29 Things

Wow, I finished. This has been an exceptionally valuable experience for me. I've learned so much and the terms "web 2.0", "library 2.0", "the long tail", as well as many others that were fuzzy to me before, are now much more in focus. I'm also very excited about the direction libraries are taking. I think that, at least, in the past 20 or so years we've tried to be user centered. New technologies have made it possible for more social collaboration and libraries are taking advantage of this. RSS feeds provide ways to have news of interest delivered to you without having to go look for it. Social bookmarking allows for trend spotting and the sharing of information with others. Wikis are knowledge sharing tools and MySpace is an interesting way to deliver information to a wide audience.

In his essay entitled "Into a New World of Librarianship" Michael Stephens writes: "One of the principles I would add to the Library 2.0 meme is that "the Library is human" because it make the library a social and emotionally engaging center for learning and experience." Our mission statement states that we do what we do in order to ". . .advance knowledge, foster creativity, encourage the exchange of ideas, strengthen community and enhance the quality of life." Library 2.0 is a powerful way to accomplish this.

I plan to continue with "Advanced Exploration or Build on Your Skills." I may not blog about it, but then again, who knows. Thanks to Debbie and the Library 2.0 committee. This has been amazing.

Netlibrary

I'm excited about this. Having just received my MP3 player I've registered for Netlibrary and, with Lenore's help, I've downloaded the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency on it. I haven't downloaded any music yet but will do so soon. I think it's a wonderful service for patron's to avail themselves of.

Podcasts

I looked around podcast on Yahoo and listened to some music clips but I didn't subscribe to anything. Like some others I'm sort of in overload - so much to read, listen to and watch, so little time. I found a podcast of Ira Glass interviewing Chip Ward on Homeless people in libraries. It was good to hear his voice. I don't think podcasting is for me at this point in time but I can see some uses for it in libraries: ie: story times, book talks, Dewey lectures, and other programs, etc.

Ghetto Shakespeare

I liked this video because I love Shakespeare and I thought it was way cool to find a clip of Othello in the Ghetto on YouTube.

Explore the Web 2.0 Awards Site

I'm a bit bleary eyed because I've been trying to catch up. I wasn't able to access anything but the list of winners. I think they were working on the other sites because I kept getting a not accessible message. But I was interested in discovering that you could publish your book through lulu in color and as a hardback with a dust jacket. Wow. It costs of course. For a 6 inch by 9 inch, 250 page hardcover, 100 copies would cost $4,850. This includes a 6% bulk discount. I thought Fuzzymail was superfluous and dumb, Biblio is very cool for finding out of print or hard to find books, and with Craigslist who needs classified ads?

Google Labs

After exploring the current Google Labs projects I really liked Google Mars and Google Page Creator. I also think that Accessible Web is a brilliant idea. I hope they get that up an running for people who have visual impairment.

Online Application Tools

The poem below by Clarice Short was created in Google Docs and uploaded to my blog. This is a very handy application. Now I can post to my blog anywhere in the world. I'm not tied to my computer here at work. Maybe I wasn't to begin with but I didn't know how to do it anywhere else before.

Crows on the Campus

by

Clarice Short

Why those dark birds

Should bring the snowy country to us now

By cawing noisily through tufted trees

I cannot know. These academic groves

Are barren of all fruit; even the squirrels

Because of this year’s dearth of hackberries

Have nibbled bare the lesser limbs of elms.

Our crops are scanty. A chance grain of thought

May fall in fertile mind, but its strange flower

Is slow maturing. Here watching the snow

I do not understand why crows should come

To add their hunger to our hollowness.

March 24, 1963

Explore Different Search Engines

I chose the term "global warming" to search all seven of the search engines listed. Below are the results:

Wink is a people search so of course it didn't work.
Gravee gave me 0 (zero) results, in fact it just gave me a blank page.
Exalead brought up a lot. The first three were focused on what an individual can do to help solve global warming, the next was an EPA site, there was a kids site and Wikipedia was 13 down, followed by a chevron site and then National Geographic.
Clusty brought up Wikipedia first, followed by a lot of informational sites. The Union of Concerned Scientists' site was number 8 and the scariest (I didn't even dare look at it) was a Global Warming Images site that provide relevant photos depicting the impact of climate change.
Mooter and KartOO interesting because they clustered groups of sites so that you can narrow down your search. In Kart00 I found a map of the world that was filled with little flags that when you click on them a window comes up telling of a particular early warning sign that was happening in that part of the world.
Yahoo I haven't used Yahoo in a long time and was impressed with it's "Search Assist" feature which offers relevant keywords in real time as you type your search term. I found a lot of good information.

This was a very interesting lesson. I tend to stick with Google search. I see now that I need to branch out and use different search engines.

Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and the Future

It's an exciting time for libraries. I've been in the business for 35 years and I've seen many changes. I remember filing and removing cards from the card catalog and how cumbersome and inaccurate that tool was, how frustrating it was to try to find the information you needed. When the computer replaced it, there were the inevitable computer crashes that left us severely handicapped, and even when it was working we were still only able to provide the information and materials contained within the 4 walls of our particular library. With the dawn of the internet, branch libraries and small rural libraries were able to offer amazing services to their patrons. For example, patrons could read newspapers from around the world. That was a fantastic jump in information access! But of course there were always the foot draggers, the nay-sayers and the doom predictors. Those of us who entered the field because of a deep seated love of books, and I include myself in this, are likely to fall into the trap of defending the "just in case" collection that Rick Anderson talks about, and it's difficult not subscribe to the "come to us" model of library service, but I think that we've made a big step in the right direction. Self education I think has put us on the right path and helped us embrace the amazing tools available to meet the needs of library users in new and improved ways. I look forward to seeing what comes down the pike for the City Library the next few years.

Countries I've Visited

States I've Visited

Online Images

I liked Cool Text and made a new title for my Gallerus Oratory blog. It looks pretty cool in "Nova" type. I also liked Image Generator but I haven't done anything with it yet. Maybe later. Right now I'm trying to get through Library 2.0.

Library Blogs (and others)

I explored this lesson and did not add any blogs to my RSS Feed. Way too much. But I did look around. Maybe at some future time I will add a few library blogs.

RSS Feeds

RSS feeds are a great way to not have to search for the news and info that you are most interested in. I'm currently subscribed to 6 (I weeded out some of the ones I orginally chose because they either duplicated others or were not what I expected) and they are New York Times National News, NY Times World News, New York Times Books, BBC news, Irish Times and Sky and Telescope magazine.

In the world of libraries I can see numerous applications, including an opportunity for patrons to learn of new materials by favorite authors or on subjects they are interested in. Library programs could be fed to interested folks. For staff meetings, cancellations, minutes, important news and info, etc.

Patagonia

Normally when I think of Patagonia the image of rugged mountain peaks and glistening glaciers comes to mind. But we traveled down the east coast of South America to the Valdez Peninsula to go whale watching. It's as flat as a pancake there so I ended up taking pictures of the amazing skyscapes. Here are a few examples.

Mashups

I created a Trading Card and I'm going to try to down load it here. Wow! There it is. I'm so amazed that I was able to do that without help. Came real close to asking for though. This is great fun. I'll try to add more pictures and graphics to my blog.

galaxy_2168177

galaxy_2168177
Originally uploaded by daodung1411

I hope I've been able to add this picture of Galaxy 2168177 to my blog. I'm looking forward to adding some of the pictures I took while visiting Roger in Buenos Aires. But for now this is as much as I can handle.

Salt Lake City Public Library's Wiki

I've added Level 2 staff to the library's wiki. Feeling my oats!
Ronni

Library Thing

How cool is Library Thing!! I love it. I've added my bookshelf to my blog.

Technorati and Blog Tags

I haven't had much time to explore fully Technorati but what I was able to do made me want to come back to it when time allows. I liked the Technorati Tour but I was unable to get to a page that looked like that. It showed the following headings that didn't come up when I clicked on the Technorati link: Discover, Top Blog Posts, What's the Buzz. Maybe I needed to set up an account. I didn't do that, nor did I claim my blog. I did explore Popular Blogs and in Boing Boing (the most popular site) I search "Astronomy" and all that came up were two blogs, one containing photos of owls taken by an astronomy student, and a totally cool site about the "oldest accurate roadmap of Britain" made in 1360 possibly using and astrolabe, an instrument used by astronomers and navigators. Okay, I realize I'm a geek, and maybe there are no blogs on astronomy and that is as good as it gets. But for the most popular site I was expecting some cool amateur astronomy photos, comet sightings or blogs on string theory. Not there. Oh well. Still and all I'm intrigued and I'm warming up to tag clouds. Still I think it's more for browsing, which is fun, but when you really need information a google search or wikipedia gets to it faster.

Tagging

I like the idea that I can access my tags on any computer and I see good potential for the library to tag sites with information that we frequently need to access. In general though del.icio.us gives me a headache. I don't have the patience to browse through it, at least not when I'm needing to access info quickly. I tried entering a search for information on Astronomy and it took forever to load. In fact I don't know if it ever did. I gave up after a couple of minutes. I'm probably not doing it correctly. I hope to find time to explore tagging more fully, but it's time to move on for now.

My Space

I've read and explored the My Space lesson and after talking with a number of colleagues have come to the conclusion that My Space is a useful and interesting way for the library to connect with patrons, particularly with the teens. I like how it functions as a kind of community bulletin board where individuals can make updates to information and plans. It is an exciting and content rich arena for communicating library services and resources that makes use of other 2.0 tools such as YouTube, graphics and sound.

Wikis

Wikis are interesting and I've learned to be less suspicious of them since reading the material here. I used to worry more about authority control, but when it was pointed out that wikis provide the opportunity of correcting errors where print sources are more or less carved in stone until a new edition is printed, I felt better about them. I think you still need to double check facts with other sources, but you have to do that with print source as well.

I don't like the "subjective" nature of wikis. I do like the the way wikis allow pooling of expertice and collaborative editing. I think they have a great potential for the library. We could use them for conference "meetings" in place of "in person" meetings for planning. We have so many meetings and it can be a problem for a department, especially for branches where travel time also adds to the burden.

Library 2.0 and Blogging

I am enjoying reading everyone's blog. I'm finding it more difficult to post in my own blog now that we must comment on our lessons. This is in part due to my inexperience with Library 2.0 and in part because I've been too long out of school to ever again want to participate in assigned essays on any subject. However, I do recognize the value in it. Mostly my experiences consist of "lurking" and I appreciate that my stumbling attempts at active participation is kept within the friendly confines of SLCPL. Why? Because when you are a rank beginner you can always be counted on to say something stupid, ask a dumb question or totally misunderstand the point.

That said, I'm really glad to be learning about all of this and I'm beginning to see the appeal of it. And I can see potential as a way for the library to reach out to it's users and potential users, as well as establishing an improved presence on the Internet. I'm thrilled that we are doing this and I hope that as I learn more my comments will be more cogent.

Ronni

Anahita's Woven Riddle: a book review

I liked this Young Adult book a lot so I thought I'd share this with you all. . .but mostly for Tania, who sends us riddles.

ANAHITA'S WOVEN RIDDLE
by Meghan Nuttall Sayres
YA S27575 an

Anahita and her family are members of a nomadic tribe in Persia in the latter part of the 19th century. She is about to reach marriable age and her father is considering an arrange marriage, as is tradition, with a local khan. The match, although extremely unappealing to Anahita, would be politically helpful to her tribe. A strong-willed and independent thinking girl, Anahita gets her father to agree to the unprecedented: a contest for her hand in marriage. The suitor who can solve the riddle she has woven into her wedding carpet will be the man she marries. The stories of the various suitors, including a prince, a teacher, the khan, and a cherished childhood friend, are skillfully woven into the story of Anahita's own life. Sayres creates rich descriptions of life in Persia more than a hundred years ago and includes a glossary of characters, place names and definitions of the Farsi language used in the text. The exploration of another culture in an earlier time with an almost fairy-tale romance results in a interesting and entertaining read.

First Blog Entry

I've been trying to think of something interesting to post on this my first attempt at blogging. Since it should be library related perhaps I'll start here.

REFORMA is one of the 5 ethnic caucuses of the American Library Association. Established in 1971, it has actively sought to promote the development of library collections and services that meet the needs of the Latino and Spanish speaking communities throughout the U.S. I can't remember exactly when the local chapter, REFORMA de Utah, was formed but it was 12 or 14 years ago. It is a wonderful group of librarians from around the state who are very committed to helping libraries serve Utah's ever-growing Latino population, which is at close to 20% of the total in Salt Lake City.

Some of our goals are to create an awareness of the Latino community in Utah; serve as a clearinghouse for resources and information pertaining to library services to the Spanish-speaking and Latino population; assist library employees throughout the state of Utah in planning and implementing effective programming and outreach to Latinos in their service areas; sponsor programs at the ULA Annual Conference; etc.

It's a great group and we have forged strong bonds of friendship over the years. I want to encourage my colleagues at the City Library to join REFORMA de Utah. Everyone is welcome, you don't need to speak Spanish or to be Latino to be a member, which is good since I'm Irish and while I've tried for years to become fluent in Spanish I'm beginning to think it will never happen.

We have a website www.reformadeutah.org. We meet every other month at the State Library.

Wow! Okay, now I'm going to see if this flies.