Thing #23, Summary

My favorite discoveries in the 23 things program are blogs and photosharing sites. I have already created a personal Flickr account to share with family and friends. I'm hoping to use de.lic.ous, wikis, and Zoho to facilitate service at the Reference desk.

This program has had a major impact on my lifelong learning goals. The virtual world cannot be ignored as it increasingly becomes a integral part of daily living. I undertand now that because of the rapid nature of change in the online environment, constant awareness is required. Surprising for me was the sheer amount of social networking available and the relative ease of use of most of these tools.

Like most of my other experiences with learning and computers this program required too much time and could be very frustrating. Though the 'Things' are easy to use with practice, if you don't know exactly what is required, the initial use can be a struggle. With this thought in mind, I suggest reviewing some of the instructions. Additionally, concentrating on perhaps five or six things that would have optimal use in a smaller learning community, eg. a department or branch, would be a more effective way to ensure implementation into practice.

Overall, I am happy with the outcome of this program. I have learned an enormous amount applicable to both my personal and professional life. Of note, the nature of library work with its requirements for meetings, desk hours and accomplishment of other duties is not conducive to this type of study. The learner requires a substantial block of time to open and access the necessary websites and then read and digest the material and finally accomplish the required excercise. We tend to have only small amounts of free time to devote to this type of activity.

I would definately participate if this type of Learning Activity was offered again.

Thing #22, Learn About Audiobooks

Electronically accessed Audiobooks are gaining popularity quickly and should become the favored method of accessing Audiobooks once the technology stabalizes. Right now we have the incompatibility issue with iPods and the necessity of acquiring an additional radio device to listen to downloaded Audiobooks in vehicles influencing ease of use.

Netlibray requires the user to establish an account at the library, which is a step that will hopefully be eliminated in the future. No reserves are required since there are unlimited copies available in Netlibrary, allowing the newest and most popular titles to be accessed immediately. It is this 'no wait' feature that is so attractive to listeners and will spur the growth of the population of users as the number of titles available and general awareness of the fomat skyrockets.

Thing #21, Podcasts

Libraries are using Podcasts creatively to reach children, teens and adults. I subscribed to a Podcast aimed at Book groups called Bookbuffet.com Podcasts that broadcasts author interviews. I also found Podcasts that concentrated on horror literature, creative nonfiction and popular fiction. Podcasts of booktalks by authors and author interviews can be used in book discussion group meetings.

The Podcast searching sites had varying options available to the user. Podcast.net had keyword searching making it easy to navigate. I plan to routinely check for Podcasts to feature at Booktalk Central meetings.

Thing #20, You Tube

You Tube is just a lot of fun and addictive too. There is quite a bit of useful information that is archived on it as well. For example, many news stories and releases are available. There is a enormous amount of music on video archived. You tube is so well known, I would say using it reaches a larger audience than some of the other sites we have looked at through this program. In fact, I saw the following video announced as a favorite on the nightly NBC news with Brian Williams. These announcements of videos are a regular feature.

Thing #19, Web 2.0 Awards

I chose to look at the 'short list' and am still a bit overwhelmed about the sheer number of social networking sights and the range of applications they cover. A couple of these sites rang bells for me, namely, Facebook, YouTube and Craig's List. The majority; however, are a mystery and will be a discovery adventure when time allows.

I chose to take a deeper look at Meebo as I saw this imbedded chat tool on one of the public library sites listed in this program. Although IM is all around me, here and at home, I have never partaken and have not experienced its joys first hand. The idea of real-time chat with library patrons is an excellent one. Meebo on the library's webpage would allow the user to connect to their own library for information, rather than a library network as we have with "Ask Us Now". Using Meebo, a patron could ask for account information, request a reserve or sign up for a program. The only catch I can see is you must have an IM account with a provider to take advantage of Meebo.

Thing #18, Zoho Writer

The Andersons
Originally uploaded by andersonjp81

I was surprised to find all the templates available for use in Zoho Writer. They have both business and personal applications. I especially liked the Meeting Notes template and will tell my son, Zach, who recently graduated from Towson with a degree in Computer Science, about the IT Resume template. In other words, hint - hint...get a job, Zach!

Thing #17, Add an entry to the Sandbox Wiki

Deep breath. Linking my blog to the Favorite Blogs page was very time consuming. The instructions on the page itself to create the link were inadequate at best and inaccurate at worst. However, after 1 hour and 6 minutes, I succeeded! Thank goodness it's a slow night on the desk.

Thing #16, Wikis

I was interested to discover that wikis can be used as Intranets. Since they are easy to use and collaborative, we might try creating one to facilitate communication in the Reference Department. Wikis are another way to gather input from library users. Another usage, I found interesting were Subject Guides. The example was very comprehensive. This is a labor and time intensive project.

Thing #15, Web 2.0

In "Into a new world of librarianship", Michael Stephens lays out the principals that Librarians 2.0 live by. Central to Librarian 2.0 is library user participation in forming the concept of libraries in the future. Stephens recognizes the environment of rapid change in the virtual world and emphasizes recognizing trends coupled with rapid implementation of new technologies that are meaningful to the user and not just the latest fad.

After reading a sampling of the suggested articles, I have a better understanding of the way libraries are beginning to conceptualize themselves in the future. Web 2.0 is just the commencement into the increasing interactive virtual world. As demographics change and younger and more technologically oriented people become leaders in society, public libraries will be able to meet the challenge of providing quality library service because of the Web 2.0 program and its succeeding evolutions.

Thing #14, Technorati

Searching blogs with Technorati is imprecise (as library staff, we like controlled vocabulary). I tried a search on "Hillary Clinton" and got about 175,000 hits. I didn't see any tips for searching so I wouldn't know how to narrow the search. Some related tags came up but these categories were too broad to make a search more effective. Technorati describes blogs as 'personal journals' so it would not be a good place to find authoritative information. It is a place more focused on opinion and with this in mind it can be effective for businesses to find reactions to products and determine trends.

According to Technorati, the blogosphere is growing exponentially and it looks as though business savvy folks are already blogging for profit (which makes their information suspect). I don't think; however, even with a staggering growth rate, blogs are mainstream or have much of an impact on society as a whole...yet. It will be interesting to see what happens in the future.

Thing #13 Del.icio.us

Delicious is a great way to 'bookmark', organize and share reference websites with coworkers. Since a lot of us don't have our own PC, it has personal applications as well. It looks like a fair amount of libraries are already using Del.icio.us because it is fairly stable by virtue of its purchase by Yahoo. I liked the 'imbedded chat' or IM capability that some library's are using on their webpages. I would never have discovered it if I hadn't followed a frequently viewed bookmark from a library's del.cio.us page. I will definately set up an account when time allows!

Thing # 12 Rollyo

Rollyo could be used as a Readers'Advisory tool. There are several good websites geared toward different genres, such as Romance, Mysteries and Historical Fiction. The sites compliment eachother and can be searched simultaneously with Rollyo.

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