Week 10 # 23 The End?

In preparation for this post I went back through and reread all nine weeks worth of postings. It reminded me how cautious I was at the beginning and how now nine weeks later I have gained a lot of confidence in using the various tools. I am not sure I will be using all of them but it is great to be familiar with them so I can assist customers.

As far as library use, I do think Wikis would be a great way to do collaborative work among the branches. As we are getting more and more involved in using pictures from the branch activities on the website, the Flickr training and photo editing tools will be very useful.

I would like to sincerely thank all the iHCPL team who put this training together for us: the ones who did the videos, who created the discovery exercises, who have been tracking our posts and who dutifully sent out the bling every week. It has been absolutely the best and most useful training program I have participated in since I came to HCPL.

Week 9 # 22 Downloadable Media

This exercise couldn't have come at a more perfect time. The other night my granddaughter had left her book at school - A Wrinkle in Time. She needed to read the next chapter and answer some questions. Of course, it was after the library was closed. However, Grandma came to the rescue with Overdrive!!!! I found the book in our catalog, downloaded it to our home computer, and voila - she was able to listen to Madeleine L'Engle herself reading to her. Of course, we also had a wee talk about being responsible and remembering important homework tools. Sweet child!

I did look into Wowio and am waiting for my account to be approved. I found a book I will download when I can called It's My Party and I'll Knit if I Want To.

As far as Audio books I will definitely stay with Overdrive. We have such a great selection of books.

Week 9 # 21 Podcasts

I tried all three directories and found that podcastalley was the most interesting. I found a lot of library related podcasts. They ranged from very technical ones to the Annie the library lady reading classics. I don't know what happened to her because she seemed to stop around Chapter 18 of Pride and Prejudice. I hope she's OK.

I then went on to subscribe to the RSS feed from one of my knitting stores. I had noticed that they were posting on their catalog site about new podcasts and this gave me the perfect opportunity to subscribe. The site is www.knitpicks.com.

Week 9 # 20 YouTube

YouTube is an old friend. I discovered Father Matthew Presents a year or so ago. He is a young Episcopal priest who has used this new medium to connect with young people (as well as not so young). He uses humor, pop music and short clips to get across important concepts of our faith.

I think the crew who created the One-Minute Marketing videos and the iHCPL videos has clearly shown a way YouTube can be used in a library setting.

Week 8 # 18 Social Networking

I explored several of the sites. The one that interested me was Ning. It had groups to appeal to almost any interest. I was already a little familiar with Myspace. My 20something sons have Myspace pages and I have occasionally been allowed to see them. They are full of fun and foolishness. They have also used their pages to reconnect with high school friends.

I created an account on Dogster so I could look at the adoptable dog pictures. I am not really in the market to adopt a dog right now but I do love to look at doggy pictures.

Week 8 # 19

Week 8 # 19 Zoho

 

This is a pretty nifty new tool. I really like having my documents available to me anywhere. I can't tell you how many times I have wanted something at home that I have saved at work. So I will be definitely using Zoho.

 

Now if I can only get this on my blog I will feel that I have met the challenge!

Week 7 # 17 Technology

My husband works for a university in their distance education department. So I get to see a lot of the technology that he uses to help students attend lectures even though they may be miles away from the professor. How incredible is that! This technology has enabled people who due to transportation needs, geographical location or employment constraints would have not had the opportunity to pursue an advanced degree.

This same technology of online courses has helped library students get their MLS even though they can't go to Denton or Austin.

Technology----good!

Week 7 # 16 Wikis

This was an interesting exercise. I enjoyed looking at the resources especially the fourth one - Using wikis to create online communities. Beyond the library applications like the subject guide etc. I was particularly interested in the part about using it to connect to your local community. I could easily see how it could be beneficial to La Porte, for example a school activities wiki.

I also explored the Sandbox a bit. I added my blog and added a few favorite movies.

I can see how a wiki would help with project work when the members are at different branches.It's kind of like a conference call but without everyone having to be online at the same time.

Week 6 # 15 Library 2.0 & Web 2.0

In reading the various articles about Library 2.0, I find that this very program iHCPL is right in line with the philosophy of Library 2.0 It is equipping us to better serve our customers.

The first article "Away from icebergs" speaks of rethinking the "just in case collection." We are certainly moving in that direction especially in our honing down of the print reference collection.
With our eBranch and remote access for databases and other library services, we are also changing the "come to us" model of which the writer speaks.

Another of the articles "To a temporary place in time" reminds us that Library 2.0 will in time yield to a newer understanding of library service. I wonder if the new young librarians will one day look back on Library 2.0 as the good old days as they in turn face an evolving library system.

What Library 2.0 means to me - It means keeping up with new trends, new technologies, and new delivery systems. Yet the foundation of librarianship will remain unchanged. For what drew us to this field is the desire to connect the customer with the information requested in the best and most reliable fashion.

Week 6 # 14 Technorati

Ok, so I signed up on Technorati and claimed my blog. I did the searches on Learning 2.0. At the time I did them the keyword search produced 6,589 results, the tag search - 637, and the directory 681. So there was a big difference in the searches.

I explored some popular blogs - Boing Boing, Gizmodo, the Gadget Guide, and Huffington Post. I am going to try to add a Technorati tag to my blog.

iHCPL

Week 6 # 13

I watched the tutorial and dived into del.icio.us. I looked around at the iHCPL account and could see even more of the avatar sites that I didn't explore earlier. I went on and opened my own account and worked with the instructions to add the bookmarklets to my tool bar. I tried the download first and of course, that didn't work. So I then went through adding them as links to my favorites.

I added several knitting sites to my account. These are for recreational use. I then did try several searches as if I were addressing a reference question. I am not sure how useful this would be at the ref desk because you are still coming up with a list of websites that you need to evaluate for authority not just how many people are linked to it. However, it is great to have one more tool to use when you are delving into the Internet for research.

Week 5 # 12

This exercise was very easy to accomplish. I entered all my family's cards and will look forward to being reminded about the grandchildren's due dates.

This only thing I kind of wondered about was having a third party company being able to go into the HCPL site and get information. Is this something to worry about?

Week 5 # 11 Library Thing

I put a few books on my blog from Library Thing. I will be adding more to my list.

Week 5 # 10

I made myself a little Meez cheerleader for my Discovery exercise. Cute huh!

Cheers

Week 4 Exercise # 9 Searching for feeds

I explored Technorati but found it a bit confusing. Feedster seemed more straightforward. I created a widget with John Edwards feeds but haven't put it on my blog as yet. I did a search on politics and added Huffington Post to my blogline feeds. I looked over Topix but did not want to get involved with any of the forums.

As another way of finding feeds I did a simple Google search on liberal political news and found several feeds to choose from.

I guess you can surmise from my searches that I am one of those liberal, progressive, Texas Democratic types. Why yes I am and proud to be so!

Week 4 Discovery Activity #8

This first exercise was easy for me because I have had a bloglines account for a couple of years now. I did add the 10 news feeds to the ones I already had and I subscribed to about four of the iHCPL blogs.

Week 3 #7 Photo editing tools

Wedding
Originally uploaded by stann20

I took an old wedding picture and cropped out the groom.

dublin

dublin
Originally uploaded by stann20

Wellington arch, London

Wellingtonarchsmall
Originally uploaded by stann20

Edinburgh Castle

edinburgh_castle_0083_t
Originally uploaded by stann20

Week 3 # 6 More Flickr Fun

I explored the mash-up tools and created a trip on the Yahoo trip planner. I uploaded pictures from London, Dublin and Edinburgh to my Dream Trip. I would love someday to travel to these destinations.

Week 3 # 5 Flickr

Autumn leaves
Originally uploaded by stann20

This is my try at uploading a photo from my Flickr account.

Online Safety and Privacy Exercise

The links were very interesting. These topics are certainly important. It is a bit disconcerting that your words are out there for a broader world to see. As in emails, it is difficult to convey the affect of your message.

I enjoyed learning the definition of dooced from the Free Range Librarian's post. I had heard of the situation but had never heard that term.

Discovery Exercise #1

Here goes..... In reviewing the learning habits tutorial, I found the easiest to be laughing and enjoying myself. After all life is good! The hardest thing is the anxiety that I don't know enough about the techie side and I don't enjoy feeling clueless. Since many of our customers are similarly apprehensive, I can use this feeling to relate to them.