Week 9, Thing 23

There are many adjectives I can think of to describe 23 Things. Informative, cool, helpful, techno-crazy (made that one up) and overwhelming. I kept a folder with all my new, fun sites and I have post-its all over the folder with all my new logins and passwords.

This course contains an incredible amount of information. Many of these sites are ones that librarians should know about and be able to use to help customers and to help our selves. I love LibraryThing, RSS feeds and Bloglines. Some of the perspectives we read about in Thing 15 should probably be re-read once a week to remind us to keep up with the changing world. It is truly the only way we will stay in business.

I can now stay connected to what is happening in the library world through blogs and podcasts. And, of course, I will always remember to play!

There are only two ideas I have that may improve the program, at least from my viewpoint. I learn better when someone shows me how to do things the first time, especially since I'm not super intuitive on the computer. An introductory class on permalinks and a few of the trickier-to-figure-out "things" would have helped me. I would also recommend to children's librarians who have very busy summer programs not to do 23 Things during the summer. I found it difficult to devote the time I needed to really play with a lot of new stuff. But I know where it is and how to find it and I will go back to many of these "things."

Now---if someone would only come up with a 24th Thing that would keep all my logins and passwords straight...............

Week 9, Thing 22

Downloadable audio books are definitely the wave of the future. I took the tutorial on Overdrive Digital Media. It's very well done and very informative. Our library is looking into downloadable audios to add to our collection. Circulation of our books on cd has risen --many people are enjoying this format.
I think the commute to and from work and vacation roadtrips have bee a big part of this.

Unfortunately, our library does not subscribe to any downloadable audio program so I wasn't able to try this. We have even been asked to subscribe to a product of downloadable video with topics such as Do It Yourself and Recipes. I think we are almost to the point in our community where more customers of our library have computers as opposed to those who don't. Still-----I hope that books don't completely go away because I just don't want to crawl into bed with my computer---yet.

Week 6, Thing 13

Del.icio.us was down when I tried it the first time. I went back to find this site. I can see a lot of wonderful use for Delicious. Using different computers, as we do at the library, will now be easier. You can tag all your sites and have them available wherever you are.

I set up an account so now I'll be able to use Del.icio.us. So easy to do and so convenient. I can see using this to share sites that we need to book mark for students. Just makin' life a little easier.

Week 9, Thing 21

Podcasts - another great way to share information. I browsed around on Podcast.net and typed in the keyword 'library.' This brought me to the Sunnyvale, California, Public Library where I was able to listen to a story time for pre-walkers. It was fun to listen to and, although the material sounded very
similar to my material, I still got some new ideas.

For libraries, podcasts are a great way to share ideas. I was able to add this RSS feed to my Blogline and now I'm really feeling like I accomplished something. The trick here is to keep looking at Bloglines so I get used to viewing them often.

Week 9, Thing 20

You Tube. What a crazy site. My first experience with You Tube was logging on to Instant Messinger and clicking on the You Tube listed on my son's IM. It was spring break. Sure looks like they had a lot of fun (at least it was viewable.) I actually found this video using the tags auburn, spring break on the You Tube site.

I think You Tube is a great way to share anything visually with someone who can't be there, such as video-ing a house in an out-of-town community that you may wish to buy, or taking video and sharing your vacation, or how to make a complicated recipe. Think of how cool it would be to share video of a newborn with family or someone stationed overseas who can't get home for the holidays. For some recent politcal debates, the questions were submitted via You Tube!

But, as mentioned, there is a lot of trash and filth available that you just have to ignore. I guess that comes with the territory.

Week 8, Thing 19

I visited a site called seomoz.org where so many of our 23 Things are listed and rated. I chose to play with the real estate sites that where ranked. My favorite one, by far, is Zillow, Map & Search. It allowed me to enter a neighborhood into the search bar and then it would show me what is available for sale, what has been sold (comparables) and all the info that you need about the house. It is a very cool site if you are planning to buy, sell or are just wondering aboout the value of the house. You have the option for maps or aerial shots as well. This site had more options than realtor. com which I have used in the past. But, combining the two would allow you to do a lot of leg work from the comfort of home at your computer.

Week 8, Thing 18

Hello~
This is my first experience Zoho Writer. What a convenient service. This is great for a computer where no software has been downloaded or programs are incompatible . Love all the options that are included with the program. This just may help students who come into to the library without a disc (or any money) to save their papers to the computer. When our computers cut off and are rebooted all material is lost. I've seen more than a few tears over lost papers and documents.
I like for students (or anyone ) to have this option.