Week 9- Thing 23

Yay! I'm finally finished. I think that I really learned a lot in the last few weeks. This program was a great format for me. My favorite things were probably the RSS feeds and everything from Week 9. Podcasts have changed my life.

Week 9- Thing 22

Project Gutenburg rocks! This free service can be great for school assignments. If the classics that the student needs is in the public domain, it's probably available on Project Gutenburg. And the fact that you can view the text online, download it, or download the audio version, it brilliant. Overdrive seems to be pretty cool as well. I still prefer my books in paper form, but it's great that there are so many options out there.

Week 9- Podcasts

Podcasts are great things. Using Podcast.net I was able to add NPR Topics: Books and NPR's Story of the Day to my Bloglines account and to my Yahoo RSS reader. Now I won't miss anything! Library patrons often ask for books that they've heard about on the radio or seen on TV. Podcasts are a great way to keep up with the current favorites.

Week 9- YouTube

YouTube can be a great marketing tool for libraries. Millions of people visit the site, increasing the visibility of any library. It helps if the videos are funny. You can find March of the Librarians here. I've also included a clip from UHF called Conan the Librarian. It's silly, I know.

Week 8- Web 2.0 awards

Looking at the short list, I see that several of the 23 Things have won. I looked at a few of the other winners including Meebo, Squidoo, and Biblio. I've noticed people using Meebo to get around the filtering of MySpace because Meebo allows them to instant message through more than one i.m. provider. Genius! Squidoo seems particularly adaptable to libraries. Through this site, anyone can create a lens into their passion: books, movies, libraries, etc. Biblio is another way to search for books online. This site can be used to search for out-of-print material, although when I tried to filter for price, that feature wasn't working. Overall, I'd say that I've been impressed by what I've seen.

Week 8- Google Docs

I sort of like that Google has web-based word processing capabilities, but I don't like the small number of fonts to choose from. Being able to revise it over time and store everything online is an attractive concept though. For now I think that I'll stick to Word, but it's really nice to know that something else is out there.

P.S. I do really like how easy it was to post the text that I wrote above into my blog from Google Docs!

Week 7-part 2

I found adding my blog URL to the Maryland Libraries Wiki fairly easy. I've had to add posts to wikis for other projects and this one was very similar.

Week 7- wikis

Wikis can be a great tool for librarians to conveniently and inexpensively edit web pages. I particularly liked the BookLovers wiki from Princeton Public Library. Enabling patrons to add book reviews is a great idea. I also think that wikis work well for community bulletin boards and subject guides. I used to be very anti-wikipedia because anyone can add anything. I still don't think that children should be using wikipedia to do their homework, here's why.

Week 6- tagging

I've looked at Del.icio.us and Technorati. Del.icio.us seems like something that I would use, if I would actually take the time to input all of my favorites. Then, of course, I have to remember to use it. Technorati seems cluttered and overwhelming.

As we move into Library 2.0, I need to remember to take deep breaths. I don't need to know everything about all of these technologies. 2.0 has great potential for patron services as long as it doesn't get too overwhelming. Keeping up with the latest trends will definitely allow librarians to provide better service for the future.

Week 5- Things 10-12

I created an avatar this week using Yahoo Avatars. I think that it looks like me.


Library Thing is one of the coolest things that I've experienced in Library 2.0 so far. Instead of putting in the books that I personally own, I just added books that I've read recently that I really liked.

I like the idea of Rollyo, but I don't think that I would ever use it:( Maybe I should play around with it a little more.

Week 4

Man, are RSS feeds cool! My addiction to BBC news can be fed through a RSS feed instead of checking the site all day? Fabulous. I may try to use a different reader instead of Bloglines, though. I found it kind of hard to use.

Week 3-Flickr

Since I don't have a digital camera (I still love film), Flickr isn't very useful for me. I had an account before this project to view my friend's photos, so I did know what it's about. My friend is sort of a Flickr junky-she has a professional account-and I found this photo of the two of us at her birthday party in 1985, she was six, I was seven. We're still best friends almost 22 years later.
I've also been exploring mashups and the third party sites. Very cool!

Week 2, Things 3 & 4

Well, here's my blog. It's up, running, and registered. On to Flickr!

Week 1, Thing 2- 7 1/2 Habits

The hardest thing for me about these Habits is definitely seeing problems as challenges. I don't have this problem at work or in school, but I find it difficult to believe that my car breaking down is an opportunity for growth. I view it more as an opportunity for me to be stranded.

Week 1, Thing 1

First thing-read about this project. OK, well I've got that covered. I'm really looking forward to working on the 23 Things. I've never made a blog before and here I am. Yay, me!