Number 23

23 is my lucky number. Plus, I am feeling like a panting dog with my tongue hanging out just racing to the end of this Learning 2.0 treadmill!!! I could have used another 3 weeks, but what can you do?

My favorite discovery is LibraryThing. I have hundreds of children's books sitting on shelves at home just begging to be organized onto LibraryThing. The amazing part is that I just have to type in the ISBN and it will find the title for me. That is really awesome - so much less labor intensive than trying to categorize everything myself.

My least favororite discovery was wikis. I don't think I will be needing to create one in the forseeable future.

Would I participate in another Learning 2.0 journey? Of course! Just let me catch my breath first.

Cheers!
Laura

SuffolkWave

Yay! Something I can use! Now THIS is a terrific example of libraries meeting the patrons right in their homes. Right now I am listening to "The Cat in the Hat" read by Kelsey Grammer, and the whole process, including installing the Overdrive Media Console, took about 5 minutes. I can picture moms and dads using this as a way to keep their kids entertained in the car or even just have it playing on the laptop while they work (like I am doing right now.) This is a terrific invention, and I love it. Thanks for making me find it.

Car Talk Podcast

I subscribed to the NPR: Car Talk podcast. I found it confusing to use either my iTunes or the Yahoo directory to subscribe. I ended up subscribing the old fashioned way...by visiting the website for NPR. Still, the directories are good for searching, if not for subscribing.

YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIJtKxdRQzY

This is an amazing video of a painter creating a work of art to music. I like the YouTube site because it offers a place where people can "get the word out" about special and interesting things that would not normally make the evening news. We are in a society controlled by a few tremendous companies that own everything, including news distribution. We would do ourselves a disservice to ignore the messages posted by "real people" through avenues like YouTube.

LuLu.com

I found LuLu.com to be a great website. It looks user-friendly and appealing. I can picture myself using this website because, probably like most librarians, I would like to write my own book one day. (Someday??) :-)

Zoho

Zoho Writer looks good, maybe it will replace Word one day. I created an account as learninglibrarian.

http://export.writer.zoho.com/ZExport.do

Thoughts about PB Wiki

It's great that we're learning about these social networking tools, but I don't know that I will ever really need to use a wiki. It is a nice tool for distance education, and for Learning 2.0. I found the wiki with the woman's shopping list on it a little silly. I mean, it's more trouble to log in and edit the page than to write "tomatoes" on a piece of paper. Plus, the paper is more portable! We can't just have technology for the sake of it...it needs to serve our purposes and make our tasks more efficient.

I added my favorite book to the sandbox: The House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III. It is my favorite because Dubus made me root for both characters, who are pitted against each other. The movie was surprisingly true to the book.

My PBWiki

http://learninglibrarian.pbwiki.com/FrontPage

Willing to Wiki??

I am prejudiced against Wikipedia as a source for the obvious reasons. Once in a while I find myself looking for information on that site, but I double check my findings. I agree with one thing I read about wikis - that people may be reluctant to edit wikis, even if the author wants them to. Changing someone's contributions on a subject takes either a lot of confidence, anger, or expertise. None of those descriptions fit me.

In one public library wiki it was suggested that contributors could include coaches posting their team's schedules on the library website. I find this imprudent because there are a lot of privacy issues, especially concerning children, that we need to respect. Perhaps a parent would not want just anyone to know that little Janie is playing at P.S. 101 on Thursday at 6pm. It's too much information to publish to the whole community.

As a public library we need to make a lot of information available to the community. However, in this Web 2.0 environment, where consumers become contributors, we need to reflect about how much our consumers' information should be easily accessible.

My Thoughts On Learning 2.0

Here are a few things I like about Learning 2.0. The process acknowledges that "rigidity breeds failure" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_2.0#References). It has the right focus for success, being the patron. It is a monumental shift to know the techno-royalty are focusing on engaging users at their personal levels of knowledge and need. In reading about Technorati, I was amazed to realize the effort people are putting in behind the scenes to make their platforms come alive in the hands of the neo-techie. I appreciate that. It makes learning a lot more fun and accessible.

However, all of this fun is taking place on my side of the Digital Divide and I feel an appropriate amount of guilt about that. As a librarian, I really have to remember those who would enjoy the Flickr mashups and Technorati tags, but alas have minimal access to the internet, perhaps only at the library and at school.

Another caveat I have learned about in this whole process is the dissolution of organization I have come to know and rely upon. Having written term papers about Harriet Avram and her beloved system of MARC records, I flinch to see the dawn of tags with no authority. How in the world will I really be able to harness the power of these tools while I search for an answer for a patron. Are we really making the Web better, or simply wider, and therefore more shallow? I foresee a future encounter with a patron waiting patiently at the reference desk while I search through endless tags and search boxes grasping for an answer. The old system really is a thing of beauty. I am loathe to abandon it. Even if you say I mustn't abandon it, let's face facts. I have a certain amount of time with a patron. I have to choose a path when I start searching for an answer. And for now the tried and true path is the most reliable one, the path which will put the answer in the patron's hands in the least amount of time.

Technorati

My impression of Technorati is that it is entertaining and its target audience is younger than me. The most popular blogs today dealt with making money, exploring technology, and paparazzi-type interests. I am getting old enough to not really give a hoot about what is "popular" and I don't want to "claim" my blog. I see this as an opportunity to become more fluent in the language of technology, but I don't want random people finding my blog and learning about me, really.

When I searched for "Learning 2.0" in blogs, tags, and posts, I got different results for all three. It was a good exercise, because I would not have otherwise explored the "advanced search".

Below is my Technorati Tag:


spl-23

del.icio.us

I found this exercise confusing until I created my own account and started using the tags. Until then, I just didn't "get it". I can see that this is another avenue where I will be able to locate new links for, say storytimes, or project ideas. Otherwise, I do not anticipate using this tool very much. I do not like to keep a lot of "favorites" as it is, simply because I find the links end up breaking over time.

Here is the link to my del.icio.us page:

http://del.icio.us/lauralibrarian

Search Engine

Select...Learning LibrarianSearch The Web

What's For Dinner?

My favorite food is Chicken Divan, and you can find lots of different recipes for it right here:

http://rollyo.com/lauralibrarian/whats_for_dinner/

This was a confusing exercise for me. I like being able to search all my favorite recipe sites at once. But I honestly can't picture myself using this tool a lot.

LibraryThing

Check out my bookshelf. One caveat...I have read them but I did not like them all...

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/lauralibrarian

Image Generator

Here is a link to the image generator I chose:

Animated Wave Generator
http://www.imagechef.com/ic/make.jsp?tid=Wave+Animated

Finding Feeds

This was an interesting exercise...especially when I found a youtube video of people dancing in the library. All I did was search Sachem Public Library on Technorati. Crazy.

Blogger search is useful, and I also liked Topix. The biggest glitch I had was searching in vain for rss feeds on mainpages of news websites, rather than on the pages for specific topics. For example, I wanted the NPR feed, but the button was unavailable until I was in a specific program, like "Fresh Air." Am I making any sense????

RSS Feeds

When will RSS feeds come to advertising? I didn't realize how many commercial websites I check up on to find out about specials and deals. But when I looked to syndicate them, alas, there was no RSS/XML/syndicate button. That would save me more time than linking to news sites. I generally just visit the NYTimes for that info.

I had trouble finding a working RSS button for my favorite football team, the Washington Redskins. I thought it could be because it is the off-season, but news still happens then, too. I was going back and forth from their ESPN, NFL, and Sports Illustrated home pages, without luck. Only one page had an RSS button, and Bloglines couldn't pick up their feed. However, the Mets RSS was simple to find...MLB.com.

How can libraries take advantage of RSS? I think a good reference librarian would set up her bloglines to show top library, local and world news in order to keep up with the information flow...which is the real trick, isn't it?

Here is my public Bloglines URL:
http://www.bloglines.com/public/3saladinos

Anything About Technology

If it weren't for the fast pace of technology I would not be here (in hyperspace with you) today. Three years ago I started taking courses towards earning my Masters of Library Science. I attend classes online and I will never have to step foot on campus in order to earn my degree. (That's good, because it is in Connecticut!) I have had classmates from Connecticut, Long Island, Washington State, Japan, and Spain. (And that was just last semester.)

So here are my thoughts about technology...having been removed from the academic environment for over ten years when I decided to go back to school, I was unprepared for the culture shock of working with technology in every aspect of schoolwork. I spent 11 hours on the computer for my first "day" of class, and then I spent another hour crying in the shower afterwards because it was all too overwhelming. It was a new language, a new world, and a fast pace I was unused to. But having come from retail...and vowing to NEVER return to the whirling vortex of the black hole of life that is retail ... I returned to the computer, read slowly, and inched my way forward.

I started off examining pictures of a motherboard and a sound card, and I moved towards researching my papers online through WilsonWeb and Ebsco, and playing around with Publisher and Access. Eventually I was comfortable importing pictures, exporting music, and designing CD labels for party favors.

And my first question to my first teacher online was: What is a blog?

Create a Card

Create a Card, originally uploaded by lauralibrarian523.

I like playing around with these Flikr mashups. But may I have two more hours a day please???????

Magazine Cover

My creation, originally uploaded by lauralibrarian523.

We created McHenry Cove near the pool where wiffle balls become home runs. It is named in honor of McCovey Cove, over the right field fence in San Francisco, where major league baseballs become home runs.

Can I come in please???

Can I come in please???, originally uploaded by lauralibrarian523.

Here is Henry in his favorite pose of let me in...let me out...let me back in...

Meet Henry

Meet my dog, Henry. At thirteen years old he has life figured out. Either he's sleeping or he's happy about whatever is going on. You can literally hear him think, "Cool, what are we doing now?" as he bounds into the middle of the action. Go, Henry!

Hello

Wow - this is a great opportunity to learn about things I would otherwise overlook. Why must we be forced to do something for our own good? It should come naturally. But the point is that I am glad someone in the library world is giving me this opportunity and pointing me in this direction!

Regarding the Seven and a Half Habits, the hardest for me is viewing problems as challenges (number three.) I am the type of person who fears a crisis and recently reading Hatchet by Gary Paulsen has helped me gain insight into coping with problems. It's really a matter of not psyching yourself out!! If you can maintain self-control and a positive attitude, then the world is your oyster.

The easiest habit for me to develop is accepting resposibility for my own learning (number two.)

I look forward to taking the 23 steps!
So long for now....