Where do we go from here?

Now that we have started on this journey, it seems that we should be using all the new tools and techniques that we have learned. Let's look at ways that we can continue learning and exploring.

Week 9 #23 - The Library 2.0 journey is ending

I am really sad about reaching the end of the 23 things. This has been such a great experience. I have learned so much about some tools to make the web more user friendly and manageable. I especially enjoyed the mashups and images. The most useful one was the one on wikis. I am definitely planning on using that for staff development. Rollyo gave me some insights on how to prepackage my own favorite websites. Bloglines continues to save me time and keep me informed. I am just starting to see how the tagging can be really useful. The ability to add content and to combine thoughts and audio and video to create new ways of thinking about information is very stimulating. I think that the thing that surprised me most is how immediately I changed some information seeking behaviors and adopted and adapted new tools and techniques to improve workflow.

The one thing that I would suggest as a good starting point is to use Firefox as the web browser. Firefox makes doing some of the exercises easier.

I think not only having the exercises as a long blog, but also having a much shorter, more succinct list of exactly what must be done would be very helpful. Sandra Stewart finally sent out an email that did just that, but having it as a link on the Library 2.0 website would have helped.

To answer the question of whether I would participate if another discovery program was offered, you should be able to figure out my answer. Yes, yes, yes! This was great. I enjoyed being able to learn at my own pace and to figure things out. I did attend one help session, but that didn't work as well for me. Thanks so much for the stimulating work out.

Week 9 #22

We have been using eBooks at the branch for quite a while to supplement our collection. It has been especially useful when the kids come in looking for science experiments. I loved that Jane Austen still is being read and downloaded. She is a classic and one of the funniest authors I have ever enjoyed. One of my favorite quotes from Northhanger Abbey is, "I cannot speak well enough to be unintelligible."

Week 9 #21

I spent quite a bit of time looking at some podcasts. I don't think I am an audio learner, but there might be some audio files that would be good for storytime. I added some from Liverpool Public Library.

Week 9 #20

I've used YouTube before. There was a good presentation on it at ALA in New Orleans and how to incorporate viral videos into training presentations. This could be a fun way to emphasize a point or add a bit of lightness to a training session. Here is a fun video for you. When I talked to Sandra she suggested embedding the video using Firefox. Thanks, Sandra.

Week 8 #19

Madly trying to finish. I have logged onto Library Thing and created my account and added some books. Here's a link to some things I have read or I'm planning to read. I think I may use this as a to be read list as well as adding suggestions for the Adult Book Club for the branch.

http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=amccarren">

Week 8 #18

SJLibrary2.0 has been great fun. I am learning so much about different ways to use the web to work and to play. Thanks for making this such a challenging and rewarding project. I think that this is another place that I am going to have to revisit to think about how to use these tools best. I know that I can use the Microsoft software easily, so sometimes it makes more sense to use the familiar. But I can see the use in having web based products to create and share documents.

Week 7 #17

Okay, that was fun. I will have to browse the favorites list when the library isn't closing. TFTH.

Week 7 #16

Wikis - I've used them for a while. I think they're great to get a quick sense of a subject and some leads to additional sources of information. I really enjoyed the library wikis. I can see that this could be a wonderful way to provide staff training. I am going to talk to Sandra about this.

Week 6 #15

Library 2.0 - I love the fact that we are discussing how we can become more effective and have technology help us reach out to our customers and create ways for our customers to find information easily. When I first started as a librarian, we were just starting out with using computers to find information. It was using the computer to do the tedious index searching for students, researchers, and businesses. Many of my colleagues were less than supportive of new ways to help customers. I think this is part of the continuum of how libraries and societies continue to evolve. Nothing is static, and we all make our own adjustments to life around us - whether we run full tilt at it, close our eyes and hope it goes away, or somewhere in between. I really enjoyed the discussion of Library 2.0. When I think about the endless possibilities to take information and condense it, combine it, and comment on it, it allows us to expand our information possibilities. It's really quite liberating.

Week 6 #14

Searching Technorati, and looking at the differences between blog posts, tags, and blog directory listings. You get the most with tags, which makes sense since multiple tags can be assigned to a blog post. Blog Directories seem to have more authority than blog posts. I will have to do more exploration to see if my supposition is correct. Tagging can be great to locate what people are saying about a subject. However, you can retrieve too much, incorrect spelling can miss some relevant blogs. But it is a good way to get a quick sense of popularity, what people think, etc.

Week 6 #13

Well, I spent some time playing around with del.icio.us and I can see what the point is. I will have to think about this some more so that I can figure out how I can best use the technology to make my life easier. There is definitely some fun in figuring out how others tagged items. For now, I think I will have to let this rumble in my unconscious for a while.

Week 5 # 12

I'm always searching for coloring sheets for storytime. So, now I have a custom search engine. Hopefully, I will be able to use it more effectively than jsut searching google.

So, check out this searchroll if you need a coloring sheet.

http://rollyo.com/search.html?q=nursery&sid=web&prevsid=278182

Week 5 #11

I've already played around with bloglines, craigslist, flickr, myspace and meebo. Since I've always liked geography and maps, I had a blast creating my own maps with wayfaring.com and mappr.com. One thing that surprised me was having google listed. Somehow this seems so mainstream that I didn't think it would make the awards page. I've used youtube for a while, but some of the items seem pretty weird.

One of the things that frustrates me is that the sites can be slow to load and update. However, I can definitely see that I could use the mapping sites to create personalized neighborhood maps that show where all the schools are; perhaps adding community organizations, etc, to get a richer picture of what is going on and how we can be effective in providing outreach.