Week 8 #19

USING ZOHO WRITER

BABY BOUNCE	BILINGUAL STORYTIME	TODDLERTIME	PRESCHOOL STORYTIME
MONDAYS	MONDAYS	TUESDAYS	THURSDAYS
10:30 AM	2:00 PM	10:30 AM	10:30 AM

Zohoseems to have nice features, but I'm having a little trouble figuring out some of them.

1. It wouldn't let me insert a picture from my file. It doesn't have a picture file to use.
   
2. The comments balloon is nice.
   
3. I was able to create a chart very easily.
   
4. And ordered lists.
   

I guess the more I used it, the more I'd be able to figure out.

Week 8 #18

I looked at some of the social networking sites. I was curious about myspace, since it is so popular with the younger generation. One thing I didn't like is that it appears anyone can post comments and pictures to your site, so you would want to monitor it daily. In that respect, it's not really your space.

I know these networks are just another form of communication, and I suppose they can be useful. It does make me wonder if people will get to the point that they won't develop real social skills, because they will be using the online world for their social lives.

I thought the ratemyspace site was interesting. I do like decorating, and it's interesting to see what others have done with their spaces. However, I don't have the time to sit and click on each picture waiting for it to load up. I'd rather look at a magazine or decorating book. I think I'm just too impatient.

I searched for other social networks and found shelfari, which is a book site, and it looks interesting, as well, but I still would rather discuss my books in person with someone than online. I sometimes feel the online world makes people more isolated. Maybe it's just my age. . .

Week 7 #17

I love learning all this new tech "stuff". I am very comfortable using the Internet and Microsoft Office programs, but it's been difficult for me to keep up with all the new programs. I didn't realize how much was free until I began the ihcpl training. There was an article in the Chronicle this morning about how young people (those born after 1985) are much more public than previous generations. We (those of us born before 1985) kept our diaries and personal info private.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/5236032.html

With the popularity of Facebook, Myspace, and blogs, the younger generation is used to their lives being very public. I'm not sure how this will affect our future society, but technology is definitely changing how we do things and how we look at the world. Now if I could just figure out what the heck twittering is.

I have posted comments on some of my co-worker's blogs. It's fun to read what others have thought about our 23 things training.

Week 7 #16

I think wikis are really neat. I have often used wikipedia to get basic information on a topic, but I really didn't know much about wikis. I knew anyone could edit the information, but I didn't realize how easy it was to do until I added my favorite book and restaurant to the hcpl wiki.

I really liked SJCPL's wiki. This type of wiki for a library would be very useful. A library could put the subjects that their patrons often ask for on their wiki. Links to the catalog with a visual of the book cover are a very nice touch. I believe our customers would find a wiki subject guide more useful than searching the catalog, especially for common, popular topics.

I can also see where wikis would be very helpful for planning a conference or big meeting. It would cut down on phone calls and meetings.

Week 6 #15

I read all of the five perspectives. I found "Away from the Icebergs" and "To a Temporary Place in Time" to be the most interesting. I have been a librarian for 15 years, and libraries have made rapid changes in that time due to technology. Our card catalogs only disappeared about 12 years ago (and yet I still have people coming in asking where the "card file" is). I find that I have become more of a teacher. Every day I help people use the computer to find their information. The generation of children coming up will not need that kind of help, but I feel they will need help sifting through the vast amounts of information out there. I often feel overwhelmed with so much information. As librarians, we can be the guide, the info coach (as Wendy Schultz calls us) to help people find exactly what they need.



Since I have only been a librarian 15 years, I don't feel the need to collect the print sources, just in case, as some of my colleagues do. I have worked with a couple of librarians who have a tough time giving up some of the traditional reference sources, because someone once used it 3 years ago. As librarians we need to embrace the databases and information available online and make it easily accessible to our patrons.



I really liked the analogy that Rick Anderson uses about our shift from product to service. We used to sell coffee in coffee shops, and now we have Starbucks, which provides an entire atmosphere for it's coffee drinkers. We could do the same, provide a more elegant, relaxing atmosphere for our patrons. Abandon the days of no food or drink and provide small coffee shops for a more inviting experience. The way everything is changing, we're going to need to create a virtual library for our customers, as well, an online place where they feel comfortable and can easily access information.



It's an exciting time for librarians. We have a chance to redefine who and what we are. We need to continue to stay in touch with what our customers need and want, especially our younger customers who have grown up with online information. We need to keep open minds and search for new ways to bring quality service to our customers.

Week 6 # 14

Technorati is rather interesting. I noticed one of the top searches is Learning 2.0, so apparently many of my co-workers have already gone to Technorati and done some searching. I tried the different search strategies, and each gave a different number of searches: Keyword--35,790, Tag Search--27,430, and Blog Directory--723. Of course, Keyword searching always gives the most results in any search engine. I thought the little "fan" boxes next to the blog links were kind of cute. I searched my online name for my blog and came up with an earlier link to my blog from September when I posted my Flickr picture. That was interesting. I have an unusual first name, so I searched it to come up with a very interesting blog, which was filtered, and I couldn't have gotten to it from our public computers. No, it was not my blog nor about me. Technorati is not something I'm interested in using, so I'm not going to go for the iStar Challenge this week. That's not to say I didn't enjoy learning about it.

Week 6 #13

Exploring Del.icio.us was interesting. I can see where having a site to organize your Internet bookmarks and links would be useful. A person could spend a lot of time following the various links and comments, more time than I have. After a while, I begin to feel overwhelmed with all the useful information out there. I thought it was interesting to find a comment in another language--chinese?--possibly. It could be useful for research assistance, but I see it more as just an easy way to create bookmarks.

Week 5 #12

O.K. I just had to go back and play with Meez. My co-workers were having so much fun with it that I had to create myself as well. Meez is great fun!

I signed up my library cards for Elf. It was very easy to do. I can see where this site would be very helpful for libraries who don't have e-mail notification. My former library did not, but I see they are available on Library Elf, so it would be very useful for their customers. I can also see where it would be useful when you have a card at more than one library. You could check all of your accounts at one time. I set up my account with my cell phone number, so I will see if they notify me when my books on hold come in.

Having Fun

Week 5 #11

Library Thing is a very useful site. I have been meaning to keep a log of the books I've read, and what I thought of them, but I've never gotten around to doing that. Now I can start a list. Too Cool! I also like the feature where Library Thing will recommend books to read. I can't believe how super techie I'm getting! My daughter, who is in graduate school, was very impressed that I have a blog.

Week 5 #10

I played with Avatar, and created the perfect image of me or the me I'd like to be. If I had Yahoo mail or used any of the Yahoo messaging services, it would be cool to have. I used Image Shack to create my cartoon. I'm not very clever or funny, so I'm not good at creating my own cartoon or comic. I also played with some of the Image Generator links. I've bookmarked this, because some of these will be very useful when creating in-house flyers for programs. It's been fun. I can't wait to find out what else is out there that I didn't know about.

iHCPL Week 4 #9

I looked at a couple of the websites I often use and found newsfeed icons. I never paid much attention to that before. I added a couple more newsfeeds to my bloglines account. I looked at the search tools, and I liked Topix very much. I like that you can put in a zip code and instantly get news from that area. Makes it easy to keep up with my home town news. I found Syndic8 and Technorati confusing. I did feel as I was looking at newsfeeds that there is way too much information out there. It gets overwhelming after a while, and who has time to read all of this stuff. I'd rather read a good novel. :)

iHCPL Week 4 #8

Setting up an account with bloglines was very easy. I've set up some RSS feeds. I will even be able to get my favorite comic strip this way! I'll have the weather and news in one handy spot. After reading some of the feeds, I may want to make some changes to what I'm getting. I searched and found some iHCPL blogs, so I'm getting those delivered to my blogline account as well. I'm still learning the terminology to use when referring to this exercise, so I hope this makes sense to those of you out there who have been using bloglines, RSS, feeds, etc. for longer than I have.