Thing 23: Reflection

I'm not sure what my favorite Thing is, but my least favorite is Twitter. It is totally unnecessary. A lot of this was challenging for me. I don't know much about computers. I've learned what I thought I needed to know to do my job. 23 Things has been frustrating at times because of the restrictions on my work computer. Sometimes I didn't know how to find stuff (some of the sections in LibraryThing spring to mind). Because of this course, I tried a lot of things I never would have tried on my own. It's good for me to do this. But some I will never bother with again as I see no use to them. I believe people get excited about new technology and that after a while their interest fades because it isn't any better than what they were using before. Some of the Things seemed messy to me. There was no organization to them and they were hard to search. Some were more for fun than for business purposes. I wrote about some of it in the previous post. If you come up with another 23 Things, I'm not sure I will sign up for it. But even with my meltdown and all of the problems I had, I am glad I did this set.

Thing 22: Developing Your Own 23 Things

I think our library could use podcasts and a public Wiki to help us communicate with the public. You Tube is another possibility, though we would have to be sure we have waivers if we use pictures of the public. Wiki and You Tube are probably the best for informing the public of policies as well as how to use our resources. Ning could be used, but I'm not convinced it's all that great. Again, we'd have to have waivers for any pictures of the public. Google Docs is useful within the library. I noticed several libraries use Facebook. I have my doubts about that one. For me, Facebook is hard to control, so if I signed up as a friend on a library's Fb, I'd probably lose many of the notices about events in all of the other stuff sent to me from other friends. I am probably a minority since I don't spend a lot of time on the computer, so my FB observation may not be valid. The library will have to have someone oversee these projects, and allow application/browser updates, or none of them will work.
All in all, I have enjoyed doing the 23 Things. I obviously had problems with some of them, but I persisted. I feel a strange sense of accomplishment. There are Things that I will continue to use.

Thing 21: Podcasts

I listened to several library podcasts. The sound on most of them was very clear. The types I think might work in our library were the Teen ones. Hearing a Teen talk about what's going on, and listening to their music, was interesting. I don't know if it would bring in more Teen patrons, but it's possible. I think it would be a fun experience for budding musicians, and for Teens who write. What fun to read your own poem or story. I also enjoyed listening to some of the children's story times, but I don't think they are the best choice for young ones. Most kids (as did I at a young age) prefer something visual when they listen to a story. I believe the illustrations are an important part of story time. Kids gain a lot of information from a well illustrated picture book. Most children's librarians use the pictures as well as the story in their programs. I do think it is good for older kids. They should either have, or be developing, listening skills. Listening to someone read a story well brings it to life, and it plants that little voice in a child's head so he/she starts to hear it when reading. It helps to focus on the meaning of sentences and the characterizations instead of just the individual words. FWPL already has downloadable audio books for adults and children.
On a personal level, I had fun at the Internet Archive, especially the old radio programs. I remember being frightened by The War of the Worlds on Halloween night. No, I'm not old enough for the original broadcast, but one of the radio stations played it when I was a child. On I.A. I can listen to comedians who later moved to TV, plus radio shows I've never heard, though I've heard of many of them.

Thing 20: You Tube

Several of the videos were instructive. I wish there had been one for using an academic library when I was in school. I'd always used the public library. UT had some good ones, though the pace was a little slow. They included one on their widgets. Putting our story times on You Tube is a nice idea. People can check out our Booker's Ally story times in our system, but we might have more interest in them on You Tube. I liked the tour of the Azle Memorial Library. It's a nice way to show it off. There were many videos that were rather predictible. There were pictures of books, smiling staff, computers - the usual. Nothing exciting there. Gaming in libraries and the special events weren't bad overall. There were some cute specialty ones, such as the Library Ninja silencing the cell phone user. I guess that one is therapeutic for me. I did enjoy some of the Book Cart Drill Teams. I noticed that the University of Phoenix (Two Friends Earn Education Degrees) managed to be on every page when I searched Academic Library. And Paula Grace Designs had links in several places.
I understand that You Tube might be useful for the library, but if the product displayed is mediocre it won't do us much good. I'm not sure how we could make the library look fun and exiting. Stop action animation, collages, kaleidoscope effects - none of that really works. We aren't really exciting; we are useful. And that's hard to market.

Thing 19: Google Docs

Most of the programs (Document, Spreadsheet, Presentation) seemed pretty much the same as MS Office except for the sharing bit. I do like that. It saves a little time. And I know that if I designate someone as being able to edit, then they can manipulate ithe information. It's a pain to receive an email attachment and find out I cannot do anything but read it. Then the emails start back and forth, and I get more and more frustrated. Google Docs will be a help in doing committee work that needs input from all of the members. We can all share. In the Presentation, I never did figure out how to adjust the speed of the slide show, or of the fade-in of one of the pictures. Neither did I find out how to have it open as a slideshow. As for the Form part, I found that one a little difficult. It would not display properly for me, though someone I sent it to said it came up with the selected background theme. I think maybe it was because I haven't done anything similar to that before. But I did like the spreadsheet response for the questions in the form. I need to play with that a bit, but overall it worked well.

I looked at the GoogleDocs blogspot. I think Google Checkout is particularly good. I wish we'd had that back in the days I worked retail for small Mom & Pop stores. Some of the other stuff was good, but I don't have a reason to use them. Still, one never knows, do one?

Thing 18: Wikis

Roller Derby was the subject I chose to look up in Wikipedia. There was a lot of information, including the rules of the present day game. I also looked up the history because I have rather vague memories of watching Roller Derby on TV waaaaaay back when I was a young woman. I checked Discussion and History on the first search. I was surprised at how short the History was considering how long the Discussion was. There were, and probably still are, some heated debates going on in the Discussion. One contributor went so far as to list his/her interpretation of the Wikipedia rules. Lots of deletions, repostings, and some rather angry messages going around. It's nice to know people are passionate about posting information, and that some are worried about legitimacy. There was discussion about whether or not lists of movies and music should be included, or if the lists should be a seperate entry. I was surprised that the 1970s movie "Kansas City Bomber", with Raquel Welch, was not on the list. But I didn't want to get involved. One of the rather heated discussions had to do with crossing the line into Original Research. I was intrigued by all of this. It actually makes me feel better about using Wikipedia as a source. Of course, I would check it against an acceptable source.
Now to the second part. I had trouble creating my own page on Wetpaint. But third time was a charm. I trust that the false starts I had will be deleted eventually since my emails were forwarded to the appropriate person. A good part of the problem is my ignorance, but I think more detailed instructions might have helped. For instance, I had no idea where to put my information when I first made the page. But I figured it out. And I noticed there were a lot of comments left on this assignment. It made me feel good to know I was not alone. That being said, I'd like to add that I very much appreciated not having to create my own account. It was much easier this way. Thank you.

Thing 17: Libworm

I was not impressed with Libworm. One of my searches did not provide satisfactory results at all. I was looking for information/discussions about the minimum age for children to get library cards. I phrased it several different ways, tried different options, but I still came up with stuff that was not what I wanted. There was one result from someone who was interested in this same question. Unfortunately, I had to join a group to read it all. I didn't do that because I wasn't convinced there would be more than the one blog. Also, some information I looked for (different questions) was dated. Maybe it's the full moon, maybe it's sun spots, or maybe it's the operator. I did look at some interesting items that were not really related to my searches. I think if I had a lot of time, it might be interesting to browse Libworm. Overall, it was more trouble than productive. I admit I was peeved because I couldn't access it from either of the computers I work at. I used a public computer for this assignment and that definitely took me out of my comfort zone. I'm not used to having kids playing Runescape right next to me. This could have influenced my opinion. Maybe I'll try it again sometime.

Thing 16: LibraryThing

I really like this one. However, I don't have enought time to keep up with all of the wonderful recommendations, blogs, etc. Still, it's nice to cruise through when I have a chance. It's good to get feedback on the popular books. I enjoy reading about the trials and tribulations that other librarians go through at their places of employment. Misery loves company, right? However, I am not sure what I think about "Scream at the Librarian". I ran across a reference to that on Librarian.net. I'm toying with the idea of giving it to my godson for Christmas in case he ever thinks of entering this field. I did look at Librarians Who LibraryThing, I See Dead People's Books, and Thingology. I did not find sections on ThingLang, ISBN Check, or MARCThing. I did find a Thingology blog about MARCThing, but that's the closest I got to it. I'm not a cataloguer, so I'm not particularly interested in that anyway. I did try adding a book using the ISBN. I thought that might bring up ISBN Check. I don't know if it did or not. I deleted the book and intend to try again later.

Thing 15: Digg

I was starting to have hope after Thing 14. But Thing 15, aka Digg, is a let-down. I don't like the fact that there is no control over what people post. Posts are sorted into general categories, which means I have to look through a lot of posts to get a little information. It takes too much time to open a story and check the source. In a way Digg reminds me of Facebook. I bet there are a lot of people whose whole purpose is to see if their stories make the Top Ten Diggs, just like the people who join Facebook and compete for the most "friends". I suppose if I would love Digg if I had no life and didn't mind spending hours looking through all of the posts. I do not see how this would benefit the Library. On the up side, it's probably very good for insomniacs.

Thing 14: Delicious

I really like this one. It's easy to use. It's very convenient to have everything in one place. And it's wonderful that I can access this from any computer. I also like the way I can search for new bookmarks using the tags. When I make a bookmark, it suggests tags for the site, which is very helpful. I am rarely sure what tags are the most relevant. I'm impressed that I can bookmark a blog and make it private. I admit I was getting bogged down by some of the 23 Things, but now I'm regaining my enthusiasm for this course. I want to play around with Delicious a little more, but that can wait for a while. Due to time constraints, I need to move on to the next Thing. You can click here to get to my Delicious page.

Thing 13: Tagging

We have a Delicious account for the Children's librarians and tagging is used there to organize all of the recommended web sites. It is pretty handy for that. I do a fair amount of searching for images on Google for school kids and tagging is used there, too. But I don't see it as a practical application for a library catalogue. Tagging doesn't seem to be specific enough. Maybe I feel that way because I'm used to doing searches a particular way. To keep track of the web sites I use, I prefer bookmarking. I can't always remember the addresses, but I can usually recognize the names of the sites. Still, tagging is nice for certain circumstances.

Thing 12: Twitter

I can find no redeeming factors in Twitter. I did not find it easy to use. I had my account for literally three minutes when I received an email that someone named dee boog was following me. Ah, there's nothing quite like a bored child at home on the Internet all summer long. So I changed my settings to give me some privacy. Before I had completed that, a young woman (assuming the name and picture were accurate) from Houston was following me. Why? I have no idea. I don't know her and she doesn't know me, in real life or cyber life. I tried sending a Tweet to a couple of colleagues, but it didn't work. According to Twitter, they did not exist. I found that odd since I had their information. I emailed one of them, who had my info, and she experienced the same thing. That really ruffled some feathers. So I concluded that Twitter was for the birds since it was taking much more of my time than it was worth. I will stick with email. I swear by all Things 23 that I will never Tweet again - not that I managed to Tweet even once. I'm throwing the bird seed out with the birdbath water and I am cancelling my account.
I forgot to do a step on this blog. I don't remember where I first heard about Twitter. I think it was used some in the last Presidential campaign.

Thing 11: Instant Messaging

I signed up for IM and tried to send messages, but no one was online. I decided email was best. I'm sure there is a use for IM in the Library, but it isn't obvious to me. It seems we are either on the desk, be it Circ or Ref, and we wouldn't be available to immediately respond to a message or we are off the desk and working on other duties and/or projects and wouldn't necessarily be online. If a patron needed immediate information about their account/where an item is located/an address or telephone number/whatever, then maybe IM is the way to go. But staff would have to be designated to work IM for this to work. I do not know if we would have enough questions from the public to justify taking someone away from regular duty. Since location doesn't matter with IM, we could rotate doing duty among the libraries that have enough staff to spare one staffer for a few hours. Then, if the public started using it frequently, maybe we could set up an IM team. Honestly, it might be easier for people to IM than call on the telephone, especially if they usually call the libraries with the automated telephone menus.

23 Things Meltdown

OK, I'm stuck on the Instant Messaging Thing. My computer doesn't have what I need to watch videos about it, I don't know what an Avatar is, and I question what I'm really doing here. I have not seen a quiz on Fb about "What Am I?". If I did, I'm sure the answer would be one of three: a Dinosaur, an Anachronism, or Stupid. I understand I need to learn new technology to do my job. I can cope with that to a point. What I don't understand is the Big Picture. Why do all of these Things exist? Why do I need as many "friends" as I can get on My Space, Facebook, etc. when most of them won't even truly rate as Aquaintances? When I am home, I choose whether or not to answer my phone and the doorbell. I prefer to spend some time during the day by myself, not hooked into a computer sending useless messages, invitations, etc. to people. If I want to talk to someone, I prefer face-to-face, but have been known to call on the telephone. I will leave a message if no one answers. I've also been known to email and to write and honest-to-God letter once in a while. I prefer to read books to surfing the Internet. I prefer to concentrate on my driving instead of multi-tasking by talking on my cell phone or text messaging. I do not see the reason for Instant Messaging. I was taught that Patience is a Virtue and that All Good Things Come to Those Who Wait. A quick response time is for emergencies. All else should be done properly in whatever amount of time the task takes. Competition used to be associated with sorting events. I prefer an hour for lunch as opposed to twenty minutes. I prefer to enjoy a meal, not just fill the hole created by (perceived or otherwise) hunger. I don't know why my profession should be turned into a Drive Thru of Information. I am taking a break from all of this for a few days to reevaluate what I'm to get from all of these Things, which I'm starting to believe are merely toys of our society. This is my Meltdown.

Thing 10: Ning

I searched Ning for library, wildlfe rescue, and paranormal groups. It was fairly easy to do. There were several I could view without joining, which was nice. Some were better managed than others, which I expected. I don't know that I will keep up with any of the groups I viewed. Time is always a factor. Ning seems to be more serious than Facebook. It's more like Blogspot in that the postings are less frivolous. We had a Ning account a few years back for some of the branches but nobody had much to say, possibly because Admin was invited to join. We were Mirandized in that Admin said our postings would not be used against us. I truly believe Admin hoped for honest discussions concerning our system, but I think some of the issues people wanted to discuss were particular to certain locations rather than system-wide. It fizzled out and no one felt inclined to do anything about it. Ning does appear to be a good system for this sort of thing. We employees tend to communicate without using a networking system. I'm not convinced that Ning is the way to communicate with Library users. It is getting harder to evaluate as I experience more of the 23 Things.

Thing 9: More Facebook

I posted a link to the Fort Worth Library Mayor Mike's Summer Reading Challenge so friends could register. I joined three groups: Ballet Folklorico, Historical Novel Society, and Artes de la Rosa/rose Marine Theater. I don't know if thiese are what you are looking for isnce the link to the Groups application doesn't want to work for me. I have made contact with several family members through Fb, which is nice. It was relatively easy to find them. An old friend found me on Fb, which is also nice. What isn't so nice is that a particular telephone company that was trying to sell its services went through my address book and used the names to send me invitations to take an IQ quiz. I took it in a weak moment in an attempt to stop the harrassment. Instead of posting the result at the end of the quiz, I posted a message telling everyone my score and asking them to stop sending it to me. I had several replies that the no one had sent it to me even though their names were used (along with an IQ score). I obviously have a room temperature IQ for falling for that. I am still bothered by it. I didn't think my address book was to be used in that manner. I'm still unsure as tho the application of Fb as a business tool. The potential is there but, after the phone company incident, I don't have much confidence in it. It would look very bad if some unscrupulous company started pushing their services in the name of the Library. I don't know if there is a way to block this.

Hey, what happened? There's no northtexas23.blogspot anymore. This isn't good, is it? I don't have the technical knowledge to track down where it's gone. Oh well, I guess I'll call NTRLS to see what's up.

Thing 8: Facebook

I already have a private Facebook account. I ran into problems when I tried to make another account. I didn't want to use a false name since I wanted to invite business associates to become friends, and it wouldn't let me use "nrslibrarian" as a name. I tried emailing Facebook, but the results were not what I wanted. One of the big problems I have on my personal account is that I cannot delete individual messages from my wall. I can hide the friends that post any and every thing that tickles their whimsey, but that is all I can do. Facebook Help is useless for this. I am on the verge of closing my account after sending private messages to those I want to stay in touch with. It's unfortunate because it's so easy to see what is happening, including photos, in their lives. I will use email in the near future for this purpose. I'm assuming they all have email accounts. I do appreciate how easy it is to find people on Facebook, but overall I am not impressed with it. As a business tool, such as inviting patrons to be friends of the Library's Facebook, it would take way too much time to control what is posted. As for business associates, email serves me much better.

Thing 7: RSS Feeds

OK, I feel like I'm doing the Cat in the Hat Thing 1 and Thing 2. I see very little difference between Thing 6 and Thing 7. I did enjoy looking at the recommended sites. I even added some. Now I'm starting to wonder how I will keep up with the relatively few subscriptions I have. I do not own a computer. I always thought that, with my addictive personality, it was a wise decision. Now I see that I can bring my addictions to work with me. I have unsubscribed to some feeds because I felt they were not necessary. But I have what some call a "junkie" personality - I collect junk of all types. Reader is dangerous because I can now collect electronic "junk". You can tell by what I've bookmarked in Thing 6 & 7 that I do not have total control. Still, these two things are wondrous tools. It may be a good way to keep in touch with Library patrons. Maybe this would work as well, if not better, for someone like the Central Media Manager who sends emails about upcoming events and new items in the collection. I'm sure there are other possible uses, but I haven't figured them out yet. Hey, I'm still working on my Blog. I intend to finish the 23 Things, but it won't stop there. It will take time for me to become familiar with all of this, and to consider how to use it to the Library's advantage.

Thing 6: Blog Readers

This is an easy way to keep some of my favorite sites bookmarked. It's nice to have the folder option instead of having to scroll down a long list. It will save me time since I can do my one-stop-shopping at Google Reader. I probably shouldn't put this, but my memory isn't what it used to be. This device will save me from the torture of trying to remember a site that I read about (was recommended/found on the web) and that I promptly forgot either what the address was or where I wrote it down. It is kind of like having my own reference library at my fingertips, and I can keep up with what my co-workers are doing via their blogs. I have to admit that Theresa's blog puts me to shame. She is way more savvy than I will ever be. She is also extremely generous with her knowledge and at most is just a few key strokes away.

Thing 5:Image Generators

I've finally finished playing around with the Image Generators. It was fun overall. It's obvious how this makes a blog much more interesting. However, I couldn't get the animated signs on FD Toys to save correctly. When I saved them as photos, the animation didn't work. When I tried to save using the Add Video button, it would not load. So no joy in Mudville on that one. I also found out that I cannot delete a photo from a posting. All I can do is delete the whole thing. This will definitely affect the way I build a post. This is getting better as I work through the steps, but I've got a long way to go yet. Fortunately, several of my colleagues are in this course and have helped me. I will check with them and see if they know how to add the animated signs. So check back and see if I've been successful.

Thing 4: More Flickr

This assignment is frustrating. I don't have what I need loaded on the computer to do several of the mashups. I did manage to get one to work. I hope this one is alright. If I had all of the programs necessary for the graphics, it would be fun to create advertising for various programs. I wanted to make a collage with the pictures from past programs, but I had no luck. I'm assuming I wouldn't need as much patience if everything worked. There are some neat applications out there.

The Aarhus Public Library in Denmark has a movie on th web (You Tube). They are open at night and are developing a lot of programs geared to teens. They have a lot of cooperation between the teens and the staff. They also must have a lot of money. The way the video is put together makes people want to go there and experience the library. And I know about it because it was forwarded to me by a friend. Relatively cheap advertising, isn't it? I wonder how many languages it was released in and how they initially targeted people. I am ignorant of so much technology. I guess that 's why I'm doing 23 Things.

Thing 2: Learning 2.0

I read an article and watched a video. I also was at our library's Staff Development Day where I heard Stephen Abram speak. It all looks very exciting and seems to make sense at the time. However, I'm not convinced all of it is necessary. I haven't done Twitter yet, but it sounds fairly useless for the library. I admit to being old-fashioned and that plays into my opinion. I'm the only one I know that won't obsessively answer my phone. But blogging looks like an effective way for the library to show people what we are about. It also offers a way for people to tell us what they want. The library would have to decide where we need to be linked in order to draw people to the blog, but I'm sure it can be done. We'll see what the near future brings our way. As for Flickr, I'm not convinced it is a useful tool for us. The library Flickrs I've seen wouldn't inspire me to visit. The information is limited.

Thing 3: Flickr, Take 1

I have created a Flickr account. The pictures I posted are under Peewee's Pet. I believe the link is http://www.flickr.com/photos/catlibrarian. It was kind of hard finding out how to arrange the photos. I guess I could have deleted them all and then reloaded them form back to front. But I changed the time on them instead.
I am not sure how I would use this for the library. I could stream pictures of programs we have here at Northside, but that seems kind of lame. A lot of the library stuff I've seen on the Net was boring. Gosh, a library with craft and story times. Go figure. Maybe I just need to play with this more.

We Northside Library folks are busy gearing up for the Summer Reading Program. Our clerk, Sarai, is in charge of pimping one of our book carts. She has some good ideas how to show the theme "Deep in the Heart of Texas". I admit some of the ideas were slightly gross during the brainstorming session. One idea was to set up a CSI type cart. Fortunately, that proved to be too hard for us. I'll post a picture when we finish it. Sarai is quite an artist so it should look good.