Yea! I Made it to Thing #23

Even though this seemed like a long and sometimes scary journey, I must say I have learned a great deal about newer technology tools. Some of the tools will be useful in a library setting - Just the other day our library director asked me to hep her set up a blog for our library when I finish the Nebraska Learns 2.0.
I think my favorites were Instant Messaging, Flickr, and LibraryThing. I even suggested LibraryThing to a library patron the other night. She, like other patrons, say they think they should keep a list of books they've read, so they don't check out the same book again. I told her maybe using LibraryThing to list books she'd read would be helpful. I will suggest this to others who talk about making a list of books they've read or want to read, depending on whether they use the computer a lot or not.
I am very thankful that this class was offered - many of these were things that I had heard about, and knew people who used them, but because of my "busy lifestyle", I just never took the time to explore them. My 15 year old keeps telling me that I need to get on FaceBook, because my 2 younger sisters are on, but that never was enough to get me interested. You would think that I would have gotten on FaceBook because our oldest son in Washington has an account, and used to have time to post pictures of our grandson in his album. Now that I'm considering it, he has gotten too busy to have time to put pictures on very often!
And if you offer another discovery class like this in the future , I most likely would participate - I learned so much from this one. Thanks for offering the class Allana, Christa, Michael and Susan, and thanks for the help you offered along the way. (I would probably have asked for more help, but knew you weren't up when I was working on many of the lessons!)
Keri Anderson

Thing #22

Podcasts - not my thing. I took a look at 2 of the podcast directories, but couldn't seem to find anything I liked. Then I looked at the library related podcasts suggested that I could get into. And I even checked NETV and Nebraska.TV for podcasts. When I did find a podcast I wanted to put into my Bloglines account, it wouldn't let me. I tried several times, different ways (and even with the help of my IT knowledgeable husband), so I tried to find podcasts through Google. I finally got Crochet Side podcasts into my Bloglines account. Yahoo!

Thing #21 - YouTube

I have received YouTube videos from others a few times in my email, but had not set up an account for myself. Well, I just did that - they kept telling me my password did not work, and I finally got it reset. Based on a video that a friend had sent me, I searched for Il Divo and found several videos. The one she sent me was Il Divo singing "Amazing Grace" which was just that - amazing! I couldn't embed this so you could enjoy it, but I was going to try to embed Il Divo and Celine Dion singing "I Believe in You" - as you can guess I couldn't get it to work. Guess I'll have to work on this. I also would suggest that if you like that, look for videos of Celine Dion and Josh Groban. He is one of my favorites.
Anyway, I like some things about the site - like many things you just have to pick and choose. I think YouTube is accessed by a lot of people in libraries, but I don't know of too many who put their own videos on.

Thing #20

Wow! So many choices - of course I had to check out several categories, rather than just one like was suggested. How else was I to know what was available? Under the Books category, I liked the 1st place tool - Lulu. Because I have a couple children's books I wrote down in the last year (that just might be fun to publish for my kids/grandkids) this looked like a good sight. You can publish with no set-up fees, and choose hardback, paperback, photo album, calendar, cookbook, etc. Then you decide the cost. I'd have to check it out, but it sounds interesting to me. Maybe it could be useful in the library if someone came in and said they were writing short stories or children's stories for their kids, or wanted a way to publish a cookbook for their organization's fund-raiser or their kids for Christmas.
I also looked at the 1st place tool in Geneology - MyHeritage; Zango in the Games & Entertainment category; and Craigslist in the Classifieds & Directories category. I'll probably explore these more later.

Thing #19

I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel - I kept thinking I might not make it. But now I have joined Google Docs (instead of Zoho Writer, since I could sign in with my Google account info). It was really easy, and I decided to accomplish something that I would need to do soon anyway - make an agenda for my Extension Club's February meeting. I had a lot to put in, since I won't be able to go, and needed enough details to be clear to the others. So I did not publish it to this blog, because it would be uninteresting to others reading my blog.
I want to explore more on Google Docs, such as Picasa Photos. Who knows? I really liked this. I like that I can save my documents online and access them from anywhere with Internet access and not have to save them on a USB flash drive. This could be beneficial to students who sometimes forget to save them to a flash drive, leave it at home when they need it in class, or have to borrow someone else's.

Thing #18

This was fun! I created an account on the Nebraska Learns 2.0 wiki and added my blog to the Favorite Blogs page. From there, I added to the Favorite Movies and Favorite Vacation Spots. Maybe another time I'll add to others, like Favorite Books and Favorite Music.
I really liked this experience. Thanks.

Thing #17 - Wikis

I looked at all the library wikis listed under the Discovery Exercise. I liked the Book Lovers wiki and could see how a wiki for the Annual Conference could be useful if you wanted more info on what to see and do while at the conference. It would be nice to get that info from people knowledgeable about a conference if you had never been to one, or about a city you hadn't been to before.
In one article it stated that in public libraries, where the technological skills of employees can range from high to non-existent, wikis can allow everyone the ability to develop the website, which would then reflect the imagination and good ideas of the entire organization, not just a select few "tech-savvy" people.
Ways I think our library could use a wiki would be for subject guides, and maybe for a book lovers club. I also think the use of a community wiki is a good idea to disseminate community info, but am not sure it wouldn't be better set up on the city's web page. Oh, I know we need to attract people to the library who may otherwise never visit it, but where do small libraries find the time to do this?
Using the Library Success Wiki might be a good idea, if the library staff has done something truly creative. That way libraries could look for things to help promote their libraries, or other services they might be able to use.
And I think in larger libraries, they could use a wiki to share policy and reference manuals, as well as other relevant news.

Thing #16

I read, and re-read, and read all the perspectives again. There were some thought-provoking articles, and some of them were just more that I could take in. In the article "Away From the Icebergs" I agree that our patrons will probably expect access to everything, especially those who are very tech-savvy. But in a small rural area, many do not have time to explore a lot of new technologies. So when Rick Anderson says that it no longer makes sense to collect information products in the traditional sense at all, I do not see that as something we will see for awhile. But I do agree with him when he states that we need to place library services and content in the user's preferred environment by integrating our services into their daily patterns of work, study and play.
There were also some things I liked in Michael Stephens' article. The 2.0 Librarian will have to do reading outside the profession and watch for technology's impact on users and business. They have to be constantly seeking out information and news that may impact future services. Because "the library is human", a social and emotionally engaging center for learning and experience, the librarian may need to use Instant Messaging to meet users in their online space, or create MySpace profiles and participate in other on-line communities to build connections where their users are. The last paragraph sums it up nicely - "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 staff time to play and learn, and never stops dreaming about the best library services." Isn't that what all good librarians already do?

Thing #15 - SlideShare

First, I explored SlideShare, and then I created yet another account! I really got caught up in exploring the different slideshows - I especially like the ones with great photography that makes you wish you could take photos of places like that, and with that great skill. I left comments on a couple of the slideshows.
I wasn't able to find a way to add nebraskaccess as a contact - guess I'll have to try again later.
This is interesting, but I'm not sure about how this would be useful in a library setting, unless it was for training of other staff on a particular library-related subject.
I'm not sure how much I will use SlideShare, as I am being very selective of who I invite to join. But it is good to know about all these different sights.
(I haven't created any PowerPoints, so couldn't upload it to my account.)
My account is: http://www.slideshare.net/keri_from_alma -- hope this is what is needed.

Thing #14 - How Delicious!

I think I'll like Delicious - maybe it will make it quicker to locate websites I would like to label as favorites.
I did create a Delicious account - it automatically added all the things my husband had bookmarked (I haven't had the chance to mention it to him yet). And I haven't had the chance to bookmark any of my choices yet.
The Holdrege Public Library has an extensive account, as does the Nebraska Library Commission.
If I had to assign tags to the NebraskAccess website, I would use the following tags: NebraskAccess, reference, geneology, Nebraska Library Commission, education. I have used some of the same tags other Delicious users have, I noticed.
I will have to spend more time than at 12:15 a.m. bookmarking my favorite sites, but I think it will be very useful. It could help with research at the library, and has a potential to use for sharing bookmarks with groups of people like those in a book group, although I doubt most of the older ladies in our book group are on the internet very often. This can be an easy way for me to create bookmarks to access from anywhere.

Thing #13 _Twitter...Tweet,Tweet!

I've done it -signed up for Twitter and did a couple tweets. I had too many characters - I'll have to learn to abbreviate and not use a, an, the, etc. That will be hard for me! I decided to follow a few of the librarians listed in Elllyssa Kroski's article, and of course, Michael Sauer was one I chose to follow. Nothing had been posted for several hours, so I'll have to check again. And I wasn't interested in Jessamyn West's tweets, even though she is listed as the librarian with the most followers. I did send an invite to Allana, as well as a few family and other friends, but it was closing time at the library, so had to get off Twitter for the evening. I plan to follow NLC News, also.
I really don't think Twitter, or any micro-blogging is for me. I don't care to share what I'm doing all the time with strangers, and most people I know aren't on Twitter.
Bigger libraries could probably use Twitter to let people know what events are coming, but our small library doesn't host many events. We don't really have need of this as a promotional tool. We also don't have a lot of time when we are in the library to spend on updating technological stuff.
I doubt I'll use it very much, as there just aren't enough hours in my day for another thing. But it was interesting to learn about.

I Like LibraryThing - #12

I really am excited about LibraryThing. It was so easy to create an account (yes, one more user name & password to remember!) and to add books. I know that I have a tendency to read all of one author, if I really like them, before I read others - that was obvious when I started adding books. One of my favorite authors is Karen Kingsbury, and another one is Jan Karon. I have a long list of books and authors that I plan to read, but never seem to have enough time - otherwise I'd be reading all the time!
One thing I did not remember seeing, but may have overlooked, is a way or place to add books (or authors) that I want to read. Is there a way to do this? I also think I added one book 2 or 3 times, but couldn't seem to delete any of them.
I know that it won't take long to get to the 200 books in my free account - guess then I have to decide whether to have a paid account.
Some selections in my LibraryThing catalog are:

Recently added

I'm not really sure how to link to my LibraryThing catalog, so I'll add this as a possible way:
http://www.librarything.com/home/keri_from_alma

Technology - Thing #11

Technology - what a blessing that sometimes I despise! I don't spend near the time at the computer as the males in my family, and they usually forget that I am technologically challenged. My husband is an IT specialist at his job, and feels that if he tells me some technology thing once, I should remember it for all-time. My brain, however, is usually going in six (or more) directions at a time, and does not process techie things the way his does. My oldest two sons are also techies, and use the computer, cell phones, etc. constantly to stay in contact. I also have 2 daughters and another son who stay connected and up to date on things with technology, like Facebook, as do my younger sisters (the youngest of whom just turned 40). So, I need to get connected in order to stay in touch.
It won't be long until my 9 month, 9 1/2 month, and 2 year old grandsons are more tech-savvy than I! They love to sit on our laps and reach for the cell phone or keyboard when they are around. And I see the kindergarteners at out school using the laptops to learn on, as well as the SmartBoards that the school now has. So this NELearns2.0 is very important for me to work through and learn new things. Some of them are really interesting to me, and some I will probably never use again. But for the sake of the patrons at the library, my family and friends, I need to at least be exposed to them. So, thank you for offering this.

Thing #10

For Thing #10, I tried a few of the Image Generators, like Mini-Read Posters and Dumpr. I couldn't get my youngest grandson's picture with his book to show up correctly in the mini-posters. So I tried one of my Easter Amarylis pictures in a Museum picture and here it is:
http://www.dumpr.net/photo/274cf0622f1d0093/
I'd like to try some of the other generators, so will probably play around with this lesson later. This was fun!

Thing #9

Wow! I spent too much time exploring several of the web applications and 3rd party tools for Flickr, and now I have to choose 1 to blog about that intrigues me?! Actually, I am intrigued by Montagr, where a photo mosiac is created from photos found on Flickr. It's amazing how if you ask it to create a mosiac of a horse, it picks one picture of a horse and then uses hundreds of horse pictures to make a mosiac that looks like that picture.
I enjoyed some of the other 3rd party tools, like Flickr Cover Flow Slideshow, and Flickriver, and the one on postcards, but many of the other ones were too much for me to handle thinking about. I did not see any that might have a practical application to the library, but as I said I did not explore most of them - there were just too many of them!