Thing 22

Sooo... looking back, I don't think I've learned that much from the 23 things, but I have to admit I did have fun. Web 2.0 is just one of the many things librarians who work the reference desk should keep up with. Personally, it was not necessary for me to do all of the things to learn about them. Reading about them (and then blogging about them) was enough. It is a neat idea, this whole 23 things thing, but I do take issue with some of the things that were chosen. In fact, looking back, most of them appear to have little relevance to my library work. I was already proficient in Flickr, and I possess enough cursory knowlege of the web to navigate most sites that are unfamiliar to me. Keeping up with web 2.0 as it applies to my work will not be that hard - winning a 23 Things prize is another matter.

Thing 21

Eeewww this thing reeks of Thing 14, online productivity tools. Here, they apply something I hate - goal setting and deadlines, to another thing I hate - school projects. I'm too much of a free spirit to enjoy being plugged into a calculator and I learn better on my own terms. That being said, I know there are people out there who would love this - most of them teachers. I think teachers underutilize the library as it is. Maybe someone in youth services could wow them with this thing. I myself want nothing to do with it.

Thing 20

Me likey da books. Books 2.0 tools? Puhlease. There's no substitute for a good book. It's sad that we have a hard time convincing our children of this. Parents, please read for yourself and read to your children. Teachers, quit teaching the boring old classics. These should constitute some, not all, of required school reading. Libraries, keep doing what you've always been doing - providing equal access to a varied and representative sample of what's out there and promoting literacy.

Internet literacy, and beyond that, information literacy, is a reasonable thing to teach, but it should come second to teaching reading comprehension. Kids are DUMB these days folks and it's not because of the internet. My brief stint in the education profession showed me that the biggest barrier to learning basic skills like reading is behavior problems. Teachers are overwhelmed with teaching the proper way to behave that they can hardley fit in book learning. I put the blame on the parents, but what society can do about that I'm not sure. Contraceptives in the drinking water?

I've not had much luck with online reader's advisory tools, but I enjoy perusing award winner lists, book reviews, and author read alike services such as the one provided by Novelist. I'm pretty picky, but I've found that books that have positive reviews listed on the back cover are often good bets. KDL's what's next database is great for looking up books in a series. I will continue to browse the shelves at my library and take recommendations from people I know before turning to online Book 2.0 tools.

Thing 19

Okay, so maybe I should have said My Space is not for libraries, instead of social networking. We definitely should be interacting with our patrons online - I just think the bulk of that interaction should take place on our own website. Sites like Flickr are different because they host large files for us and that's fine - as long as their existence is reliable.

Although I don't do much online social netowrking in my personal life, I have decided to join the Flickr photo group for terrariums, one of my hobbies. I can't wait. Now I can let my friends choose which ones they want and I can share my experiences with other plants-in-glass obsessed freaks. Thank you social networking.

Thing 18

As I've already said before, I don't see the value of a social networking presence for libraries. Kids don't want the library as their "friend." We're an institution, not a hot date! Although, according to Alachua County library's my space page, we are a 22 year old female. Right now, she's "diggin' these new databases on small engine repair and automotive repair" and her mood is "impressed," smiley face. See what I mean? It's like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Let's just stick to an online presence and fill that up with all the flashy 2.0 things we can think of. Quit trying to befriend our young patrons in their world. It's not just creepy - it's pathetic.

Thing 17

Will E-Book Anti-Piracy Technology Hurt Readers?


A podcast about digital rights management and the changing publishing industry. It seems just about every industry is changing as a result of the internet these days. Today I read an article about how the video game industry is losing to free online "casual" games. I read another one about tv producers worrying that too much of their content is available for free online. Of course, this has been an issue for the music industry for some time now, and as this podcast shows, it's one for the book industry too. And I couldn't be happier. To me, a radical shift away from cut throat capitalism is just what we need. That may not be in fact where we're headed, but I am optimistic. I envision a world where money is given freely to causes you want to support. Not because you have to in exchange for their goods, but because you want to see them succeed, if you can afford it. A kind of donation system, or, "love offering" as many new agers put it. I know it seems far fetched now, but I already do this for my favorite music artists and many other music fans do as well. It's the same for listener supported radio and public television. Make it all free I say, and see where the money flows.

Thing 16

Thing 15

Rollyo doesn't seem much better than Google. Since I'm not familiar with that many websites, I'd rather cast a wide net for my searches. I've never heard someone say, I wish I could narrow my searches down to specific websites, but if I ever do, I'll know where to send them. Roll your own I will say. Sushi. Or is it fruit roll up? I can't figure that one out.

Thing 14

I have no desire to be more organized or productive. Not sure how these websites would help me with that anyways. What ever happened to simplicity?

Thing 13

Now here's a social networking site I can see the library getting into - cause it's about books, duh! The Broward County YA librarian had the right idea - create a profile of yourself as a librarian, and try to get your patrons to read your recommendations and recommend a few of their own. Also looks like a great place to publicize our programs. Personally, I have no desire to catalog my own books. I do see the value as a reader's advisory tool.

Thing 12

Wikis look like a great tool - both for libraries, and if the Common Craft video is any indication, for personal use too. I loved all the sample library wikis Neflin posted. A wiki of book reviews for the summer reading program!? Brilliant! I was also very impressed by the best library practices wiki. I checked out the articles on gaming and I think I'm finally starting to warm up to the idea. Some libraries actually check out games, but the point is more to draw people in to the library - especially young people.

The subject pathfinder wiki was very well organized and useful, but perhaps not quite as suited to be a wiki, since only staff members can edit it. The coolest feature of wikis is their editability. I guess the idea is, the more people that contribute information to the subject, the better it will be - provided there is a reasonable filter to keep out the mal-intentioned. I think that's why wikipedia is so popular. The average person is more drawn to information supplied by folks just like them, rather than some private party that may have a hidden agenda.

Here at my library, we are working on a wiki for local information - formerly known as the rolodex. It will supply answers to questions that google just isn't good for, like where are public notaries, free yoga classes, or public art exhibits. This kind of information is best supplied by the community that houses it - and that's just what a wiki is for.

Thing 11

I'm not a serious consumer of the news. I only read it when I'm bored. I read the Gainesville Sun online, and a paper it seems increasingly inclined to borrow stories from, The New York Times. Occaisionally, when I'm really bored, I'll sink as low as CNN.com. The news I most prefer is on the public radio. It's insightful, succint, and interesting, on both the local and national level. But enough about me, social media is about everyone!

And it sucks. It's like reading a tabloid online or something. I just don't care. I see no value in it for libraries.

You know, this thing brings to mind a book I once read by local history professor, C. John Sommerville: How the News Makes Us Dumb - The death of wisdom in an information society. He basically argues that daily news is not about wisdom, but about change - what publishers think they can get us interested in and get us to pay for, on a continual basis. And this was written 10 years ago. With the advent of social media, I think it's all the more relevent.

I'm a follower

Yippie! I am now following everyone in the Adult Services department. This department is the best place to work in the ACLD, IMHO. Good luck everyone. May you win a prize.


These are some of the good people that work in my department.

Thing 10

How do we make our library delicious to our patrons? There's that darned social networking again. As I've said before, it freaks me out. I don't really care what the rest of the world is bookmarking, nor do I care to share. Organizationally, it doesn't make that much of a difference to me that I can have all my bookmarks accessible from any computer.

I do think tagging might have value for the library. It can make the catalog more interactive and user friendly. Same for the library's recommended bookmarks. But does the library really need to be a part of Delicious? I decided to force myself to try it out and sign up for an account. Super easy. But now what? I tried tagging all my bookmarks. Neat - a little list of all the subjects that are important to me. Lists are fun. I wonder who else has Jeff Master's blog bookmarked, no wait, no I don't, on second thought, I'm actually VERY BORED.

I tried watching the webinar about Delicious http://www.opal-online.org/5weeksGriffey20070222.htm but unfortunately fell asleep 10 minutes into it. I read the article Seven Habits of successful Delicious users http://www.allbusiness.com/management/change-management/3875646-1.html and realized that Delicious is for serious web explorers. There may be potential there for finding some cool websites, but at this point, I don't really have the time or motivation to explore.

Has anyone found any interesting websites via Delicious? It doesn't seem that user intuitive or well organized. For example, did you know you had to add a plus sign between tags to find entries that contain both those tags?

For now I will congratulate my library on adding taging and reviewing capabilities to the new version of our much maligned aquabrowser catalog search tool. If the staff member here in charge of bookmarks wants to look into Delicious, I say more power to ya, let me know what you find out.



This is what I have to show for my Delicious adventure. I have shared with you. I have shivers down my spine.

Thing 9

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR. Sweet! A Flickr slideshow of displays at my library on my blog. I tried adding this to the side of my blog so it would stay at the top, but had limited success. So here it is in my Thing 9 post. I created it using flickrslidr.com. There's a slideflickr.com too, but that one didn't work when I tried embedding it in my post.

Flickr is the best slide show website from what I can tell. Mostly because of the large size of the pictures. Slideshows are my favorite way to view groups of pictures on the web.

Thing 8

Communication - Web 2.0 style. Finally, something relevant to the library. The library is all about communication and dissemination of information. Of course we're going to branch out into IM, text messaging, and whatever other new communication tools pop up. As the proponents of Library 2.0 like to say, we took the plunge with the telephone all those years ago right? Web conferencing is a great tool as well - when the technology works right.

There really should be no debate about whether libraries should embrace these new forms of communication. They already are. Take email reference for example. The only reservation I have with proceeding into these new realms is to make sure that we have the old technologies and services working smoothly at the same time. At my library, the phone system sucks. There is no person that directs patrons when they initially call, no dedicated phone reference, silence when they are put on hold, no voicemail for many employees, and a complicated forwarding system that results in many dropped calls. Basically it's an outdated system that needs an overhaul. Can we make this a priority please?

Now branching out into social networking sites is another issue. We need to meet them on their own turf L2.0 proponents say. But there has to be a limit to where we will follow potential patrons. And that limit is where they stop seeking information and start socializing. Social network sites are not places for online library services. That's what the library website is for. Advertise our website all you want all over the web, including social networking sites, but quit trying to be hip and cool by having a social networking presence. That's just not what it's for.

Thing 7

Thing 7 is just like Thing 6 but less dependent on Flickr? I wonder if I could use any of these image generators for creating displays here at the library. Most of them are intended for web presentation so me thinks not. They could be used to snaz up certain pages of the library's web site. Again, most of what I found appeared to be huge time wasters. One Library Systems Manager even created a library 2.0 idea generator: http://www.daveyp.com/cgi-bin/l2/l24blog.pl?plain. I created this text using http://cooltext.com/.

Thing 6

I can see there is really no limit to what you can do with your photos on the web. Some of these apps have got to be useful for the library. The color pallete generator might help me design a display around a photo. Most of them just seem like boredom busters. If you're into that kind of thing. I can see some of my friends using the create a motivational poster, or create your own badge apps to have lots of satirical fun. I found this picture of an incredibly cute librarian at my work and turned it into pop art.

Thing 5

Online photo sharing is cool. Flickr is okay. From what I can tell, it is the best site for online photo sharing. Still not very intuitive. I have photos, sets, and a photostream. I can add titles, descriptions, and tags. And that's just the tip of the iceberg with this thing. The photo I've posted to my blog is a display I did for my library. Flickr is great for library promotion and for personal photo sharing. I wish there was a site that was easier to use, presented photos in a nice large individual and slide show viewing format that Flickr does, but allowed for unlimited postings.

One note on my experience uploading my flickr picture. When I tried uploading it to my blog by copying and pasting the link, it did not work. It only worked when I saved it to my computer and browsed for the file. Go figure.

Per Flickr's Terms of Use Agreement, I've included the link to this photo: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3415/3255713789_352bacfce3_b.jpg

Thing 4

Setting up the RSS reader with Google was a snap, since I already had an account with them from setting up this blog. Suddenly, I was "subscribed" to all the 23 things blogs I had already been "following." The layout of my google reader isn't very pleasing to the eye, or any easier to read than my "dashboard" so I'm not terribly excited about this appearent duplication. Then I shot on over to my favorite blog, Jeff Master's weather underground blog and clicked on the orange RSS icon. Did I want to subscribe to this feed Microsoft asked me? Um. Yes? Then I had a similar unappealing look to Jeff Master's blog as the google reader, but no Jeff Masters in the actual reader. After some exploration of the help function, I found out I had to "export" my feed to the google reader. Then I had a blasted Microsoft Feeds folder in there. I deleted this abomination. Finally - Jeff Masters in my google reader. I still think it will be easier to click on the link to the actual blog in my favorites.

I browse several newspapers online, but I don't think I want to subscribe to them. Imagine all those news articles cluttering up my reader everyday. I like to be able to just browse. Maybe I'm not understanding this RSS thing. Or maybe I'm just not the prolific type of web surfer RSS feeds are supposed to cater to. Either way, I'm glad to be done with this thing.

Thing 3

Ah the blogosphere - a place for anyone and everyone to say whatever they want and share it with the world. How do you find the really good blogs? I'm not sure blog search engines are the way to go. For one thing, the search engines are not very intuitive. I searched for blogs about libraries that mention gaming in technorati and got a bunch of crap - they seem to be ranked by date only, not relevancy. Blog lines is nice because it has a relevancy and popularity sorter, but I still didn't get very good results. Both search engines returned the blog by the shifted librarian http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/, in which the author extoles the virtues of gaming in the library. I'm still not convinced...

It seems to me that a better way to find good blogs is just tooling around the internet, keeping an eye out for blogs on sites that you like to visit. That's how I found Jeff Master's weather blog (see link in Thing 1 post).

Thing 2

So what is web 2.0 and what does it have to do with the library? According to the video and blogs Neflin suggested, it is the future of libraries and it is going to be revolutionary, so we all better jump on board.

Basically, web 2.0 is a natural extension of the internet as a place for information exchange. This fits in with the library mission, somewhere, right? Sure it does. My library already has a blog and I was directing patrons to it before I ever created one myself.

But what about gaming? Does that fit in with the library's mission? How does that promote literacy or the free exchange of information, or even the checking out of any library materials? Are we adding another mission - recreation - and how is that going to be compatible with the other services we offer?

Here at my library, many of our patrons don't have the computer skills or literacy level to take advantage of what we already offer. Let's not forget library 1.0, as we move ahead with the fancy new 2.0 stuff.

Thing 1

Well, I now officially have a presence on the blogosphere! I have arrived. You wouldn't even think I belonged to the "millenial" generation, would you? Yes, I was 5 when the Princess Bride came out. There was internet in my house when I was 8. Still, this whole social networking thing kind of freaks me out. The only blog I read is Jeff Master's weather blog on wunderground.com. And now, all the 23 things blogs. Hello everyone out there!