Judy's Library Blog

Finishing the 23 Things

2009-01-30T16:16:00.002-06:00

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!

Librivox

2009-01-30T16:03:00.002-06:00

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.

Podcasts

2009-01-30T15:29:00.003-06:00

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!!

More on YouTube

2009-01-30T14:41:00.002-06:00

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!

YouTube--LIbrarian Vocational Video

2009-01-30T14:20:00.003-06:00

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!

Web 2.0 Tools

2009-01-30T13:17:00.002-06:00

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.

Adding Blog to CTLS wiki

2009-01-30T11:07:00.002-06:00

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!

More on Zoho Writer

2009-01-30T11:04:00.001-06:00

As you can see, it did post to my blog successfully although I don't think the comment went through. I also tried e-mailing it to my work address, and that worked well also (although again it didn't take the comment with it). I think I could like this one!

Trial document

2009-01-30T11:01:00.001-06:00

Zoho Writer

I'm using Zoho Writer for the first time to explore some of the features. I'm excited by the concept of sharing documents. I can already see some applications. For instance, I have some Board members who have trouble opening word attachments. I'm hoping that it might be easier for them to just go to a web address instead. I'll have to do some experiementing... OK, my first experiment was the spell checker. It highlight the misspelled word above (experiementing), but I couldn't see that it gave me any suggestions to change it to. Then I tried to use the help button but didn't find a search screen to find out about spell check.

Wow--that was exciting, the whole screen went to black when I clicked on the emoticon button! Let me try that again... Yup, happened again, I guess that's what it's supposed to do.

Now let's see if I can import a picture...

OK, it was easy to find it on my desktop. It came in pretty big, but I was able to resize with the handles, so here's our puppy, Bear, enjoying the Christmas wrapping paper. (Yes, I know NOW, that Labs are puppies for 2 years, too bad someone didn't tell me that 6 months ago!)

So, I added a comment, just to try it out. Turns out you have to click on the little icon in the lower right hand corner to actually read what it says. Could be a good tool when editing a shared document.

I can see that there are a lot of sophisticated style type tools that I don't usually bother with in Word, but it's nice to know they're there if I ever need them.

I looked at it in preview, and then re-edited to add a sentence. Also added tags, and saved it.

Now to the next adventure, let's see if I can publish this to my blog.

Technorati Tags dog,productivity,software,picture,tools,online

Adding to the CTLS Wiki

2009-01-30T09:21:00.002-06:00

Well, this was a bit rocky. I think I was following the example in the directions, but the url did not convert to a link. I've e-mailed Kam to see if I'm missing something. I tried it several times thinking I just wasn't seeing a space before or after the but it didn't seem to make a difference, so I finally left it as is so that Kam could look at it. Oddly enough, when I put what I was trying to enter into my e-mail, that did convert!

I was able to add to the list of favorite vacation spots, but when I tried to add a url to see my favorite city in Mexico (using the brackets and the url), it didn't convert to a link either.

I'm hoping maybe it's a problem with the wiki rather than me, but I'm afraid not! Hopefully Kam will straighten me out!

More later...

Checking Out Wikis

2009-01-28T20:53:00.004-06:00

Random thoughts about the wickis I looked at:

SJCPL--Interesting concept, mixes lists of library materials in a given subject with programming and links to relevant websites. It also includes links to commercial sites (local). I wonder if they get a bonus for referring to them. I tried to check out the comment features but it said you have to login to edit. Maybe it works within the library?

Library Successes--Lots of interesting links here. Still ended up hitting some areas that said you needed to login to edit, even when I was just following links. Some subjects are better covered than others. I enoyed the sites I found under Readers Advisory. Like many sites covered in this program, too much to absorb!

Library Instruction--wouldn't connect

Annaheim conference--not sure why this is a wiki rather than just a website except maybe that allows the presenters to provide their own handouts?

ALA Wikis--boy, there are a ton of these--lots from different ALA divisions, roundtables, etc. Some are better than others. Some seem to have been started but not completed (RUSA Reader's advisory blog). Some of them still seem to me could have just been a regular web page, but maybe I'm missing something here.

Other Wikis--I looked at a bunch of these. Lots seemed to be works in progress (which I guess is the definition of a wiki). I liked the community information one from Washington State. I have a reference person who is interested in gathering all sorts of info on our area. I can see where this might be a good way to organize it as well as ask for community input.

Another tool that I need to see if I have time to use!!

Library Trends

2009-01-28T16:14:00.002-06:00

As part of exercise 15 I read the chapter in the Library Technology Reports Sept./Oct. 2007 publication on Technology Trends for a 2.0 world. I had mixed feelings reading it. I could see wonderful vistas opening up for libraries, but I also felt exhausted just thinking of trying to keep up with all that is out there.

I could definitely relate to the concept of encouraging the participation of patrons in the life of the library. I did find the idea of camera phone pictures being posted willy nilly a little daunting. We have all had patrons who are less than rational with us, and the thought of them having this forum to shout their displeasure to the world is a little daunting.

On the other hand, the idea of using YouTube to advertise the library is exciting, and we're beginning to work on that now.

Ways to make our catalog more inclusive are very intriguing. I think it will come down to how easy it is for non-techies to implement that sort of thing. Many of our libraries to have IT departments, and even those of us who do usually have to share them with the rest of the city/county, so ease and cost will be important factors I believe.

Everything I've read and explored thus far in 23 Things seems to lead to other things--all very exciting but somewhat overwhelming. I'm afraid I could spend so much time exploring that I wouldn't actually get anything done! Presumeably there's some kind of happy balance that we'll all have to find.

Technorati

2009-01-28T12:27:00.002-06:00

I did some playing around with this site. Seems like there are several ways to search it. When you click on advanced search it kind of looks like a search in a library catalog! That was the place I found to search in different places (whole blog, tags). If there was another way to search by tag I didn't find it. I looked through the directory, but didn't find a way to actually search it per se. However, it is in categories, so by looking in the technology section I did find the learning 2.0 blogs.

As far as comparing the blog search to the tag search, I did see some overlap, but it seemed like the blog search also pulled in some other things on "learning" without the 2.0.

I thought the directory was interesting just for browsing the different subject areas. Some of the categories were rather broadly drawn. For instance, I looked under lifestyle at the travel list, and although they all were about a geographic place, I wouldn't have called them all travel blogs. Gossip about Paris Hilton in London for a new TV show didn't seem like travel writing to me!

The popular section was also interesting. I looked a few websites. I have to admit I was most interested in the ones that weren't aimed at techies. The PostSecret blog which was an art project with artistic postcards sent in anonymouslywith secrets on them was especially compelling.

My overall impression of technorati is that it shows how many blogs are out there in the world. Without having a specific need to search for, it was pretty overwhelming. However, I will try to remember to use technorati when doing research in the future.

I didn't claim my blog or try to index it since it's really just an exercise and I didn't feel like it is really very useful for anyone doing research. However, in the future if I did a "for real" blog with a purpose, it's good to know that possibility exists.

De.licio.ous

2009-01-27T21:58:00.002-06:00

I tried looking through Kam's delicious site and looked at some of her book marked sites and the tags and then looked at some of the other people's tags that her sites led me too. It seems like you could wander indefinitely from there (I ended up looking at a person's recipe websites). So, I decided I needed to try it for myself. So, I set up an account and went to some of my "favorites" sites and bookmarked them. Definitely looks like it has possibilities. The real test will be using the bookmark list to find sites later. We'll see how it goes. Anyway, I'm glad to have a chance to try this out.

More gaming

2009-01-26T22:35:00.002-06:00

Looking back I realized I'd only done one category (simple games) even though I tried out two of them, so this evening I played hearts. I was limited in which games I could do by the limitations my city puts on downloading apps, but I was able to play hearts which took me back to my high school days which is the last time I played card games. I never got above the beginner level, but did OK there. Now I've got to go get some sleep!

Gaming

2009-01-26T18:05:00.001-06:00

OK, I am SO not a gamer, but I did try out the Bejeweled and the Bookworm. I got the impression Bookworm is for more unskilled folks like me since I kept advancing even though I wasn't doing anything all that impressive in terms of time or level of words. But, it did keep me going for quite a while, so maybe there's a little something in there for me after all.

2009-01-26T15:16:00.003-06:00

Wow! I have a My Space Page! Although my husband and son (both part-time musicians) have had My Space pages forever, I never thought I would. But I'm learning all sorts of new things with 23 Things, and hoping this will be another one which I will be able to put to practical use. (Also I've subscribed to my son's blog, so maybe I'll know what's going on with him better...)

Here's the blog I put on My Space http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendID=448608499 and my myspace url is www.myspace.com/judyduer

Chat achieved!

2009-01-25T22:04:00.003-06:00

So, I have done my first chatting. I ended up talking to my husband with google talk. The silly thing is that we were sitting in the same room, each with a laptop on our laps! But, it helped because I had trouble figuring out how to get the chat box up with his name. But, with his help I made it. We're going to try again when we're both at work tomorrow. Neither one of us seems to know any of "cool" short cuts though!

Newsreaders

2009-01-01T22:02:00.002-06:00

I didn't have any problem coming up with sites to add to my google reader. I had several things coming into my e-mail because I hadn't taken the time to figure out how to use rss (maybe not as simple as the name implies) so I switched them and had some of my Statesman pages added as well. I also put google reader on my i-google page so that I wouldn't have to go looking for them. The trick will be not to get too many things going there...

Fake Magazine Cover

2008-12-31T15:38:00.001-06:00

Fake Magazine Cover
Originally uploaded by Judy Duer

This fake magazine cover was created using one of fd's Flickr Toys http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/ and a picture we took during our migration to a new automation system when we weren't able to check in books for several days.

It wasn't too hard to do, but I'm not sure the results are spectacular either. I had some difficulty in deciding what generator to use and what to do because I didn't want to do anything that would come back to bite me in the future. There's been a lot of talk lately on publib and in our city about the fact that anything you do online is out there for everyone to see. Hopefully this is pretty inocuous!

There were lots of things that looked like fun to do on a personal level, and when I have more photo's uploaded I may try using the mosaic program or some of the others.

Ian Warholized

2008-12-31T11:53:00.001-06:00

Ian Warholized
Originally uploaded by Judy Duer

Here's a picture of my son from last Christmas using one of the extra tools using flickr. They call it "warholizing"

Flickr vs Picasa

2008-12-31T11:22:00.002-06:00

I started to try out Picasa to make the comparison, but got hung up by the fact that it wanted to download something to my computer. Our IT department has us blocked from downloading software without administrative privileges. Yes, I could probably get them to do it for me, but why bother since Flickr seems to be working just fine.

Also, I saw less explanatory information on Picasa. Maybe I just didn't get far enough.

Trying out blogging from flickr

2008-12-31T11:09:00.001-06:00

Cathedral Zacatecas
Originally uploaded by Judy Duer

This is a picture I uploaded to my NEW flickr account from our trip to Zacatecas last January. I had a new computer and was trying out the "night scene" setting. Pretty cool, huh? Since that's what I had on my computer, that's what I went with.

However, I can definitely see the potential in taking some pictures around the library and posting them and then publicizing it. I think I'll set up a separate account for the library and start taking pictures during our renovation process for the public to view.

This is a great application which I've been hearing about for a while. I'm glad I got forced into trying it out with this exercise. I can see several other applications in my private life. Cool!

2008-12-31T08:33:00.003-06:00

OK, I've added an avatar. Nothing too daring, but I did use the ALA creator and a picture from my files. Maybe if I get caught up a little I'll go back and try to be more creative.

I also added a bit to my profile.

2008-12-30T17:39:00.002-06:00

Interesting, it also retrospectively changed the times of the earlier posts...

Changing Time Zones

2008-12-30T17:36:00.002-06:00

When I made my first 2 posts I noticed it seemed to be showing Pacific time zone. I tried using help to change it. The first attempt I made change the time to post it (so it was scheduled to post 2 hours later). So, I went back to help and discovered I needed to go into settings, and then formatting and change the time zone. Hopefully this will be correct now. Next challenge, to see if I can get rid of the one scheduled to post later.

2008-12-30T17:20:00.000-06:00

I didn't spend as much time on the explore google exercise as I would like, but I did set up an "i-google" page as my home page and customized it. Since I work in Temple and live in Georgetown I was happy to find I could put both in the weather spot and see what's going on in both places. Now if we could just trust the "weather guessers" (as my husband labels them)!

2008-12-30T16:57:00.000-06:00

This blog is being created as part of the "23 Things" program currently being sponsored by the Central Texas Library System. Since I graduated from library school (yes, it was still called library school back then) back in 1984 I feel like I can take all the help I can get keeping up with the new technology.

I believe the first post is supposed to be on the 7 1/2 habits of highly successful lifelong learners, and what I think is hardest and easiest for me as a lifelong learner. I think the easiest thing is having confidence in myself as a competent effective learner. After all, like all librarians (and city employees) I'm constantly having to learn something new. Most difficult is probably remembering to begin with the end in mind. At times I tend to be trying to do so many different things at once that I just leap into things without thinking them through. Also, sometimes it's hard to find time to play with new technology, although I like the concept!

Obviously I'm starting out behind, but I'm hoping to catch up, or at least finish eventually. It's nice that this can be done somewhat self-paced.