Thing #23: Take a short survey

TA-DA!

Yes, I'm finally done! But, I must say the "23" Things is a misnomer. On many of the things there are multiple, multiple items to look at and that doesn't even include the challenges. It's not very realistic to ask busy library staff, some who work public desks 4 hours a day and then have other duties, to try and do 2-3 hours of 23 Things and say you can devote 15 minutes a day to it. It's just not true! Many of the things take quite a bit longer.

That being said, I think the program itself is interesting and worthy, but like most anything in life you get out of it what you put into it! I've heard some people bitch about it, I've seen some people make a party out of it. I fell somewhere in between. I figured I would bitch some and enjoy some and who knew I would actually learn much more about Web 2.0 than I ever expected. I will however be happy to get some of my time back, because I think my brain was ready to explode. I'm quite hoping after this, everything else is just going to be "cruicin' thru life"

but somehow, I know that's only until the next thing comes along...

Thing #22: Staying Current aka "Kowabunga, Dude!"

Like riding the surf, this has been an ever-changing tide of emotions. Some elated because of newly discovered toys and tools, and some that sinking, sort-of "oh-crap" feeling when the technology just plain failed me. Lots failed me, or I found incredibly redundant. I may have scared off a few people with my "Adult Content Warning" but, hey-- I've seen worse things on our public internet stations!

That's not to say I haven't learned a lot here-- I have.
Looking back to the very beginning of my 23 Things blog, I can only quote myself again:

"I am personally not afraid of the technology, I am just unhappy that more often than it should it does not work to full capacity. We get the same complaints from our patrons, OFTEN!"

I have embraced the technology, I just don't think it embraces back!

Until I find the Web 2.0 products that actually have some staying power, I'm definitely not in any hurry to keep jumping on the next great bandwagon. Never was, never will. Neither do I want to sign up for more spam e-mail, worms and viruses. Can you say "Conficker" or "twitter-worm?" Definitely job security for our Automated Services folks!

The odds of me keeping up with this blog are slim to none, but the reality of me learning about and using new technologies is always a definite maybe! I learn something new everyday on this job. You HAVE to. It's a given. In fact, I was just emailing a soon-to-be library school graduate that when I was in school there was no internet yet. No online catalog, no databases, no downloadable anything. This job is "beta forever!" In order to function at all I have to keep learning...
In contrast, his degree was entirely online. Who do you think has had to learn more?

I only hope that NEFLIN keeps its promise by keeping the 23 Things website intact and all the attached bloggers blogs up, because realistically there was no way to go through everything that was listed. I would like to be able to refer back to some of the lessons and read some other writings at my own pace instead of based on a deadline. Looking back now, I can use some of the tools I learned about and I'm thankful that the creativity of others actually made this somewhat fun! There are some really talented writers out there. Maybe they will continue blogging? For me, I've got patrons to wait on!

Oh noooo, here comes another wave...

Thing #21: Gun Salute (Student 2.0 Tools)

I have never been one who has been military-minded, but this whole challenge has been sort of a test of our organizational skills. We've had to be more disciplined, (not unlike our soldiers) and set aside devoted time every chance we could to these 23 Things. Now all I have to say is, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can... I'm actually seeing light at the end of this 23 Things challenge!
HOORAY for me!
WOW! How cool is the Assignment Calculator? I wish I had something like that when I was in school. I feel so cheated sometimes, not having the internet, not having online classes, not having Web 2.0 back then. I guess this challenge sort of helps me make up a little for that "lost time."

Because I live in a college community and many of my patrons are college students, I'm sure this can be useful. I don't see it as the perfect organizer because it is limited by predetermined Subject areas of the assignment, but for those students who just don't know how to get started on their research, it looks FANTASTIC! The beta version looks promising too. If they ever get a keyword search capability it might be even better.

I am going to bookmark it as a favorite for sure. University of Minnesota Libraries also shares the Open Source Code for the calculator, so Kudos to them for being nice enough to share!

I didn't find the Research Project Calculator nearly as exciting, but I think it was more about the "process" than anything else. The teacher resources may be more useful, but our Youth Services staff tend to deal with teachers more so I doubt I'll be going back to this supplemental page unless I get a teacher/patron who needs some support material or planning advice.

Can you think of any uses for library projects—could you use it to help manage a timeline for a project of your own? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA...ROTFLMAO!!!

Thing #20: Books 2.0

I do work in a busy public library and every time a patron asks where a book is on the shelf it tells me they are still interested in books and reading. When they can't find it and I can, I joke that it is "job security."

No matter how many reading formats come and go, I think the printed word will still have its followers. I do believe there is definitely a place for digital and online reading, and digital literacy is important to our future. However, it should be supplemental and not a replacement for our printed sources.

I'm not likely to do anything on my phone except call my mom and my husband. I am too cheap to pay for the extras. I am not addicted to my cell phone. I am not a gadget freak, and am usually one of the last people to get the "latest" thing which means by the time I get something new it is on its way to being obsolete. I have never been a follower or one to be part of the larger crowd. I beat to my own unusual drum.









I just bought my first laptop this year and already I heard they are coming out with a thinner, less expensive netbook!
OF COURSE!!!

For Readers' Advisory I have always been partial to our subscription databases but especially NoveList. I've also used What Should I Read Next? and What's Next? on occasion and have found them useful. As far as Online Book Communities go, I will not be visiting them because even with all this social networking and sharing I feel that my reading is very personal to me and and I don't really go with the crowds. Like I said, my own drum.

The Book Group Resources could have helped me with a reference request I had just last week with a patron who was trying to start her own book club!
I guess the point of most of this is not so much that we try it all, or join it all, but just to be aware of what is out there.

I had heard of LibriVox a number of years ago even before we decided to purchase subscriptions to downloadable audiobooks. It's been bookmarked on our "Great Links" under Books and Bookfinders for a long time.

There are so many places to get opinions/reviews these day. I am wary of it all. Everyone's got one. I'd rather just have my own or use the sites that are standard, like the retail bookstores and Amazon. I tried searching for nonprofit info on BookBrowse and this is the message I received. No search results for "nonprofit" were found in our "Books in Detail" database. When I do that same search in Amazon under books, it gives me all kinds of recommended subject options as well as tools to narrow my search further (i.e. format, binding, nonfiction, release date, and starred review.) I'll stick with what works, thank you very much!

And forget about the book swapping sites. Hasn't anyone ever heard about FREECYCLE or Craigslist? So many free things given away at these two sites. You can get anything, not just books! LOVE THEM!


And then there's Project Gutenberg... this is the best site when you've got that kid who just HAD to have that classic read yesterday and all copies are checked out and he's #23 on the list of reserves!!!

Thing #19: Other Social Outcast Networks

So I read just today that social networking may actually have a more positive effect than we could have even imagined. The AP reported that a young man in Fargo, N.D. used Facebook to create a page to recruit volunteers to help make sandbags near the rising waters on the banks of the Red river. When social networking is used for good, then you really have to applaud the technology.
Fargo uses social networks to fight floodwaters




However, there is such a thing as technology overload...

If Gather is the new MySpace for books, then it could already be "out of fashion." It seems like there's a new social networking space popping up every day. What's hot today, may not be hot tomorrow.





It's as much a personal choice as deciding what brand of laundry detergent to buy... assuming one even uses laundry detergent!!!


Ning has potential, but it's really not much different than the "groups" listing on Facebook.

I do like that I was able to search both without creating a new account. That makes them useful without the committment.

The WebJunction article Building a Social Networking Environment at the Library actually made a more convincing argument for the use of social networking in the library, then anything else I have seen thus far. Maybe it's because the language was actually easy-to-understand. No techno-jargon gobbledy-gook.


I have been a member and fan of Last.fm for a long time. I don't really use it for networking, but it's a great source of pleasure for me when I need to concentrate at work and tune out what's going on around the cubicles in the office, so I tune in here. No downloads required, no MP3 players necessary! Just pick some "cruicin'" music and I'm on my way...

Nibbledish (formerly OpenSource Food) appeals to me because I like to cook, and while it looks yummy, I don't know how it differs much from one of my all-time favorites All-Recipes.

It's obvious that there's a networking place for everyone these days, I'm just not convinced the library is the place to be facilitating that. Of course, I guess the awareness of these sites by staff, and being able to find more places for unusual information will be useful on that one day when that one patron comes looking for the Model Shipbuilders: The Shipmodeler's Online Community or any other unusual group I can't already find via another search method.

Shamelessly pilfered quote

Okay, so this is a REALLY LONG article called Ten Trends & Technologies for 2009 by Michael Stephens

but I couldn't let it pass without sharing this little nugget from that article...

"What does this mean for libraries?

It’s not the library blog or wiki, or Bookspace, or GoodReads, or Meebo embedded librarian on the results not found page, it’s people..and connections. I think that’s what “The Hyperlinked Library” has always been about. It’s about meeting people where they live and providing them with services they need or want. It’s about encouraging them."



'nuff said?!

Thing #18 – My Facebook is taking up MySpace

Lee LeFever at Common Craft makes EVERYTHING sound good! I've been trying to think outside the box with all of this technology, but with so much to choose from I feel more trapped inside than set free. There is just too much out there and it is coming at warp speed.


I previously had an account on MySpace just to see what all the hoopla was about after attending a library conference a few years back. Truth is, I had no other friends that were really participating at that time, so I sort of gave up on it, but it did allow for more creativity.

I know our library has a few different MySpace pages, including our own Adult Services Dept. The problem is many of our patrons use "UrbanChat" as a social networking site. Why don't we have a presence there too? If we are going to involve people through social networking sites, then we should be on ALL of them and somebody needs to commit to keeping them up-to-date.

During that time I also had a local(real live in-the-flesh friend) encouraging me to join Facebook instead, as early as two years ago, but I declined because at the time I just thought it was dumb to have to different "friend" sites, or even have them at all. Then I went to my 30th high school reunion this summer and found out so many of my classmates were "catching up" this way. I've had a Facebook account ever since and it's like a crazy addiction if you let it get that way.



I try not to, but when a classmate of mine nearly died in a fall and had brain surgery, they created a Facebook page to keep all of her friends updated on her medical progress. They are also using her "page" as part of her therapy, with well-wishes for recovery and the belief that it is helping her to regain some of her memory. Now THAT is a positive for social networking. Bringing people together who may not necessarily have the means to travel long distances to aid in the recovery of a friend!
Powerful stuff.

For library applications at this point it just seems a little silly to be "friends" with your patron, especially since so many other web applications are coming into existence that will promote and act as a network to the library.

This week for the assignment I did look at some of the "library" groups and I just had to add myself to Don't Mess With Me, I Worked in a Public Library.

For those that use Facebook, we can all agree that we are HERE! Some of us to find long lost friends, some to find long lost love, and others to totally toot their narcissistic horns! Six degrees of separation, indeed. This is legal voyeurism at its finest. Although, I must say it has been wonderful to catch up with some of my compadres, it has also been awkward in some cases. Who to "friend"? Who not to "friend"? And how bizarre it is when you make "friends" with your own cousins...

Then there are all the APPLICATIONS!!! OMG! Who has all this time, 1) to create them and 2) to constantly play with them and keep score? I don't and I don't even have kids. For a couple of months I even got in trouble with my cell phone. NEVER EVER type your cell phone number in anywhere. IT WILL COST YOU! (and I have since learned my lesson...)

Recently, I found a couple of articles and opinion letters in the local college paper that sort of struck me when I read them about FB.

Facebook frenzy: The new opiate of the collegiate masses

Fleeting Facebook fad nothing more than selfish endeavor

Columnist misses point of ‘25’ lists

Facebook listers not just time–wasters

I'm not saying I will never share 25 things about me, or more personal information about my life-- but the truth is if anyone really wanted to know that stuff about me I'd think they would already be responding to pics and events I've already placed online at FB or sending me a personal message directly. Some have through their comments. Some have not bothered to reply back to my messages or comments, even though they've made me a "friend."

My guess is most people are just curious to see what information they can see, and that's basically where it ends unless you want to continue a further relationship with someone. It's been wonderful to keep up with "news" from people, but where do you draw the line?

Perhaps someday I will consider it a "project" to scan old, historical photos but like most people, I have a real life, a real job, and with real faces. My e-mail address is posted on my FB account if anyone ever wants to just say hi or to seriously get to know ME, but I am trying to live in the present with hope for the future, and that means I need to spend more time away from the computer.

Do you hear me NEFLIN? It's ME, "cruicin"-- MORE time away from the computer! ;-)