusive to academic libraries either. Arlington Heights Memorial PL, in Chicago, also has a great Facebook page that promotes programming and even has video postings that are intended to help others learn about Web 2.0. This could be the next frontier of library promotion and publicity.

Flickr and fd toys

Since I already had a Flickr account, I decided to use the fd Flickr toys to create this photo mosaic for my blog. There are some other really cool toys out there to play with your Flickr pictures. I even made a librarian trading card last year that can be found in my Flickr photostream. For some reason I couldn't make the "blog it" feature work between Flickr and Blogger, so I'm just going to post the mosaice I created this way. Any how, fd Toys are fun to play with one's own pictures or by searching tags, the way I did. I thought this was interesting almagam considering the keywords that I used to create my mosaic. I used books, libraries, and trees to create this. And I ended up with mostly pictures of tree related subject matter.

Flickr is a full of all kinds of pictures. I had a professor that goes to Chipotle at least once a week and then takes a picture of his meal and then uploads into his Flickr account. If you do a search for food pictures, you will find that many more people have done the same thing with all kinds of food!

Blogging in libraries

In library school I took an Internet Fundamentals and Design class. In this class we discussed many of these 23 things that will be coming in the weeks ahead. I participated in a group project about blogging and how it could be used in libraries. We decided to created a fictional librarian who was interested in using her blog to speak to other young librarians out in cyberspace, but also as a way to interact with patrons. We posted various things about Reader's Advisory, library programs, book reviews and general information about upcoming events that others might be interested in. I think this is a good way to promote the library as an information place on multiple levels. So I think the most successful library blogs that I've seen were well advertised, updated regularly and contained pertinent information.

Another good way to utilize blogs in a library setting is setting one up for the librarians and staff in a particular department. This way that can access the information they may need to know about from home or work. A blog is a less formal way to discuss things that are going on in a department. A blog can also be used to foster a stronger sense of community in a library as well. These are some ideas that I have about blogging and libraries.

7 1\2 Habits

In reviewing my assignment for blogging, I've realized that I forgot to discuss the 7 1\2 habits of life long learners. I really think that anybody is going to become a librarian is going to have these habits. After all, librarians spend most of their time learning from books as well as from each other and from patrons too! Really, this is what libraries have been about since Carnegie's time. His whole purpose for helping build libraries was to help out his fellow man by providing a learning space. He saw the library as the people's university.

Of these 7 1\2 habits, I think number 6 is the most important. Helping each other and teaching each other is the best way to learn and utilize our new Web 2.0 skills. This will also be greatest challenge, even though I believe strongly in it. I enjoy sharing knowledge with others, but I also tend to get easily frustrated if someone's knowledge level isn't as high as my own. So I know I am going to need patience fostering and teaching others at times.

Reader's Advisory

I have been working in on a list for a book talk that I am giving in June. It's all about Chick lit. I'm pretty excited about the whole thing. I have high hopes of bringing in a diverse group of people. I think it would be really great if I could get a few young mothers in too. Since chick lit has exploded into many sub genres, I feel that I have gathered a little bit of everything, including "mommy" lit. In fact my list includes the classic chick lit books, multi-cultural lit and also "matron" or "hen" lit, which has older main characters. I've got some snazzy looking handouts and I'm starting to gather the titles that I'd like to actually talk about.

Yay!

Blogger has unblocked my blog, so now I can post again. It's strange how they thought that I was spam...

My first Blog Post

This is my first blog post for my Web 2.o project here at the library. I'm excited to be able to play and learn about some these great new technologies. We often hear about how exciting these new things are but rarely seem to really dig into new technology, so this experience should be rewarding on many levels. Each person who participates is going to learn some really cool new stuff and the library system is bound to get some fantastic products from the many employees contributing. While this is by no means my first experience with blogging, I am eager to see what will be coming up next!