Reflections...

I am really glad that I decided to do this program. I learned about a lot of resources that I didn't know much about. This program also helped me to learn to give things a chance. I think that I am somewhat stubborn about new technology things - but this helped me get over that a little bit. I do believe strongly in web 2.0 points of access for libraries and I would love to do this with my staff. Honestly, though, having to do all 23 things during SRP was a bit much. I think that maybe on a smaller scale and at a different time, this would work really well. I also think that it would work well with an adult or teen group of patrons.

Thank you to everyone who moderated this exercise and made it possible!

23 Things for the Staff

I think that doing a 23 things for the staff at my library would be a wonderful thing. There are so many different ways of communicating with our communities and even if we don't institute all of them, it is helpful to know what's out there so that we are able to make educated choices about which ones we want to use. I also think that the blogs and RSS feeds are especially helpful for professional development. I think that it would be nice to have the whole staff go through this together. It could enable group discussions on some of the topics and this could lead to a greater understanding of these tools in general.

Podcasts

I think that one of the biggest issues with creating podcasts for our library would be staff time. I don't know that we have enough extra time in the week to prepare for and create a podcast. And I honestly don't know whether people would really listen to them, whether it would be worth the effort. If we were going to do podcasts I guess maybe book reviews or storytimes or updates on programs might be things that patrons would be interested in. But I honestly don't feel that at this time we would get many people listening to them and as such I don't feel that it would be worth our staff time. This is not to say, or course, that it isn't wonderful for other libraries. I believe that we should reach out to the public in every way that we can, but, naturally, every library is dealing with different demographics, budgets, staff, etc.

Youtube

I have used youtube a fair amount and have a general idea about what it is. I have also looked at many of the library videos out there. Many of them are quite good and some are pretty funny. I think they are cool and would be fun to make at my library. Although honestly, I don't know how effective they are at reaching out to the public. I doubt that the average person sitting at home watching youtube is going to search for library videos. And even if they do happen to stumble across a library video - is that going to make them rush out to their nearest library? I think that one thing it can do is help to change people's attitudes towards libraries. Especially for the people involved in making them. I think that the making of a youtube video with your teens will do more for the library then someone just happening to catch the video online.

Google Docs

I looked into Google Docs this evening. There are a lot of nice features on it. Our instructions tell us that "The real power of Google Docs comes into play when you share them with other people..." I initially thought that people had to create an account to look at/edit your document - but you can change the settings so that anyone you invite can view your document without an account, which is nice. One advantage that I do see is that not everyone has MS Word (or your particular word processing program) on their computer. With Google docs you wouldn't have to worry about someone else not being able to open your document (or you not being able to open it on another computer). Also, another advantage might be that your document would be saved on Google docs and you wouldn't have to worry about carrying a flash drive with you or a computer malfunction. Hopefully, your document would be safe there. I don't know if I will use Google docs in the future or not - but I can see some advantages to it.

Wikis

I liked this assignment - it was fun to make the wiki pages and really pretty easy. I use wikipedia somewhat regularly. It is a good way to get a general idea about a subject that you know nothing about. Obviously it is not authoritative considering it's public editing, but I think that if you keep that in mind it can be a good resource.

LibWorm

When I first started looking at this - I was kind of thinking that it was just another rss feed link to a list of blogs that I don't have time to read. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by all the information that is out there. But when I started playing around with it a little bit, I really found the articles and blogs to be very informative. It can be very difficult to wade through all the information that is available on the web and I have definitely felt that to be true when using some of the other 23 things. However, I do think that Libworm really cuts through that and gives you directed information that is very useful. I think that libworm would be a good tool for library news and I think that it is something I would use in the future.

Library Thing

Library Thing looks like a fun site. Of course, I'm a librarian, so I'm biased :) I belong to a site called Shelfari and this looks very familiar. You can list and rate books that you have read/are reading. You can have friends and talk about books. It's fun. I used it for a little bit, but I haven't played with it in a while. It can get tedious trying to list all the books you have read, but the books clubs can be interesting. I honestly just don't have enough time to use this right now.

Digg

So - Digg... I liked it for the most part, especially the fact that users decided which content is on the front page. You can vote on what you like. Although, I did find that much of the 'popular' content wasn't really something I wanted to read. Again, like Delicious, I think that this is a site that would be something to look at when I'm bored - but not something that I would religiously use.

Delicious

So I checked out Delicious tonight - the sight where you can share and save bookmarks. I found a couple of sites that were funny - like one that was called "Overheard in New York" - that one was pretty good. It was simple to sign up for and easy to search the tags. However there are so many sites listed and so many of them that I could care less about. It felt like an arduous way to search if I was actually looking for something. Although, I guess that if I just wanted to casually browse for fun one afternoon, it might be interesting. I probably won't keep using that site regularly like I do with Facebook though.

Tagging...

I like tagging for certain things. For example, I was putting some art up on a website and it allowed me to enter tags for people to search for the art. And I think that was a totally appropriate place for tagging. However, I don't think that patron-tagging belongs in a library. I think that the structure and standardization that we get with subject headings is one of the great contributions of libraries.

Twitter

Again, this is something I've used before. I find it interesting and I think that it would be a good way to advertise programs and let people know what is going on in the library. We should use any avenue that we can to reach people.

Instant Messaging

Well, I have been IMing people since I was in high school, so I'm pretty familiar with it. The library that I'm working in now is the first one that I've been with that has a closed IM system for the staff. And it's Awesome! It's so nice to be able to ask someone a quick question or get help with a ref desk question - I think that every library should consider it.

Ning

I had actually never heard of Ning before - so it's pretty interesting. It seems to fulfill a lot of the same things as Facebook and other social networking sites. It does allow for more group forum discussions, pictures, events, etc. But then Facebook does have groups. I don't know whether I would start a Ning site for my library - but it might be a helpful way to meet other area librarians and discuss programming, etc.

Facebook

Well, I already have a Facebook account and use it almost every day - so I didn't see the need to make another one for this assignment. I think that Facebook is a great tool, especially to keep up with friends that I don't get to see anymore.

I did think that it was kind of weird when I signed up that they asked for my email password to get my friends - frankly thats not cool. I would rather just search for people myself. Also - I don't like that when you write on someone's wall, it tells everyone about it. Maybe I don't want everyone to know what I'm writing. Another thing that I don't like is that with the apps, it's very easy to get confused between what is an actual app and what is an advertisement. And sometimes there are so many apps that they get annoying.

For the most part, I really like Facebook, but there are some things that you have to watch out for.

RSS Feeds...

I like how the article says "you don’t have to know how RSS feeds are formatted, or how they are transmitted..." because I've always been a little afraid of RSS feeds because I have no idea how they work. And as much as I would like to understand how everything I use works - that simply may not be possible in our technological environment. However this seems to be a great tool and I probably have no reason to fear technology... except for every science fiction movie ever made...

Blog Readers

Well I played with the Google Blog Reader Today. I haven't ever really used any of these before because, frankly, I don't read that many blogs. I think I feel a little intimidated because it just seems like so much to read and I feel like I don't have any time for it with everything else that I have to do at work. Though, I do think that blogs are an important method of communication in our society (obviously) and I think that it is something that I just need to adapt to and find a few blogs that I find interesting. I mean, after all, I read my email pretty obsessively, I'm sure that I can learn to obsess about blogs as well ...

Image Generators - It's fun to play at work!

States I've at least driven through :)


http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/map.php

I made this map on the FD toys map generator. It is fun to play around with this stuff. Seriously though, there are so many things that you can do that I had no idea about. Not only would this be helpful for creating signs, posters, etc for the library, but this knowledge can really help me with teaching patrons. I look forward to sharing this knowledge with my patrons and friends!

Flickr Mashup

I really loved some of the flickr mashups - especially the color wheel, where this image is from. There are so many things that I never knew about. I'm so glad to be taking this class and getting to learn about them. The Big Huge Labs stuff looked really cool too - I think I might go home and play around with that some more!

Flickr

I haven't ever used flickr before, but I do have some pictures up on photobucket.

I looked up ugly - interesting search - alot of pictures were of "couch-surfing". I think that one thing that's interesting about Flickr (and many other sites) is the seemingly random creation of keywords/tags. It's obviously not really standardized at all, but in some ways I do think it allows for a more user-friendly search.

One of the pictures that I saw that I liked the best was :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/silvery/2998996677/

I did a search for Coppell where I work and found a beautiful picture of a tree in a park - it makes me think of all the wonderful little things that I walk/drive by every day and don't even notice...

Web 2.0/Library 2.0

Web 2.0 is something that I have heard about many times without really getting a concrete definition for it. It seems to me to be technology that allows people to interact and be involved instead of just being consumers. I'm sure that there is more to it than that - but I've never really been able to put it into a concise definition.

I thought that the articles were interesting and helped shape and define things a little for me. Honestly the second one was sometimes a little over my head with the techno-jargon. However, it did help me to understand RSS feeds and some other things better.

But what is really important about all this is its impact on libraries and frankly I don't think that there is a simple, universal answer to that. Libraries are as diverse as the people and communities they serve. Not every library needs to have a facebook page, a twitter account and a blog. On the other hand, some libraries would really benefit from these. I think that as librarians the best thing that we can do is know our community.

Lazy Saturday...

If only...I wish I was watching Chronicles of Narnia right now - but I'm busy planning exciting YA programs at the library :) Hmmm...maybe I can combine the two and plan a Chronicles of Narnia book club - this is why my job is awesome!