House full of books...

Checking In

2009-12-28T12:02:00.000-08:00

Hmmm... Looks like it has been 7 whole months since I last stepped foot in this blog. It is almost 2010 and one of my "resolutions" is to become ever more tech friendly. For instance, I used Wordle to create our branch holiday card and I'm now using Google docs to create the page schedule. And I got an ipod for christmas and I'm downloading audiobooks. This last part if very important since patron's routinely ask about downloading audio.

That is it for now -- promise to check in more often!

This is the end.

2009-04-30T14:22:00.000-07:00

The end of the world as I know it! And I feel fine.... Ok, so I blogged, I flickred, I dabbled in RSS feeds, I now love Library Thing and although I tried not to every join Facebook, I joined and I'm a junkie. I also use zoho, wikis and delicious, so web 2.0 is part of my life now.

In terms of how it can be used by libraries and librarians, I think it is pretty obvious. Just off the top of my head:

Flickr -- share pics of library programs
RSS -- alerts about new books
Library Thing -- share and organize good reads
zoho -- share with patrons
Wikis -- use for committee work
Delicious -- organize/share bookmarks

I'm sure more and more uses will present themselves. Just like back in 1995, when the internet first presented itself to the branches -- it was just the beginning.

But this is the end, right. :)

Exploration Seven is not Heaven

2009-04-20T09:18:00.000-07:00

Exploration 7: Wikis

OK. I've got to be honest. Wikis are just OK in my book. For instance, I'm fine with knowing I can go to the Materials Managment Wiki to check on when the next RRC meeting is, who is responsible for minutes, etc, but I'd rather communicate with the RRC members via email. I would rather keep my communications in one place. I just joined Facebook and I'm having trouble with what and where to communicate in that forum too.

Exploration 8 is Great!

2009-04-09T12:24:00.000-07:00

Just being goofy -- it is OK. :) At any rate, I use Delicious all the time and like the ease of it and the concept behind it. I have some difficulty understanding the whole tagging/folksomies idea. What makes sense to me is that I can easily save something useful and access it anywhere. I've been heavily using tags in Librarything and in that case I make sure to use the same words -- JP, WWII, etc. What I haven't done is really look into the sharing part of tagging. I'm going to work on that...

On another note, I used RSS feeds again. I wanted to know about any new Pregnancy books for my sister in law and that gave me a good excuse to use the Aquabrowser RSS feed.

The Thing about Library Thing

2009-03-12T10:43:00.000-07:00

Just completed the LIBRARY THING reading and assignment. I love it! I started adding all the recent FICTION I've read and then I thought "what about all the storytime JP's I like to keep track of." After nearly 15 years of lugging around a big black box of titles on index cards, I'm ready to trash the box. How liberating! I could definitely see the possiblilities -- especially when it comes to Reader's Advisory.

RSS Feeds

2009-01-05T15:26:00.000-08:00

RSS Feeds
Hmm... I think I understand all this but its going to take some time to get my mind around it. I knew and know what RSS feeds are but how they could be useful to me and the library is another story. I like to keep up with the news -- usually look at cnn.com -- so I could use RSS feeds to update me on anything "new" in the news. I was thinking that I could make the RSS feeds come up on my blog -- sorta like a sideline of info, but now I'm thinking that I have to go into bloglines to see it. Between checking my home email, my work email, checking through 4 homework folders, checking my bank account, checking CNN, listening to NPR all day and reading the AACPL memos, I think I'm pretty FULL on info. :) I'm not sure yet how going into bloglines would become a habit. But, heck, I kept an open mind back in 1995 when the Internet was all about Golfer and telneting and it sure did pan out!

zoho ho ho!

2008-12-29T17:15:00.000-08:00

Christmas is over and it is that most wonderful time of the year when it is slow enough to GET THINGS DONE! I completed the zoho assignment. Not a big deal since I've used it before. I have also recommended it to patrons and friends. It is quite useful for those of us who don't bother to purchase Microsoft Office for their home laptops. I do have one question (probably a really dumb question actually :) though -- how do you send an a attachment??? When I tried, it pulled up what was on the PC I was using. I didn't see how I could pull up my zoho document. I looked around in the FAQs but didn't see any comment about attachments so I figure its me, but who knows. I do intend to ask around just so I know what to tell patrons. I could see that being an issue for those who use it.

An update

2008-11-17T15:32:00.000-08:00

Just checking in.

I'm about to start work on Exploration 6. I've used zoho before so it should be easy. :) I've been super busy and thus I'm just getting back to the formal "explorations," but I have been paying alot more attention to any mention of twitter, RSS feeds, etc. They come up everywhere. And I'm amazed at how many people use social networking sites. I'm not sure that everyone needs to know so much about me, but I'm enjoying checking out the "new world."

Web 2.o is EVERYWHERE!

more outerbanks

2008-09-10T08:03:00.001-07:00

I took this when we were on a nature walk in Nags Head last summer. I'm planning to frame it and hang it in my newly painted bedroom. Yippee! I posted it here as a Flickr exercise -- AND I thought it would be a nice addition to my page. :)

more outerbanks,
originally uploaded by juggler4.

Over the intimidation?

2008-09-05T11:36:00.000-07:00

Whew! I think I got it! And it was really easy. I hope I'm not jinxing myself, but I find that most techy stuff is pretty simple once you (or I, in this case) get past the intimidation factor. I can definitely see how useful this could be. We are all so cut off from each other. Although I've already scanned the blogs a little, I now plan to go through them all to see what my fellow employees are thinking about all this. By the way, I chose Blogger because I'm familiar with it, but now that I got this done, I'm thinking of creating an at-home blog and using one of the other possibilities -- Vox maybe. At any rate, I can't wait to add some pictures!