File Conversion

Zamzar.com is wonderful. Because I only had Microsoft Works at home, I had trouble with my Master's paper that had to be in Word. I certainly could have used it then. I can use it now with converting video files, because I am having difficulty creating DVDs from my camcorder. The use of Zamzar in the library can be tremendous! Everyone has file conversion issues, and Zamzar is free.

Youtube revisitied

Here is a video posted by one of my husbands former co-workers at the evil Circuit City (before they fired all their commissioned sales people and hired kids at minimum wage). My husband is listed in the credits. My friend Bob is in it (the guy who says it will never work). The videographer of this also filmed my wedding.

Looking back at Library 2.0

I think this program has been a good one. It is important to keep up with new technologies, and the best way is really play and experience them. I am grateful for the time, guidance, and sharing this has provided. I hope the library implements some of these into our web presence soon. I would enjoy working on library blogs or wikis, and would like to see us get started with some book reviews and discussions so we are ready for next year's summer reading. Another nice benefit of the Library 2.0 project is getting to know other staff members better. Now it's off to "beyond 23 things."

Cameron is 6 months old!

Cameron is 6 months old already. It's hard to believe! He went to the doctor for his checkup. He weighs 19 lbs. 12 oz., and is 28 3/8" long. Soon he won't fit in 12 mo. clothes anymore. He rolls over and sits on his own now. He is such a good baby!

E-Books

I have checked out one e-book in my life - on a Sunday night to get free Ohio will papers for a relative. It took awhile, as I remember, to download the new adobe and other such programs, but I finally got it to work. On a positive note, the papers were not needed, as the person got better. I can see students and researchers using e-books, but I think most people want a book they can hold (myself included). I look at a screen too much as it is! I can see the benefits of audio e-books, however. I will check one out when I get my ipod.

Podcasts

Looked at podcasts, and podcast directories. I personally do not find them very interesting. Subscribed to "Audiobooks with Annie" on my bloglines account. Tried to place a widget for this feed in my post, but I had trouble getting the image to load correctly so it's at the bottom right of my page. I can see this being beneficial on our library catalog. Many patrons need help with basics like clicking on a title to get location information, how to use the cart function, etc. Podcasts placed in the catalog might be helpful - but the noise might be a problem in some locations. News releases could have podcasts along the stories on the libraries homepage.

YouTube

Here is a FatBoy Slim video featuring the dancing stylings of Christopher Walken (who is a talented and fascinating guy). I found YouTube very easy to use. It was very easy to post once I read in the #20 instructions to use the edit HTML tab in the post. That was the secret I have been missing for getting the codes in the posts, and not just added on the side or bottom! I like the idea of YouTube. Everyone should check out the Silent Library Japanese game show. I found a lot of library promotional videos on there.

Web 2.0 Awards

I looked at several of the Web 2.0 award winning sites. Be Green Now was interesting. I got an ESPN widget from Springwidgets. I found Yahoo! Answers interesting and disturbing at the same time. Some people believe everything they read on the internet. I think that the library should promote itself as an authority on reference in person, on the phone, and online. We must get people to understand the importance of trustworthy and reliable information that is absent of opinion, bias, or product promotion. You can get all sorts of information on the web, but people don't understand that anyone can put anything out there. This should be our mission. I did find Minti interesting. It is advice for parents by parents. And I DO understand that this is in addition to the pediatrician's instructions and the medical book I have by the American Pediatrics Association.

Online productivity

I think that Zoho is wonderful. I really could have used this when I was working on my Master's degree. I only had Microsoft Works at home, and my Master's paper had to be in Word. I didn't want to spend the money on all these Office products. Zoho even has Online spreadsheets and presentations. Who needs Excel and PowerPoint! You can insert all kinds of things. but I wish there was more choices of lettering styles. © 2007

The previous paragraph was posted from Zoho. It really couldn't have been easier! I also looked at Google docs, but I think I like Zoho better.

Wikis Part 1 & 2

I can really see the value of Wikis. I especially liked the Princeton Public Library Booklovers Wiki. It is great how they tied in their summer reading program with patron reviews. I definitely think we should do something like this next year, and not just for the adult program. We had patrons requesting they be able to sign up for summer reading online. Why not?
I added my blog and some other favorites to the PLCMC Learning 2.0 Wiki. It was so easy! I am so excited to make my own wiki - but what would it be about, hmmm?
A side note - had anyone tried www.ineighbors.org?

Perspectives of Web 2.0 & Library 2.0

I read all the different perspectives of Library 2.0, and while everyone has the general idea - to promote new and interactive technologies into library service - everyone's view is shaped by the position they hold. Rick Anderson who is the Director of Resource Acquisition at the Univ. of Nevada has a very bold opinion of the direction of libraries. He must remember, however, that the college environment with students who have grown up using technologies and who are there to research is very different from a public library setting. Those who use the library for their classwork might not need a printed book. They carry around many items and textbooks as it is. Students might prefer palm readers and other electronic resources. People who use the public library often are there for books that they can curl up with and savor. While we might change the way we look at selection and retention guidelines and add more electronic resources, we cannot alienate those who cannot or will not use or want everything on a computer. He says "Our patrons have no such qualms" about letting go of past practices and attitudes. I firmly disagree with this statement. Just a few weeks ago a patron said "librarians who don't use a card catalog aren't real librarians".
Anderson lists 3 icebergs as barriers to future success. His first iceberg of the "just in case collection" is something to be evaluated. In the future, books may never go out of print. It could be all print on demand. His second iceberg suggests that there is not enough staff to train every patron, so we should spend our time eliminating all barriers. I agree with this, although sometimes even the simplest tasks can be complicated for many of our patrons. This again is not a university setting, and we must always remember we are here to serve those of all levels and abilities. We should make things as simple as possible, but make time to help those who need it. Unfortunately, people who do not work with the public on a daily basis tend to overestimate the level of user education. We must be a vital part of this community and help bring those who have no computer skills to a functioning level. Anderson's third, and final iceberg, is the "come to us" model of library service. To compete for dwindling government money, and be known in the community as a relevant public institution, we must market ourselves and show all the library has to offer.
Personally, I feel we must advance in the Library 2.0 arena, while always asking ourselves why we want to implement new technology. Are we trying something new just appear we are on the cutting edge? We should analyze the cost of new technologies versus the benefit to the whole. We should also keep on training the staff and the public in web 2.0 areas. I think the direction the library should be going next is making our web presence more dynamic and interactive. I feel that many currently on our staff could be entrusted with upkeeping book lists on our websites, developing wikis, and working on blogs for various aspects of YPL's service. I would like to see wikis and blogs for children, teen, various fiction genres, grants, business, genealogy, local history, etc. I feel we should have places where patrons can give their reviews and have book discussions online. Allowing the community to be a part of the library's web presence might go far in giving them a greater sense of ownership.

Technorati

I vaguely remember Technorati from #9. I didn't find it very interesting then. I do understand the whole blogging and Technorati idea better now. I can see it's purpose in the social networking blog universe. I do not wish to claim my blog at this time (or add searchable tags). I feel this blog is more for work and for people I know to see it. I doubt it would be very interesting to the entire world.

Del.icio.us

At first I thought del.icio.us would be another of those things that I would never use, but after using it to find information about the harmful chemical in plastic baby bottles, I think I might use it after all. Instead of writing down all the links I might want, I can just bookmark them and access them from anywhere. I actually did have an account with a website when I first started working here that keep sites bookmarked (no tagging though), but I can't even remember now what the name was. I also found in the popular/new science tags how to make a tomato glow. Very interesting. I can see the value of this in research quite easily. See my del.icio.us at http://del.icio.us/starrbug

LibraryThing and Rollyo

Did the LibraryThing. Set up an account and put in some of Cameron's books. I probably won't ever use this. I know what books I have, and don't really need to share. It is a neat idea though.
Here is a link to a Rollyo search http://rollyo.com/starrbug/parenting/
I don't know that I will really use this either. You still get other garbage stuff on the page. I can see it's merits. I also did one for getting bibliographic information for 416's http://rollyo.com/starrbug/my_book_buying/ I really don't know if this will save time over using bookmarks or not?

Cats

My sister's kitties - aren't they cute?

More Image Generators

Here are some fun images created at: http://www.imagechef.com/
I had trouble getting images from YourGen Text Generator on this blog.

Bloglines

Bloglines is interesting, although I don't know if I will really check on it everyday like my email accounts. RSS technology is something I was not aware of, and I have started to notice the buttons on websites. Amazon has a blog called "The Leaky Cauldron," about Harry Potter. I didn't add this to my feeds because I haven't read book 6 yet, and I don't want to accidentally see stuff. I had some trouble with the RSS locator sites in finding what I was looking for, but I have managed to add many feeds to my bloglines account: www.bloglines.com/public/starrbug

Cameron is 4 months old

Cameron went for his 4 month checkup. He now weighs 16 lbs., 9 oz. and is 25 3/4 inches long. He got all his shots, and he cried. This makes mommy and daddy very sad. He can start eating cereal and other foods now! Yeah!

Flickr

I explored Flickr and mashups. I looked at Retrievr, FD's Flickr Toys, Mosaic Maker, CD Cover, Trading Card Maker, Flickr Chia Pet, etc. I don't feel ready to share my pictures with the world at this time. I do have photos in albums on Walgreen's website to order and share with family. It's all very nice if you have the time to play around. There are some beautiful pictures.

Image Generators

I really like the image generators. I'll have to play with some of my own pictures. This is a sketch from a historical picture of Main Library. It is so easy! I used this website: http://www.dumpr.net/sketch.php I also made a a new book cover using: http://dummies.book.cover.txt2pic.com/

Lifelong learning and blogging

This is my first time blogging or having my own webpage. Barb has invited me to myspace, but I have never done anything but view her page.
About lifelong learning - I think it is of the utmost importance. One of the reasons why I love librarianship is that we deal with so many subjects and formats, you can learn new things everyday. That's why librarians are so good at trivia games!
I would like to learn more about digital imaging and photography, so that I can share photos of Cameron with my family. I would also like to brush up on my Spanish, so that I can teach my son a second language while he's young enough to really get fluent. I also want to keep current with new technology for reference work. My biggest obstacle is time. A new baby just sucks up all your time and energy!