Thing 31 Future Libraries

I am very surprised. I actually agreed with the speaker. In most articles about the future of libraries the speaker is full of doom and gloom. About how there will not be books any more and we will not be needed. Since I have hoped that was not the case I was very pleased to hear someone say that we are doing a good job and that we CAN have a place in the future of our communities. I enjoyed the humor also. I usually hear what a person is saying much better if there is some humor involved. We constantly have to stay ahead of the patrons in what they need and want and I think that we sometimes need a reminder of that, but most of all we need to be told that we can and that we are doing a VERY good thing for our communities.

Thing 30 Webby Awards?

I thought this was an interesting idea. When I went to the site I wasn't as impressed as I expected. It seems that it would be handy to look at for people to use these sites fro business. I didn't really see sites that I tought we could use in our library. For instance I went to look at several of the law ones and it was advertising for law firms. Our patrons don't want that they want lae sites that they can get forms for themselves or maybe answers to questions without talking to a lawyer. Lawyers are very pricey. I did have fun on the Crappy Cat site. More fun than I should have at work. 2 cooking sites sounded fun but the recipes on Cookstr were complicated and not for the average homemaker. We do have some patrons who think they are better thatn the average cook so it might be good for them. The Bakespace site itself was having problems like the words were sitting on top of each other which made it hard to click on things. Those recipies used several items that I really am not sure I want to go out and buy. I enjoyed looking at this list anyway. It just didn't seem to be good for our library. I do have to remember to go back to Crappy Cat though.

Thing 29

Trick or Treat is done. I just did some more in Goodreads. I sm dtill thinking that I like it better than Weread that I used before. 'i think it is interesting that there are so many of these sites made just to get readers to share about books. That is one of the things I really like about working is that the people will sometimes share what they think about a book. These sites are just another way of doing that. It is also a way to keep track of what we read and a way to learn of books that we might like to read. But I doubt that any of us really need to be told of more books to read. Most of us have a list a mile l ong of want to reads already. It is fun to do though.

thing 29?

Well here it is the end of the month and I haven't blogged or worked on the class much. I read what the assignment was at the beginning of the month. Then forgot about it until now. I have used WeRead on Facebook for a while now. My intention was to keep track of the books I read. I glance at some of the reviews but that is it. I do like it when they give recomendations. Even though I work in a library there are usually some books that I feel I have missed. I have added the Goodreads application to Facebook now. So far I like the search thing on Goodreads better than WeRead. However I am always surprised at how many of the newest books don't pop up when doing a search. I did a search on GoodReads for Nora Roberts and her newest Bride Quartet books didn't show up. Well more later as I really should be working now.

Thing 28

I am starting this again. I thought I had posted this but when I checked later I hadn't. I really think I wasn't supposed to do thing #28. So here is part of what I wrote yesterday and part from today.I think I am done with this assignment. I am not done with google reader. Thanks to Allana I can say that the assignment is done. She and I have talked about my problems with the send to part of my account. I totally understand how it is supposed to work but it seems it isn't going to. BREAK THROUGH!!! I tried to send something to Facebook instead of to blogger. It worked!!!!!! I will definately use google reader. I like it way better than Bloglines. One thing I like better is the search thing so that I can look for sites that I know are there and not have to do the export thing like in Bloglines. Also Google really keeps track of sign up better that they do because Google knew that I had an account that I didn't remember. Bloglines has not switched my account to the different account since the first 2.0 class was done. Each time I went there it said that my account was not active. They had let the sites update but still gave me the message. So yes I like Google better. Thanks again Allana.

Google reader

I have figured out that I can't do this assignment. I am happy to have my blog reader be something other than bloglines but because I have to seperate google accounts one for google reader and one for blogger I can't make it work to send something from one to the other. When I hit send to Blogger it won't let me sign in. I tried last week and now this week too. I tried to just copy the link for the item I would like to send. But since that is not the assignment it won't work. I guess that means that although I will continue to use google reader I won't get the credits for this thing. It is beginning to be a real waste of my time to try to get the credits.

http://icanhascheezburger.com/2009/09/08/funny-pictures-request-cause-its-stupid/

Google reader

I am working on this. But since I don't blog very often I was having login problems. I also had gotten a google account that I didn't remember until after I was told by them that I already had an account and had to go through the process of changing my password. Then I had never done the change on blogger to make it to the new login. I just always used the sign in from when I first signed up. So when I went to send something from google to blogger it kept wanting me to sign in and I couldn't remember what I was supposed to put in. Also I usually get to blogger from the Nebraska 2.0 site and go to participants. Anyway I will try again soon since I figured out some of what I was doing wrong. Some days it doesn't really pay to try something new. Once I get into using google reader I think I will like it better than bloglines.

CE credits

I am wondering why I didn't get credit for the thing about facebook. I had it done before the end of the month and I checked the link to get to the post. It worked and still I didn't get the credit. Oh well I guess I will try this months and if I don't get credit for that one I will probably quit the class. I don't get to really use much of what I learn anyway. I could use more of it but the people I work with think that it is a waste of time.

August Thing #27

This months thing is Facebook. I love facebook!!! It is a fantastic way to keep up with my family!!!!!!!! Yesterday I found out I had a new cousin and usually I wouldn't have found that out until the weekend when I talked to my mom. I also found out through Facebook that our Library is getting new computers from the Gates Foundation. I found that out through the Nebraska Library Commission. Since we really should learn something for this class I tried to put the Twitter application on my Facebook page. I haven't figured out if it works very well yet but I will keep working on it. Also this month I actually used my option on our Library page. I am able to add things on the Library's Facebook page but had never tried that until this month. It worked!!! I asked for donations that I didn't get, but still it worked to post it so that was worth something!I check Facebook at least once a day usually more than that.I think that Facebook should have the rep for the fastest growing because of the things I said it is a great way to get and keep people from all parts of the country and the world together. It would be nice if more people would follw the libray page but I am sure that will come with time.

Thing 25

Well I didn't get to do this one. With vacations and a new director at work I have been too busy and tired to do anything extra. I did try part of this one and still would like to play with Google Earth. Maybe later. Hopefully I get to do the next thing. I REALLY do like that we can miss some of these. Otherwise I would have done it in a really fast sloppy way just to be done.

Thing 24

This is so fun and like one person said in a comment it is hard to stay on task. I didn't have any luck with finding our library. I know that we are on there because we put things there. But people aren't catching on yet. I did get more tweets to follow and more bloglines things. I have a hard time keeping the RSS things relating to the library. i finally gave up on that and went with the idea that as a librarian I should have a well rounded knowledge of what is going on in the world. In our library. as in most, each of us has certain things that we know more about. I can help that by keeping informed on various topics. Having RSS feeds and twitter tweets is helping me to do this. I am still getting used to it and since I can't do it at work my time is definitely limited. I wish it wasn't because I could spend lots of time reading all the info. As for the part of the assignment where we are to comment to someone. I did that but not to a library related tweet. It takes lots of time and practice to get the hang of it. Since I have gotten the hang of facebook I sure twitter is just a matter of time.

NEW CLASS Next Thing

I decided to do it!!! I signed up for the next 2.0 class. I will have to do it all at home because some people thought I was spending too much time on "playing" at work. Maybe it was playing because I was enjoying most of it.
Hopefully I will get to do alot of the Things. I really hope to.

thing 23 The End

Most of this class was fun. I may have had a hard time getting into some of the things but after all is said and done I really enjoyed it. Some of the things like bloglines I wil keep doing . Twitter is another one I will keep watching. It will have to be only at home because I am in trouble at work for not doing only library things on my computer. As you can tell I really liked those 2. It was a good thing to learn what these things are even if our patrons don't have a clue most of the time. Now if someone says something about a wiki or a podcast or even a RSS feed I will know what they are talking about. The emails are a little bit annoying when they tell every time someone put up a new thought. So I will be getting out of those as soon as I can.
That is one of the things I didn't like about the class was that we had to sign up for stuff that we will never use again. I guess I can see the point but it would be good if there were a way to see the way it works without actually signing up if it is something you don't forsee using again.
If another class like this is offered I would do it but probably do it all at home so that nobody could question if I was doing library work or personal stuff.
I realize that isn't the fault of the class just a personal thing that is going on right now.
So to end this. Thank you for giving me the chance to learn about all of these THINGS!!

Podcast

All I knew about podcasts before this class was that the tech guy for the city has done some of library and city activities. Now I see what they are and looked at the sites you offered. There is alot of information to see and hear. I can see where this could be useful if you maybe teach an online class or maybe even a true classroom. I guess I could use it for getting information too, but for me it is just as simple to read it if I am online. Most of the computers here at the library don't have sound unless you borrow headphones. So I think our patrons would most of the time find it easier to read.

You tube

Of course I had looked at you tube before. My kids send me things from there to look at. I looked at several clips from there for the class. The one I decided to choose to mention for the class is the one for the City of Southsioux City Christmas lights. Because it is from here and shows our library and I think the Christmas lights are really cool. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCKer2sJ_8Y is where it is.
The other clips that I watched were some about parrots because one of my grand pets is a parrot like is on there and she is just like them.
Any way yes I can see uses for you tube in the library because South Sioux City already has some of our news on there. It is an interesting way to show the world what the city and library is doing.

Thing #20 Web 2.0

I could look at these sites for a very long time. They are fun. i looked at quite a few of them. My first reaction was hey I could do this really fast because Facebook was in the social site. I do Facebook and have for a year. So yes I enjoy that one. But then since the idea is to see something new I looked at others. I was almost late for work! Doof is FUN! I should remember this site because we have kids mostly who come into the library and think it is so cool to get on the computer and then they don't know what to do and want a game to play. There were several games that they could play that don't have to be downloaded. As I said in another blog I am hooked on games like bejeweled so I could have played all day.

Apps

My son has been telling me for awhile that I should Google to save my documents. He said that then I don't have to worry about if I have my disk or flashdrive. I can see now that what he said could be something that I might use. I would be nice to get started on something at home and finish it at work. Especially since I make alot of the signs fo rthe library and I have access to clip art at home that I don't have at work.
It will take practice, and reminders but I just might make use of this one long after the class.

thing 18-PBWiki

I guess it is OK. I would rather do other things like play games or talk to family when I am online. I guess I am to shy of a person to want to share my stuff with people I don't know. If I did this with just my family group I think I might be able to get more use out of it. But for this class I guess it was an interesting thing to use. Though I really don't see our library using it for anything in the near future.

Wiki Thing #17

Wiki's to me, while interesting, are something that I am really not sure of. I think that is what I find most interesting. Also the amount of people that will add to sites just because they can is amazing. I would be wondering if I was saying it correctly etc. It makes me think tht if everyone could add to it how accurate could it be. However if it is something like a book club or discussion page it could work. I still would be reluctant to do it, but I am sure other people wouldn't have that issue.

#16 2.0

I should have read the Wikipedia part first and then it might not have been so scary. All the information was definitely an overload. I agree that libraries need to change with the times, but we need to stay a "library". Libraries are places to get books and information in a way that is not expensive. My Dad comes to the library almost everyday to read the Omaha newspaper. He could get that paper delivered to his house but why should he when, as a taxpayer, he has access to it at the library. Libraries can and should be for people of all ages and incomes. While I have fun with my computer at home there are many people who can't or don't want to do that sort of thing. So libraries need to remember that!! Also I don't believe that a computer will ever replace curling up in a chair with a good book.