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.