Monday, August 4, 2008

Summer Reflection

It has been summer break for me. I have changed my Avatar to a more summer background.
Technology has been helpful for summer, I can check school email even though I am not at work. If I need to make changes to the school website from at home. I can be reached by cellphone if needed.
Technology has made traveling easier also. I make plans via the Internet. I can keep in touch my cell phone, plus with my new phone I check the weather or map. I look for points of interests which include costs and times or even buying tickets ahead of time on the Internet before I go. Of course I send pictures from cell of really great places. Or I can ask my son if he wants that shirt before I buy it for him by sending a picture of the shirt by cell phone. Actually we do a lot of texting.
I am checking out a libraries books on their card catalogs before I go there to do research for genealogy, so I know what they have ahead of time.
I is a nice day out today. I have done some gardening but I am also spending some time on the computer for my next day plans. Now it is time to do some more summer chores.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Reflection 4

Well, the last couple of weeks has filled with technology, some old and some new. I spent some time with different printers and paper for pictures. One discovery was that the laserjet did not do as well with multiply pictures for a longer period of time as the inkjet. The inkjet was still much slower.
My job is part problem solving, many of the questions are figuring out how to do things or fix things with technology.
I am always learning something new, rather it is dealing with the old overhead projector or the lap top.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Reflection 3

Just a short reflection today. It has been a very busy week at work. A lot to do with technology. It is important when it comes to technology to always check to make sure the hardware and software work together. Also to make sure the new software works with the other software. Sometimes it is like a puzzle making sure all the pieces fix together. Some times my favorite is making sure I have the right cable to download the pictures from a camera.

Monday, May 5, 2008

Reflection 2

I needed a title after Thing23, so I decided I was reflecting on technology in the media center or my life each week. This weekend I realized how important technology is to communication. I keep in touch with both school libraries thorough out the day. It makes my job both easier and more complicated at the same time.

I use either my cell phone or camera to share photos with friends or family at a click of a button. It was fun to go on a trip up north to see Lake Superior and the beach. Yet, I was able to share the fun and beautiful scenery with family because of digital pictures and email.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

April 26 2008

I haven't quite may my goal of once a week to adding to the blog, but things have been very busy. The picture I am adding today is the latest in snowfall that we are receiving at this moment.
As for technology I am planning to start a wiki for work soon. We are looking at changes for the website. I am looking at other school library websites to see how I can make the media center sites better and more user friendly over the summer. I would also like to work more on book blog over the summer.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Video part 2

I tried putting a home video, it shows in previews. Once I publish it it doesn't show. It is a video of the morning of the blizzard in April. I will need to check and see what the problem is. It is a new camera that all the movies are mp4.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Thing 23

I made it to the 23!! I know this is really just the start of using all the things I learned. This was a great opportunity to learn new things. I liked the videos I could watch and learn on my own. The instructions were good. I am excited to try out some of the Things I learned. The goal is the post something at least once every week.

Thing 22

How to keep up with everything! I found a lot of great things through 23 Things on a Stick (and a log more passwords to keep) and I do want to continue to use most of them.

I will add to this blog each week, adding comments on how things are going on the different technologies. I want to explore some things like WebJunction, NetLibrary, and ELM more. I also thought Flickr and Ning will be interesting for more ideas for the library.

If I make a comment each week then I can also include things I find on my Google Reader and groups weekly, too.

I will see how I use everything for school, since it is getting towards the end of the school year. It may have to wait until the next school year.

But on a personal note, now that I know how some of these technologies work. I am starting a blog for my husband. He likes bike riding and we are going to have a blog on some of the trips. I already have a couple family websites, so I am going to be busy on the web.

I am going to head back to Flickr to try a slide show of our latest blizzard!

Thing 21

The Ning groups give a focus on work or work related issues while Facebook seem more like fun or finding friends. The other part of Ning I will probably join is the Teacher/Librarian.

I have not used WebJunction to its full potential. I found the technology section this time and need to spend more time looking at more of the site. There is a lot of information that can be found and shared with other librarians.

Thing 20 plus

I just wanted to add a note about Thing 20. I used the tutorials on ExpertVillage.com. It was very helpful and I decided to look at some of the other "how to" videos. There are lots of videos and all type of subjects including on how to build your own computer to baking bread. According to the web site the videos are done by experts in their field. I just thought it was a helpful site.

Thing 20

Well, I joined Facebook this morning. I could not find my daughter and her husband to invite, so they invited me. Through their contacts I invited my niece as a friend. They are all in graduate school so they don't mind helping with my assignments. The moment I put in my graduation year other people with that year started showing up as possible friends. There was no one that I knew but it was certainly making it easy to find people. My profile was set for friends only but my daughter had no trouble searching and finding me. My daughter and I started talking back and forth, it would be easy to stay on Facebook. I promised to add more pictures after this project is done.

As for the library sites for the public libraries or university libraries in MySpace. It certainly makes it easy for patrons ask questions of librarians. Schools usually have the site blocked.

There are so many possible choices for a library to have for or on a website- blogs,podcasts, wikis, a library in Facebook or Second Life. The one problem I have is the time to do it all. A small library may have to choose which serves their patrons the best. With limited budgets and staff cuts it makes it difficult to do all the technology options and to do it well.
I am enjoying enjoying the challenge to learn as much as possible.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Thing 19

Podcasting is a great way to find information. I have made podcasts and taught podcasting to teachers. Podcasting with audacity is easy. The longest part is preparation. You need to know what you are going to say. My microphone always picks up the paper turning so I keep from moving the script.
But podcasts were a fun way to share new books with students in a book talk that can be put on a web page. Despite it being fairly easy it did take time. I would like to try some video podcasting maybe giving a tour of the library resources.

The subjects on podcasting that you can listen to is endless. I even have one subscription for a knitting podcast. Video podcasts are great also.

Thing 18

One of my favorite videos on You Tube is The Book Cart Drill Team at ALA. I have seen the contest advertising for this year. There is a contest from a company for a poem about the book truck also. I do know how to post the video from You Tube on my blog but decide I will try a video of my own later. I read the policies and if I post the videos on Blogger it is stored on Google Video.

Thing 17

I suggest the use of ELM databases frequently for research for both students and staff. World Cat search is helpful for searching for resources by type. It sorts the resources by ebook, Internet, book, sound, etc.. I have used both EBSCO and Proquest.

It has been awhile since I tried the NetLibrary, but it is easy to use. I made an account this time. I usually just look at the ebooks I want and exit.

ELM is a great resource!

Thing 16

I have known about the Research calculator but have not looked at it closely. It could be helpful for students to help them outline the steps they need to take for a project.
I looked at the handouts for teachers and really liked them. They are several that I could put out in the library for students to use.
It will be a site to show teachers. The one hand out called research out aloud was very interesting, it would be helpful in teaching research skills. The handouts would be helpful in teaching research skills.
There were handouts to help students as well, such as interview tips and search tips.

Thing 15

Thing 15 The graphics of Second Life is very interesting. Sitting surrounded by snow drifts, I was thinking of going someplace virtually that at least looks sunny. I did a search in Second life and there are quite a few librarians in Second Life. I notice there was a cost involved in Second Life. There was the basic get started free part, but also a basic monthly fee for the premium subscription. Also if you wished to buy land and build there was a cost.

I also looked at Pirates and started to play the game. The electricity started to flicker and I had to get off the computer.

I have been to a workshop on games and literacy, where we played a few games. The games were scenario and we had to make decisions for the people in the games. It was interesting but of course there was a cost for each computer it was used on.

I tried playing a couple of games for practice for library skills, but I cannot remember the exact site the games were on.

Thing 14

I have been to Library Thing already and really enjoyed it. I was able to visit the exhibitors' displays at the ALA Public Library Conference in Minneapolis in March and I even stopped by their display. I was hoping they were selling Library Thing T-shirts!
I have not entered any books yet, but will later. I keep donating books to the library at school, since I am running out space at home. Before I catalog a few books I want to make sure I am keeping them.
The one group I was thinking of joining was 50 Book Challenge. You keep track of the books you read during the year and try to make 50. I would like to read more than 50, but I seem to run out of time. I am reading Winter War by Durbin at the present.
I have already told several people about this site. I think it is great you can catalog your own books, but I know I love to catalog books.

Thing 13

Online organizational tools-I already use Google tools and with 23Things on a Stick I have gotten to try out even more of the tools. My Google page has different gadgets selected and there are a lot of choices. It is efficient to have the items you need right there on your web page if you need it. When I log in to my Google account I can use the documents, check my reader, my blog, and my groups, so it makes efficient use of my time. At school, my Outlook calendar is very important. It is set to remind me of meetings and other things I need to do like set up microphones. As I mentioned in an earlier entry email, which is Outlook at work, is an important part of keeping in contact with other staff members.
I should probably work on a better way to do a "to do list". Maybe I should make my "to do list"a wiki so staff and students can add to it!

Thing 12

Newsvine was the social news item I liked the best, I even subscribed to the feed. It was because it was divided into sections-- local, world, U.S., business. It makes it easier to read just what I want to read. It still had the top new section also. The Social news gives an overview of what other people are reading or viewing and are finding interesting. It is much larger scale of you just telling your friends what interesting article you read in the paper that morning.

Thing 11

Del.icio.us is a site I have looked at before, but have never taken the time to make an account. I have a lot of websites I bookmark and organize in folders, but del.icio.us allows you access from any computer. I also liked the feature of search by topic. I found several sites I could use for the library, perhaps linking them to the library website.

Thing 10

As the snow is howling around the house, I am appreciating the time to work on 23ThingsonaStick. There is not usually a snow day in April. As for the wiki for school, it was very easy to use. There were several wiki that I viewed a thought were interesting. One had a technology help information for staff which included links. One link even showed how to make decisions to build your own computer. Another include book reviews with comments by students.
One place either wikis or Google documents could be helpful would be documents where staff need to all work on it together. Each staff member would have access and could edit and add to the document.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Thing 9

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dcz2nmjf_6gmc9hcgq

The documents are very interesting, that they can be shared. My daughter and I used this feature for her wedding. We used the spreadsheet for the guest list, so we could share over long distance names and addresses.
This is a great way to share information when a project needs to be worked on together. One person can share the document with several other people. Each person can work the project no matter where they are. There is a chat (written) feature also, if two people are on the same document that can chat to each other online.

It is new to me to have the document published for everyone. My document is rather plain, but I hope to add some information about the storm over the next day or so.
For the usefulness for the library, since I am working in two buildings I work with staff that are not in the same building. It would be another way to work together on a document.

Thing 8

Thing 8 was to put a slide show on the blog. I use PowerPoint frequently for presentations or classes with SlideShare.net I can put them on the web. It was easy to upload but getting the slideshow on the blog didn't work as well. I wanted to just copy paste the link to the blog, but I ended up having to have SlideShare post on the blog. It looks a little too big for the blog and it comes with extra advertising for the site. I am would like to try a few others. The slides are of the snow storm from the 1st of April. I am waiting to take pictures of the latest storm and will be taking pictures of the newest snow, too.
This is a project for 23Things on a Stick. I am to make a document public so it can be edited. The problem is I do not know what to write about. I will come back and write more when the big blizzard comes on Friday!

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Thing 7

Email has become an important part of the daily work of the library. I communicate with will staff in my building and through out our district. It also goes beyond communications since it is used in ordering books and supplies and receiving MARC records for books. It is part of the daily work of the media center.

I have been part of a web conference for school and they have worked fine. It is nice to be able to be get the information and ask questions from someone from a company or business with out having the cost of bringing the person to the building.

I have not used instant messaging, but could see it usefulness in a library. The media centers I am at are only open during school hours, so there would be no one to answer questions after school hours. Instant messaging between library staff between buildings could be useful.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Thing 6 part 2

I made a change to the flower text on ImageChef, I made it a still image instead of a flash image. As you can see, the image is a flowers and grass instead of the one up before that had a black background. I also added the image at the bottom of the page while practicing on ImageChef. The visual poetry section looks like a great deal of fun. That might be a good thing to try during poetry month.

Thing 6

I have left my attempt of flower text from ImageChef on the my blog until I try again. It looks great on their website, but it did not copy paste well into the blog. On their website it has green grass with lovely flowers for the word Hello. It was fun to try. Now, I just need to get it to transfer in color. A person could spend a lot of time trying out the various sites. The trading cards could be authors and/or books. The mosaics had a lot of possibilities also.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Thing 5

By all my postings this week can you tell I am on spring break and spending time at my computer at home.

The Flickr applications were interesting. I liked the mosaics, but the speller was very interesting. I was wondering about how to use the speller. Would you need to give credit to each photo on a website? They are someone photos. The first thing I thought of spelling was Library, of course.

Thing 4 part 2

I made an account in Picnik, which will have access rights to Myspace.com when I get that far in 23Things on a Stick. There was a lot of fun changes to make to photos in Picnik and it was very easy to use. I just made a few changes to my posted picture of spring. I really liked some of the effects and plan on going back later to try it. The framing was a nice feature also.

Thing 4

Flickr: The photo from Flickr is mine taken right after the first day of spring. I was feeling a bit tired of snow and wishing for warmer weather.
Flickr was easy to use, since I already have a Yahoo account. I have the one photo public and the rest for family and friends. I am stilling used to having things public. I am very aware when I am writing this blog that it is public (even if it only going to be read by a few people).
I did a search on Flickr groups on my area, librarians, and libraries. The best was a site on library displays. It was a group that photographed their book displays and shared with other libraries. They had some good ideas and I could use some new ideas! I think that it is a great way to share ideas.
When we travel I like to stop and see other libraries. There was another site that had pictures of libraries around the world. Also there was one with the interior of libraries.
I am not sure how I am going to use it for the libraries I work at, but sharing ideas is a good start.

Thing 3 part 2

A follow up comment about Google Reader: I have used it for several days and find it very helpful. I can check helpful sites only when something new has been added. I have added a couple new RSS feeds.
I have even been tempted to join the group which is called a 50 book challenge. You keep track of the books you read and try to read 50 a year. I read as part of the job and I do love books!
If anyone else is interested in the challenge it is on www.librarything.com which is an interesting site.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Thing 3

Thing 3
I have had some experience with RSS feeds but have not used them a lot. I set up at least 5 blogs that I will try to keep up with using the Google Reader. It will certainly be easier to go to one site to see if something is new then to go to each site separately. I have two book review sites set up, this will be very helpful when looking at new books.

Thing 2

I looked at the date of the last post and was surprised it has been so long since I have worked on 23 Things on a stick. It has been a very busy couple months at work. I will try the advice of the video on Library 2.0 with just 15 minutes each day, but the problem is there are so many things I should spend 15 or more minutes on each day.

I am excited about working on 23 Things on a stick despite the delay in time between working on the next items. It will be interesting to see how some of the technologies can be used for the library.

After looking at the articles on Library 2.o, one of the items that really was an interest to me was the section on the collection. With digital information and a limited budget, it would be good to concentrate the book collection on subjects that are frequently requested.

I worked at a public library back in the early '80's and I cataloged phonograph records, now I am telling teachers how to download e-books and digital recorded books. I checked out books by cards, now I do everything by computers. Libraries change with everything else when it comes to technology. Librarians have even more to do, learning the new technologies and helping patrons find the information they need.

It can be a very exciting time. Personally, I find the new technologies very helpful. I share information with family on a personal website. My daughter had her wedding pictures on her and husband's website to share with family and friends. Hobbies become easier with the access to the Internet. Email and cell phones have become part of one's daily life. Even my 80 something mother has her email that she checks each day. Technology is certainly not just for the young, but for all ages.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Thing 1

Today was a very cold day, so it seemed like a perfect time to start my 23Things on a Stick project.
Thing 1 - Setting up the blog in Blogger.com was fairly easy. The directions on the 23 Things on Stick blog and the video tutorial were helpful. I had more than one Internet window open, I had at least 3 tabs open at the same time while I worked, but it worked great. I have had a some experience with blogs but have never used Blogger.com. On my library site I have set up a site for a blog about books, but have not started to use it yet. Thing 1 will help me get the practice I need to blog more . The idea that I am writing and anyone anyone that comes to my page can read my blog takes a little getting used to. I have edited this paragraph about five times now.

Making the avatar for the blog was really a lot of fun. I wouldn't mind spending a bit more time to see if I could make a more realistic me.
I am looking forward to trying some of the other 22 Things and if the weather stays cold this is a good time to work on the computer.