Thing #24 The Finish Line

Once I got around to putting the time and effort into this project, i really enjoyed it. I know that I won't regularly use most of the applications and websites that we learned about but some I will be integrating into my often viewed and used. I think that it was important to offer this program to all the people working at the library and with the public. These are the sites that people are most often using. Myspace may not be an "intellectual" site but its what I see the majority of people using when I am working. Its important that I at least have a general idea about what it is that people are asking about. Im sure Pete would love it if more staff were able to answer the computer based questions that he is often called upon to do. This was a great program and im thankful for all the time and effort you put into promoting it, Jerianne! Do I get my MP3 player now? ;)

Thing #23 Podcasts, Smodcasts!

I have used podcasts before so this was one of the easier exercises for me. The podcast.net site was not working so I moved to the next one down the list, podcastalley.com. I first tried to search for book reviews. There were loads. I narrowed down my search by choosing to search for my favorite books reviewed. I added two Harry Potter podcasts to my bloglines account. One was a smaller scale and required you to download the individual session. The second one I chose was mugglecast, run through the popular hp website, mugglenet. I have used this podcast before and really enjoy the ease of operation. As with anything else, though, once you get popular you are going to start using advertising. Its weird. you don't exactly expect a commercial and then, there it is. The podcast sites are extremely easy to navigate and you can find something on just about anything. As Ive mentioned before, I don't spend a ton of time on the computer but every so often i will tune in for an interview or special event.

Thing #22 Downloading audiobooks and videos

R.E.A.D.S. was actually my favorite thing that I discovered when I started working at the library. I listen to audiobooks all the time. I have spent a small fortune buying audiobooks over the last few years. Our program has a fantastic seletion of books. Just about every author that I have ever searched for has been in there. Sometimes you may have to wait a few weeks for your hold to come up but its not that big of a deal because you can have 10 checked out at one time. the only thing that i don't like about the program is that you cannot return the audiobooks until the two week period is up. ive had it happen a few times where Ive had a few holds come in while i still had 10 books out. I lost the holds and had to put new holds on them and wait again. Also, not all the the authors have burnable books. Nora Roberts (and her J.D. Robb series)is one of the authors whose books are burnable. I usually don't check out the books that can't be burned. I mostly listen to the books at my day job or in the car. An MP3 player will be helpful with that ;)

The MyLibraryDV program also looks pretty interesting. I would probably not use it as much as the READS program. The travel section was pretty extensive, though. I feel that through youtube and other video sites, most of what we have to offer is already available through alternate (and better known) sources. thats not to say that we shouldn't promote it. It just may be more difficult for us to get patrons using it.

Thing #21 continued

I got so excited that the video showed up where it was supposed to that I hit post without adding any text! Lol!

I have only ever added links to videos. I never knew how to send the whole thing. Very cool! I was not able to figure out how to add my blogger account to my youtube account. It kept telling me that my email address and password were not correct. They soooo were! Anyway, I used the embeddable player. I chose the video I did, essentially, because a friend of mine had recently sent it to me. It was the first thing that I thought of and it always makes me laugh. The man cold - so true!

You tube has several library oriented possibilities. Instructional videos are the first thing that come to mind. As mentioned in the 2.0 instructions, we've watched several of these over the last few weeks. I have found some to be very helpful and some, not at all. For instruction, I like the step by step, screen shot ones the best.

Thing #21 You Tube

Thing #20 Other Web 2.0 Tools

I have an ongoing love for travel. Those of you who were forced to view my daughter's brandy-new passport today already know that! So I chose the travel category and picked the third one down the list. The first two seemed more involved with finding the great travel deals. The third site, realtravel.com is oh, so very cool. First, you can research your different destinations all in one place. It has the hotels and restaurants and attractions, etc, etc that the other travel websites have but you don't have to bounce all over the place to find them. It also has the price comparing option for different airlines and hotels, again on the same page. The absolutely best part of the site, however, was the trip planner. It was so much like my spiral note book that I use once I start planning a trip! It enables you to throw all your destinations and ideas and information out there and then start putting it together in a doable itinerary. It even lets you build a route map so that you can figure out the best (most affordable, least timely, etc) way of planning where to go next. It has travel guide information that you can add from Frommers plus places to put advice from other internet users or notes and links from other websites. After you have finished (or as close to finished and organized as you can possibly get) you can simply email "the plan" to everybody else. Then you can make adjustments and add more stuff!! I was in heaven for a bit.

As far as the library goes, i don't think this will be an overly helpful tool. Beyond informing patrons of all the cool stuff they can do with it, that is.

I know you said to only pick one but I heard Tracy mention the pandora site the other day. I only had a vague idea of what that was so I checked that out as well. Im just starting to build up a song style list for myself but I am really enjoying it so far.

Thing #19 Social Networking

I love myspace! I have been using it now for about a year and a half. I also have a facebook account, although I do not use that as frequently. I like these sites, for myself, because they give me an opportunity to keep in touch with people that I would, otherwise, probably not. I no longer send regular emails to friends. I use one of these two websites. You can send short little catch ups without feeling bad for not sending a long, involved email. If something exciting happens, these sites allow you to let everybody know via blog or bulletin. It works the other way too. It gives you the chance to see whats going on in old friends' lives, etc. I know many people who use the sites for meeting new people. That aspect of it doesn't really appeal to me. I like the people I know now or the people I had forgotten that I had forgotten...the myspace stalkers actually spook me a bit. I also like the businesses, bands, authors that have pages. You get reminders or updates about only the things you added to your page. You don't get the blanket emails from different groups that you had once bought a ticket or book from. I think it would be a great idea for the library to generate a myspace page. Posting blogs and bulletins about special events is good marketing. Many people can be reached through their myspace pages that don't read the newspaper or see the flyers hanging in the elevator. I think its a great opportunity to reach more people. As I said before, I dont use facebook as much. I think it is geared toward a much younger crowd. It has a lot of really cool applications associated with it that just take up way too much time. These applications are geared toward meeting more people, etc, etc. All that said, I hate it for the kids having to grow up in a myspace society. I think there are a lot of social pressure and expectations involved with these networking sites, not to mention all the child predator safety issues that have been making the media lately.

Thing #18 Web-based Apps

I thought this was pretty cool! I have actually been using the Google docs for a little bit now but I didn't realize, completely, what it was. I manage my other job's website. Its through google and I used the docs a bit when I was setting it up. At least I know now! My boss and I write a report for every project we complete. By the end of it, even a small job, we have (at least) half a dozen different saved versions of the report somewhere. Sometimes you can waste a good half hour just trying to figure out which version is the most recent. We've emailed, burned cds, worked on three or four different computers and incorporated a couple different flash drives. Who knew we could have been working on a collaborative project this whole time? This will be put to use immediately. I also liked the pdf file option without the need for extra software. The office applications seemed very similar to the ones we use now. I didn't run into any snags with the bits that I played around with. Im looking forward to using the spreadsheet apps a bit more extensively. The privacy issues concern me a little in respect to my other job. Until a report is processed and approved its, essentially, confidential. Would working in a forum like this be going against any confidentiality agreements since security cannot be guaranteed? Hmm...will have to look into this.

Thing #17 LPLS Wikis

http://lpls.pbwiki.com/Holds

I chose to post all the articles in the holds section in the circulation manual. I found this exercise surprisingly easy. I expected to fight with the computer much more than I did. One thing was interesting. I had first chosen to work with the overdues. Pam was working on it and it wouldn't allow me in. At least it wont let people make changes to the same thing at the same time. That could get confusing. The most difficult part was actually adding the space lines between text. The first two articles allowed me to do it, no problem. The last couple, I could not figure out how to do it without messing up the formating. So, I apologize but those will need to be fixed in the future. As I mentioned in my last blog, I think an ongoing, staff oriented wiki would be good to help us keep up with library "current events". The book lists and subject pages would also be fun to play around with.

Thing #16 Wikis

I really like Wikipedia but that has been my only experience with wikis. I have always known (not sure how or from where) to double check the info if it was for something important or research oriented and to instruct others to do the same. However, its worth all that to be able to get different perspectives. I love the fact that anybody can add to the page/topic. You are not stuck reading the same paragraph that has been passed around, used and reused because that was all anybody could ever find on a particular topic. i did not realize, however, that wikis were easy and common to set up and use. Nifty!
I thought that all of the different library wikis were interesting and useful. The booklist ccaught my imagination because it would allow, for example, members of our different book clubs to share ideas and come up with more thought prior to a meeting. Or it could allow members of the community who were unable to attend meetings, to still voice their perspectives. I liked that you could create groups with passwords, etc. That small bit of control could keep the wikis for the patrons more serious about what it has to offer. I also really liked the idea of by-subject wikis. Travel is a big interest of mine so I clicked on one of the library's travel subject wiki and it was pretty cool to see all the various suggestions. Again, its being given several different points of view at the same place.
Our library could use this in a number of ways. We could use it internally. I often hear staff (especially part-time like myself) mention that they had never heard of a new policy change or procedure. Something is decided on Monday and this person only works Thursday and Friday. they probably don't hear about it until it comes up that they handles a situation incorrectly. I understand that the large policies have emails sent out about them but im talking more about the small day to day happenings. The changes could be posted and available to everyone. The other uses would be more patron oriented. The booklists, clubs and subject wikis would all be great!

Thing #15 Library 2.0

I read away from icebergs and to a temporary place in time. I did not like the first one. I disagreed with almost everything he said. While it is important to keep up with the new and constantly growing/ changing technology, i don't think that it is completely necessary to change the entire focus and actions of present day libraries. The "just-in-case collections" are what the patrons need when they come here! I agreed with the 2nd article better. We are going through some drastic changes but at the end we are likely to be back to the library being the comfotable and the relaxing place to study and reflect. It will not be necessary for it to have turned into the hub of internet information chaneling. It is important to understand and keep up with technology. To help patrons learn about and expand on new technology is an important task for libraries but not the only task.