mem's 23Things

Thing #23

2007-08-01T18:17:00.000-04:00

Well, here I am at the end of this journey of exploration. It was intense at times but always fun and interesting. Now, I will try to use some of the new technologies I have found to help patrons and myself to enhance our library experience.
The only thing certain is that Things will continue to change and evolve so this journey will never really end.
"Drink up, the world's about to end" and "thanks for all the fish" (from the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams).

Thing #22

2007-08-01T12:54:00.000-04:00

I have actually been using Overdrive and NetLibrary for some time and find them both excellent sources for audio books and videos. I also use MyLibraryDV for videos. The selections are a bit limited but I have found some interesting short films.

Thing #21

2007-08-01T12:49:00.000-04:00

I decided to put the PBS show NOW on my bloglines RSS feed. It picked up OK but when I play it, the voice sounds chipmunkish. I'm not sure why.
I used podcastalley.com and I found it very easy to use.

Thing #20 Homemade Cat Toys

2007-08-01T09:22:00.001-04:00

Here's a way to entertain your cat and also get lots of hairball spots on your carpet!!

FCPL might create an account and publish interesting branch videos. A link to our videos could be on the website. Here's one possible post.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-djwRRV07UM

Thing #19

2007-07-31T21:04:00.000-04:00

I looked at Yelp http://www.yelp.com/
This site provides traveler information for cities in the USA. If you create an account you can add your own sites and reviews.
As this site gains input, it will be a great tool for planning trips or vacations. Patrons would find it very useful as a travel guide.

Thing #18

2007-07-31T20:15:00.000-04:00

Published from Google Docs:

Try this after Thing #18

LAUGH A LITTLE

Laugh a little, laugh a little,

ha, ha, ha.

Sing a little, sing a little,

la, la, la.

Clap a little, clap a little,

clap, clap, clap.

Dance a little, dance a little,

tap, tap, tap.

Spin a little, spin a little,

round and round.

Rest a little, rest a little,

all fall down.

Thing #17

2007-07-31T19:42:00.000-04:00

OK - I'm in there with a wiki page and a link to my blog. It was a bit tricky and I think I left one of those orphan pages floating around but I figured it out by actually reading the instructions!! (Imagine That!?)

Thing #16

2007-07-31T18:20:00.002-04:00

Wiki's are certainly growing in popularity. It seems to be easy to start one and the possibilities for content are endless. I think the tool is wonderful for encouraging community collaboration. Initially, I was thinking of just a kind of intranet for the librarians and LA's but after some investigation, I think a wiki inviting patron input is also a good idea. I guess it's difficult to imagine the kind of time allocation that is required to monitor the input from so many different sources. Clearly, someone needs to be watching the posts for appropriate content.
It might support an online book club where members could post comments about a book as they are reading it and then use the comments as discussion points for a face-to-face book club meeting. This concept could apply to almost any kind of library-sponsored patron group.

Thing #15

2007-07-31T16:58:00.000-04:00

What an exciting time to be in the library business!! Our focus will be changing from the standard collection mentality to an expanding universe of possibilities. There are so many ways to use the concepts in Library 2.0 to enhance our patron's experience. The biggest challenge is to be ready to assist patrons with new technology while not abandoning those who just want the old-fashioned library experience. These universes will clash from time to time so we must be ready to make it all mashup!?

Thing #14

2007-07-30T21:33:00.000-04:00

Technorati - another amazing space to lose yourself in!! I searched on a few tags and looked at the popular sites. I found Boing-Boing there. I am already getting that on my RSS feeds. It's pretty wild. I did not claim my blog yet. I want to spend some more time there before I jump in with both feet!!

Thing #13

2007-07-29T20:24:00.000-04:00

Well I spent most of 2 days just exploring Delicious (with dots) and I think it's a pretty amazing concept. From my SLRC tour, I learned that PRATT is planning to publish their custom links on their webpage but they are using a different site that requires a license - I believe they are paying something for the license.

The most interesting thing on both sites, however is the tagging feature. This is a new concept for me. I have used folders for so long, it's a bit of a struggle to keep an open mind. I can see that tagging is the best way to share stuff with a large, diverse community but I still tend to think in terms of the old folders. Unfortunately, I am old enough to remember when folders was a new concept. For that matter, I can remember when the computer was a new concept. I think I will stop there!! {:-}

Oh yea, I like the clouds too.

Thing #12

2007-07-27T19:54:00.000-04:00

See my Rollyo search in the sidebar. {:-)

Thing #11

2007-07-27T16:53:00.000-04:00

I love LibraryThing. This will be a great resource for me personally as well as at work.

Thing #10

2007-07-27T15:46:00.000-04:00

Well I did create a Yahoo Avatar and finally found the export feature. I added it to my sidebar as you can see.

Wachathink???

I am hoping to actually have my real picture taken there soon!!

As for this exercise, I got sidetracked into several sites that wanted to download stuff. Most did not work well or at all so I am now going to uninstall the stuff.
Lesson learned - maybe better to stick with the sites I am familiar with unless someone else actually recommends it.

Thing #9

2007-07-13T19:57:00.000-04:00

Well I am getting pretty good at this now. I found a couple of news sites I like and I definitely feel a serious addiction beginning to set in!

Thing #8

2007-07-13T17:07:00.000-04:00

Whoopee - I have feeds - that was quite an experience. I got many questions answered that have been bugging me for a long time. Now I will see how much time I save by having 80 FEEDS TO MONITOR!!!
While it's true I would never monitor all those sites individually, I also never heard of half of them. That's what I get for using the Bloglines easy menu to select my interests. Fortunately, they are just as easy to delete.

Thing #7

2007-07-10T19:52:00.000-04:00

I have a real love-hate relationship with technology. For example, I love my cell phone but I hate that I can't seem to find one WITHOUT a camera. I really have no use at all for a camera in my phone and it just causes me difficulty when I am somewhere that does not allow cameras. I am also not too thrilled that everyone in the universe now has a camera ready to snap, snap, snap anytime, anywhere.
I love my wireless laptop computer but I hate that I can now spend hours and hours surfing when I would rather be reading but I just can't stop because it's here and ... well you get the idea. I am also addicted to freecell - it is my absolute favorite when I just need to zone-out, which is more frequent than I care to admit.

Thing # 6

2007-07-10T19:42:00.000-04:00

Moving on, I found this mashup site and I am still lol on the floor!!

http://icanhascheezburger.com/

Thing #5 some other things

2007-07-08T19:22:00.000-04:00

Here's a link to another picture I found interesting based on today's weather.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kim/750978432/

My first picture choice was a puzzle. I could not capture it so here's a link to that one also. The capture on this one creates a .gif file that does not convert to a picture for me so that's a puzzle.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thetidalrabbit/540128216/
Note the interesting little comments when you run your cursor over the various books in the picture.

Thing #5

2007-07-08T18:51:00.001-04:00

Eat your heart out TH. This lovely public library in Wibaux, Montana has a bench out front!!

This photo was taken by INCMULLEN, published on Flickr on 5/29/07.

Week #2 Lifelong Learning

2007-07-08T13:44:00.000-04:00

I listened to the podcast awhile back but forgot the part about posting my comments. So, as usual I am a bit behind but still in the game.

For me, the hardest thing is setting goals. I am easily distracted and I usually need to work from a list to make sure I finally get to everything. My goals are often a bit mushy and tend to morph into something very different as I progress toward the finish line.

The easiest thing is to take responsibility for my own learning. In a way, that is why I have trouble with goals. If I see a learning opportunity along the way, I will usually take the sidetrack and frequently forget the way back to my original project. I am always looking for learning ops.

my 23Things

2007-06-04T17:43:00.000-04:00

This is my blog for 23Things with Frederick County Public Library in Maryland.