The 23rd thing!!!!

Well I have to admit from a very slow and hesitant start - dragging feet - push comes to shove and all of that stuff - I realised just how much I did not know about what is out there in cyberworld. But as I progressed I realised how much I was enjoying the exercises and was eagerly waiting for the next posting. I have gained so much knowledge and will now be able to nod intelligently and understand when someone hurls at me a "tricky RSS feed, Delicious, wikis, Image generator, - Library thing and Podcasts( I still think its something to do with whales!!) "- golly the list goes on forever. I have come away from these testing exercises with a far better knowledge and understanding of what I can now offer my library patrons. As time allows I will be heading back into some of the sites and delving a bit further. My son still thinks I was pretty clever to find him on Youtube. Did not take me long to discover what I did not like - namely Technorati, RSS feeds and Rollyo. I will be heading back into Podcasts, YouTube, ebooks and Library Thing just to explore a bit further. Love the fact that I can add pictures to my blogg - could get carried away with my cat pictures. The whole Web 2.0 programme was a challenging exercise - it expanded and upskilled my computer knowledge - thank you Web 2.0 team for your patience.

Social networking

I trolled my way through quite a few libraries that are using social networking- randomly picking out a few. Found it interesting what attracted me to the various sites. Did not like New Caroline Kennedy Library, Denver Public Library or Fort Vancouver Regional Library - some sites I could not get into which frustrated me - but my all time favourite was the Kearns Library - - loved this site - very busy screen - easy to navigate around and I could listen to a couple of my favourite songs - OPshop "One day" and Guns n' Rose " Sweet child o' mine". Can see the appeal for the younger patrons - but even a mature patron like myself found it extremely appealing. i read the article Libraries in social networking software by Meredith Farkas - she highlighted some valid point. but she did say that parents need to be educated about what their kids are doing online - easier said than done!!. More often than not both parents are working and the internet is the babysitter. Many parents send their child to the library - so is it the librarians responsibilty to monitor what the children are delving into. As time allows I will go back and search out a few more libraries on the list.

MySpace and Facebook

Again this was a whole new learning curve. Social networking the implications of this are enormous. I was not fussed with Bebo and Myspace was okay. Liked Facebook - easy to use I even found my son on the site - he has a profile and a very nice picture of himself and a friend - at a league game by the looks of it. He will be impressed that I even managed to find my way to the site!!! Took a tour around the Rotorua Public Library site. Really neat - good for drawing in those younger patrons and mature users I might add. No longer should the library be viewed as a nerd's paradise - this library site will show you otherwise. Its very busy with heaps to navigate. Auckland Public was pretty cool - loved the adopt your own virtual pet - you can even customize them. Only good things can come out of social networking for libraries - really have to look to the future and all the wonderful stuff that is "out there"http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=birman

Ebooks

I have to admit before I took the plunge into the whole new world of ebooks I had an extremely cynical view of the electronic setup. But I am sold on the whole concept.I explored the public domain. this takes you straight into Wikipedia. This site is excellent for school assignments. Choice of formats can download the complete works of William Shakespeare in basic HTML. Typed in Macbeth - the choice was endless as to how I wanted it - audio, video, MP3 etc and I loved the setup of breaking it down into characters, synopsis, analysis and criticism etc. Librivox was so easy to use and navigate around. My all time favourite was Google book search. Loved the layout - so easy to use. Looked up my treasured book when I was a child. Seven little Australians by Ethel Turner - and there it was. This site was fantastic for out of print classics. The choice of formats was extensive. (Open formats, closed formats, Acrobat reader & Microsoft reader). Amazon e-book I quote " is frightenly influential and a bargain to boot $9.99 to download to a PDA - great for that long airplane flight to far flung places.

Podcasts

Certainly did not know what a Podcast was (could have been something to do with whales!!!) Anyways I had a good play around with these pod thingys. I hooked a link for the Podcastpickle.com into my Bloglines account - quite liked this site as there were heaps of dropdown boxes that lead you onto all sorts of different directories. I also got carried away with the Oxford University Press site - good implications here for library users and staff. Liked that I could have a tour of the Christchurch Art Gallery with Sam Neill.

YouTube

Well - I could have quite a bit of fun in this site. This is the first time I have been into YouTube and I really liked it. Looked at a couple of the library related videos. Librarian doo-wap - I found cheesy. School Library video Rock n' roll library - good for a laugh in a nerdish way - but don't really think it would drag the "with it" teenagers into the library in great numbers. One of the features I did like was using a high profile TV or movie personality to get across the message of how important it is to read and haunt your local library. I think this would be fantastic if it was integrated into our own library website - possibly a fun marketing tool!! Hopefully not too "infomercial"!!!
Liked the fact I could see one of my favourite bands Guns n' Roses performing my all time favourite song - Sweet child o mine!!!

Web 2.0 awards list

For this exercise I only went into the short list. I sure liked the way the sites were all set out in categories - with a 1st, 2nd and 3rd. I discovered names and sites that I had no idea existed - Wufoo, Fluxom, Twitter, Imbee. Where do they get these names from!!! My favourite was travel - found an excellent site called Forecast - can plan accommodation and travel. Can see many benefits for a library situation with quite a few of these sites and will now be visiting many of them as time allows

Google docs

Really liked Google docs - hope my Spainish Camino image comes through
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=dgtrjgsb_1g5vjj3s3&hl=en

Has more features than word - a tad more sophisticated. Seem to be spending my time saying hope this comes through okay. Sure is a big learning curve but most enjoyable

Zoho writer

www.bravenewtraveler.com/.../022908-camino.jpg


Zoho writer had never heard of this before I started this exercise. Can once again see benefits for those techno savvy spiders. I think I will stick to Word. But would like to share a little snippet before I sign out. Will be heading to Spain in 2009 to walk the Santiago de Compostela its only 968km!! Hope the legs hold out.

Rollyo

http://rollyo.com/elizabethwest88/

Personally I would not use this search tool. But I had fun mucking around and once again making out like I really knew what I was doing. Again those folks that are cybersavvy would have a field day with this site. I created an account and rewarded myself 10 chocolate fish.

Library thing

http://www.librarything.com/home/elizabethwest88

Now this is one I could really get carried away with. Once again it is finding the time to sit down and really get stuck in. This site will be terrific for those people who are stuck and don't know what to read - can't find a decent author. I have read everything!! I will be recommending this site to our computer savvy patrons who like nothing more than to have their noses in a good book

Image generators

to http://makesweet.com/mixer/wbo9pT4Hbo



Goodness knows how many times I have played around with this one - loads of fun but has been a bit of a mission to copy the image - most likely becauseI really don't know 100 per cent what I am doing. Trust all of this goes through - has been a neat exercise.

Wikis

Another new adventure I did not have a clue what a wiki was - never heard of it. But I watched the Youtube video demonstrating wikis and can now see how invaluable this would be. Must plan my next camping trip!! My favourite was Book Lovers Wiki. Great how you can access an index to reviews which were broken down into different genres. Will help patrons on what doI read next!!
http://booklovers.pbwiki.com/Princeton%20Public%20Library

Really liked this one!!

Web 2.0 Library 2.0

Goodness how libraries have advanced certainly since I started 21 years ago - remember the old card catalogue - boy how did we keep track of those wayward patrons!!! The expansion of electronic data sources has mushroomed - we are hearing all sorts of foreign catch phrases that would have been like a foreign language 10 years ago. But never fear the trusted book will never disappear and will always be a winner with a good majority of patrons. Digital technology has certainly changed the way we learn, think, work and relax. I really did enjoy the "Away from the icebergs" article. Patrons now expect access to everything and libraries must acknowledge and adapt to a cyberspace marketplace. I think that North Shore Libraries are certainly on the right track and are more than ready to meet the demands that are required by a good many of our library users.

Technorati

Goodness me - this was an education. I got carried away with the Blog directory - liked all the different topicsI could search on. Namely sports, lifestyle, pets and food etc. Found it extremely user friendly. Did you know Angelina Jolie is breastfeeding the twins!!! Find out who is in drug rehab - divorced - in legal strife the list goes on. Blog posts in tags - - boring. Anyways I guess there are heaps of folks out there who love all this cyber - blogging stuff. Has been fun to look at but can not see myself delving back into it in a big hurry.

Del.icio.us

http://albanylibrary.wordpress.com/

Well one can certain spend an awful lot of time trolling around all these sites and if one was really into sitting for hours I can see how it could be beneficial to flick around all these sites. I am an outside person - hiking, walking, gardening and playing tennis Certainly could not sit for hours peering at a computer screen. But each to his own. I was taken with the Albany Library (not North Shore) having a live band perform said they mesmerized library patrons of all ages. Was part of a summer reading program. Something to think about for our North Shore Libraries!!!

Spelling errors: Rss feeds

Sorry about the spelling errors. My fingers work faster than my brain.
My apologies

RSS Feeds

I had actually done what I was meant to do - but did not realise that I had. Does that make sense. But I could really spend quite a lot of time looking here - because it is very interesting.
Especially the food items. I can certainly seen the advantages in the library work place - but do not think I will have the time at home - I would be told off for hogging the phone line!! Technology is moving so fast - really have to be on top of it!!!!

RSS and newsfeeds

There really is a wealth of stuff out there - but if I am being honest I would not have the time to sit and troll through the stuff that is out there. it really is incredible what one can find on the web. Bloglines I found quite easy to use - with heaps of information on anything that one cares to look for. I certainly would not be using this sort of stuff in my personal life - but can see advantages at work. Although there are plenty of young things out there that have no interest at all in this sort of information. So for an old girl like me I figure I am muddling along and managing sort off!!

Flickr mashups - this really is foreign language to me - but the Trading Card maker caught my fancy - and if I had the time ( make time you say!!) I could create a whole raft of cards - send them electronically and have my friends thinking I was really technology savvy.http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/deck.php

Library cat

I just love this photo of one very smart cat. Obviously does heaps of reading and is very selective. This wonderful cat is looking very satisfied and seems to be pretty pleased with himself!!! - Could be a female!!http://www.flickr.com/photos/kirstiecat/470689373/

This picture I have added has to be my favourite because he/she looks like my Lily at home. Am I a cat lover you bet your paws I am!!

Another day at the library

Weather is absolutely lousy so every man and his dog has been through the doors wanting some good reading stuff. Heaps of book going out for holidays in warmer places. Standard for this time of the year. The only problem is they come back with half the dam beach inside - can almost fill a sandpit with the sand that drops out of some books.

This is not a boring day

Another week is nearing its end and library patrons continue to amaze me in all shapes and forms. Disgruntled, moaners, sniffers, smilers, happy, sad, smelly, talkers, whistlers - the list goes on. Does anyone have any interesting public library stories - would love to hear your comments!!!!

It's tough but somebody has to do it

Public libraries - safe, welcoming, warm - one could go on forever. It's all about people and delivering a service - every person that comes through the doors must be treated with courtesy, respect and a friendly smiling face. Sometimes that is very hard to do - when confronted with an agitated, snorting angry person -" because it is the library's fault that their books etc did not come back on time and they now have gazillions in library fines on their card!!" The disgruntled ratepayers that like to tell you "that its their rates that are paying for all of this"
The books that come back soggy because they have been through the washing machine and ruined their clothes -"so what is the council going to do about compensating me for my damaged. clothing.