Done (but not FINISHED)

WOW! I managed to complete all 27 Things. (I even read through #27 before I started this post.)

I was intrigued by the idea when it was first posed, because I like to have some knowledge of the new technologies available. I discovered, very quickly, just how far behind the times I had become. Then, when I started playing around with some of the lessons, I realized WHY. There has been an explosion of new resources!

All the things we've been exposed to through this program have been fairly simple to use. However, almost all of them are chock full of things to explore - I discovered that I could easily find myself clicking through photos in Flickr or collecting RSS feeds for Bloglines or "friend hunting" on MySpace or populating my LibraryThings list long into the night. Lessons that should have taken only a short time became time consuming simply because of my innate librarian curiosity -- talk about information overload!

There are many tools that I will go back to and spend more time with. The Web 2.0 Awards were a great source for some of these tools. I'd also like to look into more of the social networking tools (avatars intrigue me). I'll definitely use photo programs for more things, and LibraryThing will see my name frequently. I also want to get into the habit of checking my RSS feeds regularly.

I was pleased at the support this project received from all levels. The MP3 player as an incentive was nice, but knowing that the administration supported and encouraged staff to spend work time learning these new things was a phenomenal incentive in itself. I was very glad to have someone on staff who knew enough about these tools to answer questions when I had them (and serve as cheerleader when I either got stuck or made progress.)

Whoever came up with the "Cram Jam" idea is my hero(ine). I had been stalled at the end of lesson 4 because, as a manager, I could not seem to find or make time to work on the lessons. I only finished 1 or 2 lessons during one of the the 2-hour session we had in our cluster, but it spurred me on to make time for the others. (Should I admit that I did many of them at home on my laptop? -- I could usually do so without interruption or feeling guilty for ignoring my staff and the patrons; it was okay to ignore my family .)

I'm hoping that we will see more of these guided lessons in the future. I'm glad I decided to participate this time and I'd jump in with both feet again. I'm sure there are probably improvements or adjustments that could be made to the program, but I'm not sure what. I think TIME is the key. As I noted earlier, there is SO much to discover in all of these tools, that it might be nice to spend a bit more time with each lesson (maybe set up a "lesson of the month" program and give participants plenty of time to really get comfortable using each tool before moving on to another one.) If nothing else, I'd love to see some way of alerting us all to new, interesting, fun, useful tools that we all discover on our own or from our friends.

In other words, MORE MORE MORE PLEASE!!! Kudos and thanks to all the coordinators, facilitators, David, Lisa, Bruce, Bill, etc. etc. etc.

What Am I Going To Do With An MP3 Player?

I can see the finish line (not bad considering it took a "Cram Jam" to get me past lesson 4 - more on this in my synopsis post later.)

So, it was fun to browse the OverDrive titles to see what I want to take to Nevada -- &/or Canada &/or Wyoming -- with me this summer. Some of my favorite authors are well represented in OverDrive (Dean Koontz; Janet Evanovich), and some have at least a couple options to choose from (Jennifer Cruisie, Neil Gaiman). I should find enough to keep me busy.

But if any of the selection librarians see these blog posts, consider the following: Stardust by Gaiman. (Yeah, okay. I'll send the request in the "old-fashioned" way.)

Scrapbooking Ideas |Planning Your Scrapbooking Layout Part 1

This is the video that did NOT get imbedded last time. If it does not work this time, I HAVE tried.

Scrapbooking Ideas (aka Playing with YouTube)

Ok, I'm going to try this again. I got the video to imbed once, then I tried to edit it and lost it. When I tried to repost, it did not come up (so I went on to another lesson and came back.)

So, 3rd time's the charm?

I will admit that the creators of this learning program "did" warn me about the addictiveness of YouTube. There are so many fascinating films out here. I appreciate the categorization that has been done, and it was pretty easy to pull up this scrapbooking lesson by doing a search.

I want to learn to upload my own videos (I need someplace to put the clips I took during my sorority conference this past weekend, and what I will take at my school reunion next month.)

Hey boss - if you see this post, now you know why I look so tired these days; too much time playing with my new toys at home [insert smiley here].

Podcasts

I decided to use the podcast programs to search for book reviews. One of the first things I found in the Yahoo Podcasts site was Nancy Pearl on KUOW's The Beat. I added Nancy Keane's "Booktalks Quick & Simple" to my Bloglines feeds.

I started wondering how much time & energy it would take to make podcasts of staff book reviews available on our website. That would be a cool use of the tool - a whole new way to promote "Staff Picks".

I did try to play around a little with all three of the podcast directories listed in this exercise. I had trouble getting the clips from Podcast.net to load on my laptop (I might try from work tomorrow), and Podcastalley.com requires a software download in order to run anything (I did not want to take the time to do so). The Yahoo Podcasts directory was pretty user friendly in terms of searching. It did take me a few minutes to figure out how to find more detailed information about the feeds, but that's probably because my brain is starting to blur with all these new tools. I'll keep messing about with these.

YELP (aka "What I Found on in the Web 2.0 Awards)

Have you seen YELP yet? I've been having a lot of visitors and, because I've only lived here for about 6 years, I'm still learning all the things to see and do in the area. YELP (try the link above) is full of great reviews and recommendations of everything from where to eat, where to stay, where to shop, what to see and do.

There is a long list of categories to search (including automotive, medical, education, and pets) that can be helpful to visitors and residents alike. The site is connected to a mapping feature that will help users maneuver through the city.

Speaking of cities, the program provides a list of some of the top cities, or you can input your own city search. I was only able to pull up U.S. cities. I'd like to see some of the other major North American cities represented, or maybe there is a similar program out there that keys in on top travel destinations worldwide that has the same type of reviews & recommendations.

Membership is free and allows you to write your own reviews and participate in the messaging and talk features. I will likely refer back to this tool often.

Google Labs

I saw "beta project" and thought, "Oh, my sorority sisters are doing something fun." [Ok, no I didn't; I know what a beta version is... I just don't like boring blogs.]

Anyway, there were some very interesting projects being tested over at the Google Labs. I've been spending a lot of time in the trip planner for King County Metro lately. The "Google Transit" project is useful because you can toggle between a transit map and a driving map. It is, however, only useful for travel within one of the preset cities (metro areas). I could see using it to help a traveler look at ways to get from their hotel to the museum by bus in San Diego. However, the travel would need to already know the addresses of both starting and ending points.

The "Music Trends" project was fun to spend some time in. This gives users a list of song titles that are being discussed in Google Talk. It's possible to get song lyrics, a list of CD's the song appears on, and download options for personal devices. I tried to listen to Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars" on Rhapsody, but didn't take the time to download the program that would run the music. I love the ability to choose a genre of music or see what is popular in other countries. I really enjoyed this service.

The Google Mars project was fascinating. Students doing a project on the planet could find some interesting and useful articles, along with some great images.

I did, also, poke into Google Trends but did not see the point of the trend charts (not that I quite figured out how to generate charts in the first place.) I did enjoy quickly being able to pop into todays hot news topics (I'm trying to figure out if I should drop the Tahoe leg of my Nevada vacation in a few weeks....) I'll keep playing around with some of these, just to see what new fun Google is devising.

Zoho Test Doc

I already like this program better than G. Docs. It's ruler keeps me aware of how much space I'm using; there is a greater font selection; almost every button I would use in the normal course of composing or editing is immediately visible, but not intrusive to the page (or various buttons can be turned off entirely). I can see using this program if I was not able to get into whatever is loaded onto the computer I'm sitting at.

I also like the variety applications available with this offering. Word processing, spreadsheets, desktop publishing, presentation, etc -- definitely more flexibility than the other.

I just found the template library -- cool! Hmm, I can't seem to get any size but 10pt -- not cool; what am I doing wrong?

The next test will be to see how easy it is to re-access what I create.

ADDED AFTER POSTING -- The posts worked very smoothly. NICE...

Google Docs

Well, this is rather fun. Not as many font options, but it seems pretty easy to use. If I were doing longer items, I'd probably still use Word or Works; I like the "wrap" feature and the ruler. It's freaking me out to keep typing and typing and not having the lines return at a reasonable break. What I'm really looking forward to is trying to upload this note to my blog (it means I won't have to type my thoughts twice - can we type "lazy?"). I suspect this will end up as two entries on this topic (one from each program I'm testing), because I assume it won't be possible to put them together into one post.

Addendum: I thought I'd test the "edit" button from the preview pane (without saving the document first) and I almost panic'd when I used the back button to return to my original screen and nothing was there. I won't do that again! L

Library 2.0 - I Get it Now!

Embarrassment moment here: I just figured out what the term "Library 2.0" means. (I'm trying to figure out if that means I'm dense, or just focused on the mechanics of my work in libraries -- neither of which is necessarily a good thing.)

My old world of physically filing cataloging cards, and a library full of print resources (1.0) has made way for a blend of physical and virtual (2.0) and beyond. I think I can comfortably bin the Reference Resources notebook (100 print reference titles annotated) I had to create in Library School a mere 13 years ago.

I see Rick Anderson's points at work in my library branch (for both good and ill). Parts of our collection definitely reflect the "just in case" mentality that is being challenged on a regular basis by our collection liaison. Yet, on the other end of the coin, we are moving more and more into the "bring 'us' to 'them'" realm with our roving models in house and our database access from anywhere.

I've been out of the cataloging mode for a number of years, so I have to admit that I did not completely grasp most of the points made by Chip Nilges in his article, but I did think that OCLC's Open WorldCat would be a great way to facilitate one of John Riemer's points - "Expand[ed] Delivery [of materials and resources]. Our catalog already tells us what every branch in our library system owns. But what if all the library systems in the state had compatible bibliographic search features and we could tell a patron exactly which non-system library might have what they need without having to log into and out of multiply library web sites.

Michael Stephens also had some practical advise for those of us embracing becoming a 2.0 Library: no tech for tech's sake; good with fast; and, in answer to the frustrations of many library colleagues -- input from and training for both the public AND the staff.

Wow, this one felt like a library school homework assignment! The article I wrote for a library related journal 11 years ago regarding whether or not there was going to be a future for librarians is VERY MOOT now!

Search Engines

I need to figure out how to make my search box smaller. In looking at Rollyo and Google, I chose to use the latter. I like that it tells you, up front, what sites are being searched. (Rollyo does not seem to have a lot of information about the program up front.)

It might be interesting to go into Rollyo and make the same search program I did in Google, just to see which is easier to set up. The Google program threw me, initially, because I was expecting "search engine" to appear in the terminology - "Co-Op" is NOT intuitive. Once I was in, however, setting up the engine and linking it into my blog were easy enough to do. When I get time, I think I will go back and duplicate the process in Rollyo.

Generators are fun

I just finished playing with some of the Generators on Generator Blog. This was a fun list of toys (not sure what purpose they hold in life other than entertainment -- maybe I was only looking through the "excess time on your hands" section; then again, pure entertainment is a good thing too.)

I tried to load in a Scratch game, but it didn't fit well. Then I found the bumper sticker and thought it would be a fun way to promote my blog name. (Of course, I found the fireworks spouting marquee later, but I decided to stick with simple for now -- I know where to find the fireworks later!)

-- Oh, and I did get back into the Best Blogs thing and finished adding my blog to the list. Am I really down to 9 lessons?? Let's go check out the next section!

Best Blogs Ever

Well, I was going great guns until I tried to add my blog to our page on "Best Blogs Ever". Some anonymous person in our library system gets a big thank you from me (I'll do it on the main comments page) because of his/her tip about not trying this exercise outside of the library (at least not through Internet Explorer). So, I've done the exercise, but it did not work yet. I'll try from work tomorrow, but I'm counting the lesson as done and reporting my conquest accordingly TONIGHT. (Ever the rebel....)

Wikis

The Wiki examples were very interesting. Until now, the only wiki I had ever knowingly looked at was the biggie - Wikipedia. There are some wonderful things out there.

The conference wikis were very interesting (I wish I had attended ALA midwinter after looking through all the links & comments on that site.) With the annual conference starting this weekend, I may pop in & out of the ALA site to see who's saying what about this one.

I loved Princeton's idea of a wiki for book lovers. This would be a wonderful reader's advisory tool in our own library system. Reviews by staff and patrons alike would be very cool. LibraryThings review setup has a wiki feel too (yeah, yeah, listen to the newbie state the obvious, eh?)

It would be easy to spend a lot of time browsing through wikis like SJCLS's. There is a lot of content, but the classification scheme is very helpful - it was very simple to peek into the "cooking" information.

I can also, however, see that wikis could be very time consuming for the authors and editors who deal with content.

Fun New Toys For This Busy Body

Ok, whose bright idea was it to expose me to all these engrossing & time consuming new technical toys? I'm a librarian, people... I have hundreds or thousands of books at my house that I now feel compelled to share with the LibraryThing world. How am I going to find the time to do that?
Hmmm, maybe I can locate and bookmark helpful sites during my work breaks, use Del.icio.us to collecte them all to access at home later, and.... Oh, who am kidding? I'll never sleep again!

Maybe I should stick to the Del.icio.us "Discovery Exercise" assignment and just figure out how I could use that tool in my day to day work. I can already envision the upkeep of our "web favorites" folders becoming much easier (to have access to exactly the same updated favorites list no matter which branch I'm working in on a given day...)

Oh, but then there are all the new things I can learn by poking my head into Technorati now & then to see what the hot topics on the web are... (I have to admit, it was pretty cool to see my Flickr images come up with the "kcls27things" test search I did while playing with the tool -- although it did take me a little while to figure out how to search effectively; hooray for advanced search.)

New dilemma; should I go back and play some more, or should I actually sleep? I guess I'll content myself for now with the pride of self accomplishment that hit me when I successfully added my LibraryThing link to my blog page, and forge ahead with new things tomorrow. Plenty of time to come back and play later! OK, bring on the "wikis".

MySpace Watch Out

Look out social networking; I have joined the world of "MySpace". Now I have to find some friends to fritter my time away with.

Since I went through the 3 Social Networking lessons back to back, I'm going to combine my thoughts about all 3 lessons into one blog entry...

I remember when the Internet was a new library toy (or tool, depending on how it was used.) One of the first library-related web sites I used to visit regularly was IPL (The Internet Public Library) because it was fun to wander through the various "rooms", ask the "reference librarian" questions when I got stuck, and sit and chat with other visitors when I had time. I get the feeling that today's social networking sites are similar in purpose (although vastly advanced in execution).
There were some wonderful issues raised among the comments on the LiB blog regarding whether or not libraries belong on social networking sites. My favorite comments mirror my own opinion -- members of these online communities choose to whom to interact with; if libraries are relevant to their world (i.e. if we in the library community can make ourselves relevant to them) we will find a place; if not, we have each other to chat with.
MySpace was simple to sign up for, and there are some interesting ways to make it personal. I'm attending a high school reunion this summer; it will be interesting to see how many of my peers have discovered this phenomenon. Time to go find some friends. (I wonder if my nephew will be my friend?)

Mashup Fun

OK. I've played around with some mashup sites and I am going to have to pay attention to the clock (or work at home at night.) I could spend all day playing with Flickr Sudoku alone. Spell with Flickr is cool, but I'm not sure what to do with it other than see things spelled with the photos. I don't get Montagr at all. I did, however, have great fun with the Trading Card Maker (see the photo attached.)

Flickr Photos are Up

I am going to LOVE Flickr. I have a ton of photos and it will give me hours of entertainment trying to figure out if any of them are of possible interest to other people.

As I was looking through my digital files for photos to post and came across the images I shot at the beginning of Western Washington's snowstorm in January 2007 (the one that created an interesting work schedule for KCLS libraries for a few days). I had to share these with the world. Somehow, the setting on my camera caught the individual snowflakes against the dark night background. Take a peek for yourself....

Finding Feeds for RSS

Now I'm a bit overwhelmed. There are WAY too many feeds out there to choose from. I'm getting to be a whiz at capturing feeds, but some of the tools are not my fav's.

Blogline's and Google's search tools are pretty straightforward and easy to follow. I even managed to figure out how to effectively use Syndic8.com, but I don't think "Feedster" or "Topix.net" are going to be my friends any time soon.

I can't figure out how to get Feedster to search a broader area (it is stuck on Kent area stuff). (Maybe more investigation and practice will help.)

I branched out from food and books (although I did add links to Library Journal and LISNews to my list) to scrapbooking. There are a lot of folks posting pictures of their scrapbook pages (although a few need to learn to use the focus feature on their camera's better) which will be a good source for layout ideas for my own projects.

See -- back to the "busy body" theme of this page; I'm busy learning, cooking, reading, crafting....

RSS -- (aka - finally a new post)

It took a cram jam to finally get me back here and posting. I jumped to the RSS lesson since Flickr was down, and I am having a blast with the RSS (we'll see how much fun I have checking the feeds -- can we add another 8 hours to a day??)

Being able to put together theme-specific feeds was very cool. Cooking and reading are the overlying themes in my list. I still need to add a couple book resources and I'll have a great Reader's Advisory tool.

Welcome to My Busy World

If you are into rambler's you've come to the right place. No, not the houses or the cars. The "oh my word, what are you babbling on about now?" kind of ramblers.

This has to be more interesting than the personal, private journal I gave up keeping on paper last year. Or maybe not.

Work, family, trips, movies, books, activities -- who know's what I'll be babbling about. Hey, I've got a pretty good sense of humor, so I MIGHT consider taking REASONABLE requests for what to babble about.

Looking forward to seeing where this busy body goes. See you soon!