2.0 experience summary

As I come to the end of my 2.0 learning experience I am trying to come up with an accurate summary of what I have learned in this process.
I think it was important that all the staff participate in the exercises because everyone needs the same level of education. It isn't just public services staff who will be using new tools. If we are to stay current, expand our patron base and not be left behind in technology access library employees have to learn and use the latest and greatest resources.
I enjoyed learning how to find and manipulate different images the most just because it was all so new to me. I will probably use my blog in a different way now that the assignments are over. There are friends and family who I will touch base with and see if they want to see what I have done and comment on it. Up to now I have approached it as mainly a place for assignments.
It has been interesting to visit with other staff about what they think over the last few weeks. The responses give me insight into whether people are excited or upset or worried about learning new technologies.
If we were to do something similiar to this in the future I would probably make it different levels and give people a choice on where they felt comfortable learning. The first level could be really basic, the second advanced and the third for geniuses (haha) probably not called that. The point being that everyone learns in different ways and different paces and there was some stress over the timelines of this adventure. It was difficult to spend very much time on each assignment and that is mainly because of the constant interuption at the public service desks. The major time we could spend on it was on the Sunday morning of the weekends we worked. The podcasts were also tough because you couldn't sit at a public service desk and listen to them.
Overall, I think it was a worthwhile endeavor. I learned a great deal and with the basics under my belt I can expand my knowledge by using some of the tools in my daily work.

netlibrary

The public services staff has been helping people learn about netlibrary for quite a while and patrons are really excited about it. We are still letting new people know all the time that it is available for them. Today I had a dad and daughter who signed up for it and as they were walking away he put his arm around her shoulder and said, "we have just opened up a whole new world for ourselves." That is what it is all about - helping people discover all those whole new worlds out there,whether it is netlibrary or some other new resource it is fun and educational to share the knowledge with people.
I think it can be a little confusing when people are trying to figure out the difference between the electronic books and the e-books and learn what equipment works and what doesn't. I think the help section at netlibrary does a nice job of answering the questions that most people have concerning the resource.

libvibe

Here is another podcast about libraries that looks like fun
http://feeds.feedburner.com/LibVibe - includes news about libraries around the country. The neat thing about this site is you don't need an i-pod or any other external device - it will play right on your computer.

more hip than hippy

I posted a podcast called "More Hip than Hippy" on my bloglines account. It is an eco-friendly pod cast with hints and ideas about making our households and lives less harmful to the environment.
http://www.morehipthanhippie.com/rss - here is the link to it if anyone else is interested in looking at it. The women who do it seem like they are having some fun.
This is asssignment #21 I believe in the library 2.0 training.

you tube posting

I found a wild horses video on you tube that I posted to my blog. It has beautiful shots of wild horses from around the country. It seems to take a long time to load when I open my blog. It has been trying to load for about five minutes tonight. Last time it opened very quickly so who knows. I understand there are two million videos on youtube right now and that is pretty amazing. It takes a while to find anything you really want to watch but it is a fun resource.

Wild Horses

this a you tube choice i found to post

Week 8 assignments #18 and #19

I have played around witt Zoho Writer as an online word processing program and it seems like a good one. I could see using it at home where we don't have microsoft office software on the internet computer.
I also started to review the award winning web 2.0 websites and really like www.care2.com. Of course it would appeal to a bleeding heart liberal like myself. I hope to finish reviewing the sites today because I am leaving for vacation tomorrow.

blogger zoho

I really like Zoho Writer as an option for word processing. The woman who wrote up the document about its best features was right on the money. If you have internet access you can use this as an alternative to microsoft office which I am all for, let's take a little monopoly out of the gates golden globe. I am going to use it at home it seems easy and has all the features of office without having to download or purchase any software. Nice job whoever came up with this.

tomatoes

I wanted to add that this is from my Zoho Writer assignment.
So, it worked . This is a good thing. I am going to see if I can insert an image here. This is what I hope my tomatoes will look like ....yummm.

zoho writer assignment

I am going to try and send this to my blog. Earlier today on two of the computers in the back room we couldn't get www.blogger.com to work for us.

zoho writer assignment

I am experimenting with using Zoho Writer as an online word processing program. I am going to try and save this short piece to my blog and see if it works.

2.0 assignments #16 and 17 Wiki due may 26

I have reviewed the information about how to set up, use and edit a Wiki. We have using a Wiki for several months now in public services and it seems to work well for sharing information with each other. It is a democratic venue with anyone being able to edit and add to it.
There were many different examples of how Wiki's are used in academic, public and special conference settings such as ALA. I liked the subject guide listing at the St. Joseph County Public Library system. We used to have something similiar that people could click on favorite or well-used sites and go directly to them. I think that would still be useful to have but it takes maintenance and that means someone has to have and take the time to make sure it is updated.
I added my blog to the favorites and vacation spots at the university.

rss feeds

When I tried to put RSS feeds on here for Library Journal and Publishers Weekly here it sat in retrieve mode for over 15 minutes so I added them to my bloglines account http://www.bloglines.com/blog/blackhillsgoddess. I actually added RSS feeds back in March to my bloglines account. I also added the New York Times RSS feed to this account a while back.
I also reviewed Marjorie's presentation in the training moogle because I didn't attend her program in person. I will have to take some time and think about which of her magazines I would really take the time to read.
I tried to find an RSS feed for Booklist and Voya magazines and couldn't find it for either one. Those are two magazines I use heavily for my selection area.

what do I think about the world of 2.0 for libraries?

This is regarding assignment #15 Library 2.0 and Web 2.0.

I read all of the articles posted on this assigment and came away with the following thoughts: there is no stopping change so we need to embrace it, understand it, learn how to use it and make sure we stay on top of all the new ideas and latest technology.
The way libraries are used now in some sense will remain the same. People still want to check out physical items, books, cd's, dvd's etc. but as more and more people get computers at home, use their phones or other devices to learn and share we may still less of the population coming into the physical building.
I believe we always need to keep in mind there are people who can't afford and won't have access to all the latest and greatest tools. We can't forget about the haves and have not divisions that will always exist, especially in this area where there is a significant number of the population with lower incomes.
That said, I believe these assignments are only touching the surface of what will be coming our way concerning new technology.
I like what Rick Anderson saidin his web 2.0 article: "At a minimum library service means placing service and content in the user's preferred environment, such as the web; even better it means integrating our services in their daily patterns of work, study and play."
or Michael Stephens when he said, "the basic drive is to get people back into the library by making the library relevant to what they want and need in their daily lives ..to make the library a destination and not an afterthought." Stephens also said, "Librarian 2.0 also listens to staff and users when planning, tells the stories of successes and failures, learns from both, celebrates those successes, allows time to play and learn and never stops dreaming about the best library services possible."
or John Blyberg," in order to be adept at navigating library 2.0 waters, the old fiefdoms need to disappear. Library 2.0 requires drastic and sweeping changes to our internal cultures and will require some form of institutional enlightenment."

#13 Tagging,folksomonies and social bookmarking

Del.icio.us helps gather bookmarks so it is easy to find them and divide them into useful categories. I think when I am done with all these assignments I will have a better idea of which ones will actually be the most helpful for me to use on a regular basis.

Week #5 Assignment 12 rollyo

I think that using Rollyo could be helpful to manage the different websites someone wants to frequent but I already have that tool in Bloglines for websites I want to read and in del.icio.us or favorites as other tools to keep track of what I want to access on a regular basis. It is good to know it is out there and I have set up a profile on it.

rollyo experiment

http://www.rollyo.com/profile.html - i am trying to see if this works to find my profile. susan

blogging class at the library

today we have six people here at the library ready to learn about blogs.

how to add an RSS feed to your blog

Yeah! I finally figured out how to add an RSS feed to your blog. If you go to template on the top of the compose page, choose add a page element, then select "feed" from the list of choices that comes up you will be able to add the URL on the next page. Just click on continue and the RSS feed will appear on the right side of your blog. I knew there had to be a way and I was determined to find it. Persistence paid off. If anyone needs help with this please let me know.

new search engines

Jason posted a list of 25 new search engines on the library announcement blog and it seems like a good thing to have here for future reference.
http://oedb.org/library/features/top-25-web20-search-engines

library thing sign-up

I went into library thing and created my own library. I added five books to the collection. It is kind of neat. If I was more organized I might actually do something like this. But, they do charge after 200 books and I have way more than that.
Here is the link to my little library.
http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php

image generators

The images on the blog turned out pretty good. I just used the examples given on the 2.0 assignment lists. I am sure there must be many more out there to choose from. This was fun so far.

image generators

I am working on an assignment for 2.0 that requires us to learn about image generators. I am going to try and put a sign on here.

quote from extraordinary blogs and zines

I got such a big kick out of this paragraph in the book, "Extraordinary Blogs and Ezines," by Lynne Rominger:
"Believe it or not there used to be a time when very few people had computers in their homes. All libraries had files called card catalogs. Long skinny drawers were stuffed full of cards. Each card held all the information about one book. You had to thumb through the cards to find what you needed. Homework was written out by hand or typed on a typewriter."
I can't believe I have lived long enough to become part of folklore. I love the "believe it or not" exclamatory remark.

rss feeds

I have completed the 2.0 assignments
#8 and #9 about RSS Feeds. I created a bloglines account, www.bloglines.com/blog/blackhillsgoddess. I have chosen a number of feeds and put them on my site and also found library-related feeds as required in this 2.0 assignment. I don't write much on the bloglines blog but I do look at the feeds on a regular basis.

I used Blogger images to move this photo of the Badlands to my blog. I learned something about the process when I first tried to move an image from Google images to my blog and it didn't work because it was copyrighted and it wasn't a jpeg.
I love this photo because it reminds of spring. The Badlands are best appreciated in the spring or the fall when it isn't so hot and the rattlesnakes aren't so active.

This the assignment #5 in Flicker 2.0

experiment on rss feeds

I am wondering if I can bring an RSS feed into my blog. I know I can bring in a URL but haven't figured out how to do an RSS feed yet. I was asked by one of my co-workers if it was possible or not so I am going to investigate that question.

jason kottke's blog

Jason Kottke is one of the most famous bloggers and his website is brimming over with interesting little facts, photos, links to other sites. I really enjoy reading it. Check it out at www.kottke.org

23 tasks - 21 to go

I am going to be blogging about my experiences in more of a classroom format now. We have 23 assignments to complete as part of a technology learning experience and creating a blog is step #2. Since I already had a blog I am going to use my existing account. It should be fun learning about technology that is up and coming in the world.

new blog i liked

I was checking out the highlighted blogs and discovered Designers'Block blog. It is a very pretty elaborate blog by a woman artist Di Overton. She has some lovely images, her favorite places and clothes and lots of other fun stuff.

Tuesday afternoon

I am just starting this blog with the hope that I can teach others how to blog. I am going to teach library staff and the public how to do this so here I go, blogging away. I created a little jingle to help myself remember to check all of the new technology locations we have now as a public services staff. It goes like this, "blog, blog, wiki, wiki, IM, e-mail and chaaaaat". Pretty clever huh?