Tuesday, October 6, 2009

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

I am reading and discussing this book through the Barnes & Nobles First Look book club. To participate, one needs to sign up and request the book. If copies are available, then you receive an ARC of the book to read and discuss before it is published. This particular book is scheduled to be published in February 2010.

The Postmistress takes the idea of "what if I don't deliver this letter?" and the story evolves around the consequences of that action. This story is set in WWII times and the turmoil of that time period.

We have just started the discussing the book this week. I will have to say that I am enjoying the book very much and have been pulled into all of the character's lives. I am excited to hear from the author when she joins our online disussions.

Watch for the Postmistress in February on check out the book clubs available on the Barnes & Nobles site.

http://www.sarahblakebooks.com/

Friday, September 25, 2009

The Bookseer - Reader's Advisory Site

I just discovered this website that would be very useful for reader's advisory. Or if you just need some direction on 'what to read next'. Just enter the title and author of a book that you liked and the nice gentleman, the bookseer, will recommend books to you.

Pretty awesome! Check it out!! The Bookseer

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

What happens now?

Okay - the challenge is done - now what? I plan to continue to update this with happenings in my life and more specifically about the books that I am reading or wanting to read. And to look for 'fun' widgets to add to my blog, like the Book Shelf to the right.

I am in 2 book clubs that each meet once a month. I also try to participate in the book discussions that our public library holds, sometimes I make it to them and sometime not. But it does give me ideas on good books to add to my list.

Right now I am reading 'The Life Before Her Eyes' by Laura Kasischke and 'The Friday Night Knitting Club' by Kate Jacobs. Both are very good reads. I love getting done with a book and discussing it but I love being able to pull that next book off of the shelf and getting started on a new adventure!

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Wrap Up!

Whew! I am done with the Library 2.0 Challenge. It has be a lot of fun and I thank the State Library staff for making this available for us to learn all about the 2.0 stuff that is out there.

I would like to think that I will continue to use this blog, using it for both library related postings and for 'books I have read' postings. That is what a blog should be - documenting what is going on in your life, both personal and professional - just what ever is on your mind at the time.

This whole experience was a great way to 'try out' new sites and to see what is out there. And made me think about the possibilities for our library to use some of these to reach out to our patrons.

Again thanks for the opportunity to learn!

Wikis

It was very interesting looking at the examples of wikis in this assignment. They showed the versatility of a wiki and how differently they can be used.

The Bull Run wiki is a great example of how a library is putting their information out there. The RCPL Flood wiki was a great use of a wiki to gather personal stories and pictures of a certain event - anyone can post their information for others to read. It contains great historical information that is probably not available anywhere else.

Our library started a wiki this summer when we were going thru the process of combining our reference and circulation desks. We used it to post all of the minutes of meetings, a to-do list of items to be accomplished and discussion threads.

Now that the desks have been merged we are using it as a central location to post items that people need to know as they are working their shifts at the desk. It is a private wiki but is open to everyone in library so that everyone can contribute or read the posted items.

Tagging, Folksonomies, and Social Bookmarking

This lesson was about the website Del.icio.us. I am familiar with the site and set up an account probably about a year ago when we were checking it out here at the library.

I really like the fact that I can save something there and access it from anywhere. I have gotten rid of most of my bookmarks on my computers since they are only available from the one place.

Some of the librarians here have used Del.icio.us for their subject guides and list useful websites for our students to use.

And I take advantage of the fact that you can mark some sites as private so that I can add sites that are not work related or that are more personal in nature.

I will admit that I am not very consistent in adding tags to the sites I save, thinking I will 'get back to it' so I need to get in the habit of adding the tags as I go to reap the most benefit.

Social Networking

I am very familiar with social networking. I have both a MySpace and Facebook account. I started the MySpace account so that I could easily stay in touch with my children. The Facebook account was started at work as the library was trying to see what it was all about.

I now use the Facebook account for both work and personal contacts and hardly ever go to MySpace. Since I use FB for both work and personal, I am careful what I do post there because it is used for work also. But it is a great way to keep in touch with family and friends and to share pictures/information.

Our library does have a FB presence with several of us contributing to it about what is happening in the library and to highlight databases and services that we offer.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Office 2.0

Okay - so I am really behind on the lessons. Let me explain (make excuses). I have been unable to post using Firefox and so am going to try a different browser to see if that is the issue. And then I have been on vacation for most of the last 2 weeks for my son's wedding and then a trip to the Hills. But I am going to try to get caught up before all the craziness of the semester starts.

Google Docs is awesome! I currently use Google Docs for some of my personal documents. I love that have I have access to them from anywhere and do not have to be at home if I need the information.

For this lesson, I uploaded an Excel spreadsheet that I had developed for work. I was able to publish it to the web and if I wanted, I could give out the web address to anyone that needed to see or use the information. This document is something that I print off for my student workers and have them fill in as they complete the task assigned. I could make this information available on the web and get rid of the paper form. The form function was very easy to use and would allow me to ask for input from my co-workers.

A drawback to Google Docs is that one does not have all of the functionality and formatting that is available in Excel. But the fact that I can access my information from anywhere more than makes up for some of those shortcomings.

I am not familiar at all with Zoho so I am looking forward to looking at it more closely when I have more time. It appears, from the quick look that I did take at the site, that Zoho offers more options than Google Docs and may have what I am feel is lacking from Google Docs.

Hmmmmm - will have to check it out! And possibly switch my documents over to Zoho?

Scene Two: Internet Video

I am familiar with YouTube but had never looked at the videos on Google or Flickr. Good to know that there are more options available out there. I have searched on YouTube for library videos in the past and have shared some of them with my co-workers.

The video below is one that I have looked at numerous times and have shared with a a lot of people. You can't help but laugh!

Scene One: Podcasts


Better late than never - I am kind of behind on the lessons but I am trying to catch up. I looked at all 3 podcast sites and liked them all. It is amazing how much information is out there and all for free. It is a bit overwhelming!

I didn't really search for specific library related podcast but did find one that will interest me called Books on the Nightstand. It appears that this podcast reviews and recommends books to read. And that is a wonderful thing!

Thursday, August 6, 2009

My creation using the jigsaw app in Flickr


My creation
Originally uploaded by suzebomb54

Flickr Apps

I tried several different Flickr mashups - the color picker, jigsaw, calendar and the profile widget. I had no idea that there were so many fun things that you could do with Flickr. All I had used it for in the past was to post pictures for my family to look at.

I am looking forward to trying out some more apps and creating some fun projects for work and home. The calendar app would make some wonderful gifts and the pictures are already there. How simple would that be?

I posted the 50+ resources for using Flickr in the library on my blog. The article contains some great ideas and I will want to refer back to it in the future.

How to Make Flickr Work for Your Library

How to: Make Flickr Work for Your Library 50+ Resources

Shared via AddThis

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Food and drink in the library! Finally!

Our library is going to have a food court opening up when the semester starts. I know that other libraries have already done this but this is something that we have have been working on for quite some time. And it is finally happening! We already have the Starbucks sign hung up!


Starbucks in the Library? Yes!


Pillsbury Doughboy


Pillsbury Doughboy
Originally uploaded by ronsrandomstuff
I am posting this picture for the lesson about Flickr.

The Pillsbury Doughboy is near and dear to my heart. I have been collecting doughboy stuff since the early 70's. My kitchen is all done in doughboy. Just a little interesting fact about me. I know, I know - will I never grow up?

But then I think, why should I?

Flickr

This is a test post from flickr, a fancy photo sharing thing.

Wow - that was easy! I am a little behind on my lessons so I am going to try to get going on that this week to catch up. I have had a personal flickr account already and really like using flickr to post pictures of the family for everyone to see. It will be interesting to see other things I can do with flickr to make it more useful for the library and for my personal use.

Next I am going to try to post a picture from flickr to this blog - wish me luck!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

RSS


I was familiar with RSS feeds before this lesson but knew that there was a whole lot more out there that I didn't know about it. This concept was confusing for me and I knew that it had to be easier than I was making it.

I have now set up my RSS feeds to go into Google Reader. I have an iGoogle account set up already and use it for documents and other things so this was just adding another component to something I already use.

I tried to set up RSS feeds through my Outlook mail but didn't really like it that way so I cancelled all of those over time. I now have a number of feeds set up through my brower but I was limited to looking at them only when at that particular computer. Using the Google reader will allow me to read the information from any computer, I just need to log into my iGoogle account.

Using RSS allows me to keep up with websites that I am interested in and helps me to not forget about them. I usually check my feeds about once a week, usually on Friday afternoon when it is a little harder to focus on work projects.

Adding RSS to a library site would be a wonderful way to get your library information out to your patrons. Essentially, you are going to them, they do not have to remember to come to you.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Twitter

I knew what Twitter was before this lesson and feel I have a good handle on what it is and how it works.

Personally, I have no desire to share that much information about myself nor to learn that much about other individuals. To me is seems like a big 'sink hole' that doesn't seem to have a point and it seems rather egotistical that someone would think that others would be that interested in their thoughts and actions. I have a Facebook account and I feel that I get enough 'sharing' through that.

I know I have not been exposed to the library-related advantages of Twitter so there is probably something I am missing but I think I am okay with that. Twitter is not really something I want to pursue.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Creating my blog

Wow! It was super easy to set up a blog. Everything was so simple to make a great looking blog. It will be fun to customize it in the future as I become more comfortable with blogging.

Our library already has a blog that we use to post to occasionally. I will be interested to learn what others are doing with their library blogs and how we can utilize ours more.

I am hoping that my personal blog will be of interest to others that like to read as I plan to blog about books I have read, am reading now and would like to read in the future.

7 and 1/2 Lifelong Learning Habits

The information about the 7 1/2 habits was very interesting and made me think about myself and how I learn. I think the easiest habit for me is #2 - 'Accept responsibility for your own learning - invest in your future.' I am constantly looking for new things to learn and take classes whenever I can. I think the hardest habit for me is #3 - 'View problems as challenges.' I tend to think of problems as problems and not as a learning opportunity at the time.

I am excited for this Library 2.0 project and hope to learn ways to use this technology as a means to 'keep up' with our students and patrons.

Thanks to the State Library for providing this wonderful opportunity!
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