Thing #23

Finally finished! It was an excellent discovery process. I learned many new and useful tools: My Delicious, blogging, Flickr, and Zoho Writer were among the most useful. I have added Picture Book Subject Lists to Zoho Writer, so that several of us may work on them at the same time. This training also allowed me to explore more fully other tools that I was aware but hadn't investigated in depth. Among the frustrations were the many broken links and links that had outdated dates. I would definitely want to have similar training that would be more up-to-date.

Thing #22

NetLibrary and Overdrive should have been higher up on this list, as these are resources on our Website and librarians should be knowledgable about them. I have already taken the online webinar for Overdrive and attended the training for NetLibrary at Staff Day. However, I have never tried to download a book from my home computer! It's easier to check out a audio book, than to spend time downloading a book to my iTouch. I have resolved to try it!

Thing #21

Exploring podcasts under the "Discovery Resources" was extremely frustrating, as many of the links in the podcast directories were dead. Podcastalley.com was the only directory that worked, but many of these podcasts, under the subjects I looked for, were outdated. A Google search for "Library podcasts" brought up a great podcast for the Free Library of Philadephia: http://libwww.library.phila.gov/podcast/. This is a podcast of their author events, up-to-date and also with an archive. What a terrific idea--a library can certainly expand their audience by this method. Should MCPL try this?

Thing #20

I've been aware of You Tube for quite awhile, but have never explored it. After searching "library" found a pretty interesting library rap-"The Dewey Decimal Rap":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHiUQb5xg7A.

Also looked at a school's math presentation--sure wish this was available when my children were in school. What a wonderful tool--but who has time to explore all these wonderful tools?

Thing #19

I explored several sites on the Web 2.0 Awards list. Many sites that we have explored through this training are on the list: Flickr; Zoho; Google Docs; and deli.icio.us. I explored the travel sites and liked Kayak http://www.kayak.com/ which will search several sites at the same time for hotels, flights or cruises. Should be useful as my brother moved overseas.

Thing #18

I signed up for both Google Docs and Zoho Writer, and tried to load the Picture Book Index onto both. This online tool would provide easier access to the Index and thus make it easier to update. Google Docs does not have enough space for the Index, but Zoho Writer was able to upload about half the list. This should make it easier for several people to work on this, and am hoping to recruit some colleagues from other branches. Very optimistic about this new (to me) tool.

Thing #17

The Sandbox wiki links did not work. However, I did google sandbox wiki and read about what it's supposed to be used for: experiment with using a wiki, without the contents being posted. It might be interesting to try a systemwide wiki for Picture Book Subjects and Fiction Subjects.

Thing #16

I've often looked at Wikipedia, but have never explored other wikis. Exploring the ways other libraries are using wikis is interesting, although some of the wikis have not been updated. I especially liked the Book Lovers Wiki developed by the Princeton Public Library. This would probably be very popular in Montgomery County and would be a good way for children to add reviews of books they read during the summer. The Bull Run Public Library's wiki has a disclaimer that the wiki is created by and for the patrons of the Bull Run Library and is not associated nor sponsored by the Prince William County Library System. The wiki gives much more detailed information about that specific branch and their programs. Wonder how much staff time is spent monitoring/correcting information on this wiki.

Thing #15

Reading about Library 2.0 makes me think about the unlimited possibilities of Public Libraries. A recent post on Twitter wonders how the recent iPad will change the future of libraries--will the public want more downloadable ebooks? My guess is yes, as the iPad becomes cheaper and easier to use. Some thoughts: how fast will this happen, what will be in impact on libraries and how fast will MCPL adapt? Coincidentally, the CNN RSS feed I have, listed an article about the iPad, stating that there is an app call iBooks, which might put the Kindle out of business.

Thing #14

Technorati did not interest me as much as other sites--maybe I'm just not interested in searching out other blogs. I did look for a cousins' blog, but couldn't find it among any of the tags. She discusses her art work and art classes on her blog, but maybe she doesn't know about Technorati. Also, I did not "claim" my blog,--for now want it to be a little more private.

Thing #13

Delicious is very useful! It took some time (more than 45 minutes) to figure this out, as many of the tutorials did not work. After looking over some of the bookmarks posted, I set up a "23 training" bookmark for myself. It includes all of the various sites that I've registered for during this training. The sites are now easily accesed at home. Here is the link for my delicious bookmark:
http://delicious.com/23training

Thing #12

Rollyo is a little more difficult for me to figure out. This site requires more time to explore fully. I set up a search engine for Online Shopping and Condos.

It searches all the sites I listed in each of these, but it includes the entire web. I have been unable to limit the searches to the sites listed on my search engine. It's great to search all of these sites at one time, but need to figure out a way to limit the searches. Here is the link to my search engines:
http://rollyo.com/dashboard.html

Thing #11

Library Thing is another useful tool for librarians. I am using Library Thing to keep track of some of the books I have recently read--instead of notes in a folder! Of course, I still have to explore all the options available and different ways to use Library Thing.

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/glatsb

Thing #10

The online image generator was fun to explore. I used Yahoo Avatars because I have a user name and password to start using it. Look at my profile to see the image I created. It was tempting to design a different image--pink spike hair and slinky gown--but designed a more conservative image. Here is the link to look at what you can do with your own image.
http://lookup.avatars.yahoo.com/ewimages?enc=VtSzDQpFScHdXB5mkt1UvntuJrO37jg-&size=large&type=jpg&.intl=uk

I would like to experiment with some photos from our albums and see what outrageous images I can come up with.

Thing #9

Librarian blogs were easy to find and both useful and fun to read. School Library Journal has several blogs and the most useful are:

Good Comics for Kids: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/540000654.html

Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/560000656.html

Good Comics for Kids and others that follow it are useful to help me keep up with Graphic Novels. Heavy Medal is a discussion of best bets for the Newbery Award. This blog helped me to focus my reading on the most likely contenders for the award.

The Lipstick Librarian is a fun blog to read--it makes fun of librarian sterotypes and presents another side of the librarian personna.

Days & Nights of the Lipstick Librarian

http://www.lipsticklibrarian.com/blog/00656/post/730051673.