Thing 23

The Web Thing Challenge has been -a challenged. Lucky for me I had a partner (who is younger and more comfortable with technology) at the library. Because of the challenge I now understand more of the technology that is currently in the library, such as the scanner - I never knew how to work ours.

My favorite thing is LibraryThing, I have kept up with listing books as I read them, when I have some time I want to spend more time on this site. I have told every book lover that I know about this website. I also see where I can use del.icio.us and Google Docs for school. Speaking of school I wrote about the OCl Web Thing Challenge in one of my classes, we were talking about helpful technology for libraries. The response was great, many of my classmates said that there were going to do the challenge because it looked informative and fun.

What don't I like about Web 2.0? unlike this challenge which has an end Web 2.0 has so much stuff that I could never learn it all. And now there is Web 3.0!!! All I can do is learn as much as I can and have lots of fun doing it.

Thing 22

ListenNJ is a great idea. I listen to audio books when I drive, do housework, and when I ride my bike, so being able to download books would be great. The proble is-it was just too hard. I had many false starts and I think that if I were a patron trying out this new technology I may not have tried so hard. Once I got it working I was able to listen to Animal Farm. For ListenNJ to work the system has to be made more user friendly.

Thing 21

Here is a lession in why someone should look a head at the assignments, because in Thing 19 I said that I was not impressed with "Podshow" or "Odeo" Thing 21 changed my mind. I recently read the book Iberia from James Michener, the book was published in 1969. In Iberia Mitchener talks about his love of Spain and what is right and wrong with the country, he stated that if the country's power remains in the hands of the triangle consisting of the Church, the military and the land families the country would never modernize. Since finishing the book I have planned to see what is happening in Spain today. And there on Podcast.com was a podcast call Notes from Spain.

This podcast is done from a husband(who is English) and wife (who is Spanish) team and they discuss different aspects of Spain from food, business, culture and the Church. I loved it. The podcast that is linked here is about the Spanish tax system, and how each tax form has a spot where a person can give some of their refund to either the Catholic Church or for social issues. It shows that is some ways Spain has not changed much since 1969, but in other ways it has.

http://www.notesfromspain.com/

Thing 20

I decided to play by looking at library related things on YouTube. I found videos on how to steal a library book and many entries about book cart races. Then I went looking for libraries and new technology. I found this clip interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFAWR6hzZek

Thing 19

It was interesting reading the different categories for the Web 2.0 Awards. I was intrigued when OCL's 23 Things mentioned Pandora.com I tried it and enjoyed the music very much. When They asked for an "artist or song" I wrote Harry Chapin and Pandora played "Mr. Tanner" Next it played "Time in a Bottle" from Jim Croce (this was the theme song for my senior prom in High School). These are songs I love and never hear played on the radio.

Next I looked at "Odeo" and "Podshow" These disappointed me. Up until now the only podcast I have heard were from school, when I had to listen to visiting professors. These lectures were great and I expected to find that same level of speaker. Instead it was just the normal "Talk Radio" stuff which I do not listen too.

The prize winner I really liked was "Arcaplay" I love computer games- I will not admit how long I played Fast Food Fiasco.

Thing 18

Google Docs seems like a very useful thing. As a part-time library assistant I do not see where I could use it, but I am aware of a few projects the some full-time library assistants at my branch are doing that require sharing information with people at other branches. I think that Google Docs would be very usefulfor them.

I can see where I can use Google Docs at school. I am currently working on my MLS and each semester I have at least 1 group project. While working on these projects communication has been a problem. Each teacher has set up a group blog so each group can work together, but these blogs never seem to work and we always end up e-mailing each other. For my next group project I will suggest that my group try Google Docs.

Thing 17

The OCL WebChallenge Wiki was fun, I got to play in the Sandbox and talk about a favorite thing, I talked about food. I wanted to put a picture in but I could not make it work, it kept saying something about an "OK" button but the only button I saw said "cancel" so I did. I will keep trying but because I have only 4 days and 6 things I must move on. I was able to ad the link from the Wiki to my blog. That took a few tries but I did succeed.

Thing 16

I went on to the Library Success Wiki and found it interesting that the first words that greeted me were “Update! Because of vandalism problems, e-mail confirmation is now required.” I found that sad, who would want to vandalize a library Wiki?

I like the lay-out, in the Community Section along with a list of Wiki users, there is a Tip page which can be useful to first time Wiki writers and a guide line for Wiki etiquette. Other sections are Management & Leadership, Selling Your Library and the one that interested me the most-Reference Service. Library Success looks very interesting, and I will be spending more time on this website.

It was interesting reading OCL’s entry in Wikipedia. Although I like using Wikipedia for fun topics like how many times was Rod Stewart married and what were the names of his wives. I have to admit that I never paid attention to the discussion or history tabs.

Wikis are can be very useful, informative and fun. I can see where people with similar interest would enjoy use Wikis to communicating with each other. I have used Wikis for class projects and most of the time it has been useful. But as we saw with Library Success how vulnerable a Wiki can be.

Thing 15

Question-How many librarians does it take to change a light bulb?
Answer- Three. One to change the light bulb, and three the say “That’s not how we use to change the light bulb!”

I enjoyed reading Rick Anderson’s Away from the “Iceberg.” Although there are many librarians and library employees who enjoy how computers and the information age has change how the library’s function, there are many who long for the old days and old ways. With the coming of the digital age and the introduction of Google, the way patrons use the library has changed, when searching for a reference question more people prefer to look something up on a computer than use a book.

When Mr. Anderson states, “the time has come for us to look skeptically at the very idea of a library “collection.” He talks about the just in case reference materials the library spend a lot of money on, and how many of these print materials are now available in a digital form. Libraries many enjoy seeing these reference books lining the shelves, but many of the patrons want the information at their finger tips.

The author makes a good point when he asks what the library’s role in educating the public should be. As technology becomes more and more important in how the library and the public in general functions, which side of the digital dived they are located on may well determine an individual’s future. The library can offer free access to the internet and some free classes, but the internet itself must continue to make itself more and more user friendly.

Libraries no longer have a monopoly of information, instead of longing for the old days today’s libraries can embrace the information age and work with the new technology to make the library experience better than ever.

What does Web 2.0 mean to me? On the one hand all the things we have learned in this exercise show how informative, interesting and fun Web 2.0 can be. We can do things and connect with each other in ways that we never dreamed of in the past. On the other hand everything we do on Web 2.0 leaves a trail and each connection we make makes our person lives less and less private. But I guess Web 2.0 is like everything else in the world, you have to take the good with the bad.

Thing 2 & 8 Revisited

Thing 2 Revisited
What did I find hardest and easiest of the 7 ½ habits? In general I would find teaching or mentoring the easiest because teaching is something that I like to do, but with the OCL’s 23 things I found it the hardest. Technology is a weak point of mine; therefore I have been asking people to teach me how to do many of these things rather than teaching others. The easiest was 7 ½ “play” although I am not great at technology, I enjoy it and I like to play on the computer and see what new things I can learn

Thing 8 Revisited
The RSS feed is something that I would use sparingly at the library or it could become information overload. I could see it being used to keep track of information that changes frequently such as the news, weather, political sites or book reviews. A nice thing about RSS feeds is that they can be changed depending on the library’s needs.

Thing 14

Well, I took a look at Technorati. I guess that there are some people who might like this kind of website, but as a person who has no interest in reading other people's blogs, this site does nothing for me. I read somewhere that there are more Bloggers than Blog readers, I believe that. I entered learning 2.0 under the post page and got 6,769 results; I saw everything from enterprise 2.0 to PR for 2.0 starts-ups to Biz Diev 2.0. I found some very interesting posts come up with the word learning in it somewhere also. Then I entered the term as "learning 2.0" and the results were only 663, these post were more focused. I did the same under the Blog page and I got 932 hits under learning 2.0 and 327 under "learning 2.0". I did not see anything I wanted to spend the time reading. But under the Photo page when I entered learning 2.0 I found some very interesting pictures, and most of them were from libraries.

Thing 2 and 8

Hi, I got a comment that I missed thing 2 and 8, I didn't miss them, I just didn't write about them-sorry. Thing 2 was the 7 1/2 habits, I found the information interesting. As for the learning vs. training. I love to learn- hay I am 52 years old and I am in graduate school and I already am looking a OCC for classes to take when I graduate. To continue to learn new things makes life fun!!!

As for thing 8- I opened an account on blogline and I have RSS feeds to ten news websites. I have always wondered what RSS Feed was- now I know. I like this and will continue to use it even after the 23 things is done.

Thing 13

I opened a del.icious.us account, and I found this site to be very interesting. I can see where someone might love this site, It is a great way to keep organized. The problem is I see where this website will consume time-more than save it.

Thing 12

Hey, this Netlibrary is another cool thing. I looked up a book called Bill Gates, the Computer King I liked how I could read from page to page by clicking on NEXT, but I also liked that I could click on different section like his childhood or his house.

As for Worldcat I am very familiar with this website, I have used it for classes. I like it very much,and I think that it is very useful for ILL's.

Thing 11

The Library Thing is awesome. I will be using this toy even when OCL's 23things is over. These are the books I have read this year.

Thing 10

For this blog I am supposed to express myself about some aspect of technology. I happen to be a grad student and for one of my classes I have to do summaries of journal articles on some aspect of library technology, so here is one that I did.


This weeks article is from the journal American Libraries titled “Your Stuff, Their Space” by Meredith Franks. The author wonders if a library has great technology and nobody uses it-is it really great? Libraries public, private and academic have spend a lot of money purchasing online databases that are not getting anywhere near the usage that they should. Part of the reason is the Internet and search options like Google and Yahoo!, students and the general public no longer think that they need a library. Even after a failed Internet search, few people are aware of the many subscription databases and other services that are available at their public or school library.

Many libraries list their research tools on their own websites, but if a potential user never logs on to the home page of the library’s website in the first place, then they will never know all of the wonderful information that is available. So Ms. Franks has proposes some unique marketing ideas such as using automation that is already in place “…we must start looking beyond these [library] sites and toward putting our content where our users are.” (Franks, 2007).

One of her ideas is using websites like Facebook (facebook.com), and MySpace (mySpace.com), after writing an article about this idea “… Facebook has opened up its platform to software developers, enabling people to create applications that will either pull content from places like Facebook or to search content already in Facebook.” (Franks, 2007). She goes on explaining that many libraries have used this type of website so people “…can add these tools to their profiles for easy access.” (Frank, 2007). The photo-sharing website Flicker (flicker.com) has been utilized by libraries like the North Carolina State University. The college has added historical and old photos of their collection on flicker, so that when a user finds these photos they can click over to the university library’s website and view other items in their collection.
Another cleaver use of technology comes from the library at the University of Washington. They have created links to their university library on specific Wikipedia articles that are about subjects that the library has relevant information on, “These links make the collections much more accessible to people who might never think to use a university library for research.” (Franks, 2007).

Ms. Frank’s point is libraries have to market themselves, and instead of tiring to bring people in to the library, the library must bring itself to the people. And the best way to so is to utilize technology to get their stuff on popular website spaces that people are using everyday.

Work Cited
Franks, Meredith. (2007). Your Stuff, Their Space. American Libraries, Vol. 38, Issue 11. Retrieved Feb. 1, 2008, from EBSCOhost MasterFile Premier.

RSS Feeds

I did my RSS feeds today, and I like the whole concept. It was fun to find news websites that I look at all of the time anyway and now I have them all in one place. Cool.
Traci

Thing Seven

I scanned the cover of the book East of Eden by John Steinbeck. This is my favorite book.

Traci

Thing 6 1/2

I looked at some pictures on Flickr, and although I enjoy looking a pictures of my family, I found that looking at pictures of strangers boring. I did like viewing nature scenes. I liked the picture called Img_0344_JPG by someone named rbarenblat. It shows some cherry trees just starting to bloom, they are very pretty.

Flickr thing 5

Here are my photos for webthings5. I know, I know. Don't forget my day job. They are taged olcwebthings.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25499837@N07/

First Post

Hi, I have watched the 7 1/2 minutes video. This is my first post.