On the journey of 23 things

First, some commentary on the experience of 23 things. The nature of web 2.0 leads to a sort of solitary blogging in the dark. I know my friends are out there somewhere. It is just that while you are blogging it is more of an internal dialogue that you would wish someone else was interested in but are not really sure that they will be.

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?

It takes courage to venture boldly into new territory, to try new things and to try to rush through the learning experience so you can get back to all your work with ticking deadlines. I waffled between the joy of discovery and the frustration of trying tools that just did not seem to do what I thought they should do. I did enjoy sharing my frustrations and successes with my co-workers. Searching through everyone else's blogs for ideas was very helpful and illuminating.

Blogger was perhaps the most in-depth of the learning experiences. I enjoyed adding items to the layout, sending pictures and widgets back to my blog and commenting on other people's blogs as well as picking up some really great sites and widgets.

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?

This program reminded me why I stayed in college as long as I did: The joy of discovery! Having to spend a specified amount of effort on some of these tools helped to encourage my interest. Many of these tools I have looked at before but have not attempted to use.

Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
We discovered far more things than the 23 things assigned. I also gained more knowledge and appreciation of my fellow library employees in this experience than all of our Annual Training Days combined.

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?

Perhaps the only improvement I would suggest is not to ask for a blog for each thing. Some things were easy to blog about. Others were hard to take an interest in much less find something entertaining or blog worthy to say about them. It left many of us without an opportunity to blog additional topics of interest.

The branchs that linked each other blogs seemed to be more successful. I think it encouraged group competition as well as provided emotional and technical support.

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?

This is perhaps the most fun I have had at work in ages. The program was well designed and the directions were very helpful. Some of the links to what to write about were found in odd places and I am not the only one who missed the directions about the seven habits. I do think a little slower pace would be helpful. We have had an unexpectedly busy summer and this impacted the amount of time available for this project.

And last but not least…

If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you again chose to participate? Yes!

Podcasting

Podcasting can be used as way to entertain as well as accent library services. The Denver Public Library has two audio services that are very patron friendly: Denver Public Library Podcasts and Phone-a-Story. The Sunnyvale Public Library provides podcasts as part of their Downloads and E-Books services. Their podcasts are audios or videos of their various library programs. The use of any media needs to have a reliable, repeatable purpose. To use any tool for the sake of the technology lacks sustainability. Podcasts can be used to widen availability of a popular program.

I found an article from LJ about creating podcasts. It is written by Jeffrey Griffey who has a new book Library Blogging with Karen A. Coombs. He also has a library technology blog called Pattern Recognition. He is the Head of Library Information Technology at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

YouTube or the video is the thing

My daughters are both avid YouTubers. So my personal experience with YouTube is more in the nature of a facilitator. I make sure they type google correctly and I write down whatever they are not sure how to spell. There is no stopping them visiting the library to watch videos at least once a week. Their interests are primarily anime characters and television shows but several musicians often pique their interests as well. This week Madonna's Die Another Day was a must have.

As a parent, my concern with YouTube is the uncensored component to YouTube. Having had this personal experience helps as a librarian to realize just how easy it is to find inappropriate content as well as trying to balance the interests of young adults.

As a librarian, video format is a great way to learn new skills. I tripped over this video while I was searching for library blogs with technorati. Serendipitious!

Building Academic Library 2.0 sponsored by the Librarians Association of the University of California, Berkeley Division

Overdrive

I am an avid reader but I find my audiobook preferences very different from my reading preferences. The first difference is that I prefer listening to non-fiction rather than fiction. The second difference is that the acting skills of the performer can make or break my interest in listening. Jim Dale is my all time favorite performer.

Now on to Overdrive. I always like to try out our databases at home to see how that experience is different for our patrons. Downloading audiobooks is different with each service and there are little eccentricities to learn with each service. The primary problem that I have had with Overdrive has nothing to do with software but with the limited selections of books. So far I have only found one fiction book that I wanted to download and I had to wait months for my reserve to become available. This really takes the document delivery aspect of audiobooks away from Overdrive. I fared better this time choosing a non-fiction title which became available in less than a week.

Friends and other things

As a librarian, moderating appropriate behavior in the library is simply a facet of my job. Patrons, be they any walk of life: adults,teens,or pre-teens for example, may easily have what I will call a social networking obsession. Facebook is one of these social networking tools that may cause such an obsession.

As part of a different Web 2.0 class, we had several exercises including signing up for Facebook. I completed that exercise with great trepidation. I found my best friend from Library School. That was fun! I invited her to join Facebook and now she has tons of friends. See, I am only a teeny bit jealous. I also have been able to keep in touch with library cohorts who have had the audacity to move away from the Sunshine state.

Like many people, I lead a busy to very busy life. I also am not a good letter writer. Facebook allows me to touch base with family and friends as well as entertain myself with cool time-wasting applications with very little effort. This week, for example, I was reassured that Kristen arrived safely for her vacation and I was able to throw several purple octopi at my friends with great glee.

Sometimes I love Facebook. Sometimes I wish I had enough time for Facebook. Sometimes I have to repeatedly remind patrons about appropriate behavior while using a social networking site. Standing on the chair leg and leaning over your friend while breathing on the neck of the person at the next computer is not appropriate library behavior. Laughing even while covering your hands if your voices carry more than half-way across the library is not appropriate library behavior. And running across the library to tell your other friends something funny is also not appropriate library behavior. Finding a balance between moderating patron behavior and providing good customer service is also simply part of my job.

Facebook is wonderfully web 2.0 interactive. You can add all sorts of foolish and not-so-foolish applications to your facebook account like worldcat and superpoke.

Favorite things.....pbclswiki

Wikis are like many other web 2.0 things we have tried....The hardest part is to gather up the courage to click on the edit button! The pbcls wiki like the blogs is a great way to get to know your co-workers.

Zoho, ho hum

I posted the last post with Zoho. It looks all right. Having access to a document from whatever computer you are sitting at could be convenient. I am, however; pretty attached to my laptop. If my daughter begins confiscating my laptop again, I will try to remember this option.

 

EOS vs. Library 2.O

 

EOS or End of service is what I call a computerized library without internet and/or power.  In the old days, whether the Internet connection worked or not did not impair library staff from providing library service.  We still had books, magazines, and librarians able to assist in the search for knowledge. 

 

In the Library Web 2.0 future, we will not have big bulky Reference books or hidden stacks of old magazines to assist patrons.  Hence, the arrival of EOS.  We have already had days that mirror this future during a few hurricane seasons in the recent past.  Patrons walk in the door, peruse the circle of computers, note the out of order signs, occasionally inquire how long the computers will be down and assume the library has nothing further for them.  This is a library future I am not yet ready to embrace.  Call me resistant to change.  Call me an archaic.  Call me anything but EOS. 

 

If we could somehow still have both, a Web 2.0 library and shelves with books, magazines, and dvds, as well as librarians that know how to find information in both paper and electronic sources, that would be my first choice.  Living in a world of paperless resources creates the potential for moments of EOS.  Determining which resources are important enough to retain in paper in a library world of ever tightening budgets creates hard choices and the limiting of access to information for some. 

 

Just this week, I helped an independent business consultant decide that "yes, he would have to drive to North Miami" to access an International Reference source that was too expensive for our local university libraries to purchase this year.  It was interesting that the other two libraries that he visited discussed the difficulties of choosing what not to purchase with him but did not offer to search other libraries for a newer edition or to print him out directions on how to get there.  Sometimes listening and determining how to assist in solving a patron's problem (even when we do not have the resources) defines customer service.  The use of Internet resources to increase customer service always reminds me of the power of the Internet.  Knowledge is power; down with EOS.

Technorati Tags     library,internet,service,2.0,customer

Wikis, wikis, wikis

Wikis for Libraries is not a new idea. Librarians love to organize information and wikis fill this need. Topics for library wikis that I have consulted in the past vary from library instruction wikis to reader's advisory wikis. I have always thought librarians should participate in wikipedia at a local level providing information about our communities. Finding local information that is not already organized into a wiki is really the challenge. I do wish the formatting of wikis was more visually attractive and that wikis were more compatible with other software. But the potential for group collaboration can't be beat!

Technorati

The concept is good for Technorati. The application of the tool is not so good. I searched for a topic that all of us have blogged about (webfeat) because it is a relatively unique blog topic. I found catmajick. I did not find my blog or mangosarewe who I know have claimed and tagged our blogs. I even did a specific search for one of the tags added by Dan and still no results. How much time passes before your tags are searchable? Or is there another technical hurdle needed? However,I did find some blogging librarians from Singapore.

Web 2.O: To more powerful ways to cooperate

In entertaining thoughts on the value of Web 2.o, I remain cautiously optimistic. Michael Stevens remarks in his article Into a New World of Librarianship that "techno-worship does not exist here." He stresses the importance of technology having functional use and customer service value. This is one of my mantra's regarding public libraries. Technology needs to add value and content to the patron's library experience not create chaos and frustration.

Many of our library specific databases have different interfaces requiring knowledge acquisition with each database's use. Webfeat is supposed to simplify this search process but technology is only as relevant as the information that is found. Federated searching is the way of the future but it is still a work in progress. OCLC's WorldCat is a good example of the effective application of Web 2.0 technology.

So if you haven't looked at their new interface, check it out! http://www.worldcat.org

Michael Stevens mentions that the Librarian 2.0 "never stops dreaming about the best library services." Now we just need to adjust our "structure is best" library mindsets to an open source, constantly moving target of Library 2.o services.

Del.icio.us things

Organizational tools are used based on their convenience and usefulness. Any tool that is duplicated by another tool is easily forgotten.

Unfortunately, Del.icio.us falls into this category. "Oh, yeah, I could've saved that deliciously." Del.icio.us for me also falls into the category of wandering aimlessly on the web. I searched some topics of interest to me. I found some "kind of similar" web sites that might be useful and might be too far off topic.

I found one really great site that was worth sharing about web 2.o sites:
www.go2web20.net

I saved a few more for whenever I get that spare moment to just explore. Now onto other things.

Generators and other things

I added a jigsaw picture of the Sanibel Lighthouse and put some Florida books in a Librarything account. It is helpful to have a good imaging software like Paint Shop Pro when playing with image generators to tweak your pictures. I have tried Webfeat in the past and the more complex your search, the less successful is webfeat as is true of all meta tools. The Florida Electronic Library offers Powersearch from Gale as another metasearch option but it was not authenticating today or yesterday.

RSS

Life in the 21st century is a complex mirass of over-information. Anything that simplifies our lives is worth taking note of. RSS falls in this category but with a dash of information management. As long as you use restraint and focus on only topics that you need for current awareness or a favorite interest or two, RSS can be a timesaver. If you become entrapped in all the wonderous possibilities of the Internet, you will find your reader stuffed full of information that you will never read. But for those web sites that you do read religiously, rss is the way to go.

Technology

Technology is a tool just like any other tool. There are tools that languish from lack of use and tools that people use everyday. Wander through any retail store and you will find many examples of useless technology. You get what you pay for.

Not all technology is like Doctor Who's sonic screwdriver that seems to get the doctor out of all kinds of outrageous situations. Often times the cheaper the tech, the less likely it is going to work but this is not always the case. Many libraries have paid large amounts of money for technology improvements that just don't do what they promised to do. Like the library motto "knowledge is power", knowledge is a prerequisite to the use of technology. As librarians we need to use our research skills to determine if technology has a functional use in the library. Often people rush to embrace the newest technology without considering the ramifications. What other services will the new technology impact? Does it simply duplicate another way of doing something? Is it going to be easy enough to use for our patrons? Does it provide enough access for our patrons to actually get to use that technology? Downloadable audiobooks that are not readily available is not a good use of technology. Library catalogs that don't allow you to find books with simple titles is an obstacle to information not a technology tool.

Technology needs to be evaluated, compared and simply tested out before libraries tout the latest technology as a service in the library. I think this is why many older adults are frustrated with technology. It just does not have relevancy for them. I often tell patrons to learn technology in a task by task method. Decide what task you wish to learn like attaching a document to an email, creating a resume, searching for jobs online, or even buying something on ebay. This is why learning 23 things about web 2.o is a better way to introduce technology to library staff. Many of us have experienced frustration with google's technology and customer service in the last two weeks. Having personal experience with technology is the best way to know how to apply technology effectively in the library.

That said, using the last habit of highly effective learners is a must when learning (playing) with new technology.

You'll know you are a techie if......

How do we ordinary folks recognize those technologically savvy people in our library universe?

Answer uh-huh to some of the following statements and you will know who you are:

You'll know you are a techie if...

You already have more than five flash drives.

You already have more than two blogs.

You were one of the first people at your branch to modify your blog template.

You already have photos on more than one photo sharing site.

You noticed that most of the photographs on Flickr were taken with a Canon Rebel and then you priced Canon cameras on Ebay.

Everyone else keeps asking you for help with their blog and nobody believes you when you say it was hard for you, too.

Blogging in Libraries?

There are primarily two functions of blogging that I like for libraries: first library staff posting information about new books,reviews of books, events or activities in the library or local community that might be of interest to patrons; second I like patrons to have the opportunity to blog on the library web site about books they have read. For years, patrons have dog-eared, marked, scratched, and in many other inventive ways identified the library books they have read. Some even write commentary on the value of said book in case they come upon the same book and can't remember whether it was any good. The library web site is a less destructive way to remind patrons of books they have read and they can even share in the valuable opinions of their neighbors reading knowledge as well. Many of our patrons gather in the fiction section and gab about books that they like and our web page would give them another avenue for sharing their reading preferences.

Lifelong learning

What I enjoy most about being a librarian, is having access to any lifelong learning topic that I decide to pursue. I always choose some common theme for each year. This last year has been filled with Reader's Advisory activities as well as learning to write fiction. I have participated in other web 2.o activities in the past and the hardest part is simply beginning something new.So what is to be gained by participating in a learning exercise with your co-workers? First, creativity is rampant in our library! Second, creativity is catching. Third, sharing ideas is a great way to learn new things and motivate each other. Have you seen some of the blogs created by your co-workers? Some brave souls have shared their blog addresses with others as well as where they got that great page element that they added to their blog. After we ooh and ahh over the really great ideas that another co-worker came up with, hopefully, we are inspired to give our efforts a little more artistic flair and stretch our technical skills in the effort.