just discovered

Tomes and Talismans - "Post-apocalyptic library science educational show from the mid-eighties. Learn all about the Dewey decimal system, card catalogues, and microfiche! And the fate of the Earth, of course."


Or view the whole series.


Also, here's info on 13 different online word processing apps.

library-themed wedding invitations

See them here.

Very very cool.

shoulda been a librarian

keep on truckin'

I'm going to try to keep using this blog, periodically, to post cool library-related, or web 2.0-related, things I find. (I'm going to try to continue updating the LPLS del.icio.us, too, so if you have something you'd like to see added there, let me know.)

Here's a funny video I just read about in American Libraries - Read It.

more about blogging

I know you guys are old hat at blogging now, but I'd feel remiss if I didn't mention. Common Craft (whose lovely "in plain English" videos we've watched in several of the 24 Things) recently posted a Blogging in Plain English. It gives a really good explanation of what blogging is, how it works, and why people like it so much. Check it out!

Also watch: New Lightbulbs in Plain English to learn about why you should be using compact fluorescent bulbs.

another youtube video

This video was made for the Skokie Public Library staff in-service day, showing how its director has "integrated Web 2.0 technology into her life."

The 24th Thing

Woo hoo! (or W00T, if you prefer) I've reached the end!

I have really enjoyed this program, both as a participant and as the person putting it all together. Though I was familiar with, or had at least heard of, most of the resources and concepts we discovered through the 24 Things, this program gave me an excuse to actually visit some sites I had never been to and try out some of the cool web 2.0 tools I hadn't yet used. It also gave me a better understanding about things like RSS, wikis, etc. I've also really enjoyed seeing you all go through the 24 Things. I'm very proud of all the staff who have participated in this program, and I'm glad that so many of you have found it a worthwhile project.

I think my favorite thing about this program, as you might guess from previous posts (or how much I keep talking about it), was the wiki. I've wanted to get a staff wiki started for a while, and this was the perfect reason to make it happen. Doing it as one of the 24 Things was also a great way to get multiple staff involved, without me having to resort to pleading or arm twisting. I just hope we can get the rest of the library staff interested and involved, even if they're not participating in the program. I truly think it can be a great resource for us, and Rita and I are discussing ways we can incorporate other materials into this wiki (or build a new one).

I hope that I was successful in making at least some of the exercises relevant to your job. I do believe in the value of lifelong learning, and I think it's important that you have opportunities to learn while on the job. I think several of you have given good ideas of ways we can use some of these resources within the library, either for staff communication or to reach patrons, and I hope that in the next year we can explore some of those ideas. A few people have suggested to me that they'd like to see us offer a program like this for our patrons, and that's another thing we'll be considering.

I appreciate all the feedback you have given me as we've gone through this program, and I hope that you'll continue to share ideas and suggestions as you (hopefully) continue learning about web 2.0.

Thing 23 - podcasts

I'm familiar with podcasts and have listened to a few, though none regularly. There are a couple of zine-related podcasts I sometimes dip into (here's one, and here's another), and I have a friend who makes a music podcast.

So I did a couple of searches for "mama" and "parenting" and found a couple of interesting ones. I also found one on grammar, cause I'm a geek like that. I've added them to my bloglines. What I thought was interesting is that the different podcast search sites turned up different results, and I was surprised that podcast.net included listings for podcasts that haven't be updated in more than a year. I think I liked podfeed's results best.

I like podcasts, as a concept, but they don't do much for me. I'm more of a visual person than an auditory; if I'm just listening to something, I tend to tune out after a while. Like I've never been into talk radio. The subject matter really has to be interesting to me to keep my attention. Video podcasts are more up my alley, since I'm watching as well as listening.

Thing 20 - other web 2.0 tools

Some of the winners are sites we've already explored through L2.0. Of the others, some are sites I'm already familiar with or using. Like Craigslist. I LOVE Craigslist. I have sold things, bought things, and found babysitters using this site. Free classifieds, who wouldn't love it? Google Maps, awesome. I use it at least once a week. Meebo has been talked about a lot in the library blogosphere, as a great tool for chat reference. I have some friends who use Twitter, but it doesn't really appeal to me. There are a couple of sites that I think will be helpful for me with web development that I plan to go back and revisit.

BUT: for this exercise, I think I'll jump on the bandwagon and try out Pandora. I feel pretty out of touch with music. I haven't bought any new cds in ages, and the only MP3s I've bought/downloaded have been songs or bands I already know. I've been wanting to connect with some new music, so I think this would be a great tool for me to use.

So, my evaluation after a little bit of use: I like how it tells you why it selected a particular band or song, so you can see what criteria it's using. I only listened to a few songs, but I agreed with all the ones selected, based on my initial input. The whole music genome project sounds really cool. What a fun job that would be, eh? Sitting and listening to songs and determining their attributes, who sounds like who, etc. And if you find something you really like, just follow the link to hear more samples from the album, plus links to buy it. Yeah, I definitely see myself using this site.

Now, if someone would come up with a book genome, we'd have the ultimate reader's advisory tool, right?

Thing 22 - MyLibraryDV and READS

I'm pretty familiar with both R.E.A.D.S. and MyLibraryDV, mainly because of my interaction with the library's website. I think services like these are where libraries are heading. I think we're probably a bit ahead of the game with MyLibraryDV -- from what I've seen, our patrons aren't using this service a lot yet. It may be because they're not familiar with it, or it may be that they just aren't hip to downloading and watching full-length programs on their computer. Regardless, I think within a few years, we're going to see more blurring between computers and TVs, to the point where eventually it's the same system (in some houses, at least).

R.E.A.D.S. is a great service. I don't use it personally, because I'm not too into audiobooks. There are some nursery rhyme and lullabies available in the children's book section, which I've thought about downloading and burning to CD. Once I have my MP3 player, I'll probably let Denny borrow it to listen to some of the audiobooks, if there's any he's interested in. He gets audiobooks sometimes from the library for the blind, but R.E.A.D.S. has a much bigger selection.

#21 = YouTube

I like YouTube. The guys who thought up this site were geniuses, in my book. I frequently use YouTube, both as a viewer and as a creator. As a viewer, there are lots of interested videos you can find there. Friends and family send me links, or I'll see a link or embedded video on a blog I read pretty much on a daily basis. Sometimes I'll go there specifically looking for a video -- when you remember some cartoon you saw as a child that you want to see again or you're trying to tell somebody about a music video that starred Christopher Walken, and it's just easier to find the video and show it to them than try to explain it. I also have a YouTube account, and I've used it to share short video clips of my son with our family and friends. We have family who live all over the country, who we're not able to visit often, and many of them have been really pleased to be able to watch our son's growth and development. (I'm not going to link to it here, but if you want to see them, let me know and I'll email you the URL.)

As you saw on the 24Things post I made about YouTube, there are lots of library-related videos to be found. Here's one of my favorites. It was made for a video contest. I like it because library + zombies = awesome.



Here's a few other choice videos:

• I'm a Librarian; I'm an IT Professional - a spoof of the Mac vs. PC commercials (which I love).
  
• How to Make a Zine (using 1 sheet of paper)
• I also love the Chad Vader video series.

So, in short: Yay for YouTube! I can see lots of potential ways libraries could use YouTube. We need a good digital video camera first, tho.

Test document, posting from GoogleDocs.

Thing 19 - myspace, yourspace

I hate myspace. Not because it is pointless or un-useful (is that a word?). No, I hate it because it is ugly. It is terribly aesthetically unpleasing. And some people make their profile pages just horrendous to visit: hard-to-read text over jarring graphics, audio files that autoplay when I don't want them to, those stupid meme graphics. Just, ugh.

But I do have a myspace page. I signed up for it earlier this year. I did it mainly to promote the new library zine collection -- to connect with other zine publishers and people interested in zines, as well as other zine libraries and librarians. I have used it to announce events and talk up some of the zines in our collection. I don't know how much my actions on myspace have resulted in drawing in new patrons to the library, but I have received a few zine donations because a publisher found me on myspace. Makes it worth it to me. I don't frequent the site, though (I already have plenty enough places to keep track of online). I try to drop in every couple of weeks, look for new "friends" to add every couple of months.

So, for this exercise, I decided to explore Facebook. I've been thinking about signing up for Facebook for a while now, so I'll go ahead and bite the bullet. I am hoping that Facebook will help me connect with other library school grad students and maybe others in the library profession. (Networking is important!) But, realistically, I don't know how much I'll keep up with it. As I said, all I need is one more website to visit. I can't even keep up with the grad school-related Yahoo groups I'm subscribed to.

I do think Facebook is a more aesthetically pleasing site than MySpace. I'm still feeling my way around, so I don't know yet how useful it will be to me, or if I'll keep my profile active in the longrun.

Thing 18 - Google Docs, etc.

I've already used Google Docs for a couple of things. Most recently, someone with YCAC created a spreadsheet using Google Docs for she and I to jointly edit / access, which we can use to track registration and attendees to our zine workshops. I found it very easy to use -- working quite similarly to Microsoft Excel. I was really surprised by the variety of tools offered by Zoho. I'm planning to try out its database option to see how well it works.

I don't think that these applications are particularly helpful for in-house staff use -- if we need to share a documents, we can do so by saving it to the Everyone folder on the network. However, they could be helpful for collaborating with folks outside of the library (like in my YCAC example above).

From a personal perspective, I've been thinking about starting to use Google Docs or a similar application in publishing my zine. I have multiple people who contribute content to the zine, which they usually send me as a MS Word attachment. But some people don't have access to Word (or Open Office), or they instead send the text within the body of an email, which messes up the formatting. Having them post their content to a site like Google Docs and then allow me to access it might be an easier, less messy way of handling their submissions. If the database application is versatile enough, I may use that for the zine, too, to share contact & assignment information with the review staff.

Thing 17 - LPLS wiki

Well, I suppose that I could mention here that I set up the wiki, including the front page, the sandbox page, and the Checking In Materials entry (as an example) and call it a day. But I'll go an extra mile and throw up a couple of additional entries: the opening procedures and closing procedures for MGL Library.

One thing I like so much about this wiki, a feature that I think will make it very useful, is that it's searchable. Have a question, type in a term, find pages that are related. Awesome! And pbwiki is a very easy site to use -- much easier than some other wiki sites I've visited and explored.

If it isn't obvious yet, I am really excited about this project. This week's activities are the ones I have been most looking forward to. I've been wanting to create a staff wiki for some time now, and this Learning 2.0 program was a great excuse to finally get it going. I'm glad to see that some of you fellow L2.0 folks are into this idea too -- now we just have to convert the rest of the staff!

Thing 16 - I like wikis

I do! I think it's a great concept and I love that it's so popular. You can harp about the questionable reliability of wikipedia all you want, but I use it all the time for general information. Sure, I don't consider it to be on the same authoritative level as Encyclopedia Britannica or the OED, but I do think it is a good resource. I also use another wiki, ZineWiki, which is a wiki dedicated to zines. I've made a few entries and edits there. Here's the entry about the zine I publish, Zine World. Here's wikipedia's entry on ZW.

Anyway, about wikis in libraries: I think there are a lot of possibilities for using wikis. I think the sites mentioned in this exercise are good examples. I like the subject guide / pathfinders idea. And Library Success is a great resource. I could see wikis also being useful in a school setting -- for group projects, class assignments, syllabuses, etc.

I really hope that we're able to build a comprehensive staff resource using the wiki. I've already given a few other ideas about what we could add: procedures, instructions, library forms (with instructions), reference resources (website links, links to entries in the catalog, etc.), training guides, party planning. I'm interested to see what you guys suggest!

for my reference

Flickr pool of zines in libraries

Thing #15 - Library 2.0

I read all the articles, because I’m a geek like that. I thought Dr. Wendy Shultz’s article (temporary place) was really interesting, to imagine her predictions for libraries of the future. The article that resonated the most with me was Michael Stephens (new world) because that’s really how I see “Library 2.0.”

Though I disagree with some of the points Rick Anderson (icebergs) made, I think this comment really sums the topic up well: “There was a time, not very long ago, when libraries exercised something close to monopoly power in the information marketplace. … In the post-print era, libraries no longer have the monopoly power that they had in the days before the Internet.”

I’ve always thought of libraries (at least public libraries) as a center of the community: a place where everyone had equal access, no matter your wealth, to information and entertainment. And, right now, they still are. But we’re losing that edge. We’re all struggling to keep our circulation numbers up. As they are going down, our computer usage numbers are skyrocketing. And what of the people who no longer come to the library because they have Internet at home and through the Internet, they can find everything they need?

Most people do not think they need a guide in navigating the Internet. We can’t wait for them to come to us so we can show them all the lovely things we have to offer. We have to find a way to go to them. We need to meet them where they are. And that’s where I see the true benefit in using Web 2.0 tools. Just because a person doesn’t physically step foot into one of our library buildings doesn’t mean we should write them off as a library patron. We have to find ways to make it happen.

So my question is: What can we do once this program is over? How can we make use of the tools we have been playing with and learning about? How do we go out and reach our patrons? Who is going to help me do it? I hope to hear comments from some of you about this by the time we get to the end of the program.

#12 roll your own

This has been my least favorite activity so far, which I guess is why I put it off. I just don't really see myself using this very often. It took me a while to think of a topic I could use: what's something I repeatedly search for that involves looking at multiple websites? Finally it dawned on me: recipes. So I loaded up several sites and viola.

Select Search Engine...recipe finderSearch The Web

Powered by Rollyo

Interesting that when you do a search using your rollyo tool, you still end up with results from places other than the ones you selected -- "sponsored links."

Other ideas I came up with which might be useful rollyo searches: Crafts or coloring sheets (could be useful for YS programs). Or medical sites (better to used trusted sources than a google search, if you're looking up diseases or symptoms, etc.). Maybe parenting tips / advice.

Anyway, it's not something I'd add to the library website, but I could see it being used by specific staff or in specific departments, maybe.

#14 Technorati

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the inner workings of Technorati. I see how to use it as a search / blog finding tool, and I understand how they manage their ranking / authority, but somehow it feels like the site hasn't quite clicked for me yet. In an effort to raise the authority ranking of the LPLS Learning 2.0 website a bit above 1, I'm adding a link within this blog entry. Because blogs linking to other blogs is where the authority comes from.

You know, I was thinking that it's cool that Technorati displays videos among its search results. I just did a search for my name (to see if this here blog was listing in Technorati, which is is, with 0 authority -- which shows you that even if you don't go through the claim process, as described in this week's exercise, your blog may still be included in Technorati listings), and what do you know, it included videos from youtube that I'm in (from the Richmond Zine Festival this summer). It also pulled up a video of me and my kiddo (from his grammy's webcam, which we were using to make a video for the kiddo's uncle). And I found a blog post about Linebaugh's zine collection. Course, it also includes links to blog posts & videos that are not me. (Yes, it's still possible, even with a name as uncommon as mine.)