Discovery exercise #14 Library Thing

Library Thing is not new to me. I had read and heard about it before trying SPPL 2.0. But, I never set up an account or added any books to Library Thing. (It was one of those things I'll get a round to someday.)
Well, today is the day. Here is the link to five books I added. When I have time (ha-ha), I'll add the rest of my personal library.

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/librarian2005

Discovery Exercise #13

As a creature of habit, I went back to fd's trading cards website to play around with an online image generator. These online image generators are way cool! I created a calendar and a magazine cover (again using images upload from photo discs). (Flickr is way cool, too!) Both activities were fun, but sometimes frustraing and time-consuming. The magazine cover (below) is not as good as I would like because the text on the middle left and the text on the the lower right blends into the photo. I tried white text, black text and different colored text. The text that looked best was black. When making the calendar, some of the photo images would also get cut off (or people would have text scrawling across their forehead.) I had to keep editing the pages and repositioning the photos so the calendar would like nice.

But, when everything was done, the magazine cover and the calendar came out so well, that I'm printing them out and giving them away as Christmas gifts. (My not-so-techy family will be really impressed and think I spent hours working on these things!)

Discovery Exercise #11 RSS Feeds

When I first heard about RSS Feeds I decided I didn't like them and would never use them. They look so complicated. (Although I suspect that I may have been because I was viewing one in html.) But, after learning more about RSS feeds, I've decided they are not so bad. I even managed to set up a Bloglines account and add some good library related feeds. It took a bit of an effort to figure out. But, like anything new, once you practice a few times, it becomes easier.

I am hoping the feeds I added will help me to better monitor the library blogs I read. Previously, the blogs were all listed in a Word document and whenever I had the time, I would open the Word document, click on the link and read the blog or blogs on the Internet. Sometimes, I read new entries and sometimes, I reread old entries (not realizing they were old entries until after I had read them!).

How could SPPL take better advantage of RSS feeds? Take a look at Arbor District Library and Hennepin County Libraries for some ideas. Here are their links: http://www.aadl.org/ and
http://www.hclib.org/. And while you are at it, check out this blog posting I stumbled across: http://oedb.org/library/features/top-25-librarian-bloggers-by-the-numbers . It lists the Top 25 Librarian bloggers. Is your blog on the list?

#10 Audiobooks

Downloading audiobooks is ok-- if you don't mind the limited selection of titles or the horribly long download times. The one--and only--self help book I looked at in the Netlibrary had a download time of 3 hours and 57 minutes. (A colleague said, "I could probably read the book in that amount of time!")

I chose a much shorter book to practice with: The Cat in the Hat. It downloaded quite well to my computer, but I couldn't get the e-audiobook to transfer to the flash drive or the MP3 player. Tried another short book. Had the same problem.

It is much easier for me to use Books on Cd. I can take the discs wherever I need them and play them in a cd player. If necessary, I can also download them to my pre-Millenium computer via Music Match Jukebox or Windows Media Player. It is cumbersome (and probably a copyright violation), but it takes a lot less time than downloading from NetLibrary!

Discovery exercise #9--Podcasts!!!

In an earlier post, I mentioned that I didn't get the relevance or usefulness of some of the Learning 2.0 features. But, podcasts I understand and have used! My favorite sites are SirsiDynix Institute and OPAL (Online Programming for All Libraries). These two sites offer a wide variety of library-related learning podcasts.

Check them out at this links:
http://www.sirsidynixinstitute.com/
http://www.opal-online.org/

I tried the four podcast directories listed in the Learning 2.0 exercise, too, and didn't like any of them. There were waaayyy too many sex-related podcasts in their listings, and I found the listings long and cumbersome to sort through (even when I did searches). For me, Google and Yahoo seemed to produce the best and most useful listings for "podcasts for librarians".

Here are a few links to check out:
http://www.jenkinslaw.org/researchlinks/index.php?rl=307
http://www.libraryspot.com/podcast/othercasts.htm
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/ (click on the Podcast tab or enter podcasts in the search box)

Week 4, Exercise 8--You Tube!!!

There are so many YouTube videos I could discuss here! Should I discuss the Angry Librarian by tv12673 and how not to answer a reference question? Should I chose the Adventures of Super Librarian by the Western Kentucky Libraries and compare that with New Jersey Public Libraries Super Librarian video? Or, what about Conan the Librarian or the Ninja Libraian (who, by the way, are both just little too violent for the Library Slayer)? Or, should I discuss Moebius Transformations by local U of M profs and newsmakers Douglas Arnold and Jonathan Rogness? But, then again, the Oscar Mayer bologna and the Oscar Mayer wiener commercials, along with Mikey and the Life cereal commercial, have been longtime favorites.

Perhaps I should just let you see for yourself which YouTube video I chose...

#7 Blog About Technology

In the past few weeks, a couple of technology-related articles caught my attention. Both were published in the St Paul Pioneer Press (and yes, I am one of those Luddites who pays to have the newspaper delivered to my doorstep instead of reading it online.)

The first article appeared in the Sunday Nov 17th Pioneer Press on page E5 and it is entitled "If Your Blog Dies, Will Anyone But You Know?" The article is an interview with Derek Gordon, vice president for marketing for Technorati (the Internet search engine for searching blogs). He said the number of blogs world wide is growing (109.2 million is one number he quoted). But no one is reading those blogs! Here is a quote from the article: "The vast majority of blogs exist in a state of total or near-total obscurity." So, for those of you who are worried about what will happen to your blogs when SPPL Learning 2.0 is over, "STOP WORRYING!" You can't get any more obsure than you probably are now.

The second article appeared in the November 16, 2007 Pioneer Press and it talks about how Concordia University in St Paul is switching from Microsoft Outlook-based software to Google Apps. (GOING ALL-OUT FOR GOOGLE ST. PAUL'S CONCORDIA U. IS AMONG SWITCHERS TO THE SEARCH GIANT'S ONLINE SOFTWARE SUITE.) Apparently, Google Apps online software is less-costly than Microsoft software and offers many of the same options: e-mail (dubbed Gmail), scheduling, instant messaging, online document sharing, and more.

I thought it was interesting that when preparing for this particular exercise in Learning 2.0, I looked at several of the other participants blogs. A couple of blogs said they didn't understand the relevance of all the 2.0 learning activities in their lives or in their work. I, too, am having problems understanding how I will use some of these new found technologies. But, having used several of the online Google software products, I have to say I am looking forward to Week 9 of the program. Hopefully, we will be exploring Goople software in more detail!

Exercise #6 More Flickr fun

In an earlier post, I mentioned that findng the time to do the Learning 2.0 work would be the most difficult part of the program for me. That has certainly been true for the past couple weeks as I have been busy working on the capstone project for my Master Naturalist Program. In addition to "counting oak seedlings in an area of the nature center following buckthorn removal and controlled burns," I have been preparing my part of the group's powerpoint presentation.

While preparing that powerpoint presentation I accidentally learned how to do a mash-up. My intent was to show an aerial view of The Nature Center with the four 20 x 20 foot areas marked where we counted oak seedlings. It took alot of experimenting. When I finished, I showed the powerpoint to a group member who then said "Wow! Great Mashup!" My respsonse was a mix of "thanks!" and "huh??" (because I didn't realize at the time that I was creating a mashup!)
Alas, I cannot show you this mashup because I didn't save it as a jpg or gif (and blogger seems to require you to have on those formats to display an image.) I also haven't figured out how to upload ( or if you can upload) a powerpoint image or word document/image to a blog.

In any event, here are two trading cards I created with the help of Flickr and FD Toys’ Trading Card Maker. Enjoy!

Week 3 Exercise 5 Part 2 -- Flickr

Following is a link to part two of exercise 5 in SPPL's Learning 2.0 program:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/18829975@N05/1906550989

I think I may have tagged this photo incorrectly because it doesn't show up when I do a search on "stpaulpubliclibrary". This is also NOT the branch where I work. (I guess I didn't do too well on this part of the program.) I took this photo a couple of years ago using a cheap disposable camera. (Sorry. I don't own a digital camera. But, I am open to recommendations regarding purchasing one.) When I had the film developed, I requested a photo disk. It took me a while to figure out how to upload this photo to Flickr. But, once I figured out you have to save the photo to the hard drive before you upload, I had no problems posting it on Flickr.

Week 3 Exercise 5 -- Flickr

The Libray Slayer has been a bit busy with the Halloween antics of her branch's younger patrons and hasn't had as much time as she would like to participate in SPPL's Learning 2.0. But, hey, I made it to Week Three! (This is where I would usually lose momentum or get bogged down in other Learning 2.0 programs I tried.)

Here's a photo from Flickr (courtesy of dobak): http://www.flickr.com/photos/dobak/466496289/

I chose this because on the night that one of our more mischievous patrons set fire to the branch's outdoor trash can, I was across town tromping through the woods, practicing owl calls with my Master Naturalist class. So, which would you rather do: tromp through the dark woods hooting like an owl or put out a fire in a trash can?

Learning 2.0- week 1

The most difficult part of participating in the Learning 2.0 program (for me) will be finding the time and making the commitment to do the work. I tried the Charlotte Mecklenberg 2.0 program, but never made it past week 3. Ditto with the California School Library 2.0 program. (Although the California program did teach me how to put an avatar on my blog.) Hopefully, the third time (and SPPL) will be the charm and I'll finally be able to complete the program.

What's a Library Slayer?

When I was sent to the library branch where I currently work, my initial reaction was "They are sending me to the hellmouth of the library system!" After explaining to my ever supportive spouse and family that a hellmouth is where the demons and vampires of the underworld ascend to upper earth to terrorize the decent, law abiding citizens of St Paul --I mean Sunnydale--they innocently asked "Does that mean you're a Library Slayer?" While I don't like the idea of slaying libraries (or librarians) I do like the idea of being a kick-a** babe who can put unruly, foul-mouthed patrons--I mean, demons--in their place. Thus, the name, The Library Slayer.