Thursday, November 29, 2007

Last posting: Library Thing

Library Thing is an interesting, fun site. I was able to easily catalog some of my favorite books. I like that you can catalog for a title to add to your list in Amazon or Library of Congress, etc. Then you can tag it so you can find it easily. You can also search other people's lists to find similar interests and new books to try in a favorite category. For example, Feng Shui for Life was chosen by 26 members, it's rated 3.5 stars and the entry includes an annotated list of other popular feng shui books. Great resource for readers of all kinds.

Forgot to blog my experience with del.icio.us

I chose several different topics to tag for this assignment. I was interested in articles I read about Libraries 2.0 and how libraries and library staff need to stay informed about technology and its applications to survive. We're competing with Amazon, Ebay and lots of other sites that are seemless portals to information on the internet. We need to be comfortable using them and sharing them with others. I also tagged some sites about scrapbooking, photography and how you can tell if people are lying. It's like creating a favorites list on my computer at home, but it's accessible anywhere there's the internet. Del.icio.us is delicious!

Finally success with Flickr

In my closing blog, I set a goal of successfully posting photos to Flickr by December 15. When I was going over my blogs to submit to Albert for credit for completing 23 things, I noticed that my computer wasn't working right. I couldn't even access my Flickr account! I decided to try it at work and see if the glitch was in my computer or with Flickr. Guess what??? It's my computer :-(!! Not only was I able to immediately sign-in to Flickr at work, but uploading some pictures I had on my digital camera from our Friends of the Library Jazz Brunch in June was s-o-o easy! Just like adding an attachment to an e-mail! I'm so excited! Now I can post other pictures to share with family and friends. Now I have to figure out what happened to my laptop! Oh, well, at least I'm not going crazy anymore!

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Final thoughts about 23 Things

As I look back over the past few months' exploration of my learning adventure into the world of technology, I am amazed at how much I have learned. I've been keeping careful notes in a notebook, so I can revisit the various sites in the future. I plan to review them and become more comfortable with them so I can share them with my staff and customers. I'm very intrigued by Flickr. I love photography! I enjoyed looking at other people's photos. There were some incredible shots of some of my favorite places, like the Chrysler Building in NYC and Mono Lake in CA. I'm still working on learning how to upload some of my own digital photos to post. My goal is to post at least one photo on my Flickr account by December 15. I had fun creating an avatar of myself on yahoo.com. Blogging my experiences has been fun, as well as, informative. There's a whole new world out there--Libraries 2.0 is the present and Libaries 3.0 is fast approaching.
Librarians need to keep up with technology to remain viable. PGCMLS has recently added Wi-Fi to most of our branches. I've been able to help people with Apple, Dell, Gateway and Toshiba laptops access our Wi-Fi connection at LK. Each brand name computer is different, and I've been successful in all but one computer. I think 23 Things gave me the confidence to feel comfortable helping customers gain access. This summer I taught myself how to use WiFi at Panera's in Rockford, Illinois when I was visiting my family (and working on 23 things). It was easy! It's true, every success builds confidence and comfort with new skills. Although I am one of the last participants to complete this journey, I'm glad I did it. Practice make progress. I'm more aware of new technologies and less afraid to try them. That's quite a giant step for me. Yeah! Thank you for this opportunity to challenge my techno fears and grow confident in my skills as a librarian.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Overdrive

PGCMLS has Overdrive linked from its website. I used my library card to access this source. I added four books to my bookbag: Life Coaching for Dummies, Dissolving Barriers, The Best of Loretta LaRoche, 100 simple secrets of successful people and Skulduggery Pleasant. I'm going to download them to my laptop when I get home. All of my choices were available tonight. I browsed the business and career, classic literature and recently returned sections to get an overview of the books Overdrive has to offer. I'm going to check my laptop to make sure it has Adobe Reader installed on it. Can't wait to use this service! One caveat--your library record can't have any overdue books! I had to renew a couple of late books before I could add books to my account.

Monday, November 26, 2007

podcasting

I checked out podcast.net, podcastalley.com and podshow.com. I didn't have any luck with podcast.net. I tried searching for several names including Henri Nouwen, Flylady, Marla Cilley. Nothing I tried to retrieve came up. I discovered when I went to the alpha listing that multiple words were typed together like an e-mail account address. Still not much luck. I moved on to podcastalley.com with more success. They had a list of broad catagories to browse. I chose religion and spirituality. I was interested in meditations for carmelites. I established an account and tried to open the podcast. I didn't have much luck. Here's the link:

http://rss.mac.com/stl_ocds/iWeb/Meditations%20from%20Carmel/Podcast/rss.xml

When I went to podshow part of podcastalley I was able to look at a Marie Clair podcast on fashion and hair design. I was also able to watch a podcast called Saint Cast. Here's the link

http://web.mac.com/pcamarata/SaintCast/Latest_Podcasts/Entries/2007/11/23_SaintCast_80%2C_St._Cecilia.html

Award winning Web 2.0 website: Zillow.com

Zillow.com is an interesting real estate website. I looked up my neighborhood to see what properties are for sale. I chose a house at 119 Lakeside Drive, Greenbelt, MD. It's a 5 bedroom, 3 bath home built in 1966. It's 1,676 square feet, vinyl siding with a finished basement. It's selling for $455,000 by owner. The listing lists special features of the home, a written description and a note about what the owners love about the house. There are photos of the house, a zestimate of the value of the house, last year's property tax ($3,693)and stats about number of homes in zipcode area, Greenbelt, Prince George's, MD and United States median house prices and historical value trends in these areas. They also provist a bird's eye view and street map of other homes in the area with their values showing at each location. This information would be helpful for customers who are thinking about putting their homes on the market, people shopping for a new home, people relocating to the area and want to see what's available in a particular neighborhood. Real estate agents, prospective buyers/sellers can post their homes, even FSBO properties. Housing trends and property tax information are also helpful information. Satillite photos of a neighborhood area marked on a street map or photos.

You Tube Experience

I've seen videos from You Tube that my nephews have shown me. They even post some out there to share with others. Today was my first solo trip to You Tube. I created an account. My user name is bookworm20770. I liked the Mental Lapse video called Happy Thanksgiving stop motion video. A man is decorating for Thanksgiving and finds that one of the paper turkeys he wants to display has its head torn off. While he leaves the room to go get some tape, the six paper turkeys come to life. The turkey without its head falls off the countertop and the other five turkeys eat the pumpkin pie left on the counter. When the man returns, he sees the mess and assumes that his poor cat did it! Cute stop motion.



You Tube can be very helpful for librarians and archivists. Some of the postings are serious, showing historical film clips and news clips. By using the search function, interesting things can be found. There's also a lot of silly and disgusting entries too. Like anything else, it's a tool that could be helpful for research and information.

zoho writer

It took me a little while to figure out Zoho writer, but once I got the idea, I liked it. It's nice to have access to a word processing program on any computer you link up with. They icons are similar to Word or Word Perfect. I had trouble saving the document and naming it. After a couple of tries, I think it worked. I wrote about going to see A Tuna Christmas with my son and friends last Friday night at the Warner Theater. What a fun play! Jaston Williams and Joe Sears play 22 characters who live in a little town called Tuna Christmas.

I like the tagging feature of the program. Sometimes it's hard to decide where to file something--it belongs in several different places--tagging allows you to create virtual "files" to cross-reference documents and other information without having to remember where you put it.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

sandbox wiki

I had an interesting (note frustrating) experience with sandbox wiki. First, when I typed my wiki entry, I didn't know that it had a limited number of characters. When I went to save it, only half of the entry appeared. I thought at first that I didn't save it properly, so I recreated the end of the entry. When it cut off a second time, I realized that my entry had to be shorter. When I shortened it, it worked fine. Then I tried to save it--OK that worked. I had to really struggle to get my url posted. I'm not sure it worked right. I tried several times to get the link icon to work. I assume I was to post my blogspot url as proof that I did it. You can go to the search box and put my name in (JoEllen Sarff) or scrapbooking is my favorite thing. It was fun once (and if) I did it right.

What is a Wiki

Wikis are a collaboratively developed websites. They are easy to use, web-based, use simple syntex, flexible and anyone can make changes to any entry. They are used for a wide variety of things, including conference planning, meetings, project space, restaurant reviews, travel information for groups generated by locals or other travelers and booklists. The possibilities are endless! Libraries can also use them as electronic pathfinders to post local history or community information as well as posting questions and soliciting answers to survey questions about library services and policy. Using Wikis might get people who normally wouldn't come to the library participate in sharing information or respond to questions that the library is gathering. As more people contribute to wikis, the more popular they will become.

Library 2.0

The ideas presented in the various links dealing with Library 2.0 is very exciting. What a great way to look at information--both in books and virtual--not as a commodity to be sold and held but as part of a community available for everyone at any time! We've been moving toward a more sharing society in libraryland with OCLC cataloging and virtual books. Not having to reinvent the wheel every time we have a new book to catalog, we can copy catalog and have our materials out on the shelves much more quickly. With the advent of computers, even a small rural library can have access to the world. Wikis have given people an opportunity to add to an entry additional materials that help extend information and knowledge. The world of Library 2.0 is using these technologies to share information 24/7 outside the walls of the library. Since the public is comfortable with Amazon, Ebay and other sights that are "user friendly" and available anytime and anywhere there's a computer internet connection, the library needs to offer the same kind of service to keep up with technology and the changing lifestyles of our customers. Otherwise we'll be become a dinosaur that no one will use. I agree with the various authors that said this change will happen one library or library system at a time--the success of a few pioneers will lead the way for the reluctant to move forward. Change is difficult but necessary. Change is good!

technorati comments

Technorati is an interesting site. It keeps track of registered blogs worldwide. The number of blogs doubles every 5 months! Today there were 14,928 posts and 806 blogs registered under the name "Learning 2.0". The top favorited blog was called "Boing Boing" that collected cultural curiosities and interesting facts about technology. Among the top searches today were YouTube (no surprise), Malaysia (lots of current events listed--especially political), Angelina Jolie, Heroes and David Caruso. The top blogs were Engadeget and Gizmoda, both tech blogs and Arriana Huffington's Huffington Post was among the most popular. The search for the word Heroes brought up the popular tv series and made note of Hayden Paneterra's comments that if she were a lesbian, she would like to meet Angelina Jolie. There were several other comments about the tv show, but there was an interesting post by someone called "cmdsalamander" who posts military items. He had a posting called "worth a prayer on Sunday" about how two women in Britain demanded that wounded British soldiers who lost limbs in the middle east & who were having physical therapy in a public pool, should be kicked out because it may scare the children! Apparently, war heroes in Britain these days are not treated with respect and gratitude. Too bad...
Technorati blogs can be searched by authority (number of times cited) or by freshness. Everything in the site is linked and can be called up by blogger or key word. Very topical and current.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

rollyo posting easy

I love to scrapbook and make cards. When I read about rollyo, I knew what to post. My listing is #321321321--I tried to post it in my name, but it does appear in my folder. In case you're interested I recommend splitcoaststampers.com for scrapbook & card making ideas; cropmania.com for local scrapbooking activities and crops; stampinup.com for stamping supplies; twopeasinabucket.com for sayings, titles, quotes, and layouts; and stampsbyjudith.com because she makes the best stamps! I've taken a couple of her daughter's classes and have met her at the Great American Scrapbooking event in Chantilly every June. There are quite a few other scrapbooking fans who have posted their rollyos, so my list may grow!

avatars are fun!

I made an avatar on Yahoo. I tried to make my avatar look like me (I think it does a little bit) and she's walking a penguin! (I love penguins--I even collect them!) I haven't figured out how to save it to post it somewhere else. I also tried glassgiant.com and made a ticket to Oliver, the musical I saw at the Greenbelt Arts Center on Saturday. Random kitten generator is so cute. I have four cats myself, so I wooed and awed over the precious kittens pictured on the site. Cute, cute cute!!!

rss--what fun!

I stayed up late last night to try to finish 23 things. I've still have a few more things to do, but I think I can finish before the end of the week. RSS intrigues me very much. I'm a news junkie, so having some of my favorite sites gathered together to look at is a real treat---Drudgereport, CNN, Fox News, BBC, ABC news, etc are some of my regular stops. It was interesting to see how many have rss links to gather up. I also discovered that there are many library related sites, including one of my favorites-- the comic strip Overdue. I'm going to log on googlereader.com soon to see what new things are waiting for me. I had to create a new e-mail on google, but that's OK. It can be a catch-all for other things. Yeah!

catching up

I've been catching up on 23 things. Most things have gone well. I'm still having flickr recognize my yahoo e-mail so I can post some pictures. Flickr has some very talented photographers. I loved some of the Lake Constance pictures; the cute Casablanca claymation image of the goodbye scene with Humphrey Bogart & Ingrid Bergman; and the photos of Craig Shillington and toma.01. I've been having fun playing with my digital camera and have some photos from my trip to Illinois that I'd like to post on Flickr. Maybe I'll be successful soon...

Sunday, July 1, 2007

7 1-2 habits

I enjoyed watching the 7 1/2 habits tutorial. I've learned over the years to accept problems as challenges--not obstacles to block my path to success. Sometimes it's difficult to look at them that way, kind of like turning lemons into lemonade, but I've found if you take the time to reflect, it's really true. The hardest thing for me to do is to remember to play. Sometimes I get very focused and tense and need someone to remind me to relax--breathe--play and have fun! That's a habit I'm still working on--so I'm going to test the water and trust this will work during this tutorial. I'm going to have some fun and play!

Wow! I did it.

Signing up for Learning 2.0 is a big giant step for me. Technology and I usually don't get along very well. Being able to create this blog without any help gives me great confidence. I'm looking forward to completing the rest of the tutorial.