Thing 23: Reflection-"Parting is such sweet sorrow!"

I cannot believe this “class” is coming to an end!! I feel that I went from a “rookie” technologically disadvantaged librarian to a somewhat “seasoned” technologically “in-the-know” librarian!!

Some of my favorite things I learned on my technological journey of discovery were: Flickr; Flickr Mashups; Image Generators; Twitter; Delicious (my fave); Digg (second fave); Google Docs. Some of my least favorite things were: Ning (didn’t like at all); Tagging; Blog Readers; RSS Feeds; Wikis.

The most challenging thing for me to do was Thing 18: Wikis. I had the hardest time trying to finish this exercise. I think it had something to do with my computer not being compatible with the site, but had a heck of a time trying to type in text and post the 2 pages.

I actually learned a great deal from the 23 Things program. I knew that I had fallen behind in terms of technology, but I had no idea that I had fallen that far back!! I now feel that I have a better idea of what technology is out there and I feel more confident in the use of this technology!

I think I will try a little bit of all the technologies that I learned in my library to see what works for my particular library. Every library is different, so what works in one library doesn’t necessarily mean it will work in another library setting. I’m anxious to find out what will work!! Thank you for allowing me to take this course-I had a blast!!

Thing 22: Developing your own 23 Things for your library

I do believe that the 23 Things Web 2.0 technology program is something that ALL library staff should be required to complete. There were so many things that I had no clue about, much less even knew existed, and this program has caught my technologically un-savvy skills up to speed!! This program could be tailored by a library staff member (someone with better technological skills than I have!) to teach his/her library staff the finer points of this program. Another thought is that we should share this information with our library patrons. We can’t expect our library patrons to follow our library’s Twitter, RSS feeds, or podcasts if they have no clue about this technology. So not only do we as library professionals need to educate our staff, but we also need educate our library patrons.

Thing 21: Podcasts in libraries

How was the audio quality?
Most of the libraries podcasts had good audio quality….however, there were a few that sounded like they were in a tunnel!

Were they interesting enough to make you want to subscribe to them?
Personally, I’m more of a visual person so I lean more towards a library’s YouTube video than a library’s podcast. However, I’m sure that many people will subscribe to them-especially those people that have I-pods and MP3 players.

What sorts of topics did they cover?
There were a variety of topics covered by the podcasts like storytimes, general information, events, etc.

Do you think that podcasts be useful to your patrons?
Yes, they will be useful to patrons that love listening to audio formats.

If so, what types of podcasts do you think would interest them?
A variety of podcasts would interest library patrons (book talks, storytimes, information about the library, etc.)

Thing 20: YouTube and Libraries

I was curious if there were any public library storytimes posted on YouTube and I found quite few. I watched a “storytime” YouTube video produced by the Rapid City Public Library http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdTeQs9T_q8 I know that librarians need to be careful about copyright laws and I’m wondering if Rapid City Public Library attained permission from the author before taping a reading of the book and posting it on YouTube. I can see how posting your library’s storytime on YouTube would be advantageous to your library (i.e. parents that cannot bring their kiddos to storytime due to work, conflicts, etc.), but as professional librarians we need take certain steps before posting a storytime on YouTube.

I also watched an awesome YouTube video by the New York Public Library (NYPL) title “Shout it Out for Your Library!” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc3wMrnQCZU&feature=pyv&ad=3444367915&kw=library This YouTube video had various New York City celebrity residents talking about how important the NYPL is to them and to their community. I thought the video was very well done and definitely got the message to the viewer that the NYPL system is needed, loved, and should stay open.

Thing 19: Google Docs

I've known about Google Docs for sometime and I have played around with them quite a few times, especially when using a computer that doesn't have a program that I need (word processing for example) and I've used the Google Docs to help me. Of course the main thing I like about Google Docs is that they are free, which (in my humble opinion) is always a good thing (especially on a public librarian's salary!!)!

Thing 18: Wikis

I found thing 18 to be somewhat of a challenge due to the fact that the Wiki didn't want to work with my computer. I tried many times to add pages and this feature would not work. I also had some major problems trying to type text into the "easy edit" boxes which was very frustrating. That said, I can see how people would enjoy using this application to categorize various posts.

Thing 17: LibWorm

I had heard of LibWorm from a co-worker (Melissa) during one of our web team meetings, but I had not, until today, ever visited the site! I used the search term "graphic novels" when conducting my various searches. The first search using "any words" brought up 187 pages! The second search using "all words" brought up 24 pages and the third search using "exact phrase" brought up 22 pages. It appears that there are only 2 sorting options available after bringing up search results: by date or relevance. One of the RSS feeds was quite amusing: http://lisnews.org/texas_tech_librarian_proves_existence_spider_man (gotta watch out for those Red Raider librarians!! :o) JK!) One function of LibWorm that I do like is the ability to search tags by an alphabetical list and that subject feeds are also alphabetical. From a librarian standpoint, I can see benefits of using LibWorm to sort through library-related RSS feeds-this weeds out a lot of riff-raff RSS feeds!

Thing 16: LibraryThing

YAY! I'm glad LibraryThing is one of the exercises because I've known about this site for about 2-1/2 or 3 years. When I first heard about this site, I immediately became a member and cataloged some of my favorite books from my personal collection (I wanted to share!). I will say that LibraryThing is definitely for book lovers-especially librarians! Where else can you catalog your own personal book collection?!?! I'm sure my friend Miranda has her whole collection cataloged! Another feature that I really like about LibraryThing is that I can find other people with similar reading interests! This facet of LibraryThing comes in very helpful when I'm looking for something new to read in my favorite genre (usually I've already read everything from my favorite authors). There have been many times where I've asked someone on LibraryThing if they had any books and/or authors they might suggest! To me, LibraryThing is a bit like a virtual community library where everyone loves books and loves to read!

Thing 15: Digg

As I've progressed through these exercises, I've realized how out of touch I had become with what's new and cool on the Internet! I gathered from the video that Digg started out as a social network for technology buffs, but has morphed into a social news site with general information about a variety of topics. The first Digg that caught my eye was on the $400 million dollar club which is about movies that have broken the $400 million dollar barrier. The interesting thing to me was when I clicked on "Digg" I had 2 options-I could sign up for a Digg account OR I could use a Facebook account. I decided to create my own Digg account because this seems like a good source of information that has been somewhat "filtered" down by users. It's very cool that I have the ability to add friends and see what they have been "digging"-this should make for some interesting conversations! It was said in the video that Digg is self-policing and that replicated or old outdated content may be "buried"-this sounds like a fun way for users to take ownership in Digg! I found it quite interesting that it wasn't just the number of "diggs" that would propel something to the top "digg" page, but the velocity was also taken into account! I've added Digg as a bookmark which I can now put on Delicious to access from any computer!

Thing 14: Delicious

WOW!! I can now access my bookmarks from any computer?!?! Awesome!!! I've often thought it would be nice to have access to my bookmarks from another computer, but I didn't know this was even possible until Thing 14!! I found the site very easy to use and navigate! I really like the way you can put in your own tags for your bookmarks-I'm sure I will be using the feature when I have more time! I can't wait until I get home to enter all my personal bookmarks!!

Thing 13: Tagging

I should have known that "tagging" would come up! "Tagging" is quite a controversial topic to many librarians! Of course, when discussing metadata, I fondly think of a certain professor at UNT! Like most things in life, there are positives and negatives to using tags. Does tagging belong in the library? Possibly. One idea that I postulate is allowing library patrons to place "temporary" tags when using the OPAC. This would allow the patron to place the tags he/she wants while keeping the catalog free of clutter. Does it replace or complement subject headings? Tags would never replace subject headings, but it might be possible to complement subject headings (with the aid of a professional librarian). Should we encourage or discourage the practice? There are already libraries that allow tagging at their OPACs and I know many library professionals are following tagging in libraries very closely. As professionals, we should always be searching for ideas that will benefit our patrons and tagging might a great idea, but only time will tell!

Thing 12: Twitter

I set up my very own Twitter account and I ALREADY have 4 followers!! Of course my new "followers" are all junk "what a tiresome clubbin trip click here to see my videos here http://tinyurl.com/lzg9ak" or "I just got my nipples pierced :-) ouch... I cant show you here but you can see on my profile http://tinyurl.com/ktux2d register and send ". I don't like this aspect of Twitter, but I can see why it has a following. I've heard about Twitter in the news, magazines, and word-of-mouth, but I had never used it until today. It does remind me of the Facebook status thing which I use sporadically. I'm not sure how much I'll use Twitter (I have a very basic cellphone), but I'll give it the old college try!

Thing 11: Instant Messaging

I have been instant messaging for years so this is one topic that I have a firm grasp on what's going on. I actually prefer instant messaging on the computer vs. texting on the cellphone because I'm a quick typist, but a horrible button puncher (I'm the slowest texter on the planet-bar none!)! I do use many of the abbreviations such as LMAO, BRB, GTG, etc. I also like mixing in those fun little expressions with my text to give it a little more flair!

Thing 10: Ning

I setup a Ning account, but I seriously doubt I'll use it because I'm not much of a business networking person. I enjoy Facebook because it's fun and doesn't require too much thought. Ning on the other hand, appears to be a business networking site. I'm sure Ning has it's uses, but unfortunately they do not apply to me at this time.

Thing 9: More Facebook

Yes, I've joined quite a few groups on Facebook and I've started two groups of my own. The two groups I started are high school alumni groups (I attended 3 different high schools growing up). One alumni group has 11 members and the other alumni group has 56 members. I have found that these groups have been a good way for old classmates to keep in touch and discuss things (lately we have been discussing our 20th class reunion which is coming up next year!). The other groups I have joined are: Six Degrees of Separation; I Am Fluent in Sarcasm; It's Not My Fault What You Said Can Be Misconstrued as a Sexual Innuendo; Librarians and Facebook; Buy a Book, Save the World; and some others!

Thing 8: Facebook

I have had a Facebook account for about a year. I've enjoyed my Facebook account for a variety of reasons: I have reconnected with old friends; my extended family can keep track of what's going on in my life; there are these crazy game applications that I'm addicted to (Rock Legends, Vampire Wars, Mafia Wars)!! Another important point about Facebook is that it is easy and fun to use!

Thing 7: RSS Feeds

I kinda knew what RSS feeds were, but until now, I had not played around with them much (I do remember a co-worker talking about them during a web-team meeting, but I really didn't know what he was talking about-thanks Richard!). I can see how RSS feeds are quite handy-I set up 3 different RSS feeds using the instructions (the most important one is the Unshelved one).

Thing 6: Blog Readers

Blog readers....truth or fiction? I found out today that blog readers do exhist! I had no idea that it was possible to have the various blogs I read in one location (not that I keep track of that many, but there are a handful that I do follow!). I easily performed the various tasks for this exercise using the Google Reader application.

Thing 5: Image Generators

These are quite fun to use...I'm going to show this to my daughter-I think she will really get a kick out of these image generators!

More Flickr (Thing 4)

My creation, originally uploaded by eamdterry.

I found these Flickr "mashup" tools to be quite fun!! There are all kinds of cool and fun things to do!!

Flickr (Thing 3)

This was my first time to visit the Flickr site and I found the site quite easy to navigate and use. The Flickr site is much like the Photobucket (www.photobucket.com) site in that users can upload and share photos. I found the upload time with Flickr to be much quicker than the upload time with Photobucket and I liked the fact that Flickr is tied into my Yahoo account. I "jazzed" a couple of pics up just for grins!

Below is a link to my Flickr photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39422520@N06/

Library 2.0 (Thing 2)

I read the Library 2.0. blog and I must say that I found the article interesting and many questions I had about what Library 2.0 were explained in an easy to understand context. I had been unclear as to what Library 2.0 actually meant and the article not only answered that question, but the article also gave me valuable insight into how libraries are embracing the new technological advances. I really liked Sarah Houghton's quote about libraries striving to make themselves "a destination and not an afterthought.” Much like the author of this blog, I also believe that becoming a Library 2.0 is not an option. In order for libraries to survive in our technological driven society, there must be change and/or adaptation.

Greetings to my fellow "23 Things" participants!

I send out a hearty hello to my fellow "23 Things" participants! I look forward to learning these new technology tools offered through this class with my "electronic classmates"!