Thing Thirteen

When I first went into Library Thing to look around and view the tutorial, I was very impressed. Easy to follow and intuitive. I easily created my library of 5 books, but didn't get fancy by tagging, etc. Then I started working on creating the widget for my blog that would allow readers to link to my library. That's where I ran into problems. When my first try didn't get me anywhere, I called a coworker who had successfully completed this thing. Thank you, Mr. Anonymous! He walked me through the steps over the phone. Thank goodness he was helping me because one thing he had me do was something I would have never ever figured out.

I can see lots of people really getting into using this site for their personal use. But to me, it's just one more thing to keep track of. What I mean by that is it's one more list I have to make. Trust me, I love my lists, but not of books I've read, books I like, books I want to recommend, whatever. I don't have time for that, nor do I really feel like it's information I have to have. Life's too short to keep track of every little thing I do. I read for enjoyment, not to spend hours writing down the books I read.

I do think the Library Thing feature of being able to create your own private online book club will be very popular. And I think this site could be used to market your public library's services. Creating my library was very simple to do, which was nice.

You know what it is -- I'm feeling overwhelmed by all that is available via the internet. So much of it seems like just one more thing to do, to know, to use instead of something else. What I have to remember is that by participating in 23Things, we are all being inundated with technology week after week for learning purposes only. It doesn't mean I personally have to use all this stuff; I just need to get acquainted with what's out there.

Thing Twelve

I enjoyed Thing Twelve. Loved looking at Book Lovers wiki, Albany Co. PL's staff wiki and Blogging Libraries wiki. All were easy to use, contained some useful and interesting info. Blogging Libraries was fun cuz of the myriad libraries listed -- neat to look at what everyone's up to. I posted on NEFLIN's wiki which took about 2 seconds; it was incredibly easy. Kinda scary easy. Which is my only concern with the wiki concept. Excellent way to communicate info to a group, pass on ideas, get ideas, plan. But, I'm not a fan of using wikis for in-depth research. Who knows who put what in the body of the text, you know? There are so many excellent reference sources available for research, so use them. Save the wikis for the group planning, ideas exchange, that kind of thing.

Thing Eleven

I spent some time getting acquainted with Digg, Mixx, etc., and realized that, while I won't personally use them, it's good to know what tools are out there and how to use them. I also played around some with StumbleUpon.

Here's my take on them: I don't see a use for them in my personal or professional life, nor can I figure out how a library would use them. I'm not interested in reading random stuff that any random person can put up on a site. I get my news in the usual places like local newspaper, cnn.com and from items sent to me by people I know and who know me and what I'd like. So much of the stuff at these sites is simply useless information that I really don't have any interest in. And besides, how much "news" does one person really need? If you aren't careful, you can spend every waking moment in front of a computer screen getting informed. Don't get me wrong; I love my computer. But I also like living life instead of just reading about it.

Thing Ten

I'm not impressed with the whole tagging thing. I went into some of my past blog postings and added tags, but only cuz it was part of the assignment. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I can't see myself searching blogs for certain topics. I'm following blogs for the purpose of 23 Things, but when this is over, I won't be searching on the internet for topical blogs. Next I looked into Delicious. BTW, I love the videos by Commoncraft Show. They are entertaining and helpful. So, I started with registering at the site. It took me 5 times for it to accept my registration because, I guess, I kept retyping the funky letters at the bottom incorrectly. I swear I was correct, but it kept rejecting me. And then each time the letters were harder to decipher. I'm talking letters on top of letters. What was up with that? Finally, I got registered. Needless to say by then, I was really (no, not) excited about continuing. Honestly, I don't really know what I did. Now, let me insert here, that I'm an intelligent woman, but some of this stuff we're having to do isn't intuitive and the directions on the sites sometimes leave a little to be desired. Anyway, I wanted to custom import because I didn't want all my bookmarks coming over to Delicious (which I'm not even sure would happen cuz it never explained what would happen). Well, they all came over, and I just deleted the ones I didn't want on the site. But, I'm still confused as to why when I click on the Delicious bookmarks button on my toolbar, a list of all my favorites appears on the left side of my screen. But when I log into the site, only the ones I wanted to stay appear. I've got to be honest; I don't really care enough to find out because I can't see the use for this. Maybe cuz I don't bookmark a bazillion sites. I did go in and tag my saved bookmarks just so I could say I did it. Wow, I sound like I'm in a yucky mood, but really I'm not. I guess I'm simply underawed (if that isn't a word, it should be!) by Delicious. But, to end on a more positive note -- I will say it's good to be aware of what's out there so that we can assist patrons. I don't have to like something to be able to help.

Thing Nine

Gator Booknut sold me on using PictureTrail, and she was right about how easy it was. I encountered a couple of snafus, but nothing I couldn't eventually figure out. Well, I never did figure out how to get rid of the glitter stars that appear with each picture, but what the heck? I went for a cheesy presentation and accomplished it! The pics are some my daughter took on a trip to NY last April. I just picked some random shots to use for this assignment.

Thing Eight

I was very excited about IMing for the first time, so I pretty much accosted two co-workers and made them practice with me. They were good sports, and quite helpful. I used Google Talk, and found it pretty simple to use although I did have to get some help on how to actually start chatting with someone. Once that was figured out, I was good! It was very fun, and I can see myself really getting into it. I'm hearing library staff say they could possibly use the tool at the reference desks to communicate with each other or simply to IM back to the office asking for reinforcements at the public service desk.

I'm already familiar with texting because I use it with my kids. Although I'm not very fast at it -- but who cares; it's not like we're racing -- it's very easy and fun. I use it when I know my kids are otherwise occupied, but I need them to call me, answer a question at their convenience, etc. It lets them know I need them, but let's them respond on their schedule. In the library setting, this is yet another tool for us to use to contact and respond to patrons.

Last year I attended a web conferencing workshop at NEFLIN, so I'm very familiar with OPAL and all web conferencing has to offer. It really helped to try it out hands on, and think how we could utilize at the library. And can I just say, I looked pretty darn cute with the Brittany Spears headset on! Several other staff members have been trained, so I'm hoping we'll give it a try in the future. It has so many applications -- staff and patron training, programming. Won't be a simple proposition to implement, but worth trying for sure.

One of the blog prompts asked about the use of email in the workplace. All of us are innundated with it, but that doesn't make it bad. I do try sometimes to pick up the phone or go talk with someone instead of always emailing because email isn't always the most efficient communication tool between staff members.

I think libraries should try to incorporate technologies like IM, text or whatever whenever possible because those are ways people are communicating these days. They're just different than what we've used in the past, but that doesn't make them wrong or stupid or scary. We should give our patrons what they want, not tell them what they need. And if our patrons like it, I love it!

Thing Seven

What a blast this was to play with! This could become addicting. I can see lots of uses in the library setting. For publicity, but also as a program for kids. Set up computers and let them go to it. Toon Doo looked easy, too, but I liked this image in ImageChef, so stayed with it. You may see more of these on the blog in the future!

Thing Six

This one called Hyacinth was posted by van swearingen on flickr. I found it using the Flickr Colr Pickr. Easy.

OK, that was fun and easy. I used Big Huge Labs Jigsaw to create this puzzle picture that I already have posted.

I tried using splashr, but no luck. Couldn't figure out how to find postcard I had created. Didn't find accessible instructions on how to use. Also looked at Clockr, but didn't get into that one.

I can see libraries using these tools to jazz things up on their websites, Facebook and MySpace pages. I also see individuals using them for the same purpose. Really was simple and fun.

Thing Five

My oldest is away at college in New York, so Ilooking at pictures from that area makes me feel closer to him. I found these browsing through flickr pictures using the keyword Ithaca, and thought they were pretty cool. Below is a photo of Taughannock Falls taken by Enoch Ross and the other was taken by champy1013 of the Ithaca Commons. Very cool area full of neat restaurants and shops. Looking forward to visiting it again in April. In the winter, the Commons displays massive ice sculptures in the area in this photo.



To be honest, I found this exercise somewhat stressful - dumb, I know. Until I got help from a friend, I couldn't figure out how to download the picture. But, the truth is, I went into this one telling myself I'd have trouble, and I did. What do you know, self-fulfilling prophecy I guess. I like the idea of sharing my photos this way, but I gotta say, I still love printing out my digital photos and putting them in an album. And, yes, my family does look at our albums on a regular basis.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/enochross/367505049

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattchamplin/144570650/

http://www.flickr.com/