Week 11- Things 23

So, I made it to the end. It has been an up and down journey. At times I was grumbling at my computer saying things like, "I don't know how to get this to work!" Or "Who needs this anyway?!" At other times I was saying things like, "Wow! Cool! I can see how I this would work great in such and such a situation."

Overall, I am glad I did the course. I am also glad that it was done online at my convenience. I seemed to keep up for a while and then hit the holidays and got hopelessly behind. So it was nice to be able to come back to it and finish it up. However, sometimes, having it be all online was frustrating because when I got stuck, I would have no one to ask questions of except me , myself and my computer screen. Posting comments didn't seem to help any with this. But in the end, I bumbled through the things I wasn't sure of and am glad of the exposure to this if not the mastery of it.

Some of the things like Facebook and MySpace were not things I would use or that I can see our library using, but I was glad to have had exposure to them. Now I at least know what all those kids are spending hours doing on the computers when they are busy "talking" to their "friends."

Other things, like "online productivity tools" were things that I can see will be helpful as our library board tries to hash out polices or write grants while not always having time to meet in person to do this.

Overall, I am glad for the exposure too all this. I now know more of what is out there and have kept a copy of all the lessons so I can refer back to them if I want to go back and delve further into any one thing. I would be interested in another one of these discovery online courses again in the future. Perhaps even pick one or two "Things" that most people said were most useful to libraries and focus on those in a more in-depth way. Thank you for this opportunity.

Week 11- Thing 22

Wow, I have heard my kids talk about podcasts and how they would listen to their favorite NPR shows on their computer, at their convenience but now I know how to do that and am excited for the possibilities. I am not sure how the library would use this particular "thing" as far as downloading podcasts--other than telling/teaching patrons about how this works and what a great resource it is. In our town, highspeed internet is not available to all (including me except at work) so downloading anything is a bother. But for those who have it at home or want to come to the library to download podcasts, it has lots of potential.

I can't really see our small library creating a podcast--though some kind of "read-a-loud" one would be fun. Or maybe an "oral histories of town citizens" one. But I don't think we have the time or resources for it at this point in time.

Week 11- Thing 21

Here is the link to the video I chose off of YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJlkplvYdgA It is not exactly a library video, but I love it. It is a video clip that came up when I searched for "libraries" under YouTube. Though I found others, I came back to this one because I LOVE cookie monster!

Prior to this lesson, I knew about YouTube because my kids had shown me a video clip or two on it. But I was under the impression that it was mostly something that kids posted their videos on. I was very pleased to see that I could find things of historical interest, such as Martin Luther King's "I Have Dream" speech.

I liked the idea of having a YouTube video contest entitled "Why I love Peacham Library," or something of the sort. I think using this as a way to get kids into the library to talk about what we have here and to shoot the video or whatever is a good idea.

Other ideas would be videoing events that we have and putting them online for people who missed them.---Though I guess that would make for a video that is too long.

Week 10- Thing 20

After having looked through several of the categories and sites in the Web 2.0 Award nominee list, I came back to one that I had looked at a while ago in a previous Vermont's 23 Things lesson. That site is Library Thing. Though I cannot imagine ever having the time to actually log my personal collection into the site, I think there is much there of interest. Author chats, book talks, early reviewers, discussions by genre etc. As one person commented, " ... I love the reviews and recommendation service on Amazon, but it's even better on library thing... I think that it could be really useful even if I never use it to catalog my own books."

I could also see directing patrons who are avid readers to the site---especially those who like a particular genre and who perhaps do not have people to share or discuss books in this genre in our very small town.

Week 10- Thing 19

Week 10- Thing 19

I am trying to figure out if I really am brave enough to try to post my blog post to my blog by using the publish feature. We shall see if it works in a moment.

I can see that there are many uses for this sort of thing---especially when working with, say, a committee of people who are all in various places. No need to email documents back and forth and have various versions kept track of while sending them via email. At a time when gas prices are rising (and falling and rising again) this would be a great way to share work with a committee while not having to actually meet in person for all the steps of a process of working on a grant or a project.

I like the fact that the word processing features are mostly familiar to me so that I don't have to learn a new system in order to tap into these online productivity tools.

Week 9- Thing 18

Ok- That was interesting. I had more success checking out wikis and learning about all the zillions of ones there are out there to access, than I had with adding to them. But I did manage to add to the favorite books on the PBWiki site. And I added my blog there too. I seem to be able to do the basic things, but if I need to really do something complicated, I feel like I need a course in how to navigate that. :-)

Week 9- Thing 17- Wikis

Well, I am very intrigued with this weeks "thing." I knew about wikipedia and have used it now and then. I knew how it worked basically, but not much more. But I had no idea that wikis had so many applications. I can see many uses for this. Whether it be lists of books library patrons recommend, or lists of books recommended for a book discussion group, all are a way to have people share in an interactive and ever-evolving site on a given topic. I really enjoyed the Book Lovers Wiki and Nancy Pearl's Book Lust wiki. I can see myself tapping into those for ideas on books to order for our library.

I can see the downfalls of wikis when it comes to things such as wikipedia where topics are supposed to be factual. There is a potential for real misinformation. But for sites where the info is mostly opinion---such as good book ideas etc, I think it has great potential.