Reflective Exercise

Well I'm definitely one for thinking about what I've done. Reflecting is one of my hobbies. In fact I especially like sitting in a lawn chair and reflecting in front of a lake or the ocean. Since I don't I that luxury here I'll just comment from my desk. Yes I would advise myself to take these classes again. Although I didn't retain as much as I'd like, I do feel more familiar with terms I've been hearing.

For example I'd heard the term "Podcast", but didn't really know what it was until I did the exercise. Since I'm one who needs thing very simply laid out, I appreciated the easy to follow instructions. As far as taking staff time, though, I think it might have been more efficient to have us go to a training session.

As a librarian I can put projects aside easier than the LA's who have to immediately empty bookdrop and shipment. My suggestion for future instruction of this type is to actually make it a class we go to. We can concentrate better and may learn more. I'm definitely glad I did it, though.

A Link to an Inspirational Video

Here's a link to an interesting video about motivation. If you wanted to get excited and motivated you might check this out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WqrFYN_bL8

YouTube is addictive

I enjoyed this exercise. It felt like I was getting paid to watch a movie. The range of video quality and interest is wide. As far as KCLS using it I'll have to think about that. This would be another way to do program promotion and book promotion. We could have videos of people doing book talks and videos of people promoting library programs. How about a video of a database demonstration?

Web 2.0 Awards

I enjoyed using the award winners for both travel and real estate. I tried the kayak website for checking out hotels in Spokane in October. I also tried one of the real estate winners for checking out possible homes Chris and I might by. This seems useful for people interested in particular topics and wanting to find a good website.

Google Labs

Looking at the Googe Labs I'm amazed at all the options. Anything from a view of Mars to hot music can be found. I hope all these services on the web continue to be free. It's hard to believe that people can use the online office products for free.

Like the online word processing and spreadsheet progrms

Okay, I think these are some of my favorite features to Web 2.0 so far. Being able to create documents online and save them online actually allow people without a computer to create documents. I also like the idea of editing together/sharing a document. We could show this to patrons who don't have their own computer and don't want to worry about losing an "item" with all their documents on it.

Wow, what will the libary be?

Since I went to library school in 1997 I have heard so many stories about what the library of the future will be. I've heard people say that with the Internet why do we even need libraries? So it was interesting to look at these articles and see the writer's ideas of what the future of the library will be. Of course I can't fortune tell, but I do believe it will involve a lot more individualized instruction and assistance with all the online options to navigate. Keeping up with the changes will be challenging. I am certain that it is vital for libraries to keep up with technological changes and be ready to use them to their advantage.

Using a specialized search engine

I, of course, as Travel Gal had to create links to some travel sites. I can see if you already know that sites have good deals/information about something this would be an efficient way to search. We could create links to these on our website for people to search on their favorite topic. Here's a link to my search engine homepage so you can find good travel deals http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=007641520114665789447%3A118xlwxcwhq

Wikis

I've heard of Wikis before, but this is the first time I've looked at multiple examples. Of course I especially liked the Book Lover Wiki linked to in Learning 2.0. I saw some titles that might be good for the adult book group. I can see how Wikis might be useful for book groups, library programming information, online reference and more. I can't wait to try one.

using Library Thing

I've always said that I should make a booklist for people going through a divorce since i found a lot of books helpful. This gave me a chance to do that. Every book that I read was in Library Thing so I'm sure it's quite a comprehensive database. It is so easy to catalog and make the list. I tried to search it, however, and it didn't seem to work. I'll have to play around with it more, but it definitely looks like fun. Some day, when I have free time, I might use it to catalog my own book collection. Here's the link go my Library Thing webpage http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php.

Checking out Del.icio.us

Today I checked out Del.icio.us. This does seem useful for researching connected articles and seeing what other people are reading on a topic. The idea of the user attaching the subject heading is very interesting. It reminds me of the advantage of controlled vocabulary being that everyone goes to the same subject heading on a topic. With Deli.icio.us it seems that people could use disparate subject headings and miss out on an important article.

myspace and libraries

We are always trying to get the word out about what we offer at the library. I think this is another great way to get the word out. It will be interesting to see how many hits we get on our myspace account. I'm often looking for an online way to reach a lot of kids. This definitely seems useful for that.

I also think that if we bring our information to where they're at and in the format they're using they'll be impressed by the library's efforts.

RSS Feed chosen

I just picked a couple RSS feeds that interested me--of course the one on relationships and the one on personal development. The other that would be top on my list is a travel one, but I already picked a couple of those. Sometimes just reading about or looking at pictures about travel is as good as going there. It's amazing how the picture of a beautiful tropical beach can calm me down.

RSS Feeds

I'm glad I got back into Learning 2.0 today so I don't get too far behind. It was interesting to actually pick the news sources I want information from. I can see how someone could easily read nonstop with so many sources to pick from. I've actually wanted to keep up better on the news so having direct access to BBC's frontpage will be good. Of course I also like the travel links and booklover's links. Time to go eat lunch and the chocolate that Dani brought.

Later,
Travelgal

Dawn looks cute

I looked at several of the mashups, but what I really liked was Dawn's trading card in Trade Card Maker. When I get a chance I might just make one so I can look "famous" on a card.

I miss Puerto Vallarta

I enjoyed looking through pictures of Puerto Vallarta on Flickr. Just by putting that in as a search I saw many sites from my trip last month. When I feel stress about anything all I have to do is see pictures of tropical scenes and I feel a lot better. This time I felt a lot better because I'd just been there.

Love to Learn

I'm really excited about this opportunity to learn more about different online features such as blogs and podcasts. I hear all these different terms and am not sure what they mean. Also, as the leader of a teen book group, I could use this to inform the teens about cool happenings in the library. First blogging and then myspace. That's all for now.

Rosalie