Friday, September 28, 2007

Week 6, Thing 13

Del.icio.us This one is giving me a headache. There are too many "angles" to think about. I understand the idea behind it, and certainly I can think of some good uses for this tool in the library world (mostly as a filter for the great masses of information out there), but I hope I'm not the one who has to set it up.

Week 5, Thing 12

I think the concept of Rollyo is pretty good, and it would be useful if you made your own search rolls. I can see it being used to create a search roll for "fequently asked questions at the Reference Desk". I didn't like the Rollyo site, though--it seemed like you had to jump around a lot to do what you wanted to do. I created a search roll of Historic Preservation sites, which I think you can access using this link:
http://rollyo.com/maps4us/historicpreservation/

Week 6, Thing 15

Wow, what fascinating ideas were presented about the future of libraries. I can't wait for the Knowledge Spa in Wendy Schultz's Library 4.0!! We definitely need to start gearing up for the technology currently in use, as well as make plans for the future. However, I sure hope we don't lose the tactile and emotional satisfaction we can receive from actual books, maps, etc. We don't want to lose what we can learn from the hard copies (which is more than just the content); we need to continue to take that history seriously....

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Week 3, Thing 7

It seems like there has been an explosion of new ways to use technology, or improvements to things that have been around for a while. Last weekend I was able to use Skype to talk with (and see) my sisters and their families in California. The picture wasn't perfect, but it was pretty cool. I'm also investigating ways to have a conference call over the internet. (My large, spread out family doesn't get together for Christmas, so instead we always have a conference call on Christmas Eve.)

Week 3, Thing 6

Boy, it seems like there is a tool for everything. Some seem interesting and useful (like Mappr), and some...not so much. I did create a Librarian Trading Card and saved it to my flash drive, but decided not to upload it to Flickr.

Week 3, Thing 5




I like being able to add pictures to my blog. I took the Cayucos Sunset photo while on vacation in California. It was uploaded using Blogger's photo upload. Then I took a couple of pictures of our new Perryville branch and uploaded them using Flickr. (They are tagged "mdlearning2".) I'll be adding more photos as I go along.

Week 5, Thing 10

I can see why image generators are so popular--it reminds me of playing with dolls when I was little. I was going to make an ID card, but decided to create an avatar instead. My avatar can be in summer-mode all year 'round....

Week 7, Thing 17

I played in the sandbox and added my blog bucket of sand to the others. I also created a new page with my Favorite Urban Mural--a painting on a brick building that shows a "curtain" of brick being pulled back to reveal a tall ship in the harbor. Clever....

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Week 7, Thing 16

I've known about wikis for a little while, although I have never edited one. I think they can be useful starting points when trying to find information, but they should never be taken as gospel unless there is some control on who can edit. For libraries, the research paper by Angela Kille was very enlightening.

A wiki would be a great way to manage and share information internally, especially for Reference. Answers to FAQs or answers to unusual questions would be very helpful to newly-hired staff and to smaller branches. Depending on the content, possibly a wiki could be made available for the public to read (but not edit), as long as the library has someone (or a group) assigned to "tend" to it. (eg. weed out the links that no longer work, possibly answer patrons comments, etc.)

Week 8, Thing 19

I took a look at the Wayfaring site, which was in the "mapping" category. I like the idea of creating a map of my life, or of an event. I might be interested in sharing it with my family and friends, but not with the rest of the world. As for uses in libraries--I can see maps being added to the library's web site. They could show the locations of branches, or where programs were being offered, etc.

Week 8, Thing 18

Online productivity tools---These look like wonderful tools for someone who doesn't have the software, or who needs to share documents easily. I worry about internet security, though, and I don't think people really read the "terms of service". If I read the terms on Google Docs correctly, it sounds like whatever you create (the "content") can be passed along public networks. No privacy there!

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Week 5, Thing 11

Library Thing...hmmmm.... I think this is useful (and certainly easy to use) if you want to list your collection of books in an electronic format. It's also nice to be able to find out what other's are reading that might be interesting to me, or to a patron. It's possible that I may actually catalog my collection someday, however, I am rarely at a loss for something to read, and my problem is usually locating the book in my house (if I've had it for a while).

Week 4, Thing 8

Well, I finally found some time to work on this, and was able to explore RSS feeds. I didn't think I would use this feature much, but I've changed my mind. I have several topics being fed to me, including a few library blogs, which is a nice, quick way to check out the areas I'm interested in. The Using Bloglines Tutorial was the most helpful by far. I find the easiest way to add a feed is to open the site and copy the URL into Bloglines "Add" area.