Monica the unsavvy librarian

2009-04-14T13:29:00.001-07:00

Twitter : some initial thoughts

I'm afraid ... very afraid ... to enter the world of Twitter ... but try it I shall, just not today.

2009-04-14T13:23:00.000-07:00

Thing 26 - Ning, redux

So I checked out Ning again and it was interesting to visit it again after using Facebook so much. Lots of similarities, sort of a "Facebook for MN Librarians", so to speak. I did post some photos of my lovely new library, added some "friends" and commented on a few postings. But really, Facebook is so slick (yes, yes, even after the horrible upgrade) that any other social networking (or in this case professional networking) type of site sort of pales in comparison. Ning is just, well, clunky compared to Facebook. Nonetheless, I do appreciate being able to share things with colleagues without the added friends that I have on Facebook. I can see that Ning could work nice as a transfer of ideas (or even a place to go for help!) between librarians and library systems. I may have to tuck it away in the back of my head as a go-to place for hard to answer questions ...

2009-03-24T18:49:00.000-07:00

More on Thing 25

OK ... phew ... I am DONE. That was rather painful, but as I wrote below, I went (gasp!) away from the Google widgets and found three great ones at Widgetbox which I found much more useful than the Google gadgets. I especially love my kitty cat ...

After all is said and done, it was another (ahem) time-waster, but I can see that with further use it gets easier and easier. I had to muck around a bit to find the Flickr slideshow that best suited me. One thing I did appreciate was being able to resize the gadgets so that they didn't take up oodles of room on my sidebar.

That's it for now. G'night.

2009-03-23T17:16:00.000-07:00

Thing 25 : Blogging tools n' such

Well, so far I dutifully went through and watched all he YouTube posted video clips and found that it doesn't look terribly difficult to add a widget/gadget to my blog. However, the first one I wanted to add (from Google) titled "Children's Book of the Day" (natch) did not properly load. All I got was the little box with the red "x". Hmmm ... I think perhaps it's time to try a (gasp!) non-Google product, so I will poke around and see if I can find something else.

Additionally, when I went back to the "More Things" site, I could not re-load a video that I had just watched seconds before. I received the "this video is no longer available" message. Bummer, I'd wanted to re-check something that I'd seen on the Robin Good series (very good, btw, almost as clear as the Common Craft videos ... tho' those are truly superior for simple, straightforward instructions). I will have to do this later.

My first thoughts, however, are that nearly all of the gadgets suggested are ones that I would not want in my blog. Why would I want to track my blog? No one is looking at it except for me, so that's just depressing. Sound? Nope. I always turn sound off when I visit a site, so I wouldn't want that one either. More photos? I already am satisfied with my Flickr site and if I want to display any stellar photos, I'll post them. So ... I will have to see what else I can find.

More later ...

2009-03-23T16:44:00.000-07:00

Thing 24 : a blog refresher

And ... we're off and running. I think I did everything recommended (required?) of this thing, but I did not, repeat, did not refresh my Avatar. Sorry, I just don't have the time! To my credit, I did refresh it at least twice in the last go-round, so it's not that old and stale (you'll have to be the judge). I'm glad there are "more" things in this go-round -- I expected to touch base on a few items that weren't covered in the last set and happily, it looks like they're here! So I have that to look forward to. Here we go!

2008-12-04T13:56:00.000-08:00

Thing 23 - The Poll

Poop-a-doop, the online evaluation is closed.

Well, better luck next time!

2008-12-04T13:47:00.000-08:00

Thing 22 - Finish line is in sight!

Thank god we didn't have to create another account for this step. Now that I am (basically) finished, I have to say that has been the most frustrating part of this - that to truly evaluate any online tool, you have to join (dum-da-dum-dum).

In any case, I do plan to keep up with at least some of the things I learned during this process. I will definitely keep up with my Facebook account, my Flickr account, and del.icio.us. Those (for me personally) were the three biggest "finds" during this process. I'd put my RSS feeds in there, but I haven't been back to it in months, so that sounds scary. Some online tools (YouTube, podcasts, wikis, I.M.) I'd already been using and will continue to do so.

As far as benefit for the public-at-large, yes indeed-y-deed. I think that more and more folks are going to look to librarians to show them how to navigate through these online tools. The only problem I see is ... how. Yesterday a patron came in and wanted help on EBay, shopping for a kayak for his wife. He'd never used the Internet, let alone logged on to an Internet computer at our library, and wanted me to basically sit with him (for how long?) and walk him through the entire process ... selecting, bidding and all.

Hold up, dude, not possible on a Wednesday afternoon when the after-school kids are just about to hit the library.

So, that is a major roadblock that I see in terms of how we can use our knowledge of these tools to help patrons. It requires a lot of one-on-one help, and while you can offer classes on FB and blogging, getting folks to come (and retain the knowledge they learn) is up to the patron ... and as we all know, that don't always happen the way it should.

In any case, I am very glad that I had the opportunity to participate in this, and even more that I was required to finish (thank-you, Lynn!) which kept my butt in gear.

23 Things - Adios!

2008-12-04T13:34:00.000-08:00

Thing 21 - More Social Networking

So ... I joined Ning (my badge is below ... proof?) but I really balked at joining anything else. It seems like such a waste of cyberspace as I probably will never, ever visit the site again. I could see checking my Ning page now and again, but seriously, with what time??? (a running theme in this blog ...) I now check FB too often every day as it is. Do I need to spend more time with this? Again, I can totally see the merit ... especially in narrowing down the focus of your online contacts and social interactions. But I did look through the Wikipedia list of online social network sites and found ... NONE that interested me (well, maybe LibraryThing ...) at least not enough to want to go and create yet another login and password. Wow. I am a serious whiner here ... maybe I need more coffee? Or less? Anyway, two steps to go, baby!

Ning Badge

2008-12-04T13:31:00.001-08:00

2008-11-25T16:11:00.000-08:00

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.

2008-11-25T16:04:00.000-08:00

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).

2008-11-25T16:01:00.000-08:00

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.

2008-11-11T12:29:00.000-08:00

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 ...

2008-11-11T12:22:00.000-08:00

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.

2008-11-11T11:47:00.000-08:00

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.

2008-11-11T09:30:00.000-08:00

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.

2008-09-18T13:13:00.000-07:00

Thing 13 : Online Productivity Tools

Well, first off, here it is Sep. 18th and (whoa! big surprise!) I didn't make the second 23 Things deadline. At least I'm still going ... not sure why.

In any case, I took a look at the Google, Yahoo, and PageFlakes sites for customized start pages. I finally decided to go with Google because a)PageFlakes was waaaay to cluttery for my taste. I like a clean, simple look b)to get the Yahoo page up, I'd have to login a second time ... which is why I chose (ta-da!) iGoogle. It automatically logged me in when I logged onto my blog. That is a big plus in my opinion. I hate having to remember multiple logins and passwords (my rolodex has too many little post-it notes with various logins already). Not a lot of options for customizing, but I can see that will ... er ... a lot of time (!?) I could make the page look fancy-schmantzy. Not today. However, it's nice to have all this info in one place, especially when Google is opened up (and let's face it, I probably open up Google several dozen times a day, both off-desk and on-desk, both at work and at home -- if someone has a better online tool than Google, I've yet to be convinced. I don't care if it has a monolopy on the online searching field. It works, it's good, so that's that; ok, off my soapbox).

AHHH!!! Just clicked on "add a theme" and it pulled up a bazillion options for the graphic at the top of the page. MUST ... STOP ... NOW. On the other hand, adding gadgets was super easy (NYT crossword puzzle, moon phase, wikiedia search box, National Geographic photo o-th-day, etc.) but adding lots of gadgets puts the essential stuff further down the screen.

Now here it is November 11 (Inservice Day, dontcha know) and I guess I'm done with this thing. I'm not real sure I'd like to have virtual post-it notes or a "to-d0" list loaded onto my computer. I've got software for virtual post-its at home that I never use. I guess I'm just more of a pen and paper kind of gal. But if you were travelling, at a conference, or had a mobile office, I guess it could be useful. I just know that I'd just duplicate everyting onto paper ... and what would be the point of that?

2008-09-03T13:18:00.000-07:00

Thing 12 - Digggggggging

Wow. Is digg.com random or what? Even for eclectic types like myself, I was pretty amazed at the randomness of the first listing of topics. From electic scooters to Sarah Palin to cheating on taking sick days at work. This site is for folks with a lot of free time on their hands. I refused to get sucked in. Probably happens far to often to browsers. However, if you had the time ... hmmm ... could probably "digg" (har-har) around for some pretty interesting stuff here.

Ugh. Reddit is what I really dislike about the Internet. It's a popularity contest! Let's chat online about inane stuff! However, I was interested to find the overlapping topics between Reddit and Digg. Perhaps the same folks peruse the same two sites? On to the next one ...

OK. Now we're talking. Newsvine is much more interesting (although their little log "Get smarter here" is annoying ...) I could waste some serious time here, and was immediately intrigued by the lead article (with aerial photo) of the Canadian ice shelf breaking off.

And finally ... Mixx. Well, at least here they categorize the topics instead of giving it all to you in a lump sum.

My main question with all the above sites is ... WHO HAS THE TIME!?!? My eyes would completely and utterly bugg out if I spent much longer than the few minutes I did at each site. Nevertheless, it's good to know that these types of sites exist for, um, maybe patron use? Not really sure how it could be helpful to patrons, since (other than Newsvine) so much of it is basically Internet banter between strangers.

2008-08-21T06:31:00.000-07:00

Thing 11 : Tagging

So. I'm finally back at it. I figure September 15th is close enough that I'd better get in gear here if I'm gonna get one of those groovy 23 Things USB sticks. We'll see.

I thought the Del.icio.us tutorial was ... good, but not great. For one thing, I couldn't figure out how to get the screen size of the broadcast bigger so that I could actually see the screen shots without totally squinting. I finally gave up and just listened to the presenter while I doodled around on the web.

Finally went to the Del.icio.us site (first the Minn23 site where I found a fabulous site on how to make "simple" Robert Sabuda pop-ups!)
http://www.robertsabuda.com/popmakesimple.asp
and also set up my own Del.icio.us account.

Ultimately, however, I don't see much use (at this point) for me personally with social tagging of sites. Since I primarily use one computer, my "favorites" folders work just fine for me. I make it an almost-sacred policy to never, ever do work at home (once in a great while I fall off the wagon) so I don't have use for accessing my bookmarked web sites other than at my work computer.

However ... I would never have found that fabulous Robert Sabuda site had it not been for tagging! Where I can see this really being useful in my job, personally, is for planning my weekly storytimes. There is so much (SO MUCH) word-of-mouth and passing back and forth between peers for new, fresh ideas for storytime that catching that same wave through social tagging could have a lot of potential. I'll have to see if I can make use of it later on this fall ...

P.S. Thanks to the Common Craft video http://www.commoncraft.com/bookmarking-plain-english for a MUCH better take on Del.icio.us

2008-07-22T17:50:00.000-07:00

I am soooo pathetic. Over two months and not a single post.
Sigh.
Well, now that my work-life has slowed down a bit (book clubs are over, massive MELSA programs are finished) I may actually have two seconds to sit down and work on the 23 Things project.
My techno news of the day is that I got a nano (IPod) today! Am currently rockin' out to Tito Puente and his excellent orchestra. I adore Cuban music. Makes me happy. I think I've mastered the "wheel" but still have a bit to learn about creating playlists and manipulating images on the 'pod. Thanks to Tami Lee for the excellent resource : IPod - the missing manual a no bones, basic book (owned by my lovely library) which is essentially the missing manual. The IPod comes with a teensy-weensy little booklet ... and that's it. Nada. So, for dumbells like myself, a big thick manual eases my mind.
OK, back to the toonz ...

2008-05-06T17:57:00.000-07:00

We won a prize!

Our lovely library, the Maplewood branch of Ramsey County, has won an ALA award (yay!). So excited, so proud, love my new digs (opened in 2007).

Funny thing is ... on the facing page of the Maplewood branch photo in the architecture issue of American Libraries is my hometown and childhood library, the Evanston Public Library, which also won an award (renovation of the children's area).

Doubly-proud!!

2008-05-06T17:07:00.000-07:00

Thing 10 - Wikis

Not difficult at all, pretty much easy as pie. I've used three separate Wikis in the past, and in fact this "thing" prompted me to look at my library system's reference wiki, and lo and behold! Found some stuff there that I didn't know existed. When my library opened (new building) last year, it was nice having the building wiki to track deliveries coming to the library (furniture, etc.) A nice place to go and check on what was coming when without massive emails being flung back and forth. Don't know that I'd ever create one to use on my own, but I see how it works, at least. I messed around a bit with the 23 Things wiki, but something must have been wrong with the server because, gosh darn it, my posting wouldn't save! (not that I had anything important to say ... just that they've opened up Round Two of 23 Things for us losers that didn't finish in time the first time around. Now I'll shoot for fall so I can win fabulous prizes!).

2008-04-29T18:08:00.000-07:00

Thing 9 - Online Communicatin'

I tried both Zoho and Google Docs and actually liked the look and feel of Zoho better (although I am so wedded to the MS products, I kept looking for things that must have been there, but I couldn't find). However, nothing beats not having to log into another site! Loved that I could login ONE TIME to Google and see my blog plus fiddle around with the Google Docs site.

Now. Onto evaluation and usability. I guess I can see where this would be useful, but in my current job, we all have access to the same word processing software. When we want to share and edit things, we simply send an attachment and voila, we can change wording or whatever else we need or want to change.

However, there have been times in the past that I've wanted to flip from working on a document at home and at work. Currently, I have the dreaded Microsoft Office 2007 (yes, it really takes some getting used to ) so to switch back and forth I have to remember to use the "save as" option. Additionally, we've had patrons come in needing certain editions of word processing software and (for obvious reasons) we can't accomodate everyone. Using one of these online software products (especially if you can upload or download your stuff) to create a personal document would negate that necessity and you'd be able to access your work from anywhere. That's where I see the usefulness of this product. But for me personally? No. Probably not.

2008-04-23T08:36:00.000-07:00

Thing 8 (nomer dva)

Well, I think I'm just going to skip Thing 8. I see all the cool and neato things one can do with photos and, again, I can even sorta kinda see how this might be relevant to a library (presenting an end-of-SRP party scrapbook for kids to view online, promote some special event or "Month Of" event at the library), but I just don't have the patience to do this with the limited time and tools at my disposal. I think I will just move on ... this one ain't gonna happen.

2008-04-16T11:52:00.000-07:00

The Deadline is Here

Well, it's April 16th and, uh, I didn't exactly finish in time (shocker, I know). I will continue to plug away at this, however, and if nothing else, I know that I'll keep a blog of some sort going. It's just been too much fun (and slightly addictive) to completely give it up. In the meantime, Thing Eight is on its way ... sometime.

2008-04-11T08:04:00.000-07:00

Thing 8 (nomer adin)

Can't do this thing yet because I don't have any photos at work! I'm getting increasingly annoyed with this project that requires us to manipulate all sorts of stuff that we have to already have on hand : "Create a slideshow", "Share your photos", "Organize your photos", "Create motivational posters with your photos", &etc. This thing will have to wait until I remember to a) bring my flash drive home and b) remember to put photos onto said flash drive and bring to work.

Oy vey. I think I'm just annoyed because Michael Johns went home on Idol last night. Grrrr....

2008-04-07T13:09:00.000-07:00

Thing 7 - Let's Communicate!

Email :

I remember first hearing about email when I was working as a library assistant in Boston circa 1993. My boss was recovering some reference information from a colleague in London and I thought, "whoa! that is cool!" Well, we've come a long way, baby. I don't know anyone (and I mean that in the most literal sense) that doesn't have an email account. [tangential aside here : just switched from dial-up to DSL at home, yes you can laugh, which means ... had to give up my lovely, lovely visi.com account! sniff... r.i.p. My email will now have an "msn" tag like half the country ... ] In any case, email seems to be as standard as the U.S. Postal Service these days. And, if you can handle the junk mail and spam, free email is easy to find. In a nutshell, I can't imagine communicating without email (both personal and professional), but I'm sure that will change within my lifetime.

I.M. :

Until lately, I was not familiar with the ins and outs of IM. However, it was recently introduced to me at work (for work purposes only, shucky-dern) and OMG, soooo addictive, what a great tool! Use it all the time, love it, wish more people had it, I can see this is even more effective use of electronic communication than email. But it's a dangerous tool in that conversations can run much longer than necessary, should one choose to go that route ... In terms of library use, this is a brilliant tool, and for those of us that would die and fail on the job without multi-tasking, it is a godsend. All hail I.M.!

Text Messaging (...on the other hand) :

Don't get it. Don't use it, although I have tried it. I'm not a "small screen" person, so using my cell phone for anything other than talking is extremely taxing on the eyes (however, one might add, I don't have an I-Phone ... hmmm ... maybe that's the issue. Anyone got a few extra grand lying around that I can have? :-) Nonetheless, the video clip from U of Buffalo was intriguing, even if it was a bit cheesy and pat (I had to say that). Still, I prefer I.M. for "instant" communication. Too bad you need a computer for that!

Web Conferencing, Podcasts &etc. :

After attending PLA this past weekend, I thought : "next time there's a major conference, why don't I just try a "virtual" attendance?" All joking aside, I can see that web conferencing would be an effective way to stay on top of issues in the professional field, should travel not permit a physical presence (just look at the cost of airline tickets these days ... sheesh). Podcasts are wonderful as well, although not completely accessible by the public at large ... yet.

2008-03-18T14:15:00.000-07:00

Thing 6

Thing 6 is fun, fun fun! Why can't work always be like this? Wish I had more time to tinker around with all the tools and gadgets listed on Big Huge Labs (and I am definitely going to play around on Image Chef as well), but alas alack, not today. Maybe never. My big issue is not finding time to do a lot of this stuff, and wishing I had more than just the bare minimum amount of time to work on it. I'm always squeezing it in between other things I have to do at work. Sigh. In any case, here's my trading card :

(I love Wallace and Gromit, in case you were wondering, and just had a discussion with one of my co-workers about the show -- apparently, Mississippi Market now sells Wenselydale Cheese! For real! Must get some and try it ... wonder what it really is, not a real cheese obviously, but someone must have made a concoction).

Here is another image I made with a photo of my son :

Couldn't resist. What a stud. And in this photo he's only 2 1/2 years old. What will he look like at 16!?? Hope he really does turn into a swimmer. He's got the upper body strength for it, that's for sure!

In any case, I can see that for promotional purposes, all this fiddling around with images would be very handy. Or for (ahem) updating the look of your web page (double-ahem ... I think some of you out there know why I'm electronically clearing my throat!)

2008-03-13T08:35:00.000-07:00

Random Patron Musings ...

My new and "improved" text size is from a request made by Jennifer (hope ya like it!).
Here is my patron musing of the day ... yesterday, I had a patron in who needed to fill out an online application with the St. Paul Public Schools for a temporary, summer-only position. She is a retired teacher from SPPS and (ta-da!) had zero computer skills. Didn't even know how to use a mouse (wow, it's been a long time since I've seen someone pick up the mouse to try and make the cursor move around on the screen ...) The upshot of this entire thing was that (of course) she could only apply online. And guess what? She needed an email address in order to complete the application! I was not about to recommend she get a web-based, online email account just to fill out the application (which she could not do at all without staff help, and very concerted help at that). Fortunately, she did have a phone number to call if she needed help. But why does the public at-large just assume that everyone knows there way, be it basic or advanced, around a computer? I thought it very unfair that the SPPS did not offer a non-electronic way to apply for a part-time position and put her through an application process that, frankly, embarrassed her. She apologized about 10 times for not knowing how to use a computer, asking for my help, etc. I felt really bad that this obviously well-educated woman could not do something as simple as apply for a job. Computers ain't everything, and it would be nice for potential employers to recognize this. I suspect that her summer teaching position would not require her to have computer skills (or would it ...?) As I continue on the "23 Things" initiative, this keeps coming back to me -- the juxtaposition between those that get it ... and those that don't.

2008-03-11T16:13:00.000-07:00

Thing 5

Wow, you can really get sucked into all the enhancements that Flickr (and other online photo services) has to offer. I did not have the time (nor the patience) to plow through everything. A lot of it seems like fun, but more for the entertainment value than for library services ... with the exception, perhaps, of storytime which can be a visual medium in the library (actually, it is a visual medium). I could see using some of these photo enhancements to "spruce up" a storytime, be it something embedded in the body of the program or a flyer/craft/activity that is tied into storytime (of course, I must be a children's librarian, eh?). I could also see the merit in Tagnautica (mentioned on the webmonkey 10 Best Flickr Mashups). That seems like a deep tool for finding relevant images that students might perhaps want to include in a classroom presentation. Other than that, seems like all this Flickr and images stuff is for fun ... not that there's merit in fun!

Here's my image ... I call it "Warhol Daniel"

2008-02-29T13:43:00.000-08:00

Thing 4

First off, let me say that I thought that the Common Craft video posted on the "23 Things" homepage was excellent. All I could think while I was watching it was, "what a great format for explaining very simple computer functions to folks who are less-than-savvy on all things technie!" Nice job, Lee LeFever. Very nice.

As for Flickr, I have always meant to create an account as my relatives are spread out all over the country (Oregon to Texas to Georgia to Virginia to Vermont to Illinois) and Flickr would be one way to post photos of my boys without remembering a gajillion email addresses and waiting ... waiting ... waiting ... waiting at home for my s-l-o-w dial-up connection to send photos (albeit ones that have been reduced to 25% ... folks that don't reduce their photos when they send them in an email are EVIL on my list, but that's another topic for discussion). So Flickr was an easy task for me (and fun too!) I also found a way to post some long-overdue sharing of photos I took of the remodeled children's room in my hometown, the Evanston Public Library. Take a look -- tell me what you think. Some really very nice ideas (and I've more photos but posted the best ones here). I decided not to upload a photo onto my blog ... because, well, I sort of already do that. I'm a 100% image gal and can spend waaaaaaaaay too much time tinkering around with images, formatting, etc.etc. (I think I'd love to have been a graphic artist or designer in my other life). I could see that Flickr and other photo-sharing sites might have a very powerful impact on library use and patron use. Just took a look at the new Encyclopedia of Life http://www.eol.org and see that photo sharing in this capacity could be a valuable tool, especially as our print reference collections start to disappear.

Final verdict? I heart Flickr! Now I just have to restrain myself from going overboard with posting photos of my kids ...

2008-02-26T13:08:00.000-08:00

Thing 3, part 2

I decided to go with Bloglines because I use Google so much and wanted to give someone else a shot (awww ....) I have to say that I think RSS could be incredibley useful -- and addictive! I added not only some of my peers' blogs, but a few news sites that I visit fairly often. However, I'm not sure if this will just be added to my list of things-I-must-do-every-day-online (email [both accounts], monitor IM, check my library account, my cell phone account, blah blah blah) but it will be handy to find all the updated information I may need or want in one place. RSS is a very crafty tool and seems fairly basic as well, a big plus in my department. I also decided to forgo adding a bloglines button to my toolbar. I prefer a very simple, basic toolbar so as to provide as much "screen" space as possible. My biggest complaint about web sites is that some of them decide that you should have their button on your toolbar. No thanks. I'll bookmark instead!

2008-02-23T13:08:00.001-08:00

Not a Thing

Got to post a little bit of perspective here ... while I'm at the reference desk in my library. How is it possible that I'm trying to learn RSS, Flickr, blogs, etc. while patrons are having trouble figuring out how to print color images from the Internet? Somehow I feel like we're moving too fast for the masses, and that average folks (NOT teens or kids) are stuck back on the "So now I can master the mouse -- what next?" level. I fear that in the next 3 to 5 years a small percentage of tech-savvy people will be leaving more and more patrons in the dust. Or not? Curious as to what others think, but it was an interesting juxtaposition, me reading up on RSS and a patron asking me to show him how to print a color image from the Internet ...

2008-02-23T09:33:00.000-08:00

Thing 3, part 1

I read up on RSS and will take some time later (probably not today ...) to set up my account using Google Reader ... but I gotta say, coming from an old cranky person like me, I do not like to read my news online. However, I can see that updates from web sites would be handy so that you don't have to constantly be checking individual sites to see if there are any changes or new postings. We'll see ... in the meantime, I'll drink some Coke ... with bacon.

2008-02-20T11:37:00.000-08:00

Thing 2

So here's the deal ... I read only part of the blog post (my eyes totally glazed over, sorry to say) but I found the video clip interesting ... tho that constant "commentary" was annoying.

All the above leads me to say the following : if I, at the age of 40 and raised in a pre-tech world, could not stand to read all that text online, doesn't that say something about the future of alternative learning venues for future generations? I'm sure you've all heard that kids growing up nowadays are growing up in a society dominated by images and pictures (less text - more photos, please!) and that we as librarians need to know this so we can better serve them. I truly believe all this. My 5-year-old learned pretty much on his own how to use the tracking pad on our laptop at home (although he still "punches" it to try and make it go faster, which really annoys me as both a mom and the owner of said laptop) and we are far from a fully-tech household (we're just debating whether or not to spend $10.75 a month to get basic cable ... just so PBS won't wig out and we can record Lost without worrying whether we'll understand Locke when he has his grand moment).

On the other hand ... I think it'll be a cold and freezing day in hell before "they" manage to develop an e-book that I can read in the bathtub without fear of electrocution (or short-out) should I happen to drop it in the water. Nuff said on that subject. Books (and print media) are here to stay. I also love, love, love, love my morning newspaper. And I would hate for my kids not to be exposed to things like newspapers, weekly magazines or wall calendars with tear-off pages. Print must continue to exist with technology, not in place of (or visa versa). Bill Gates and his peers keep trying to persuade us to give up our clunky old print media (datebooks, calendars, magazines, etc.) by introducing all sorts of fun new gadgets to take their place. But when I work on a computer all day long (here I am, folks!) the LAST THING I want to do is go home and look at my mail, my news, my entertainment on another g-d computer. My eyes hurt already, just thinking about it ...

And for those of you who'd like a bit of computer humor, here is something my brother sent me ages ago ... I think it's funny and still has merit today ...
http://web.archive.org/web/20010801144357/http:/rita.thegourmet.com/computers.html

2008-02-19T13:45:00.001-08:00

Thing 1

OK, my first posting.
UGH, UGH, UGH, spent waaaaaaaay too much time creating that Avatar. Thanks to JD for sucking me into this entire thing. However, I guess I'm glad I've jumped on board the 23 Thangs thingy. Will keep me up to speed with a lot of stuff that I probably need to know (even if I don't want to know). It won't be long before my two kiddos are way ahead of me in the tech area and I don't want to look like the loser mom (nor do I want to look like the loser librarian to a bunch of 11 and 12 year olds). One step at a time, eh? Don't know when I'll have time to work on this, what with desk schedule, selection (CDs are lurking in my rearview mirror), stortyime prep, weeding, mending, &etc. Ahh, a children's librarian's life is never a dull one ...

Other things about today :
Ben went home "sick" from daycare with an upset stomach (then "changed his mind", grrr...)
Daniel has been referred to a pediatric urologist. Poor guy, but he seems totally OK with the entire thing.
Is it really Ben's birthday next week? ACK!!! Must ... go ... shopping ... for ... toys ...
And finally ... (drum roll, please) tonight A.I. begins in earnest. Woo-hoo!