Thing 20 : FB
Ahh yes ... we finallly come to the true time-hog of all time, Facebook. Well, do you hear that giant sucking noise? Yes, that is my soul being sucked into the online "friend" tool known as Facebook. Every since joining I've found myself checking it once, twice, three times a day, almost always adding to my list of "friends". However I know to keep myself in check. Probably my most fun reconnect is with peers from library school. They keep me on my toes. I must confess, I've been reticent to join any groups (although I know this is in the "thing") because I just don't want to get inundated with comments and mini-postings from all over the place. Trying to keep it simple, right? As for MySpace, I see the merit in this but I just don't like it as well as Facebook -- too much clutter, too many distractions on the page, just too much. However, I have used MySpace on occasion as a selector of music cds to find local bands, listen to sound clips, and just check out stuff in general. The teen librarian at my workplace also has created a teen space on MySpace. But I guess my main complaint about MySpace are the somewhat groddy ads that pop-up (from Match.com to "Pimp my Profile" and photos of Victoria Beckham ... yeah, I'm sure they're clean ...) Score? Facebook : 9, MySpace : 3.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Thing 19 - the PodCaster
And here's another thing I've done extensively ... love my IPod, I got it for music but also for Podcasts. I think the Podcast is probably one of the best uses of technology across the board. The entertainment value is super-high and the educational value is limitless. What more is there to say? Apple is genius! (and this coming from a PC user ... just don't have the moolah for a Mac).
THING 18 - YouTube
Not much to say about this. I've used YouTube extensively at work, both for reference (it was YouTube that finally taught me the proper way to "do" the song Baby Shark) and for fun. I think YouTube is a fabulous tool, albeit something of a space hog in cyberspace. Patrons use it ALL THE TIME so it's fairly necessary to at least have some inkling of what it's about. I could see it useful for libraries for just the above situation -- there are some pieces of information that are purely visual (and aural) where actually looking at them is the only way to explain.
Not much to say about this. I've used YouTube extensively at work, both for reference (it was YouTube that finally taught me the proper way to "do" the song Baby Shark) and for fun. I think YouTube is a fabulous tool, albeit something of a space hog in cyberspace. Patrons use it ALL THE TIME so it's fairly necessary to at least have some inkling of what it's about. I could see it useful for libraries for just the above situation -- there are some pieces of information that are purely visual (and aural) where actually looking at them is the only way to explain.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Thing 17 - ELM
Use this pretty much every day when I work on the reference desk. Especially NetLibrary, which I've helped folks out with a lot. So, not sure what to say here. ELM is a vital part of Minnesota library service -- can't imagine how we could help out some folks like we do.
Only one minor thing to report : I like EBSCO better than ProQuest. I just don't feel that ProQuest is all that user friendly -- I've helped patrons on both, and even sometimes I get confused when using ProQuest. I prefer EBSCO. Just a minor report ...
Use this pretty much every day when I work on the reference desk. Especially NetLibrary, which I've helped folks out with a lot. So, not sure what to say here. ELM is a vital part of Minnesota library service -- can't imagine how we could help out some folks like we do.
Only one minor thing to report : I like EBSCO better than ProQuest. I just don't feel that ProQuest is all that user friendly -- I've helped patrons on both, and even sometimes I get confused when using ProQuest. I prefer EBSCO. Just a minor report ...
Thing 16 - Homework Help
Well, I kinda wish I had some of this when I was a student ... it was nice to see the layout of how an assignment should progress. I also liked the handy links to external research sites (U of MN's Assignment Calculator) and that everything was right there at your fingertips.
On the other hand (oh yes, there's always this), how does this teach students to be able to achieve time management on their own? If your computer is always telling you where you should be in the process, that could also be sort of annoying ("No, I'm not done gathering materials and no, I don't want to make an outline today! Leave me alone!").
However, if students can link to their (academic) library for help with the project, I think it could potentially be a powerful tool ... although it does tend to spoon feed you everything.
Done.
Well, I kinda wish I had some of this when I was a student ... it was nice to see the layout of how an assignment should progress. I also liked the handy links to external research sites (U of MN's Assignment Calculator) and that everything was right there at your fingertips.
On the other hand (oh yes, there's always this), how does this teach students to be able to achieve time management on their own? If your computer is always telling you where you should be in the process, that could also be sort of annoying ("No, I'm not done gathering materials and no, I don't want to make an outline today! Leave me alone!").
However, if students can link to their (academic) library for help with the project, I think it could potentially be a powerful tool ... although it does tend to spoon feed you everything.
Done.
Thing 15 : Games 'n whatnot
Online games and libraries ... well, I do feel like I need to know a bit about this because a lot of patrons use the library to play games online. Plus, I have two children who are becoming increasingly interested in playing games on the computer.
For my "choice" I decided to take a peek at the Second Life site. Although interesting, as I feel like I've written innumerable times, it seems like such a waste of time. I did not participate in this "game" (needless to say, it would have cost me money) but well, I guess if you're really, really into creating virtual worlds it could be fun. And I do appreciate that they included libraries in the "world" interface.
So. A role in libraries? Perhaps. Do librarians as a whole need to know something about online gaming? You betcha. One thing is for sure - that's not going away anytime soon.
As a funny anectode, I have a World of Warcraft story : my sister has two teenage sons. One of these sons was once very into World of Warcraft. One evening, when she came home from work, she asked her younger son (then aged 15) to do the proverbial taking out of the garbage. His response? "But Mo-om! I've got a raid in, like, 5 minutes!"
I rest my case.
Online games and libraries ... well, I do feel like I need to know a bit about this because a lot of patrons use the library to play games online. Plus, I have two children who are becoming increasingly interested in playing games on the computer.
For my "choice" I decided to take a peek at the Second Life site. Although interesting, as I feel like I've written innumerable times, it seems like such a waste of time. I did not participate in this "game" (needless to say, it would have cost me money) but well, I guess if you're really, really into creating virtual worlds it could be fun. And I do appreciate that they included libraries in the "world" interface.
So. A role in libraries? Perhaps. Do librarians as a whole need to know something about online gaming? You betcha. One thing is for sure - that's not going away anytime soon.
As a funny anectode, I have a World of Warcraft story : my sister has two teenage sons. One of these sons was once very into World of Warcraft. One evening, when she came home from work, she asked her younger son (then aged 15) to do the proverbial taking out of the garbage. His response? "But Mo-om! I've got a raid in, like, 5 minutes!"
I rest my case.
Thing 14 - LibraryThing
So, in order to do this, I decided to just pick some of my favorite storytime books to create my "library" -- and there it is as a sidebar. Whee.
So, I guess I can maybe, kinda, sort of see how this might be useful ... somewhere. But isn't this what my online catalog is for? I guess I don't have such a wealth of titles at home that I need to use an online tool to catalog and list them all. I guess I'm not doing what I'm supposed to do next -- link via my titles to other Library Thing users pages for more titles. Sigh. In any case, it is a pretty cool tool, although I'm a bit disconcerted that they list amazon as the first location where they look to match titles. Harumph.
So, in order to do this, I decided to just pick some of my favorite storytime books to create my "library" -- and there it is as a sidebar. Whee.
So, I guess I can maybe, kinda, sort of see how this might be useful ... somewhere. But isn't this what my online catalog is for? I guess I don't have such a wealth of titles at home that I need to use an online tool to catalog and list them all. I guess I'm not doing what I'm supposed to do next -- link via my titles to other Library Thing users pages for more titles. Sigh. In any case, it is a pretty cool tool, although I'm a bit disconcerted that they list amazon as the first location where they look to match titles. Harumph.
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