#23 (Week 9)

Well, thank you, folks, for making this experience possible for all of us. It required way too much of our time, impacting our job performances, and leaving some here at my branch frustrated because they're so far behind, but it was fun and enlightening, and has expanded my internet repertoire.

What things did I especially like about it? I'm glad I was exposed to blogging. I don't know that I'll continue to blog on a regular basis - it's hard enough for me just to keep a journal that only I will read - but I'm glad to have some idea of what blogging is all about, and how it's done. I really enjoy Flickr, and that actually led to me connecting with a relative I've heard about but never talked to, because she has photos on Flickr, and I contacted her about them. I'm not yet entirely sold on RSS feeds. I simply don't spend enough time on the 'net, but I can see how they would be helpful, and now that I know about them I might start utilizing them at a future date. I really enjoyed Flickr mashups and image generators, but I'm not sure how they can be applied to library work - I'm sure there are lots of clever library employees who will figure out ways to use these tools for the library. The Web Awards list was interesting, but again I'm not yet sure how to apply that technology to work. Rollyo might prove useful, once I get in the habit of using it. Del.icio.us, Technorati and Library Thing are all interesting, but I'm not sure how much I'll use the first two. Library Thing I'll probably return to from time to time. Wikis - now wikis are cool. They have some drawbacks, but they have a lot of pluses. I can definitely see uses for wikis at libraries. Actually, I have already used Wikipedia any number of times, so I already knew a little about wikis, but now I understand them a lot more. The online productivity tools are a really great idea, though I'm not yet sure how well they work, but I definitely like the idea of being able to access my data no matter what computer I'm on, or share that data with others who are at other locations. YouTube is a blast, but also a major potential time waster. Still, it's a great resource. Lastly, podcasts and ebooks are both wonderful technologies, and in the future I definitely expect to make use of them, but right now we have too few terminals here at my branch for me to spend time at work making use of them, and since I only have a dial-up modem at home using them is very frustrating.

So...would I participate in a program like this again? Yes. Many parts of it were a lot of fun, and I do feel like I better understand, now, what some of our patrons are doing on our computers, and with our resources. I also feel like I now have some new tools at my disposal. However, in future it would work much better to present smaller segments that don't take so much time, or schedule more time for each participant.

Anyway, thank you to all of the members of the committee that put this together. On the whole I definitely felt it was worthwhile, and I feel like it is a way of further empowering us employees.

#22 (Week 9)

I've been interested in eBooks for awhile, but I have no mp3 player, and between my husband spending a fair amount of time on the only computer at home, combined with having a dial-up modem, I haven't really found them to be very useful for me. Still, I really like the idea, and I am definitely going to turn my husband on to World EBook Fair, so he can search out all things Honor Harrington (he loves that series by David Weber). At some point I think I would like to try ebooks for studying Spanish. I definitely think that ebooks are a wonderful addition to the services that libraries offer their users.

#20, part deux

Here's another amusing YouTube video. It's a little slower than the other one, but for fans of March of the Penquins and/or other nature videos, it's quite amusing:

#21 (Week 9)

I went to Yahoo, and tried to listen to several NPR podcasts, including NPR: All Songs Considered, NPR: Story of the Day, and Science Friday, because I can't listen to NPR while I'm at work, usually. Unfortunately, every time I tried to access a podcast, I got an error window with the following message: "The audio codec identified by the format tag 55 is required to play this file> To determine if this codec is available to download from the web, click Web Help. Click the Play button to try to reconnect to this stream". Unfortunately, every time I closed that window and tried to click the Play button the chosen podcast would change and the error message window would open up again.

I've been wanting to try streaming audio and podcasts for some time now, but at home we still have a dial-up modem, which can be very frustrating.

#20 (Week 9)

Yahoo! No - wait - I mean YouTube! I found my all time favorite scene from a Simpsons episode: Homer's Mystical Journey, from the chili cook-off episode. I also found this interesting video from the Williams College Libraries.

Thing 19 (Week 8)

I really like LibraryThing! In looking at what tags other people used to describe the books in my LibraryThing catalog, I also found suggestions of other books I might like, given what I am listing, and I noticed that several of the suggested books are already on my mental list of "books I might like to read". Some of the titles in my catalog where recommended to me by friends, and one I discovered in a publication put out by "Independent Book Stores". LibraryThing is clearly a great way to augment my other sources for learning about books I might like.

Obviously libraries could apply this feature of LibraryThing to make use of it as a Reader's Advisory.
http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=InquiringMind
(I was having trouble linking my LibraryThing catalog - when I had the bracketing around it, it wouldn't show up in my blog)

Thing 18 (Week 8)

This is a blog I composed using my new Zoho Writer account.  This is one of the 23 things that I think is most useful for library staff, or anyone, for that matter, because it does allow you to access data files from any PC.  I assume that it will all be accessable from any Mac, as well, otherwise it's not as great as it thinks it is.  I would be leery of using a web based database for sensitive information, but otherwise I would definitely use this service.

I have discovered one problem, so far - I changed the font style once, and didn't like the font I chose, and now it won't let me change the font again.

Post Script: Now that I have posted the blog from Zoho Writer, I see that the emoticons don't post succesfully. Interesting.

#17 (Week 7)

Now I have visited SJLibraryLearning 2.0 Favorites wiki, I have added my blog to Favorite Blogs, and I have also added to Favorite Vacation Spots and Favorite TV Shows (I'm the geeky TV viewer, and the camp, camp, camp person). I was tempted to relate bear stories about trips to Yosemite and Lake Tahoe, but I figure that page is to encourage people to visit these spots, not be afraid of them. Of course I did mention the couger incident at Prarie Creek Campground, which is part of the Coast Redwoods State and National Parks. I've never seen a cougar or a bear there, and one year we went there purposefully to see bears (my husband, that is - I went to see rhododendrons in bloom. Turned out spring was late that year), only birds, elk, a fox, etc..

I can see that wikis can be useful in sharing information with coworkers in a more permanent way than sending emails. Emails get deleted or lost in the mass of emails we all receive each day, whereas wikis stay right where they can be found easily, and are easily updated to add more data as needed.

As seen at the SFPL

I took Tuesday off from work to take advantage of Target Tuesday (free entry the 1st Tuesday of every month) at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, and after my husband and I had reached sensory overload at the museum (must...go...back), we stopped next door at the main SF Library to say hi to a friend who is a librarian there. While we were visiting with him, he handed me a few copies of a handout that staff there give to patrons using the library. It's just a small, bright yellow piece of paper that says the same thing on both sides: "Cell Phone Users, As a courtesy to others move to the elevator lobby when using your phone, maintain a low voice and turn off audible ringers while in the library. Thanks for your cooperation". I showed it around to staff here at Alviso, and it was pretty much agreed that we would love to be able to hand out something like that here, but we suspect it would not be considered a part of the "San Jose Way".

#16 (Week 7)

Out of the 23 things we have been learning about, I think that wikis are one of the most useful for librarians and libraries. They do have the disadvantage of being subjective, but with an active online community, any inaccuracies should be caught and corrected fairly quickly, except for entries that have been protected from change in one way or another, at least when it's a community of well educated, knowledgeable individuals.

I especially liked the SJCPL Subject Guides wiki. I thought it was well thought out and logically arranged. San Jose could stand to do something like that, maybe have a section explaining the Dewey and Library of Congress filing systems for the layman, as well as the same sort of entries that the SJCPL Subject Guide includes. I may also visit Book Lovers Wiki again. Heck, I might even add an entry to it at some point. It's a nice way for book lovers to share their opinions with each other without all the extraneous stuff one has to put up with in order to see others' opinions when using Amazon.com, though the Book Lovers Wiki could use a section on graphic novels (yeah, I know - I could add one).