Week 7, #17 - Technology

Ahhh, good ole technology. Where would we be without it? Oh that's right, we are without it. No Horizon, aggghhhh! A serious backup of holds and items to check-in, customers with endless questions we cannot answer, due date stamps, and the list goes on.

Week 7, #16 - Wikis

I'm all about democratization and collaboration so of course I love wikis. The possibilities for their use in libraries are endless. Users can write about what is going on in the community, where and when there will be community meetings, when and where Katy and James are setting up their lemonade stand, . . . . Users can make suggestions on how the library could improve its service, suggest items to purchase, vote for which programs they want or what story they want to hear at storytime, . . . . Seriously, the list of possibilities could go on and on and on . . .

Week 6, #15 - Library 2.0

To me, Library 2.0 is about embracing constant change. We must keep our minds open and listen to not only each other, but to all library users. Get everyone involved in the process of change and libraries will not only survive, but will also thrive.

I thought there were a few things in particular about the OCLC Newsletter that were interesting. One was the idea that if services need training, then the services need to be fixed. I think we will always have to teach research skills. At least to some people. Sure we can make search interfaces more user friendly, but there are always going to be at least a few people who not only need training, but want training. We must find time for these users.

A good point was made about how project timelines that stretch on for months do not work in Library 2.0. One must recognize how quickly the world and library users are changing with advancing technology. We must keep up and remain familiar with everything new. The newsletter states that we have to read outside the profession. However, I believe that when we are reading about technology and its impact on users we are not reading outside the profession. This is part of being a librarian.

This movement toward cooperation and "collective intelligence" is taking place in a time of intense privatization. However, the cooperation seems privatized, if that makes sense. Now that almost everything can be accomplished online, we are isolating ourselves in our homes. Virtual communities have replaced physical communities. Libraries are offering more services online and in some cases have eliminated a trip to the library altogether. This is good and bad. It is good that we are giving users what they want, but in order to serve what is in the best interests of our communities we must encourage physical participation along with the virtual. We may be communicating more which is good, but communication is more than letters and symbols on a screen. A real smile beats :-) any day.

Not an assignment, just cute

Week 6, #14 - Technorati

I do not want everyone, because I know everyone will :-), coming to my blog and so I do not want to claim myself or tag my posts. I'd rather remain in the ihcpl community.

When I searched for "Learning 2.0" as an exact phrase I received 4,640 hits. When I searched in the blog directory I received 180 hits. In other words, a lot of bloggers talk about 2.0 on their blogs, but their entire blog is not about 2.0.

I browsed the "popular" blogs from Technorati. I don't like how they all look the same. However, many in the top 100 were interesting. There was a site called ProBlogger about making money blogging. The top searches were also interesting. Weird actually. I had never heard of what some people were searching for. "Leopard" was a top search. Not sure why. I think "bikini" was up there too.

Week 6, #13 - Tagging

I have a del.icio.us account but I only have 4 or 5 sites bookmarked. I just don't have time. The best aspect of this site is the fact that I can access my list of favorite web pages from any computer. I could also put the links on my blog. It would be fun, if I had the time, to browse the more popular sites. If I really had some time on my hands, then "stalking" might be interesting. It's a quick way to locate good sites of interest.

Week 5, #12 - Library Elf

I went and looked at all Library Elf has to offer, but I did not sign up. I already get way too many e-mails and since we have a notification service through work, I did not feel it was necessary. However, I will be sure to let those families that have multiple library cards, one for each parent and every kid, know about the service. It's definitely helpful when one needs to keep track of various accounts.

Week 5, #11 - Library Thing

Okey doke, I now have some random books from my library on the right below my favorites. I had to create an account for school, but I added some more books. I only had 10 previously. I think Library Thing is a good idea and it's neat to see who else reads the same kind of stuff I do. Weirdos.

Week 5, #10 - Image Generators

As you can tell, I had a lot of fun with the avatars. I even made one of my boyfriend jumping on the bed, but I won't post that here :-) I also played around a lot on the bighugelab and imagegenerator sites. I now have a lot of good ideas for affordable x-mas gifts. I posted one of the inspirational cards (I think that's what they're called) and I put my name in fancy letters down at the bottom right of the blog. I don't know how I manage to do all of this, but I find time. When my daughter falls asleep I head straight for the pc. It's sad.

Week 5, #10 - My little miracle

Week 5, #10 - The Hippie Librarian

Week 5, #10 - The Hippie Librarian in the future

That's coffee I'm drinking :-) I'm supposed to have the jitters but they cut the animations short for a smaller file. The whole animation is pretty funny.

Week 4, #9 - Finding Feeds

I briefly went through the provided rss feed search links. I think Bloglines is probably my favorite although it took me awhile to remember the e-mail account and password I used to sign up previously. I browsed through their 200 most popular feeds and found one from www.treehugger.com. It fits my theme :-) There was not much time, but I did not find a way to limit the search on Topix to only feeds which was annoying. I found Syndic8's page to be kind of ugly and boring. Despite the plainness, they manage to display a lot of useless information like "5 most recent actions" and "10 newest users," not helping with information overload. Who cares about the last 10 people to sign up? Technorati is good for finding blogs specifically. As for unusual feeds, there is a feed that has all of the flickr photos tagged "odd."

Week 4, #8 - RSS Feeds

I went to bloglines and set up my account. For some reason I could not get a confirmation e-mail sent to my AOL address. I tried a few times from work and home. Finally, I used my TWU e-mail and that worked. Registering for feeds is easy enough, but I don't know when I'll ever have time to read them :-( I put a few here on my blog.