Dress the Squirrel!

Squirrels are very attractive in their native state, but who can resist the lure of dressing a squirrel in clothes! (Not me!) This site is loads of fun. It is called Virtual Paper Squirrel. Thanks to Maurice for alerting me to this fun site by emailing me another "library squirrel" blog site. It is nice to know that other librarians out these also admire squirrels.

July 18: Accio Deathly Hallows

July 18: Accio Deathly Hallows

This is a great video from Hank Green, brother of YA author John Green. Enjoy!

Learning 2.1! (And WE Thought we were finished!)

Well, I just finished Library 2.0, and was reading "Library Hotline" from June 11, 2007. I read about the program Learning 2.1, an "ongoing discovery guide" that is the successor to Learning 2.0 and the 23 Things.

Helene Blowers, who developed Learning 2.0 at the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (PLCMC) was involved in the implementation of Learning 2.1. The program begins with "Thing 24". It is open to all.

And I thought I was finished for awhile!!

Week 9, Thing #23: Thoughts Going Forward....

Well, the journey is complete in one sense, but only beginning in another....

I had a great time working on Library 2.0 and the 23 Things. I think that the library's support for this program is an indication of support for staff development and education (a very strong aspect of our culture here.) The instruction was not threatening, or too difficult. At times it was challenging and confusing, but I feel like I not only learned alot about things I normally would not investigate on my own, but I got the confidence to TRY new things, and confidence that I can actually figure out "technology".

I really enjoyed creating a blog, and adding all the "bells and whistles". When I looked at blogs before this training, I always was amazed that people had certain skills and could do those things. These skills are now slightly demystified! I can now do some of those things, too! I had lots of fun with the Flickr mashups. I already knew something about podcasts, YouTube, Downloadable audio, and Wikis, but the exercises added to my knowledge, and gave me a chance to think about them in the context of libraries. The Bloglines exercise was new, and I have to admit that having all the information available in one place is really cool. However, I have to incorporate actually going to Bloglines and checking my RSS feeds. To me, this is just one more thing to do-one more information source for a person who sometimes feels like she is in "information overload".

What really got me thinking was the exercise #15-to read perspectives in Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and the future. These articles were excititng, thought-provoking, and a bit daunting. It is very valuable that we know about Web 2.0 and the possibilities. We need to keep up on technology, and make use of it. There are lots of creative and innovative opportunites. However, what about our patrons who are still at "Web 1.0 and Library 1.0"? I think that in the midst of all this new, cool technology, we can't lose sight of those who are not "here" yet. There are still lots of people who do not own computers...this does not mean that we should not embrace Library 2.0, but just remember that not everyone is ready.

What will I do now? I want to think about how I can use these new skills in my job. What do I need to learn more about? How can I make work easier and more fun?

And yes, I would participate in another discovery program. I really liked the self-direction of this program.

Week 9, Thing # 22: Downloadable Audio Books

I am familiar with both Overdrive and NetLibrary as I have been involved in purchasing the subscriptions, seving on the Maryland Digital Library Consortium, etc. I did think that the Overdrive Digital Media Guided Tour was very clear and easy to follow. I checked out Project Gutenberg (I had not looked at it before), and was interested in the list of languages of the available audiobooks. This list might be useful for speakers of other languages. However, the list of titles in Spanish will appeal to only a very select audience! (Very esoteric/classic). They do have Don Quijote in Spanish, however. (I read this in college in Spanish, so might be interesting to listen to it.)

In any case, these three resources provide a wealth of listening opportunities. It provides people an alternative to using CDs or cassettes, and I hope that in the future the Ipod issue will be resolved so that the many Ipod users can benefit from our library's provision of Overdrive or NetLibrary titles.

Askville: Amazon.com Gets into Web 2.0

Have you seen the new service from Amazon.com called Askville?It's a social networking beta site with the tagline "ask...answer...meet...play", where users "ask a question and get real answers from real people?. Hmmmm....aren't librarians "real people"? How will these social networking sites impact library reference?