23 Thoughts on the 23 Things, part 4, The End.

16. I definitely need to learn how to make a YouTube video.
17. Podcasting: like wikis. So simple! Why aren’t more libraries using this tool?
18. Librarians of the future: will working at a reference desk become “old school”?
19. Will the strength of a librarian’s online presence become a major recruiting asset? In other words, a librarian of the future may have to develop an online personality in addition to having a thorough knowledge of traditional reference works in order to be marketable.
20. If more libraries and librarians participated in the 23 Things and put some of them to use, we’d do a lot to meet more patrons’ needs from their home computer, or wherever they happen to be.
21. Plus, we’d shed much of the old-fashioned, dusty, stereotype.
22. Improvement note: Give away more computers!
23. Overall, I give this experience an A.

23 Thoughts on the 23 Things, part 3

11. #10 sounds mildly disturbing. It doesn’t have to be; technology is not evil.
12. There will always be a digital divide of some sort. And as a result, I believe, always a need for libraries.
13. If I thought blogs were easy to learn how to use, wikis surprised me even more. So much potential in this tool! Why don’t more libraries use these?
14. Zohowriter is one example of a web-based tool modeled after licensed application software. Soon (the day may be here already) you won’t need Microsoft for your everyday computer tasks.
15. For all the negative things said about the internet, there are sites like zoomii.com and revolutionhealth.com that make it all good.

23 Thoughts on the 23 Things, part 2

6. I want to explore del.icio.us more fully in both my professional and personal lives.
7. Technorati looks a little more useful than my original blog about it. Maybe I was too hasty.
8. With a number of these tools merging and working with other tools, it makes me think. Exactly how much information do I want “out there” about myself?
9. How much private information is truly private? How good are online privacy laws?
10. I imagine Web 3.0 and Library 3.0 will be even more intuitive and encompassing as the human-computer relationship grows closer together.

23 Thoughts on the 23 Things, part 1

1. Blogging is a lot easier and more fun than I had thought.
2. A lot of the technology that I learned about was easier to use than I thought. I wonder how many librarians have the same mental block that I did.
3. I used Flickr to determine what kind of digital camera to buy. Now I want to add more of my own pictures and tag them.
4. RSS feeds are great! How easy it is to keep track of things online all in one place, and keep it separate from my email correspondence.
5. I have professional guilt over having too much fun with mash-ups…

Audiobooks

This was pretty cool. Exploring the Overdrive site was easy, although I noticed many of my favorite titles were not in the collection. Instead, I searched the most popular non-fiction titles and listened to an excerpt of The Sex Lives of Cannibals, which inadvertently proved that when you judge a book by its title, the results can be entertaining. But aside from that, the download of the excerpt was quicker than I expected, and the quality of the recording was good. I still can't play it on my Zune though. So. Overall, I give this service a B-.

Podcasting

Something new I found in podcasting... there's a lot of libraries doing podcasting for teens, and allowing teens to do their own podcasts for the library's website. A lot of libraries also have author talks and interviews, book reviews and recommendations, which I think are neat-o. Just thinking of all the possibilities that podcasts can add to a library, its services and its image....

Youtube and Libraries, in general

Youtube has great potential to be used in libraries or by libraries for instructional, promotional and entertainment purposes. Libraries could also do programs in which patrons put together their own Youtube videos and post them to the library's account. The library would be encouraging creativity and curiosity, as well as facility with technology, and I imagine the outcomes would be a lot of fun, especially with children or teens.

Searching Youtube was very easy. Some of the videos seemed to be better quality than others, and I wonder if that's because of the format they used to record it. Will have to actual post a video to Youtube and see what happens. I picked the Muppet clip simply because it was funny, and I used to love them when I was little. However, there are many, many, many great videos about librarians and libraries. We are a very creative profession!

You Tube, Muppets, and Libraries

I found this short video on YouTube featuring some of my favorite Muppet characters and a very stereotypical librarian (gray hair, hideous pink outfit, with pearls). Very funny - and brought back many memories of watching the Muppets on TV and going to see the Muppet movies with my mom. I am going to try to put the clip in this blog...

Zoomii...

My coworker just introduced me to a new website that’s really exciting. It’s called zoomii.com, and it’s actually place to shop for books through Amazon.com’s associates program. That is, you can buy books from Amazon through zoomii. What I really like is the interface. It looks just like bookshelves that you can browse through with your mouse.

Who says discovery is dead on the web?

There is also a single search box that handles titles, authors, and subject categories with ease. Each title comes with publication info, price, description, sales ranking, and a link to Amazon’s reviews. The categories link presents a floor-plan-like view of each subject and its relative location. Very easy visualization! The bottom of the website also includes links to a blog and discussion forum. Easy feedback, and the site’s author, Chris Thiessen, has even responded to a few suggested improvements.

I like this site!

SEOmoz.org Web 2.0 Awards

I reviewed revolutionhealth.com, which won the top award in the health category, and compared it to webmd.com, which didn’t even get an honorable mention. I couldn’t find specific criteria that SEOmoz used to select its winners, so I’m not sure why revolutionhealth got first place while webmd got nothing. I didn’t see a whole lot of difference between the two.

Both sites have consumer reviews on medications (which looked surprisingly similar in format to Amazon.com’s book reviews), doctor searches, blogs, discussion boards, and ways to personalize your experience if you choose to set up an account. Webmd has rss and technorati buttons for sharing, and Revolutionhealth has options to share with digg, stumbleupon, and deli.cio.us. Both sites also have options to rate articles and information on various health topics.

Both sites have ads, although Revolutionhealth has fewer. Revolutionhealth also has a way to clip articles to your MySpace or Blogger account, which I didn’t see on Webmd. In addition, Revolutionhealth articles have some invitation to ask an expert or participate in discussions for further information. I thought this was pretty Web 2.0, in the sense that the website is encouraging interaction with people, rather than just presenting static information.

For library use, either site is useful for patrons to find consumer information (apart from our own website, that is). I liked the interface and design of Revolutionhealth a little bit better, but that’s a personal preference. There’s no reason why libraries can’t review health information websites like these on a blog, wiki, or have it posted on a website. Librarians need to become and be seen as authoritative experts on digital information as well.

It's Alive!

Ha, it worked! Except for my sad face. Not sure why that didn't translate over, but it's not very important. Also, my line spacing isn't the way I did it in Zoho Writer either. Will have to look into that...

firstuse

Ok, well. I am using Zoho Writer to write this, and so far everything looks familiar to Microsoft Word. However, there's not a lot of font choices. My favorites aren't listed here.  As you can see, I am trying out some cool  features with this blog entry.

_{So far, so good.}

Everything seems to be working like MS Word, which makes it easier to learn Zoho Writer.

I am going to attempt to post this to my blog. It seems easy enough too.

Technorati Tags     blog,word,zohowriter,microsoft,web,web2.0,2.0

PB Wiki

Ok, this was pretty fun. I added to the movies and wines section. Had some trouble getting my blog link to work correctly, but that was operator error. An interesting thing happened when I tried to edit the fave restaurants page. There was another PBCLS employee working on it, and so I could not edit the page at the same time unless I wanted to lock him out. It occurred to me that a certain amount of common sense and professional behavior should be present in order to allow a group of people to edit wikis.

Wikis

I explored the St. Joseph County Public Library system wiki. I was really impressed by use of a wiki as a pathfinder. When I was in library school, I liked doing pathfinders and thought they might be helpful to patrons. A wiki can be an electronic pathfinder that’s a lot easier to update and also encourages user input. It allows a library greater flexibility in offering access to electronic resources than a website, and the opportunity for feedback is great.

Web 2.0

I agree with Michael Stephens’ point that “Librarian 2.0 controls technolust.” The latest and greatest technology trends change nearly every day, and it’s difficult to keep on top of it. However, I don’t think you need to adopt every gadget that comes along. Does having an rss feed, or a blog, or a wiki, etc., on your library’s website make sense if over 50% of your patrons don’t know how to use a mouse? To me, Web 2.0 is all about connecting to users, at whatever level they’re at. After working at two public libraries, I’ve seen how deep the digital divide is and concluded that sometimes we can provide better service without having to spend lots of money on new technology.

Still, the value of learning some of the more popular Web 2.0 tools is great; in a few years, the low end of the range might be something like “yeah, they’re still using Facebook - can you believe that?” And libraries will be right there helping those less technologically savvy patrons.

Technorati

Ok, well I've played around with Technorati a bit, and I can't say I'm impressed. The website seemed too cluttered, no intuitive searching, and the information on web 2.0 just did not seem interesting or relevant. Maybe it's my computer (I have a small screen, which causes me to scroll horizontally on most sites, which gets old very quickly), or maybe it's the time of day. I just don't understand what is so great about Technorati.

Del.icio.us

Ok, I haven't gotten the email with the PBCLS account info in it, so I created my own del.icio.us account. Very easy to do; I also added the two icons to my firefox button bar. These two icons seem to do all the work - just one click and you've bookmarked a site. The box to describe the URL is a great way to remember exactly why you bookmarked the site in the first place. Am I the only one who is that forgetful?

I also liked the option to mark bookmarks private via the settings, and I noticed there's a way to add one's bookmarks to one's facebook page. Great interactive feature, but it makes it more clear to me that one has to be careful how much stuff you put out there about yourself. It seems necessary to have a "persona" or some kind of separation between what you want people to see online about you, and the real you. This may be obvious to some already.

Endorsement Generator

Ever need to write a really good recommendation letter? Check out endorser.org. Supervisors and others responsible for annual reviews may also find this tool valuable when at a loss for words. This is what it says about me, and I must say it's extremely accurate :

JenE did not fail me a single time. JenE was fantastic to work with. Strong, precise and reliable professional that cannot be overestimated. Careful, achievement oriented, creative and responsible manager with boundless energy. If ever you need someone to deliver under pressure, no slip-ups, just results, JenE is your man!

Well, except for the "man" part... but hey, it's just a program!

My hometown, as seen through Webfeat

The articles on my hometown, Greendale Wisconsin, split between two different subjects. One was the McCain visit to a local high school, and the other was about Main St. and the fact that it’s owned by a publishing company. Yep, all the businesses and commercial property on Main St are owned by Reiman Publishing, some of whose titles PBCLS owns.

To be fair, Main St. as envisioned by Mr. Reiman is picturesque, with small shops, landscaped light poles, a gazebo and not a scrap of litter on the ground. However, to find a sign off I-94 directing drivers to “downtown Greendale” is a bit… weird. The hardware store that I grew up with is now an ice cream “shoppe” and the corner liquor store is now the visitor’s center. My small, sleepy, familiar village has become a tourist attraction.

Of course, I knew all this and was not surprised to see the fact so well documented through Webfeat. Webfeat so far is a great tool that I have demonstrated to many patrons needing articles for school projects, and other patrons who preferred their information digitally delivered, instead of from a good old-fashioned book.

Mapmaker #2

Places I've Been and Places I'd Love to Visit

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

Mapmaker #1

States I've Been to - Only 18 more states to go!

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

LibraryThing

I’d heard about LibraryThing a little more than a year ago when I was in library school. I had fun reading readers’ reviews of my favorite books and checking the most common titles. It seemed like a cool idea then, but I did not start an account until now. Librarians who blog could add a “recommended” books list to their blog from their LibraryThing account (see my library on LibraryThing).

What’s cool about blogs, rss feeds, library thing, mash-ups, etc., is that it seems like everything can be linked into everything else. It was so easy to add a random selection of titles from my library to my blog.

Random Thoughts

Just wondering if there’s any Gen X’ers out there like me who consider themselves computer savvy but who haven’t jumped on board the latest social networking technologies (until this 23 Things, that is).

I’ve never blogged before, have never had a MySpace page, do have a Facebook page but it just sits there, don’t have any desire to navigate SecondLife, and don’t really feel the need to keep up to the minute with my friends on Twitter. That’s what a glass of wine after work is for.

Am I missing something?

RSS Feeds and Me

Ok, I’ve added about 6-7 feeds to my bloglines account. I like this idea because it eliminates all that info clogging up my email whenever there was something new. This way, I can read it when I want, all at once, instead of having a bunch of unread messages staring at me in the face, causing guilty feelings.

I had streamlined my email years ago and cancelled all of my subscriptions, because it just got too overwhelming. I became used to visiting my favorite sites individually. With RSS feeds, it seems I can revise my online habits and more fully explore what’s out there. I now have a tool to help me manage the information overload.

Multi-Touch Technology

Still thinking about new technology, I came across an article discussing e-books, and a link to this video on multi-touch technology and a company called Perceptive Pixel.

It reminds me of the end of the first Star Wars (episode 4, that is) when they are looking at the Death Star plans, manipulating them on a clear screen. I thought it was neat back then, but now 30-odd years later it doesn't seem so far-fetched.

Librarians Know Cool Stuff

We are supposed to create a blog post about anything technology-related. I have been thinking, what if librarians were on the forefront of all the new “gotta have” technology? Some are, but most of us aren’t. It’d be great if as a profession we can take a leading role in educating patrons (kids and their parents, as well as everyone else) about these new technologies, instead of talking about them only after everyone else has been talking about them (example: MySpace). I’m not saying we should always adapt them to the provision of library services, but what if we knew all the ins and outs of the new technologies as they develop, even before the middle-schoolers get their hands on them? Librarians could become known as not only people who know stuff, but people who know the “cool” stuff.

A tall order, to be sure. A life-long learning goal, if you like. But what if…?

Ringtone contest

Another use for blogs in libraries is to announce a tongue-in-cheek contest for best cell phone ringtone...

This post inspired by hearing "We Will Rock You" by Queen on a patron's phone as I was returning from lunch.

Blogs and Libraries

Libraries can use blogs in a variety of ways. Instead of, or in addition to, a “What’s New” link on a library home page, blogs can introduce new arrivals, changes in circulation procedures (for example, patrons can check out 50 items!), marketing and promoting (for free!) computer classes, story times and programs, notify the public about early voting and holiday closings, special events, and also keep the public informed about renovations, bond issues, funding, etc. The Friends of the Library can also get involved.

I think this is only scratching the surface though. Besides being free to set up and use, and incredibly easy to update (easier than updating a website), blogs encourage participation by allowing patrons to comment on posts. Simple and easy feedback like this gives us an opportunity to more quickly meet our patrons’ needs.

7.5 Habits of Lifelong Learners

I enjoyed the presentation on the 7.5 Habits of Lifelong Learners. I think the first habit, beginning with the end in mind, is an important one. Setting goals is crucial when facing a barrage of technologies for which you only have the vaguest idea how to use. That’s why I’m participating in the 23 Things, and so far I’ve found blogging to be really easy to do (bar the locking of my account, that is).

Beginning with the end in mind will most likely be the habit I spend the most time on, because starting with a good foundation will help develop the rest of the habits and keep me on track.