Week 4- Thing 11

Well, I set up a Facebook account, though it is minimal at best. I do not own a digital camera, so I do not have a picture that I want to post. I searched for "friends" and found my daughter at college, so sent her a message to her wall. I looked around at the other options and explored them but did not feel compelled to do those things. I suspect that I will take myself off of Facebook once this course is over, if you can do that. I am not all that comfortable with it.

I am glad that I went through the process. It makes me understand a bit more of what kids are talking about when they talk about things like "posting to the wall" or "friending someone." Still, once again, if I have free time I would rather spend time with friends the old fashion way or go outside or read a book. So I suspect I would not use a site such as this much, if at all.

Week 5- Thing 10- Exercise 2 and 3

I can see the fascination for kids to use the Internet as a way to keep in touch with each other. My limited experience with it, however, makes me worry a bit that kids are spending so much time on the Internet. Face to face interaction seems to have taken a back seat to Internet interaction.

That said, since it seems that these social networking sites are here to stay for a while, I suppose it could be a good thing if libraries tried to tap into youth through these sites. However, I wonder if the kids will use the sites. Will the library use valuable time to set up these sites only to have them used by very few kids? I don't know the answer to that and would be curious to hear if these sites are in fact useful to libraries for connection with youth.

Week 4- Things 8- Exercise 4- RSS Feeds

OK- I have finally set up a Google Reader account and subscribed to 5 blogs. It took me way longer than expected because many of the blogs that I found did not have direct links to RSS feeds so that I could subscribe to them. As far as I can tell, I could not then subscribe to these sites other than to subscribe to and receive the blogs directly, which if I understand it correctly is not the same as receiving updates. (?)

I can see the benefit in these RSS feed subscriptions because I do not have to take the time to look at my favorite sites to see if there are any updates. Instead I will just receive the updates, which is great. Time is in short supply both in my job and in my personal life. So anything that saves time is high on my list.

Still, I wonder, do you end up getting all these "updates" and then don't have time to read through it all? Do people then clutter up their computer with it or just delete things because there is not time to actually read all the updates. I guess I will see with time. But I most certainly was excited to see the wide array of blogs out there about books in their many shapes and forms. It really gives one the feel of being a part of a huge community of book lovers!!

Week 3- Thing 7

Being a brand new librarian (I have been at my new part-time job for about 5 weeks now) I am running into technology related issues that I haven't had to deal with in my personal life in the past. This can be anything from patrons wanting help setting up a hotmail account (which I had never done until that point in time, but seemed to muddle through it OK), to patrons coming to me when the computer, printer or photocopiers jam. Though in other areas of library use I seem to be learning fast and handling patron questions, in this area I feel very inept. Sure, I know how to email, word process, do Internet searches etc. And I even know how to deal with my home printer and computer when it malfunctions sometimes, but I don't know how to deal with all these things at work.

As I tackle each of these things, I have begun to learn the quirks of our machines, and how to deal with paper jams etc. However, when the computers in particular do not behave, I really feel at a loss. Luckily my co-director is VERY knowledgeable about technology issues. She can troubleshoot and fix these things. But she is most often not here when I am here. So when a patron needs the computer or printer to work NOW, and I am the only one there, I am put on the spot and often feel quite stupid.

I just read an article in American Libraries magazine about this very issue. Part of the article talks about how patrons seem to feel that if the library provides computers for patron use, then the librarians are also there to help and should know how to deal with all technology issues or problems.

Clearly, I need to learn more. However, there is so much to know. And it is way beyond the hours that I am paid for or even my personal interest to know. I worry a little bit that taking this 23 Things course will expose me to these new things, but not give me enough knowledge to really deal with them. I guess we shall see at the end of this if I still feel the same way.

Week 3- Things 6- Mashups

Well, I just spent a lot of time exploring the various links to the mashups listed on the 23 Things site. Some of them seem pretty fun. I can see how someone who was really info flickr and internet possiblities would enjoy this. I suspect that it is nothing I would personally use much. But I could possibly forsee using some of the mashup sites to creat posters for events at the library. I especially think it could be fun to use the Spell with Flickr and the Flickr Color Pickr to make posters for children's programs at the library. On the other had, the cost in ink, especially colored ink, to print out the posters that might be created would be kind of expensive.

As always, there are endless possibliites but there is not endless amounts of TIME to use this stuff!!!

I just used Spell with Flickr to write out STORY HOUR but, after much time and frustration, I could not figure out how to get that imgae moved here to my blog. On the one hand, I like being able to do this course in my own time, but on the other hand, when I hit a wall and can't figure out how to do things, here I sit alone with no one to help me. This is the problem with online courses sometime. There is no teacher to ask. And asking a question online is hard to do since there are so many "click here" kind of steps that are better shown in person.

Still I am happy to have been exposed to the possiblities, and perhaps I can mess around with them in the presence of someone who could help me use them.

Week 3- Thing 5- Exercise a

I tried to download an image from flickr but had trouble. My son suggested that it may be because of copyright rules. He suggested that I try searching Google Image for a photo, so I did that.

This photo is of Stiges, Spain. My brother lives there and my oldest son is about to go there for 3 months. Looks pretty nice! I may have to have him set up a flickr account and send me photos from Sitges. :-)

Week 1- Thing 2-Exercise 2 (71/2 Habits)

After reading the 7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners, I was struck by how much it reminded me of many homeschoolers philosophies. I homeschooled all three of my kids from K-12. The last one just went off to college, so this is fresh on my mind. These habits read like a list of basic philosophies for our homeschooling, which makes sense since many homeschoolers view learning and education as an ongoing process, not something that happens only during "school hours" or during your K-12 or college years of life.

That said, I would say that the easiest habit for me is #1--Begin with the end in mind. I am a very goal-oriented person, so I am always setting goals and working toward carrying them out, while continually checking in to see if I have moved toward my goal.

I would say that the hardest one for me would be Habit # 6- Use technology to your advantage. Though I am somewhat computer literate, I do not naturally move toward doing things on a computer. I prefer writing on paper, list making on paper, letter writing etc. all on paper. So I have to make myself use the computer in certain cases. I need to learn more about technology so I can make a better decision as to when it is appropriate to use it and when it is not. Hence, I am taking this course toward that aim.