Thing #23: Final Thoughts

Well! I have a great feeling of accomplishment from having completed the 23 Things on a Stick! It was very well paced, entertaining, useful and non-intimidating.

I want to thank you for having brought the 23 Things to Minnesota specifically. I had read about the 23 Things program before, and it was one of those things I kept meaning to do but never got around to. Having the "On a Stick" program was just the impetus I needed to get going. It was good having the camaraderie of others in the region and fun seeing what others are doing in other types of libraries. Usually we get caught up in our own little niche of the library world.

I was particularly excited to see all the free applications out there that also happen to be of high quality. I had always assumed you had to purchase tools at high prices, and our budget is small.

This dovetails with a project we're working on now to get more resources up for distance learners at our college. It's good to know there are so many tools available with which to be useful and creative. Now I just need to sit down and figure out which tools will be the best for the job to be done.

You know how once you have your mind on something, suddenly you see it everywhere around you? This happened to me yesterday. I was doing research on online tutorials that other colleges had done, and I found reference to (and high praise for) Googledocs and Zoho, as well as openoffice.org. It felt good to know what these were! I also learned about a free slidecasting program, which I think is called slidecast.net.

Thanks again, folks! I plan and hope to keep blogging, although if I repurpose this as our library blog for the college and our students to see, I think I'd wish to rename it. Not sure if we can do that, or whether I need to start a whole new blog...

Now that I think of it, I've long had this idea to do a monthly or quarterly library newsletter but wasn't sure I should use a bunch of paper for yet another flyer in people's mailboxes. A blog would very nicely fit that niche. I could use it to highlight great new books, useful reference sources, databases, random fun stuff, etc.

Looking forward to more Things in the future! ... Barbara

Thing #22: What Did I Learn Today?

I like that idea... committing to 15 minutes a day to keep up with Library 2.0 tools. In truth, it may be 30 minutes one day and 0 minutes another, but this is a manageable goal.

I like how the 23 Things have been divided up and structured. It's nice and concrete, and we got to see results! It makes Library 2.0 seem less overwhelming and less mysterious.

I have added some blogs to both my deli.cio.us account and my Bloglines so that I can easily keep updated. I'll also keep reading Library Journal and American Libraries for ideas. I also will continue to go MnPALS conferences and sign up for MINITEX webinars that seem appropriate to my role and my goals.

Thing #21: Beyond MySpace: Other Social Networks

I'm a member of a few different communities. Some I check regularly. Most I have sort of forgotten about or check only occasionally. I joined Gather at one point, and it looks really fascinating and intelligent, but I know it could be a huge time-suck for me, so mostly I stay away. It looks like a good model, though, for a smart, well-run online community. I also joined 43 Things at one point, and that's a good site, as well.

I tried repeatedly to add the 23 Things Ning badge, but despite my following instructions, the code did not work. It showed up beautifully in the preview, but when I tried to publish, I was told that a tag wasn't closed. Can't figure it out... :(

UPDATE: Correction to above: Thanks to fellow 23 Things blogger Paula, I learned how to fix the above problem by doing the /embed, and now I've got a Ning badge. Thanks to the 23 Things newsletter folks for posting her solution.


View my page on 23 Things on a Stick

Thing #20: Libraries and Social Networks

Thanks to my son (as you'll notice in these blog posts, most of my techie knowledge is "thanks to my son" :) ), I have had a Facebook page for a while now. At first it was just a way to keep in touch with my kids. Then a group of my friends joined, including a long-lost friend from high school who "friended" me. And now with the 2008 election campaigns in full swing, I have joined groups supporting two of my favorite candidates. I learned about this concept on an MPR show in which they talked about how many people were "friending" Al Franken.

I really liked the blog post by Meredith Farkas. In this statement, she summarized just how I feel: "But at the same time, I’m really pragmatic about technology implementation in libraries. I hate the idea of implementing new things at libraries because they’re “cool” and not to serve a specific purpose."

She really clarified something I'd been bothered by but couldn't quite put my finger on. I've noticed some library blogs, and the ones I'd seen seemed kind of pointless and, as Farkas points out, they're often one-sided, not inviting participation. I wasn't really sure what reason there'd be for a library blog or Facebook or Myspace page other than to "look cool," which probably wouldn't actually come across as cool to teen and college users.

Thanks to her statement and her examples, I can see that Facebook or Myspace pages can actually be USEFUL, and that's the key -- providing links to the catalog, booklists, places for people to post their questions and create some discussion. I really liked the Hennepin Co. Public Library Myspace, and a couple of the college libraries Farkas linked to were good, as well.

Lots of food for thought here. I'm thinking this could be particularly good for our distance learners. I could also see setting up links for different course areas, maybe with booklists from LibraryThing and other useful links.

Thing #19: Podcasting

I've been subscribing to podcasts for over a year, and it's been an exciting discovery. There are a couple that I subscribe to through Minnesota Public Radio: "Speaking of Faith" and "Musicheads." (How's that for varied interests?) At one point, I also downloaded a course from Stanford University through iTunes U.

What I love is that it allows me to listen to my favorite programs whenever and wherever I want -- while walking around Lake Calhoun is a favorite for me, or on the elliptical machine at the Y. And now I've got a car jack so that I can listen during long drives, as well.

For purposes of this Thing, I checked National Public Radio's web site and was amazed by all the podcasts you can download. I chose "Fresh Air" to subscribe to via Bloglines. Even though I've been listening to podcasts for a while, I didn't know anything about subscribing via RSS feed, so this was new.

I looked at Gcast. I'm not inclined to do any podcasting myself right away, but as with the other tools we've learned, "it's good to know it's there." I like knowing that, should I decide to try a podcast, I can do it freely and apparently easily.

Thing #18: YouTube & Other Online Video

Here goes... my first attempt to post a YouTube video to my blog. This was the first hit for a search of "librarians," and it looked pretty cute.



(Very cool -- I just checked, and it worked! So *that's* how it's done!)

I've been viewing videos on YouTube for some time, thanks to my teenage son, who gives me a nudge into new technologies and also shares my sense of humor.

I could definitely see the uses of video for our purposes. On YouTube, doing a search of "libraries" and "librarians," I saw a good mix of videos -- everything from humorous introductions to very business-like tutorials for databases.

Thing #17: ELM Productivity Tools

I've been using some of these tools already -- that is, the Ebsco databases and ProQuest, and to an extent, NetLibrary. I hadn't realized, however, that you could actually create a web page to collect sources in different formats and with different backgrounds, etc. That opens a whole world of possibilities. I could imagine working with instructors to pull together screens of information for particular courses.

I have to admit I didn't find these tools to be the most intuitive. I'm pretty technically proficient, and I still didn't master the creating of the Ebsco web page. Couldn't figure out how to save screen searches, and the image ones took a lot of jockeying around.

As for NetLibrary, I didn't know you could make notes, which is a useful feature. But this is another case where I had to spend a bit too much time figuring out how to get to the "add note" feature.

P.S. I'm another one who couldn't get the RSS feed for InfoTrac to add to Bloglines. All in all, Thing 17 was the one I had the most trouble with!

Thing #16: Student 2.0 Tools

Just got done looking at the Assignment Calculator from the U of M, as well as the Research Project Calculator. Nice to know these things are out there!

I can definitely imagine using these tools for a project we've recently started. We're putting together a set of links and electronic hand-outs for online learners who may not be physically coming in to the library much, if at all. These could also be used for traditional "in-person" students, too, as reinforcement in research skills. I could see adapting some of these materials for that purpose.

Thing #15: Online Games & Libraries

I've been an avid Sims player for a few years, and Second Life reminded me of it, so I chose that as my option to investigate. I have to admit, I had trouble navigating it and making my way to Info Island, and once I got there, had trouble finding what I wanted to find. Probably needed to look at a tutorial, but time is tight at the Reference Desk, so I didn't go about learning Second Life in a methodical way. Just sort of looked around.

I do understand the underlying principle, however, and I think it has exciting possibilities for libraries. It would be a good way of presenting our online resources in a visual way, and looks like it could be fun, as well.

Thing #14: LibraryThing

I really enjoy LibraryThing and created a personal account a couple of years ago for my own collection. I've been looking for ways to publicize our great new books at DCTC, and we realized several months ago that we could use LibraryThing as a "virtual display case." My colleague created a widget that we placed on the Library home page. We feature a new subject area every month or so -- for example, for February we had Black History Month titles.

The way we do this is to add any books we want for our virtual display to our LibraryThing account, and for each featured subject area, I make sure to assign it that tag. Then my coworker puts all the entries for that particular tag into our display.

Here's a link to our home page, with our LibraryThing widget in the lower right.

http://dctclibrary.dctc.edu/

In answer to the blog prompt... Yes, I can imagine using LibraryThing to "push" book suggestions to a patron.

P.S. Just did an advanced option: added a widget to this blog. Hooray!

Thing #13: Online productivity tools

The start page I chose was iGoogle. I have to say, I like it. The only thing stopping me, I think, from making it my personal home page is that I have been using My Yahoo forever -- I'm guessing five years -- and it's very familiar to me.

And I'm actually using an older version of My Yahoo. They recently unrolled a new format with widgets. I tried it for a while, and I know it has big pluses, with feeds, updates, etc. But it somehow wasn't pleasant for me to look at -- not as easy on the eyes. Plus my home computer is on the older side, too, so I think it doesn't have the wherewithal to interface as easily as it could. So I changed back to the old "tried and true."

I set up an iGoogle calendar, which I found very easy to use. I tried out the Quick Add feature where you can just type "dinner with Jane at 6 pm today," and indeed the event popped onto the calendar in the right spot. Cool!

I tried Ta Da List, which was well timed because I have a ton of errands and chores to do today after work. I had written out a list earlier today on an actual Post-It note, which I have in my pocket. So I wrote down all these things on Ta Da list to try it out. It looks very nice, the layout, and gives peace of mind since it's so nice and orderly looking. I also used the option to e-mail it to myself. I like Ta Da List, although I may very well just use pen and paper (or Post-It.) Have to think about this.

All in all, I really like these tools. Even though I don't know how many of them I'll use (and at the moment I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by all of them), I like knowing they're "out there" on the free Web (something I did not know before!)

Thing #12: Do You Digg?

I've been curious about Digg, because my son said he recently spent a whole evening, into the wee hours, arguing the case for Hillary Clinton on Digg. I'd heard of Digg but didn't really know what it was.

This is fascinating in that it's sort of a virtual "town square," with people discussing the news of the day. It's also cool that articles, sites, podcasts, whatever, can rise to prominence without an editorial gatekeeper.

I'm sure that has its pluses and its minuses. As an occasional freelance writer, I know how frustrating it is to produce something really good and not have an editor accept it, for whatever reason. This is a way to get "air-time" -- at least if the crowd likes you. It's also a way for news to get to people even if they don't subscribe to, say, the New York Times. Without an editor, I suppose there's also the opportunity for unreliable junk to rise to prominence.

So this takes me back to what's sort of my "golden rule" about all forms of media: use the best tool for whatever job is at hand. Everything has its place.

I think Digg, etc. could be either time wasters or timesavers -- depends on the person and how they're using it. I could easily imagine spending way too many hours combing these sites, reading the comments, and adding to them. But it could be a timesaver to check Digg or one of the other sites once or twice a day to catch up on what's happening.

Thing #11: Tagging and del.icio.us

Our library has already made forays into the world of del.icio.us. A few months ago we created an account and pulled together some bookmarks. Some are for staff use re: Library 2.0, etc., and others are on subject areas of interest to students. We have the most recent bookmarks displayed on the Library's home page.

http://dctclibrary.dctc.edu/

I'm thinking it would be good to tag and pull together "bundles" on subjects where we get questions, like test prep and citation style. It would be more dynamic and flexible than our current links, and easier to add great new sites. (As it is now, we have to contact the college's webmaster to make changes.)

I can also see working with instructors to put up del.icio.us links that pertain to their particular courses. This could be particularly effective in the D2L (online) courses.

Oh -- in checking out the other libraries' accounts that you posted, I see they've been good about bundling the tags -- something I haven't done much of yet -- and one library even listed them by Dewey number! (good idea)

Oh, one other good use of del.icio.us: I'm going to be doing on a project in which some of the work can be done from home. It'll help a lot being able to access my bookmarks from either work or home.

Thing #10: Wikis

I edited the practice Wiki, just adding a simple statement: "DCTC Library was here." It was fun -- always kind of a "power moment" to see one's words appear on one of these things for all to see!

I could see the wikis being useful in creating, maintaining and adding to our online subject guides. As it is now, it's sort of a ponderous process. If I see something I want to add to a subject guide, I have to go into the files and change the code, then it goes to the head librarian, who sends a batch of these up the college webmaster once we get enough sites we want to update.

We've also briefly discussed using a wiki for staff announcements and to keep track of everyone's schedules, which vary widely. The trick would be to get everyone accustomed to using it and checking it regularly.

As for the interesting question of instructors banning wikipedia as a source for papers... As a librarian, I cringe at the idea of "banning" any information form. But what I tell my students in library instruction sessions is, basically: There are SO many forms of truly reliable information out there on the 'net. And Google and Wikipedia have their place, and I personally use them a lot. But when I want something that I truly know will be reliable, something that's been vetted for accuracy, something an instructor would give you a decent grade for using, I go to lii.org or to one of the sources you find via CQ Researcher or SIRS. In a pinch, for some tough-to-find or very current issues, Wikipedia can give you good links and so can Google, but you have to be a bit skeptical and use your judgement. So that's my basic shpiel...

Thing #9: Online Collaboration Tools

OK, I've just finished adding a few silly (and fun) edits to these documents of our Founding Fathers.

I found the sign-up process a bit confusing and nearly gave up on this step a few times. For the Google Docs, I thought I was doing everything right, putting in my Google username and password, etc., and still couldn't get in. Then finally realized I had to ask permission to edit. Makes sense, of course, but I wasn't clear on the process at first.

Both seem equally easy to use, although I only did minor edits, so it's hard to say. When I made my edits, it changed the text, and I didn't understand how the highlighted comments of others and the time stamp showed up in the Google Docs, when it didn't on mine. Or maybe it will show up now that I've logged out? Or maybe there's another feature I need to explore? I did this pretty quickly.

Anyway, very useful and interesting! If the Founding Fathers lived today, this is probably how they would have done it, and who knows what they would have come up with... a Declaration of Independence with emoticons? :)

Thing #8: Share Your Creations

OK, now we're getting to the frontiers... all new territory for me. I'm about to paste in some Picture Trail code, and we are going to see what happens! Here goes...... YAY, it worked!

Now to answer some of the blog prompts. I found Picture Trail fairly easy to use, but that's partly because of experience with other applications, like Flickr. I have used Photobucket before, for personal use, to post images and avatars to bulletin boards. I've been thinking about creating a personal web page or blog and can image some very cool displays I could create with what I'm learning here.

As for the our library, we could do various sorts of nice displays: photos of staff members in action, or bookcovers of new acquisitions, for example. We're trying to come up with ideas that will be user-friendly for our distance learning students, and this presents some possibilities.

Thing #7: Web 2.0 Communication Tools

In our college and library, e-mail is primarily used by staff contacting each other. We rarely get e-mail from students.

As for IMing, we put up a meebo widget a few months ago, and it appears on the Library home page in a box labeled "Ask a Librarian." At first, we weren't getting any hits. But I've been publicizing it in my bibliographic instruction sessions, and now we're starting to get modest use. No one's used it for in-depth reference yet. Usually it's a student wanting to activate his/her card in order to use the subscription databases from off-campus.

However, just yesterday, for the very first time, we got added to a student's buddy list -- a milestone!

We've been participating in webinars for some time here. As part of MnSCU, we have had much of our ALEPH training via webinar. And I've done MINITEX webinars, as well. It's a great tool, though sometimes challenging to find a space where it'll be quiet and you won't be disturbed.

I can't see us using texting because our building is basically a "bunker" (that's its affectionate nickname) and I've never heard of anyone getting cell phone reception in this building. I'm no stranger to texting, however, thanks to my son, who sends me messages. At first I was all thumbs and sent some really crazy messages, largely because the "predictive text" feature was turned on. But then I read the manual and saw that I could turn that off, and my messages got more readable!

Thing #6: Online Image Generators

These online image generators are fun, and make me feel very powerful and creative. I have a friend who does these, and I always wondered how she did it! These could be excellent for putting on the Library web site or for a presentation. Lots to work with here...


My creation #2
Originally uploaded by barbarat2

A trading card!

Thing #6a: Online Image Generator, using Image Chef

Thing #5: More Flikr Fun

After a few false starts, here is my use of Spell with Flickr. Don't know how you would change sizing so it all fits on one line, but voila!

Thing #4: Flikr

Libraryfor23Things 002
Originally uploaded by barbarat2

Here is my work companion, my plant. Does this look like Little Library of Horrors? :P

More Flikr

Libraryfor23Things 001
Originally uploaded by barbarat2

The world as I see it....

At least my WORK world, from the DCTC reference desk.

Comments re: Flickr

Thing #4: Flickr

Now, for some reason, this took me an inordinate amount of time to figure out. I almost gave up, but I FINALLY DID IT! (pats self on back)

I was not seeing the "Blog This" choice on my Flikr screen. Turns out I just wasn't at the right screen. I hadn't selected one photo at a time; I was looking at the page with all my Flikr photos, looking for the "Blog This" button above the individual photos. Turns out you have to select one of them first. DUH. But now I'll remember! -- and it's satisfying to see the photos up.

Thing #3: RSS feeds

OK, I can definitely see the addictive nature of these (thankfully, low-calorie) feeds! Perfect for a news junkie like me. I've set up my Bloglines, and it's amazing to see how many new posts appeared overnight -- a bit overwhelming. But I do like how the news is brought to you rather than having to make the rounds of surfing a bunch of favorite sites.

I can see how these feeds would work really well with the curriculum of certain classes -- where students could have a section of their home page -- or instructors their D2L page -- have feeds coming in. What a way to make learning current and dynamic!

Not sure yet how we can incorporate this into our library learning, but I'll keep thinking about it. It's a good tool to have in the "toolbox," and I'll be interested in seeing how other libraries are making use of feeds.

Thing #2: Library 2.0

Here we are asked to share our thoughts on Library 2.0 after having read the various articles. I'm finding this enlightening and thought-provoking. I get a little confused, since I don't really know yet what some of the programs are -- like Flikr. But I am looking forward to learning about them. Some other applications I have already used, such as chat. I've long been using IMing to talk with my kids, and here at our library we use Meebo (though it hasn't been getting too much use.) Personally speaking, I have a Facebook page, and I post on Internet discussion boards.

As we work our way through the new technologies that comprise Library 2.0 (and sometimes feel overwhelmed), I try to remember that what's paramount is the fulfillment of our main, and timeless, purpose. Whatever technologies and methods best fulfill that purpose in today's world -- and in our particular institutions -- are the ones we should use. (This will all become clearer to me as we go along!)

Thing #1: Blogging

Here goes....first time blogging! So far, this is fun. I enjoyed choosing the template and creating the avatar (good instructions -- thanks!) Who knows? Maybe I'll change my avatar later to something with pink spiked hair :)