Yippee

Every week I thought I would drop out because it would take me so long to complete an exercise. I am definitely remedial. I kept going because of the encouragement from fellow staff members in San Marco. I know that I can go back self-paced and really better understand some of my assignments that I rushed through. I really enjoyed Zoho with so many applications in the same place and of course YouTube. I have a higher opinion for the use of blogs in research and can see using them with other research because of their timeliness. I can definitely see how this will improve my suggestions to customers in both reference and in being able to show them how to find these sources and utilize them. Next time we offer this, we may need more official advisers for beginers.

Overdrive

Many customers mention how long it takes to download and they do get frustrated. I think that after we walk them through the process, they realize that the directions are fairly straightforward. The variety of titles look interesting and I especially liked the language titles as I keep saying that I want to learn more languages.

Pods

I found Odeo fairly simple to use, however I again needed help from Mia in order to subscribe on Bloglines. Whatever I picked, it would say that there were no feeds. When I finally got it, it did seem easy to navigate. I can see the convenience of using this with serials of any nature.

YouTube

I experimented and had some fun. My only problem with YouTube was that some of the videos are not embedded and I kept trying to move them to my blog. I finally figured it out. I really like the music and comedy the best and can see that people could conceivably spend hours playing with this. I am not sure of its value in the library setting, but I know where to direct people if they want to know about it.

Sting

Web 2.0 tools

I played with quite a few recommendations from the silly to the serious and decided that I need to get back to work. I made comics on comiqs.com, I saw what George Clooney would look like with Owen Wilson's hair (not a pretty sight) on Hairmixer, I played on Picnik, and I found recent blogs on various subjects on Google blog search. It was great to work with award-winning sites that were classified by subject. I most enjoyed the current blogs on Google, sometimes only minutes old.

Zoho

I did enjoy having so many applications in the same place and the ability to save it to a central location. I will definitely recommend this to our customers. I had some initial problems with transferring an application to my blog, but it finally happened.

PBWiki

Thanks for all of the help from Eric Soriano to figure out what I was doing. I've been there, but I didn't have that much fun. I can see the value of exchanging ideas with a group, but I wasn't fascinated.

Wiki Wicki Bo Bicki

I realize that wikis do organize information, but this is a bit more freedom with entries than I trust as a valid source. I did like some of the college sources that gave students some organization in planning topic choices, but they led to academic databases with authority.
Of course, not all topics require some eminent authority. Book reviews and reading lists help to share information with coworkers and customers. Everyone can share an opinion, but not everyone gets the facts right.

Web 2.0

After reading several articles, I thought that library customers have not changed that much in the last 30 years. They want what they want the way they want it and they want it now. I agree that we do not have the time to train every customer on how to do it our way and they usually are not interested in being trained. We do have to integrate simple straightforward information that they can access in their own environment. Customers want to spend more time on content and less time on antiquated search methods.

Technorati

When I think of all of the blogs available, I get a headache. Technorati seems to give some order to the chaos for a beginner like me. I like the idea that you can separate news and blogs so you can view the original news source and then refer to public opinion. I also like the authority ranking so you can determine popular topics. Searching is very flexible and simple.

Del.ico.us

I went through and looked at the things other librarians have bookmarked. I did find that many of the links were outdated or the sites have become subscriber only, making it often less than useful. I also got alot of unrelated hits when I did a search for certain topics. I also think that it would be difficult to weigh the authority or accuracy of the information found.

Search Gadget

I added the search gadget to my blog and my iGoogle page. I did have to read the instructions twice, but it may be advancing age. I can see how customers might find it to be convenient, although I don't think I would necessarily use it myself.

Library Thing

I had fun playing with this, but I don't think I will use this beyond keeping a record of books I have read. My biggest problem is finding that I have already read the book after I start it. When I have more time, I may explore other possibilities.

Image Generators

I played around with quite a few, but only saved something from YouWild.org on morphing images between humans and animals. Besides this site discusses endangered animals.

Watch me turn into a
Hyena at YouWild.org

Newsfeeds

Newsfeeds
Feeds As I'm sure everyone has indicated, Feedster was not accessable. Topix.net was user friendly, but when it takes you to the Jacksonville area, I became frightened after reading some local public opinion. I wish some opinions were not out there for people to see from other places. I didn't particularly like Syndic8.com, but I enjoyed Technorati for ease of use. I found an interesting feed in Topix.net about a man in Denver who got 10 years for stealing and selling library books online. A customer alerted the police.I still think that I just like to go out there and discover my own feeds. I encountered alot of information that was not relevant on these sites.

RSS feeds

RSS feeds I found this useful because there are several sites that I visit regularly to keep up with current topics such as Urban Legends and who died and when. I think this is a great tool for just being aware of current events from the mainstream to the bizarre. I can see how having too many feeds may become overwhelming and possibly hard to keep up with. I added blogs of some of my co-workers and it gives insights about them that we don't discuss on a daily basis.

7/9/08
by erica

Library Services to Baby Boomers and Older Adults

I was interested in a blog I read regarding trends toward "Senior Spaces" in the library. Most of these projects involve continuing education for Boomers and Older Adults. We must plan ahead to decide what services 50ish people will need over the next 20 years in order to keep up with technology and also what library services are at hand. It should be tailored to the community that is being served.

I also liked the comment that this generation is not likely to retire early like previous generations. For a variety of reasons, they will go on working and traveling well into old age. We must look at a different approach to serve this population. This blog is:
http://www.libraryolderadults.blogspot.com

Flickr

More Flickr fun convinced me that I may have to back up on saying that I enjoy play. I did start to get frustrated as others mentioned and I didn't feel comfortable taking the time I required to get it right.

Our Staff

This is a picture of the San Marco staff on the odd day that we were all here at the same time. We had just finished with a Holiday celebration near Christmastime and had a great time. I posted this because it reminds me that a good team needs time to unwind and enjoy each other.

Lifelong Learning

Erica Brown: My favorite is play and my most challenging will be viewing problems as a challenge. I am partially there because I can't stand to leave something unfinished.