Happy New Year 2008!

Wow! Has it really been since August that I last wrote in my blog?! I guess I'm not a natural blogger but an email about del.icio.us ended up getting me back to this site so here I am! I hope I remember how to do everything I use to back in Aug. It took me 3 attempts just to insert this photo. Anyway, I think I may sign up for the del.icio.us class and take a refresher on the subject so I don't totally lose my skills. I hope the rest of you out there are better at practicing these "things" more regularly than I am. Hasta próximo tiempo (Until next time) .......

#23 Summarizing My Thoughts

This is me after completing the 23 Things! Seriously, it was a very educational and often times fun experience. I like learning new things and if one wants to continue to work in a library system, one should keep abreast of new technology so I am glad I completed this "course." My favorite things ( I sound like Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music) were blogging, Flickr, Online Image Generators (especially avatars!), Library Thing, Online Wordprocessors/ Spreadsheets, YouTube, and Downloadable Audiobooks. Can you tell I like to play?

One unexpected outcome was that I actually enjoyed much of this and I would not consider myself a "techie" type person. I still prefer to read a print book, give an in-person reader's advisory and help patrons face to face. However, I know I need to know about all these "Things" in order to better serve my customers with all the things they may want.

I liked working at my own pace but if I could change one thing about the format, it would be to have more options. By this I mean maybe to offer say 43 Things and ask to complete 20 of them.

Overall, I feel as though I learned a great deal in a relatively short amount of time. The structure forced me to learn things I never would have learned otherwise because I didn't know some of these "Things" existed! I also liked the "hands on" training where I could learn on my own but with the help of others who were also participating. If HCPL offered something like this in the future, I would definitely participate again. Kudos to all participants!

#22: Audiobooks

After exploring both Overdrive and NetLibrary, I think I prefer Overdrive. There appear to be more books that interest me at that site, including Choke by Stuart Woods, which I downloaded onto my PC. Choke was not a part of the NetLibrary database and the genres I like most were definitely less represented there. For instance, Overdrive had 122 historical fiction, 213 classics and 649 mystery/suspense novels. NetLibrary had only 37 historical fiction, 101 classics and 339 mystery/suspense books listed. I had to install Overdrive Media Console to download my audiobook. I chose Choke because I am currently listening to it on CD in my car. However, I don't think I would enjoy listening to my PC so I am very much looking forward to receiving an MP3 Player now that I am almost done these 23 Things! I hope it is compatible with Overdrive and has at least 256 MB but preferably 1 gigabyte of memory to hold these downloadable audiobooks that I will be listening to!

#21 Discover Some Useful Tools for Locating Podcasts

After exploring Podcast.net and Yahoo Podcasts, I preferred the Yahoo site. I was stumbling all over Podcast.net trying to find something interesting to me and it was difficult to search a particular subject, probably because there were too many remotely related feeds. Yahoo Podcasts was easier to use and find areas of interest to me. I also took a look at MERLIN podcasting and I viewed a Vodcast or video podcast, which is more interesting to me since I'm a visual learner. I liked the library related podcast at Westerville Public Library in Ohio that showed all sorts of Easy Books for children with the pages and someone reading the stories. Although nothing beats a live person reading to a child, this is the next best thing.

The podcast that interested me on Yahoo Podcasts was the NPR Story of the Day site. I added the RSS feed for this podcast to my Bloglines account. The story for today was by an interview with Paul Greengrass, the director of the newly released Bourne Ultimatum film, which is extremely popular and getting great reviews right now.

As far as podcasting goes, I think it is very similar to the radio if you don't have a Vodcast. The advantage to it is that you can listen when you want to listen and not when the program is scheduled to be on. Also, you can put it in your RSS feed if you want to listen/look at it on a regular basis.

#20 Discovering YouTube

Today I viewed the highly talked about Obama Girl and Obama Girl vs. Giuliani Girl videos. They were a lot like MTV videos, only about their respective political candidates. They were both sexy and humorous so I think some people will be offended, but I think most of the people who view the videos will not be offended because they are use to this sort of thing from all different medias, including web 2.0 sites! The videos didn't include a lot of "meat" on the issues at hand but if they get otherwise uninterested american citizens enthusiastic about the political process and voting, maybe they are worth something.

Next I viewed Part I of the democratic party political debate that was held recently at the Citadel in SC. Since I missed the debate on TV, it was interesting to see what was said. YouTube has a lot of fun and crazy, entertaining videos but ones like the presidential debate are educational and informative and you don't need to buy TiVo to view missed television programs!

I even got ambitious and decided to post the debate video on my blog. YouTube made it a relatively easy process and I didn't have to "Edit HTML" like the MD Libraries Learning 2.0 directions stated. I just followed the directions on YouTube and Voila', it magically appeared. See it posted below this writing and click on it if you wish to see Part I of the presidential debate.

I like the fact that you can rate the video, share it with others and post it on a blog. I don't like the fact that there is a lot of junk out there and it doesn't seem to get edited at all. Good or bad, it's all out there. Regarding an application to a library website, HCPL could video its different branches and show the public what sort of services are provided to the public. The video could show storytimes, reader advisories, various programs, computer usage, patrons browsing for materials and of course the circulation of print books, audio books, electronic books, DVDs, music CDS, magazines, etc.

2008 SC CNN/ YouTube Democratic Debate (Part 1)

This is the 2008 Democratic Presidential Nominee Debates Held on 7/23/07 at the Citadel, SC.

Addendum to #19

Someone from Swivel actually made a comment to my #19 Posting and explained how to embed a graph from Swivel into my blog. I had to copy and paste the html into a blog posting and it worked!