the view from 13th and P

MP3 player / at last

2008-05-28T09:54:00.000-07:00

I got an MP3 player for my birthday – something that has been on my – want to buy list – for a while. Being from a generation that adored walkmans --this reminded me of a little transistor radio I had many years ago in size. I started examining it at once –glanced at the abridged instructions - checked out what my public library had in their overdrive book collection and got down to checking out and downloading a title. My trouble mostly stemmed from learning the controls (or lack thereof) – and trying to find the book I downloaded. I’m still having a bit of trouble maneuvering but it’s going to be GREAT for my summer walks. It feels good to have taken on another thing and figuring out just enough for my purposes. Case in point, I have a cell phone, I know there are lots of things it can do – but as long as it does what I need in the basic sense, I feel I’ve learned enough. Here’s to summer!

thing 23 / wrap up

2008-04-10T08:27:00.000-07:00

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey? - I really loved blogging and making the time to look around and compare notes with others. It helped me to read other's blogs and learn that no one was really sold on technorati and that most folks weren't crazy about rollyo. We have some great writers and thinkers on our staff! It was nice to meet them through this format.

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals? - Lifelong learning is never negotiable. It's essential. It was awfully helpful that someone put together a time frame and curriculum for this kind of learning. I don't think I wouldn't have gotten to it any other way.

Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you? - I learned that while it's all out there, that's it not all right for us or for our customers, but that it is important to keep trying, and trying, and failing and trying again. I don't think we've taught this message with as much fervor as we are now. Library 2.0 is about trying things and readapting. Nothing is ever fixed or perfect, but that's okay.

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept? Not a thing - it was all laid out very easily - many thanks to the team for putting this all together.

thing 22 / instant messaging

2008-04-10T08:16:00.000-07:00

I remember the day Julie came to me and said something to the effect that we have no excuse for not providing IM as a way to communicate with our customers in reference. It was a good thing that she did - because that's what started the ball rolling. With the help of Allana and the Network Services Staff, we created a meebo widget that has been added to our ask a librarian page and ALSO to our OPAC. It's terrific - I'm so glad we have it.

Once a year, I do a presentation along with Robin Bernstein and Karen Hein about the subject of virtual reference. This past year, Mother Nature got in the way and I asked Michael to videotape my presentation which is provided here: http://www.nlc.state.ne.us/blogs/NLC/2007/12/virtual_reference_at_the_nebra.html

We have to make ourselves available to customers in whatever way they feel most comfortable contacting us. Chat isn't for everyone but it is for some of our folks. Phone isn't for everyone but it is for some of our folks. Email isn't for everyone but it is for some of our folks ... in librarianship, you never stop adapting the way we communicate, but the message never changes and that is that we're here to help.

thing 21 / podcasts

2008-04-09T14:24:00.000-07:00

I love podcasts - and found an NPR program that was recommended to me by a friend: http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1236

I was able to listen to it while I worked on another project. I think podcasts are the busy person's way to keep up with news and information. As I continue to record shows on television, podcasts do all that for me and make themselves available for free and at my convenience.

I subscribed to NPR's Wait Wait Don't Tell Me podcasts -
http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=35

thing 20 / YouTube

2008-04-09T14:12:00.000-07:00

What's not to love about YouTube? I looked for some library videos but settled upon this clip of a February 2008 performence by the Doane Choir: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfJ0HAefSP4 -

What a great application for YouTube given that so many long distance parents would be able to see their kid's performence without leaving home. And my alma mater choir sounds better than ever.

thing 19 / Discovering Web 2.0 tools

2008-04-04T13:37:00.000-07:00

I looked at 43 Things -- the online goal setting community. I can really see how this would appeal to some folks for 'publicizing' their goals in a social way and for others with like goals through tagging to cheer each other. Interesting - although I wouldn't think of using this myself.

I also looked at Care2 to see what kind of information it provided about charities. The description "... an online hub of people who care about their world and want to make it better" didn't necessarily give me a clear notion of what I could find or locate there exactly. I started browsing and found -- The Cat Lovers group had 49,466 members - which when you consider is larger than most of the communities in Nebraska!

There are always applications of web 2.0 for libraries when there are interested patrons wishing to discuss a mutually agreeable topic.

thing 18 / Web-based Apps

2008-04-04T13:22:00.000-07:00

I gave Zoho a trial run - and really liked it. The idea that portability in word processing is possible no matter where you're sitting is really likable. I typed a sample document. When I located spell check (an absolutely necessity for me) - I was stunned by the number of languages available, especially all the brands of English. At first I didn't think spell check worked because I'm such a right clicker - but indeed does - quite efficiently I might add, with a simple left click on underlined words with options where available. Bravo! (I also finally found spell check in blogger - 'bout time).

This seems like a great common denominator for document sharing. Oh yeah - I typed this in Zoho first.

PLA reflections

2008-03-31T13:42:00.001-07:00

Today is my first day back to work after attending PLA 2008 in Minneapolis. This was my first conference experience where I didn't come home with a huge to do list or a fire in my belly about - what we need to do NEXT. I wondered if I should have gone to the conference. I attended all kinds of sessions - in and out of the world of reference -- and after some reflection - I realized, we are doing things right - we are on the right track - we are trying things - changing things - trying to start a conversation with our customers and making our library more social.

I was pleased there wasn't any vocabulary in the sessions I attended where I wasn't aware of the technology or the social networking tools that were being discussed ... some of which were because of this 2.0 project.

thing 17 / pb wiki

2008-03-31T13:23:00.000-07:00

I logged on to the NLC wiki - added my blog to favorite blogs and added The Dish to the favorite restaurant page. For my money - it is THE place to get your burger fix.

I was so pleased to see everyone's picks for good restaurants were ALL located downtown.

Regarding editing wikis - it's easy to edit an entry that is already going -- all you do is mimic the mark up that is already there. I was only willing to add to pages that were already created - I'm not sure I'd want to start a new entry all together. I have edited an entry for Nebraska on the wikipedia and then checked the coding to see it was me who edited it - very cool.

thing 16 / wikis

2008-03-31T13:01:00.000-07:00

I've always thought wikis were great fun - - as a part of the social web, this is one of my favorites. I've worked with wikis before and find entries on the wikipedida helpful in reference. I might be one of the few reference librarians (?) who think it's a great tool and use it when answering questions - it certainly has its strengths.

I just came back from the PLA conference and Joe Janes said something to this effect - if you don't like wikipedia, fix it. There are lists of entries that need to be created - who better than librarians to write them? Akin to "don't vote? don't bitch." - 'nuff said.

thing 15 / On Library 2.0 & Web 2.0 ...

2008-03-20T12:05:00.000-07:00

Rick Anderson: "Libraries are poorly equipped and insufficiently staffed for teaching. Ask yourself what your patron-to-librarian ratio is ..."
http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/2.htm

Michael Stephens: "Librarian 2.0, then, is the “strategy guide” for helping users find information, gather knowledge and create content."
http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/3.htm

Dr. Wendy Schultz: "Library 3.0 "...People will collect librarians rather than books"

Dr. Wendy Schultz: "Library 4.0, the neo-library: This will be the library for the aesthetic economy, the dream society, which will need libraries as mind gyms; libraries as idea labs; libraries as art salons ... Library 4.0 will add a new mode, knowledge spa: meditation, relaxation, immersion in a luxury of ideas and thought"
http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/6.htm

-- these were the quotes that jumped out at me as I read the 2.0 readings. Sometimes I see clear analogies to the '80s scare that videos would mean the loss of movie theaters ---but then there are big layoffs at our performing arts center and I realize people are staying home. There are always those Harold Hill sorts who will be singing a song about how "we got trouble" - but as in all things balance. According to our statistics, NLC Reference services have steadily increased in the past few years, imeaning people need now more than ever, teachers to help them navaigate all the new vistas of technology. It will always be our job to be information hip and ahead of the crowd. When Rick Anderson talks about lack of library/patron ratio - I think that only applies to classrooms but make no mistake, we're still teaching, just on the spot in fits and starts. I really like the library 4.0 definition above . In the year 2015, I'd like to change my job title to Minder of the Mind Gym or Art Salon Curator or Information Master of Meditation.

thing 14 / Technorati

2008-03-19T12:31:00.000-07:00

When I searched: “Learning 2.0” in Technorati I got other people's blogs from Week 6 or Thing #14 - or whatever their library had labeled it for the same assignment. I liked seeing what other people said outside of our library. I didn't see any from NLC but cool all the same.

Then I tried some other searches and for someone who is used to more advanced search options, I wasn't crazy about the inability to narrow result sets in Technorati. Also - when I thought I was searching blogs, I was actually searching posts -- and that was confusing too.

I tried searching the PLA blog and searched PLA and then PLA Blog - the right result came up as 36 in Technorati. When I searched PLA Blog in google, it was the number one result.

This caused me to go to down the hallway and talk about it with Allana, Susan, and Shannon. That was a good way to learn what they knew about Technorati and helped me verify my own opinions.

Trying to index ALL those blogs would be a monumental effort. Until there are more refined search options, I can't think of how it would be helpful for me right now.

thing 13 / del.icio.us

2008-03-19T12:22:00.001-07:00

I worked many hours on the reference del.icio.us account. What we were hoping it could accomplish in terms of managing our many selected sites; the access database accommodates more easily for me - especially since it can manage the database for errors and some other administrative features that are handy. For my own personal bookmarks, I can easily see applications. The serendipity of seeing who else links to something and how they've tagged it would lead me to another pinball session of learning and reading - at the end, not quite remembering where I started. I see benefits but I'm not buying yet.

electronic consumption?

2008-03-10T16:36:00.000-07:00

Today I created two more accounts -- for librarything and rollyo. To go along with my blogger, hotmail, gmail, ICQ, AOL, yahoo, meebo, flickr, twitter, blogger, second life, wiki accounts -- whew -- you get the idea and I'm really a luddite all things considered! I don't have a myspace or facebook page - figuring -- isn't it good enough that people can find me with a good ole google search? We talk about our ecological footprint in terms of energy consumed but I wonder if we each have an electronic footprint as well? How much space does each of us consume “out there?” Not to mention the information that the good ole government posts about me like my property value. There is information out there on the subject but it seems focused towards a generation of college-bound Internet users who don't seriously consider how much information can be assembled about them before they ever attend their freshman orientation. Mark my words; I see a day when they'll be offering genealogy classes on how to trace your family's social networking history.

thing 12 / rollyo

2008-03-10T09:55:00.000-07:00

After learning about federated searching and its pros and cons - I wondered how I'd feel about this. I searched "nebraska" in all the rollyos provided - same results in each set. I searched some additional rollyos: Food and Dining, Reference Search and Ask Mr. Fix-it - ehhh, the results weren't impressive - I like plain google better.

Lastly, I created a Rollyo for movies in Lincoln with four sites - Douglas Theaters, The Ross, IMDB, and the Oscars. After I created the site, I searched for "honeydrippers" - a movie I know is showing at the ross. No results came up for that title. Gotta say - two thumbs down. Should I have done something differently? My thinking is that combining sites looses the ability to find what is best on each site. For optiumum results, search each site individually.

thing 11 / library thing

2008-03-10T08:41:00.000-07:00

A while ago, I started keeping lists of books I'd read and movies I'd watched in an excel spread sheet. I keep track by author, title, and date of consumption. It's been helpful in not re-consuming the same product twice - so librarything has great appeal. I also have a huge DVD and CD collection and have crudely cataloged them at home. Sadly, my collections are too large for the free portion of the program - and I confess, I'm rather used to my system. That said, I did create an account (which was a snap) and cataloged the last ten books I'd read. Very interesting to see how many other folks had cataloged the same books as me. For the Austen books, there were too many versions to select from so I simply took the top listing - probably not the most effective way to do things.

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/librarianlisalincoln

Librarything doesn't take itself too serious - here were my two favorite quotes:

"The UnSuggester will give you humorous recommendations of books you probably wouldn't enjoy." - reader's illadvisory :)

"Users (informally known as thingamabrarians, a term coined by contributor RJO)"

thing 10 / generators!

2008-03-10T08:05:00.000-07:00

I played with several generators and had done so before but didn't know what they were called. Because of the difficulty I had uploading a picture to my blog, I selected text generators. I tried a find your hogwarts house generator by answering 10 or so questions but then the advertising kicked in and I left before my result was provided. My pirate name just didn't fit - so ... here are my best results and links:

Peter's Haiku Generator
Jam waggles custard.
The bottom squirters jingle.
A squirter giggles.
(Haiku w/silly vocabulary)

Priests kindly nail ice.
Smouldering, bad angels lurk.
Cold winds twist shadows.
(Haiku w/noir vocabulary)

And from Slognizer:

Saved by librarians!
Nebraska - today and tomorrow.
Do you know books?
coffee, i want it all.
jane austen for president.

and now for something completely different

2008-03-05T13:31:00.001-08:00

A friend sent me this link:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87777150
-- which is a segment from NPR called "This I Belive" -- I took a stab at my own version:

this i believe

Work is not your identity. When I got my first job out of graduate school, I remember being introduced as Lisa the librarian. I always thought, wouldn’t it be fun to be introduced in a way that had absolutely nothing to do with my vocation? For example – this is Lisa – who’s trying to perfect her alfredo sauce or -- this is Lisa who is reading all the Jane Austen novels. In the U.S., work equals human value. Giving more than 40 hours shows devotion to your employer. On the home front, weekend activities should be a list of labors, not navel-gazing sloth. When I'm not at work, I foster relationships, entertain myself, and maintain my home to be a place that restores me. I am always surprised by people who say they’ll never retire. I know work is an important part of life and I am grateful for the job that I’ve been given. Still, when the time comes to no longer be a slave to my alarm clock, I have a pretty good idea that I’ll be able to set a worthy agenda for those 40 hours. I’m not ashamed to say I’m looking forward to that.

thing 9 / add feeds

2008-03-03T08:53:00.000-08:00

... so you realize, I'm gonna have to WEED now!

I liked searching for blogs. I tested out some wierd subjects and didn't find what I was looking for - so it's not all out there or rather no one's blogging about it yet. Here's what I added:

Jane Austen's World
The Old Foodie
Nebraska eGovernment Headlines
Virtual Reference
University of Nebraska Press

There are some places I would like to provide RSS Feeds that currently do not - let me know if NET or LCL begin providing this info.

thing 8 / RSS and bloglines

2008-03-03T08:13:00.000-08:00

I created a bloglines account a while ago. Checking my feeds is an enjoyable task and I like the one-stop shop approach to catching up on things of interest. I subscribe to a mish-mash of blogs so there's always something to suit my mood. I did the extra step of subscribing to all my co-workers blogs that makes it easier to check them. Some of my favorite blogs are the Librarian's Guide to Etiquette and Free Range Librarian. On the non-librarian side of things - I like Car Talk and Cool Tools. Combined Library Job Postings is one of the ways we fuel our job site.

Living in a small home has made me fairly fastidious about weeding - and this applies to blogs. When I subscribe to a few new ones (which I have today) I'll take out some old ones that I find I consistently read last or have lost interest. More isn't always better - in the world of blogs, more is just more to read.

technology schmecknology

2008-02-29T08:00:00.001-08:00

I remember my first triumph of technology was hooking up my first VCR by myself . There's something I AM WOMAN about getting the job done solo. Not so much with 2.0 - I find that the socialness of learning both appeals to and frustrates me. Getting a picture added to my blog took much more time than I thought it would and I managed to stump a couple of the folks in the process. Tenaciousness is its own reward.

travel channel run amok

2008-02-29T07:48:00.000-08:00

Wow! - I'm keen for http://flickrvision.com/ -- wish it was a channel on television. It's a hip gallery marrying sociology and geography. The 3D view makes my old GAF viewmaster look like ... well, something really old. Someone in Australia was uploading pictures of food, then someone getting married in Malaysia, someone's feet in the water in Thailand, friends in Paris and a little kid in Seattle.

my boyfriend

2008-02-28T15:04:00.001-08:00

here's the sweet thing that moved into my building at the end of the year --

A+ blood

2008-02-22T12:14:00.000-08:00

I just gave my 32nd pint of blood today -- earning my 4 gallon pin. I hate needles and I still can't watch as the phlebotomist goes to work. Things changed - 9/11 happened and I decided to step up to the plate.

I have other things that make me panic and cause anxiety - but this was one I conquered and one that gives me a fair amount of satisfaction for having faced. On to the next.

reading other people's blogs

2008-02-21T11:23:00.000-08:00

just started looking at my co-worker's blogs -- always interesting to see how others describe their process of learning. I liked John Felton's description - and could identify with following one bread crumb to the next through footnotes and such to get to the next bit of stuff. I'm the kind of person who buys a DVD to watch all the extra features and commentary. It's what beneath the surface I enjoy discovering.

Hyperlinks on the internet suit my non-linear thought process. Call it ADD learning. Just this morning as I was catching up on my blog line account --I completely forgot where I started --reading one thing to the next -- sharing things I'd read- passing them along to others - getting comments back from them --asking more questions -- looking for answers -- it's all good.

what's the difference between an orange?

2008-02-21T11:03:00.000-08:00

nothing - vests have no sleeves.