Wow, trying to do this after starting late has been challenging, but I have been really inspired by all the possibilites out there, and don't feel quite so much like the old-school librarian (hey, I only graduated from library school 25 years ago!) . I think I will need to go back and do some more exploring in lots of the areas, but I'll try to do it over a more extended period and try to repeat enough to make sure I remember.
I'm very happy I participated in this exercise, and I will definitely be strongly encouraging some others on my staff to play along when it's repeated later this year. Right now I'm feeling re-invigorated and like there are lots of possibilities out there for our library. Hope the inspiration lasts!
Friday, January 30, 2009
Librivox
I started out looking at the recently cataloged selections, and listened to the first "chapter" of an Edgar Allan Poe poem. It was read by a woman with a British accent and a very pleasant voice.
Then I used the search function of the catalog to see if there was anything by Mark Twain. Searching for Clemens, Samuel I found The Tragedy of Puddin'head Wilson. The first chapter was read by a man with a rather irritating delivery. I sampled a few of the other chapters since I had read that different volunteers might read different chapters, but apparently in the case of this book, the same guy read the whole book. Oh well, maybe I would get used to it if I stuck with it.
The fact that all the books are public domain of course means that even though there are a lot of titles, it is limited in selection to primarily (if not exclusively) older books. Still, it is something we can refer patrons to who are looking for downloadable audio books.
I have been looking at Overdrive for our library (Temple Public), but the cost is prohibitive for a single library. However, if we could get enough of us interested, they are willing to let us work together to split the cost. If anyone is interested in doing this, let me know.
Then I used the search function of the catalog to see if there was anything by Mark Twain. Searching for Clemens, Samuel I found The Tragedy of Puddin'head Wilson. The first chapter was read by a man with a rather irritating delivery. I sampled a few of the other chapters since I had read that different volunteers might read different chapters, but apparently in the case of this book, the same guy read the whole book. Oh well, maybe I would get used to it if I stuck with it.
The fact that all the books are public domain of course means that even though there are a lot of titles, it is limited in selection to primarily (if not exclusively) older books. Still, it is something we can refer patrons to who are looking for downloadable audio books.
I have been looking at Overdrive for our library (Temple Public), but the cost is prohibitive for a single library. However, if we could get enough of us interested, they are willing to let us work together to split the cost. If anyone is interested in doing this, let me know.
Podcasts
First of all, it's nice to know what POD stands for! So, I went to podcast.com and looked around a little. In their books area I found a podcast about Outliers, the new Malcom Gladwell book, so I listened to that. It also included a discussion of a book about Charles Dickens which also sounded interesting. I don't currently have a MP3 player, so I didn't try going mobile with it, but that might be in my future, who knows!
I also did a search on retirement in Mexico (an interest of mine) and listened to a couple of podcasts from a woman who does programs on international health for baby boomers. One was a telepone interview with a couple in Lake Chapala Mexico and another one was about a woman who was publishing books to support her retirement abroad lifestyle. There wasn't a lot in depth on any of the ones I listened to, but they did give you ideas to pursue elsewhere.
I guess by happenstance I didn't end up with any "vidcasts" so I got to watch pretty swirling lights on the computers screen while I listened.
So, here's another interesting area to explore! I'm getting overload!!
I also did a search on retirement in Mexico (an interest of mine) and listened to a couple of podcasts from a woman who does programs on international health for baby boomers. One was a telepone interview with a couple in Lake Chapala Mexico and another one was about a woman who was publishing books to support her retirement abroad lifestyle. There wasn't a lot in depth on any of the ones I listened to, but they did give you ideas to pursue elsewhere.
I guess by happenstance I didn't end up with any "vidcasts" so I got to watch pretty swirling lights on the computers screen while I listened.
So, here's another interesting area to explore! I'm getting overload!!
More on YouTube
Like many websites with a lot of content I found YouTube rather overwhelming, thus the search on "librarian". But, like many things on the web, one thing led to another and I also found a rather amusing clip of "the librarian song", and I can see how you could go on indefinitely from there. I did use the help button to try to figure out the embedding part andwatched a video on how to do it. It was nice and clear, just didn't work when I tried it! But, maybe that has something to do with limitations on our city network?
Anyway, the thing that I'm hoping to do with YOuTube is to record some video promoting the library and putting it up there. My next question, how do you get people to look at your video. Any ideas? I have a committee meeting next week to talk about possible subjects for videos. We're thinking about doing a video tour of the library, a book review one (probably by teens), and so forth. Wish us luck!
Anyway, the thing that I'm hoping to do with YOuTube is to record some video promoting the library and putting it up there. My next question, how do you get people to look at your video. Any ideas? I have a committee meeting next week to talk about possible subjects for videos. We're thinking about doing a video tour of the library, a book review one (probably by teens), and so forth. Wish us luck!
YouTube--LIbrarian Vocational Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smrrZpbvI20
Well, I tried to embed this video, but when I tried to publish the blog, it gave me an error message. So, the url is above and if you click on it you should see the movie. It's a movie from the 40's about the library profession. Although technology has changed a lot, many of the skills are still important.
Of course, as someone commented on YouTube, our hair is better now!
Well, I tried to embed this video, but when I tried to publish the blog, it gave me an error message. So, the url is above and if you click on it you should see the movie. It's a movie from the 40's about the library profession. Although technology has changed a lot, many of the skills are still important.
Of course, as someone commented on YouTube, our hair is better now!
Web 2.0 Tools
There were some great sites on the list of top 100 Web 2.0 tools. I looked at quite a few of them, and bookmarked a few with Del.icio.us. Some were just for fun, and others could have an application for the library. For instance, I looked at Urban Spoon, which lets you register and rate and review restaurants by geographic area. It also has menus for many of the restaurants being rated. It was fun looking at and reviewing restaurants just from a personal perspective, but I can see how it could also be a useful link on a community information wiki.
Another one I enjoyed was One Sentence. Here the task is to write a story in one sentence. Some were poignant, others just made me laugh!
I looked at Mango which is a language learning tool because we often have people asking about an online language tool. I only looked at the free first lesson, but it looked pretty good. There was also a link for libraries, but you had to contact a rep to get a quote, so I didn't go that far.
Book Movement is for book clubs and has lots of reviews and discussion guides for book club friendly books, but it also has some social networking components allowing members of different book clubs to contact authors and other book clubs. This is another one that would be good for a library website, and I'll be recommending it to my book club too.
Biblio.com looked like another source to send people to who are looking for used and out of print books.
Wufoo lets you set up forms for surveys and registrations, and it works with pay pal so that you can take reservations and donations. There's a free version which is limited, and then you can pay for more forms, etc. per month. I can see this might also be useful for collecting patron feedback.
Apparently you could spend a long time looking all this cool stuff, but since I'm trying to finish up the 23 Things, I'll book mark it to go back to later.
Another one I enjoyed was One Sentence. Here the task is to write a story in one sentence. Some were poignant, others just made me laugh!
I looked at Mango which is a language learning tool because we often have people asking about an online language tool. I only looked at the free first lesson, but it looked pretty good. There was also a link for libraries, but you had to contact a rep to get a quote, so I didn't go that far.
Book Movement is for book clubs and has lots of reviews and discussion guides for book club friendly books, but it also has some social networking components allowing members of different book clubs to contact authors and other book clubs. This is another one that would be good for a library website, and I'll be recommending it to my book club too.
Biblio.com looked like another source to send people to who are looking for used and out of print books.
Wufoo lets you set up forms for surveys and registrations, and it works with pay pal so that you can take reservations and donations. There's a free version which is limited, and then you can pay for more forms, etc. per month. I can see this might also be useful for collecting patron feedback.
Apparently you could spend a long time looking all this cool stuff, but since I'm trying to finish up the 23 Things, I'll book mark it to go back to later.
Adding Blog to CTLS wiki
I forgot I was going to go back and say that Kam got the link (to my blog) to go by taking off the brackets. Neither of us are sure why, but it worked, so I'm not complaining!
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