23, Stick, Etc.

Thing 23 - Victory Lap! To the Theme from Rocky!

2008-09-09T18:54:00.000-07:00

Now that the end is in sight, I'm feeling a little . . . Nostalgic? Ecstatic? Copacetic? It's hard to say.

At times, the road was a challenging one. I felt like it was hard to get started. In the beginning, there were a lot of tools for manipulating images, which while cool and fun, does not seem to be very practical at least for my job. We tend to leave graphics to our skilled public relations department (and we're lucky to have them!) Also, I felt like the RSS thing came too early in the process . . . that I may have gotten more out of it farther down the road. And I will revisit that, since I don't think I have the understanding of it, or that I've used it as productively as I could have.

It was also challenging to separate what was fun and entertaining from what was actually useful in a library setting. I think that you could use tools like You Tube, podcasting, Second Life, Facebook etc. to serve a library's purpose, but that it would take up a good amount of time, time that most understaffed libraries just don't have readily available. Still, it's good to be up on the new technology, as our patrons expect us to be knowledgeable, even if we don't realize it.

One unexpectedly cool outcome of this process for me was keeping in touch with my coworkers. We have a library system with a LOT of staff, who work in various branches, and often, we don't see our coworkers at other branches much. Having their blogs on my blogroll has been a cool way to keep up with them, and their process through the Things. It's also been enormously helpful to read their experiences with each Thing. For someone having issues with a particular Thing, they could check with someone who has already worked on it and can help them knowledgeably. Also, having staff on Facebook has been enormously fun so far. I'll be interested to see how long we keep up with that.

I would probably do another program like this, particularly if I am as, let's call it "gently encouraged" as I was by our supervisors. Since this is a work thing, and we do get training for it in our system, I did my best to work on this at the library whenever possible. A few things I worked on at home, but most at work. And honestly? I did almost none of this at the small branch I manage and am on the desk every hour that we're open. It just wasn't possible. I was much more able to get things done during some off-desk time at the large branch I also work at, or while attending the reference telephones. There's something about being in a public area that really interferes with careful thought, and a lot of this for me, was thinking about each Thing's usefulness and its place in library work.

There are lots of nice comments on the 23 Things website about librarian's experiences with the Things, but I want to add mine as well. Although it was a long road, and there may have been a little complaining along the way, I'm glad I did it. It was a great, hands-on introduction to Web 2.0, and I learned some pretty useful Things along the way for library work. Thanks to all who put it together, and kept the tone light and positive. It definitely made the journey more fun!

Thing 22 - The Current

2008-09-09T14:39:00.000-07:00

My journey through the wondrous land of Web and Library 2.0 is nearly to an end. I passed through the seven levels of the Candy Cane forest, through the sea of swirly twirly gum drops, and then I walked through the Lincoln Tunnel. No, wait. That was actually Buddy the Elf.

I hereby solemnly swear to do the following:

-- Maintain faithful use of Facebook, for as long as it interests me, and as long as people keep writing on my wall and sending me flair

-- Go back and really try the whole RSS thing again. I don't think I got as much out of that Thing as I could have, and I want to try to make it more applicable and useful for my professional life, if not my interests.

-- Keep up with my professional growth and do my best to keep up with the new technology.

I do not resolve to maintain this blog, because it's really served its purpose and can be done now. But I will try to be better about maintaining this blog, my website, and maybe this blog.

I like the list on the 23 Things page. And when I get my RSS thing going again, I'll add some of those!

Thing 21 - What Do You Mean, MORE Social Networks?

2008-09-09T12:06:00.000-07:00

I mean, I'm loving Facebook and trying to persuade everyone I know to join, but more? That was my first thought upon reading the first lines of the 21st Thing. And I'm SO CLOSE! Okay, back to Thing 21.

So, here I am on Ning. I'm underwhelmed, to say the least. I signed up, joined the group, sent a comment and here's the badge:

View my page on 23 Things on a Stick

I read the article about Ning and I appreciate that it's an easy network to set up for smaller groups, and the software is usable and so on, but after Facebook, it just seems extraneous. I did like the snarky article linked on the 23 things site about social networking. That was good fun.

I checked out Gather as well. As it's always advertised on MPR, I thought it would be filled with interesting, educated, liberal, public radio lovers, but in my forays onto the site, I haven't found any discussions interesting enough to check out in detail. I have Flixster on my Facebook profile, and a friend tried to get me to join Good Reads, but as I'm all about the Visual Bookshelf on Facebook right now, that may have to wait for another day.

Thing 20 - Facebook continued

2008-09-08T09:03:00.001-07:00

OMG, now I'm obsessed. I'm acquiring friends, getting flair, people are writing on my wall, and getting about a million messages in my email letting me know all this and more. I spent HOURS on it last night at home, and part of the reason was I added the Visual Bookshelf application to my profile. I totally took to that in a way that I never really did with LibraryThing.

Visual Bookshelf is super duper easy and intuitive to use. All you have to do is type in your title, choose the book, select whether you are currently reading it, whether you've already read it, or whatever, give it a star rating and write a short (or long) review of it. Then the book jackets display on your profile to give people a quick look at what you're reading. I can see this as being a great way for librarians and book readers in my circle to share what they're reading in a quick and convenient way. So THAT took up a lot of my time, in a good way.

Plus, two cool things I might not have known/seen if not for Facebook: A great picture of a friend who has passed on (from another friend's page), and the fact that a childhood friend succeeded in his adoption of a little boy from Guatemala (I think it's Guatemala). So cool!

Okay, now on to the ramifications on a purely professional basis for librarians: . . . welllll . . . It's certainly been the dish at the meetings and gatherings I've attended lately, and everyone's having a bunch of fun adding friends and sending flair and zombies and whatnot, but as for professionally? Not sure yet.

I just looked to see if any local library systems have a presence on Facebook, and of course, Hennepin County Library does. However, they only have 10 posts on their wall. Discussing this with one of my most learned and wise colleagues, we have agreed that Facebook is not the best outlet for this kind of institutional presence. (Okay, I totally stole that bit from him, but I agree!). MySpace makes sense for teen departments in libraries, but Facebook doesn't seem like the best fit.

I am intrigued by Visual Bookshelf as a tool for readers advisory, though. I'm eternally searching for a way for my wise colleagues to share their reading likes and dislikes, and help keep me and other librarians more apprised of genres that we may not be as familiar with. Perhaps this will be a useful way. But again, will we continue on Facebook once 23 Things is but a fond memory in the collective unconscious of Ramsey County Library? Some will, for sure. I don't know if I'll be one of them. So far it's fun, but we'll see! My attention span is not always the longest.

Thing 20 - Facebook - Will YOU be my friend?

2008-09-07T13:06:00.000-07:00

I dutifully signed up for my Facebook account and was IMMEDIATELY freaked out by the array of potential friends at my disposal, some of who I actually already know. As Joey from Blossom might say, WHOA. (Can you believe that's still not out on DVD? Amahzing. Except not.)

So here I am, signed up for Facebook, immediately checking the privacy settings, looking up my high school graduating class (go Titans, I guess), and exploring all the various little nooks and crannies in the profiles of the people I do know on Facebook.

Okay, I'm totally just adding things about movies and books to my Facebook profile. I think maybe I should be doing something more productive, and library related, perhaps? Hmm. I'll be back.

Thing 19 - Podcasting

2008-09-02T17:18:00.000-07:00

The big beautiful world of Podcasting. I tell you what, hearing the word podcasting never fails to bring to mind another usage for the word "pod": The Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Book by Jack Finney, made into films with varying success. I personally prefer the 1956 version with Kevin McCarthy. (As long as we're talking about Jack Finney, you should probably read Time and Again, a great novel about a man who travels back in time to late 19th century Manhattan. He describes the time and place so beautifully, you'll think you were actually there.)

Anyway, back to podcasting. I've downloaded the podcast of Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me on my MP3 Player, and loved having it available whenever I wanted to listen to it. I work every other Sunday, so it was nice to be able to listen to it at a later date. Wait, Wait is a great show to listen to while doing laundry, yard work, dishes, or organizing things about the house.

I probably won't create my own podcast, because, frankly, I'm not sure what the heck I would do. I actually prefer to do any kind of ranting, or holding forth on topics in person, or at least on the phone, which allows me to check with my audience to ensure that I'm not losing them. And if I am? I can gradually fade out and talk about something of more general interest, such as why there's nothing good on tv, and why doesn't someone come over and clean my house for me?

I know podcasts are sort of the rage for instructional stuff on library sites, but I still maintain my square old-school status, and think a lot of this stuff is better just explained in text, rather than in a video or a podcast. With a lot of these you don't know how long they'll be, and at least you can skim text, or return to it later, rather than start a video you don't have the time (or the inclination) to finish. Also, looking through the lists of podcasts, I think my inclincation would be more towards the known quantity (i.e., quality like that of National Public Radio broadcasts, or personalities whose work you already know and enjoy), rather than investing the time in trying something new.

Thing 18 - You Tubery

2008-09-02T16:29:00.000-07:00

Can I just say: Could I start MORE sentences with 'So,'? I'm an absolute stream-of-consciousness writer in this kind of setting, and in any kind of writing, I always need to do a lot of editing to take out all my beloved qualifiers like, 'just' and 'I guess' and 'a little'. It's a gift! But I guess I don't need to worry too much about that right now, when I'm just writing for my own edification.

Onto Thing 18! DUDE! I ALREADY DID IT! TWICE!

Sweet! BTW, if you're interested in the videos I heart, go to my page and check them out!

We saw the filming of the video below last year when we were in Millennium Park in beautiful Chicago.

Thing 17 - ELM Productivity

2008-09-02T14:48:00.000-07:00

Yikes. This one has a LOT of steps, and a LOT of corrections, and a LOT of comments. But I have the end in my sights, and I'm going to just plow through as best as possible. Go me!

Okay, so I did a search as requested in Infotrac Student Edition, and read through the new and revised instructions to setting up a RSS feed for my search, which was for the Broadway show In the Heights. It sounds like the process has caused people quite a bit of hair-pulling and angst to figure out. And I have to say, putting together the revised directions was not quite as clear as I think the 23 folks may have thought. Perhaps I'll work on that feed aspect a bit later, and look to the rest of the Thing 17 instead.

All right! Personal folder in Ebscohost. Okay, I have to take this opportunity to say that the new look of Ebscohost is less than appealing. I hate any interface when the actual content of the page is relegated so far down the page, or in such a narrow column that the user has to search to find what the user has already been searching for! Sheesh! Right now, their formatting is so wack that there's a nice big blue empty space over a nice bit white empty space and then below that is my search results. Oh well. The web is tricky, kids!

So, I've done my search, and saved my results in my folder, which I have to say, I really like. Pretty much every Broadway theater season, I get obsessed with a new show or two, and want to read all the articles that have ever been published on that show, and this would be a good way to keep them. I'm a little ashamed to say I might have printed them out in the past. So old school!

However, in the instructions to the challenge, I'm a wee bit confused. Why would I want to take the nice, linkable, clearly displayed citations in my folder and transfer that text onto a web site. I'm not sure what the point of that is, or what the point of having a page creator in this particular environment. I have to say a big sneh to creating a web page here.

Okay, Proquest, search, web page, and so on. Okay, done and done. So now I went into Netlibrary and made the little notes. I kind of like that idea of creating notes in a text. If they're easy enough to retrieve, I could see this being useful for textbooks in particular. But again? Until most texts are online, and the majority of users are signed up for this service, a post-it on the page would probably work just fine. Unless, again, you're communicating with others about this text remotely.

So, on the whole, still don't see the point of the web page creation, when My Folder seems to contain the same information with just a click. But I do think the saving of searches and saving of results would be useful, particularly for students and researchers. I think I'll go check out others' experiences with this particular thing.

Thing 16 - I Don't Feel Tardy

2008-09-02T13:36:00.000-07:00

So even the grumpiest of grumpy 23 thingers can't find anything objectionable about the tools mentioned in Thing 16. The University of Minnesota assignment calculator seems like a wonderful tool for students who are suffering blocks and unable to get started on a project. Not only setting up a timeline, which seems useful for the chronic procrastinator, a trait I didn't completely shake even though graduate school, though I was quite a bit better than in college. I like the links that they provide for each step of the research paper process, and it's a great format to keep this info together. I found some dead links, but hopefully it's just a temporary hiccup with the U site.

The Research Project Calculator was another great site, with good links and a comprehensive schedule for a few different project options, including slide presentations (don't they mean Powerpoint?) and a video. I thought the links at this site were particularly useful, and would be great for guiding students through the process. The support materials were also particularly well put together, and had lots of great, valuable information for students. These sites should definitely be on any library's website and shown to struggling students.

Is it useful for me in a library setting? Perhaps. Occasionally, library staff is asked to research and write about a particular aspect of library work or subject concentration and present their findings to the director and the management team. This might be useful for that, but only if our research and time management skills are particularly rusty.

Thing 15 - Games People Play

2008-09-02T11:54:00.000-07:00

So I watched the Second Life video. Sans sound, cause although I was not at the desk (for once, praise all appropriate deities!), I was apparently on a computer with no sound. I did do a little snooping around the web to learn more about Second Life and libraries. It's the eternal questions, though, for me: Who has the time? I'm just saying. And it seems a little fringey to be spending valuable work resources on it, at least as far as setting up your library in Second Life. And personally, cripes, it took me long enough to decide on what my Yahoo Avatar was going to look like, I can't imagine how long it will take me to make an actual from scratch Avatar, who could apparently be part alien or possibly animal, which is frankly, just strange.

As far as online gaming goes, I have done a little online gaming. I've been known to play a little Freecell at times, and possibly even the old-school solitaire. I like it for staving off writer's block, or feeling semi-productive by winning something while rambling around on the 'net. It's a very satisfying feeling.

I'm not really much of a games person, which probably adds to my lack of enthusiasm. I do enjoy the odd game of Mystery Date (see photo above of my actual game purchased at an estate sale years ago), Careers, Payday, Trivial Pursuit, stuff like that. But that's more in a social setting, with friends, not sitting alone at home playing games with my friends on the Internet. If I'm actually home, I'd rather be reading or doing something active around the house, rather than spending the evening looking at a computer screen. I spend SO much of my day at a computer, it feels like work to sit down in front of it at home.

Thing 14 - It's a LibraryThing

2008-08-24T14:35:00.000-07:00

Oh, dear LibraryThing! I've signed up for you several times now, and still have not really accomplished anything. I think part of the problem might be that I'm not sure of the best way to use LibraryThing. I'm not likely to catalogue my books on it, and it's not because I'm not a complete book dork--I so am--but because most of my valued book collection will not appear on LibraryThing as they are teen romance novels from the 50s, or etiquette books of the 20th century. And I already keep a running Microsoft Excel spreadsheet of what I'm reading and enjoying. I'm just not sure how it applies to my life.

I do like the groups, however. This might be the best place I've found to discuss books--and on a huge variety of subjects. There's even a group for Librarians Who LibraryThing to gather and chat.

The other issue I had with LibraryThing is the eternal question of tagging, and the annoyingness of inconsistent terminology with tagging. Also, I found as I was trying to add tags to my book, I was having trouble making up my own terminology. I would love if tags could be preloaded into sites so this inconsistency might be less of an issue.

As for the blog prompt, I'm intrigued by the idea of sharing booklists with patrons in this fashion, for a small library, particularly. With a larger library, hopefully the ability to create and post lists might be something built into the site. Let's hope!

Thing 13 - Online Productivity In the House

2008-08-24T13:40:00.000-07:00

Can I just say, I can't believe I've gotten this far! I'd like to thank my coworkers, my bosses, my childhood teachers and most of all you--you, my faithful readers. If it wasn't for your near constant support, and wonderful, encouraging comments, why, I never would have made it this far! If you need me, I'll be CMUAROFL. (Cracking myself up--you know the rest!) I kid because I love. I'm all giddy from making it past the halfway point in 23 Things. I think I'm going to make it after all!

Let's get to some online productivity! I'm leaping right into the My Yahoo page, because I already have a Yahoo account. Yay! Hey, it looks like I did this before, cause my horoscope is up there. But I assure you, I never chose Garfield. Ew. I only like Garfield Minus Garfield, a "site dedicated to removing Garfield from the Garfield comic strips in order to reveal the existential angst of a certain young Mr. Jon Arbuckle. It is a journey deep into the mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness and depression in a quiet American suburb." Ooh, My Yahoo has stage and publishing news! I was about to type Yay, but I'm already close to my quota of exclamation points for today, so I'm going to try to take it down a notch. Okay, that was pretty fun. I just added EW.com to my Yahoo stuff. Cool.

Online calendars . . . love the fact that I can hook up with the Google and Yahoo ones without signing up for additional accounts. They both look like good online calendars, with Google having a wee edge for style. I think online calendars are a great idea, and would certainly help when planning one's social life at work. Lists . . . again, liking the idea of online lists, but do I need to share them with others? Why would anyone else care? Also, lists can be a bit personal, no? Also, most of my to-do lists involve going places and doing things, not sitting at a computer. It's much more satisfying to cross them off on paper, than to log into my computer, pull it up, and click a button. I kind of like the idea of Backpack for a staff intranet page. It would be nice to have one that was interactive, and easily updated and changed by multiple staff people.

La la la, online productivity -- what? Free PDF Converters? Really? How is this legal? And why is one called Cute? If these do in fact work, that would be a sure thing to increase online productivity. At my last job, only the development staff had access to PDF writer, so anytime anyone wanted to put something online in a PDF, they had to ask one of the development staff. It was a little inconvenient. Intriguing this! Perhaps I should bookmark it!

Thing 12 - Demented and Sad, but Social

2008-08-24T13:01:00.001-07:00

Welcome to the world of exploring social media sites! Thing 12: Can you Digg it? (Like that hasn't been used before!)

So I was checking out the social media sites, like you do and found the hilarious picture to the right. Good geeky times! I checked out Mixx first, but wasn't terrible impressed with the layout (or the content--not crazy about a site with bikini-clad chicks on the front page). Also, the tour is via video. Still here at the desk at the library, unable to listen to stuff. I envy those who can! I liked Digg much better right away. Nice organization, and it looks like it gets more use than Mixx, which seems useful with this kind of set-up. I actually found several interesting sounding articles (on beach scenes in movies, and the top 25 Most Awesome Horror Kills, but that's right, I'm supposed to be working here. If only there was some way to bookmark and tag these for a later day! HA! Oh, I love you you crazy 23 things.) (Me again: Okay, that horror site is SUPER gross. I don't recommend it at all.) With Digg, though, they are crazy with the doubleclick ads. If I didn't have pop-up blocker, I have a feeling I would be crazy with the pop-up crud. But yay Digg for a tour I can watch! Hooray!

But really: Do I have this much time to spend on the Internet? I spend all my work day in front of a computer. When I go on the 'Net at home, recreationally, I usually want to spend just a few minutes with a few favorite sites. A little NY Theater Chat, a little mocking of celebrity fashion, maybe a little Overheard in the Office. But I'm just not going to spend a huge amount of time reading stuff on the Internet. Also, Digg is super tech fixated (surprise, surprise), and their subjects are not ones that I'm so much interested in. The two subjects I'd most want to be updated on: books and theater, are not to be found here. And bless their little hearts, I don't really want to vote on stories. Can't I save my votes for something important?

And to answer the blog prompt question: I think this kind of stuff definitely leans towards a productivity detractor. I'm not so much seeing how it's relevant for a library. Relevant for a bored IT staff, for sure. But libraries? Not so much.

Thing 11 - You're It! (Tagging)

2008-08-24T12:10:00.000-07:00

Fun fact: There are no hilarious images for the word Tag. Lots of watches, and dog tags, but nothing interesting. Back to tagging! (As if I'd started.)

Just read about tagging, and just obediently tried to sign up for an account with delicious, but unfortunately, the computer I'm using (at work, yes, at work) is not displaying the secret code letters that I need to sign up. So, I can't sign up. I'll try it at a later date, on another computer. Tried to watch the tutorial, but working at a public desk, I can't have the sound on, so that's not terribly helpful. I long for podcasts with subtitles, for those of us in public on our computers!

So I'll just talk about it instead! I love the idea of accessing my bookmarks from any computer. I would have loved this back when I worked at a job where I was underemployed and spent a good amount of time on the Internet. Also, I was going back and forth between my own computer, my parents' computer, school, work, etc.

[btw: I just poked around Minn23's tags at delicious and found this great posting: Uncle Bobby's Wedding. Excellent response to a challenge, and amazingly well thought out!]

One of the issues that I have with tagging--having just started to use it on a Staff Readers Advisory blog--is the lack of consistency with tags. It annoys my inner obsessive-compulsive. And although I like that you can use tags with Wordpress, it's hard to remember what tags you've used, and so it's easy to use a slightly different tag for the same subject. I even printed out a list of my tags so I could remember them more easily. I feel the same way about the tags in librarything, which I know is coming up around the bend here soon. I'm not sure how germane this is to the discussion, but what the heck.

Thing 10 - Moving Right Along

2008-07-27T12:54:00.000-07:00

Footloose and fancy free! I'm ready for the big time, is it ready for me? Name that song!

Anyway, Thing 10. The wonderful world of wikis! One quick note about videos and watching them in the library while working, even under the auspices of work-related things such as this: I wish they had subtitles. One thing about videos vs. written matter on the web is that you can always read something, but it's not always possible to watch something, and not disturb others in your area, or patrons in the library. Small point, but there you go. I watched the video without sound and got the gist.

So . . . wikis. Wikis are a great idea. Hey, look! More collaboration! Clearly a theme. There's a lot of appeal to wikis, in that they can be edited by a number of people. I do have to say that I use wikipedia for the odd ready reference question, though I often try to find a more reliable source to back up the answer. But just for my own interest, it's come in handy quite a bit. And we do have a wiki here at our library, upon which is posted meeting notes, issues, things like that, and that's pretty useful.

I do have to say, though, sometimes wikis are not the most intuitive, or user-friendly software. It can be difficult to navigate through them effectively, and sometimes the design is just plain unattractive. SJCPL Subject Guides is a great idea, and probably really easy for the staff to update, which is a huge plus, not having to go through another department to make updates to the page. But the formatting is a bit off, and the thought and organization behind the page (why these sites were chosen, which are library resources, which are external postings) could be a little clearer. The Booklovers Wiki at Princeton Public Library is another site which is a very good idea, but is pretty unattractive in its design. I haven't really seen a pbwiki site which is attractive. The Library Success page is much more attractively designed, and seems to contain quite a number of useful links. I will probably be bookmarking this site, and may even be interested in updating it. (I think their Readers Advisory page could use a little help.) I also like the Blogging Libraries wiki, and have used it before to look for great examples of library blogs. As for the Minnesota blogs, the Minnewiki is pretty well put together, and may be useful if more people add more information. Honestly, though, it's a MPR blog about music--I can't believe there's not a posting for Garrison Keillor. After all, he does sing on his show! And the MN 150 is pretty nicely packaged as well. So all is not lost for the wiki! Clearly, people are creating well-designed, well-organized wikis. Hurrah to us all!

Thing 9 - Back to the Order that The Man Dictates

2008-07-27T12:27:00.000-07:00

I actually did this thing ages ago, and found the whole process frustrating enough to make me shelve the whole 23 things for a few months. (Also, busy, blah blah, whatever.) I understand that there are times when you may need several people to work on one document at a time, and that Web 2.0 appears to be all about the collaborating and sharing and group hugs and naptime and whatever, but as a bit of a Control Enthusiast, I kind of like not sharing documents.

Can we now praise Adobe for inventing the PDF and making it possible to send others documents that will not look all messed up on their computer due to different settings and font lacking and all that? If you think about it, the PDF is a control enthusiast's dream. ANYHOO. I did not email the Powers that Be to gain access to this document, since it seems pretty apparent how it works, and there are no end of comments complaining about how hard it was to actually get access to the document.

Okay, I just reread this and it's SO very much "Hey, you kids, get off my lawn!" I'm intrigued by open source software, like Google's working on, and it would seem that Google Docs has some useful uses. But this is where I feel a little old and set in my ways. I like my Microsoft Word. I like all my settings, and the formatting capabilities and all that. Open source just looks a little too bare bones to me, like staying in a youth hostel rather than in a nice, clean hotel. See? Next thing you know, I'll be buying a recliner. Sheesh.

Thing 18 - Take Two

2008-07-23T11:23:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I just read the stuff on 23 Things on a Stick about You Tube. Apparently, I'm supposed to discuss how this will enhance my professional life, not just my personal life. Interesting . . .

I suppose if it's done well (i.e., either quite professionally, or quite creatively while still maintaining amateur status), a video could be an interesting addition to a library website. I'm having trouble, though, thinking of what aspects of library information would be better in video form than in plain text. Maybe a tour, but even still, I don't think it would replace a map--not that we have maps. And I'm not sure who would sit down and watch a video about new books--the person giving the spiel would have to be quite a performer, I think. Hmm.

Thing 18 - Skipping Ahead a Bit

2008-07-23T08:31:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry, but I am LOVING You Tube right now. I just got back from NYC, completely enraptured by my new favorite Broadway musical - In the Heights, which follows the denizens of a neighborhood in Washington Heights in Manhattan over the course of a couple of days, and features fabulous music with some hip-hop, some Latin music and, of course, straight up musical theater. It was off-Broadway last year, transferred this year and (rightfully) won the Tony for Best New Musical, and I wish I'd had the opportunity to see it again before we left.

Which brings me to You Tube. The creator of In The Heights, the adorable and talented Lin-Manuel Miranda, has created and posted a number of videos promoting the show which can be found on You Tube. He has a hilarious parody of Rhianna's Umbrella called Abuela, and one that takes off on a High School Musical 2 song, and a couple where he just raps about the show. In addition to this, you can watch footage of the show from the Tony Awards, videos of when they signed and performed at the Virgin Megastore in NYC, and scenes from when they performed at Broadway in Bryant Park.

What I love so much about these videos is that theater is normally so transitory--especially if you're stuck in Minnesota. In years past, if I'd become obsessed with a show, the best that I could do is listen to the cast recording, and read articles about the making of the show. But to be able to watch scenes from the show again--that's pretty darned cool.

And of course, once I discovered this, a whole new world of Broadway theater videos has opened up to me. I'm loving Seth Rudetsky's deconstructions of Broadway singers and their styles, and his obsessions with what makes them so great. I love this one, which discusses Betty Buckley's uncredited appearance in Hair, and the beauty of Eliseo Roman's voice in a song from In The Heights. LOVE IT!

Here's a commercial for the Heights. Enjoy!

Thing 8 - Sharing your Whatevers

2008-05-18T07:58:00.000-07:00

I have to say, the Picture Trail/Flicks things with moving pictures, kind of reminds me of the early days of the Internet, when blinking and scrolling text was all the rage. (Hey, you kids, get off my lawn! This is my ball now!) I believe way too much in web usability and accessibility (labeled pictures that can be read by screen readers and text browsers) to find these picture shows much use in a professional setting. Simpler ones, though, would certainly be fine and add visual interest to a website, blah blah blah. I'm apparently too crabby to be exploring 2.0 today, so I think I'll move on to some other vaguely work-related activity.

Thing 7 - Email and Whatnot

2008-05-18T07:47:00.000-07:00

After a hiatus of about a month and a half, during which time I set up a staff reading and readers advisory blog for my library, I am back to explore the wonders of things called thing. SO, email. Yes, have been using it for some time. It drains my productivity like you wouldn't believe. I am obsessed with checking it regularly, yet am kind of terrible at responding in a timely fashion. AND, I keep saving things but can never find them when I'm looking for them. It's definitely something I need to work on. I admire my coworkers who are particularly efficient and responsive with their email. I choose to blame our work email, which is a mite clunkier than Outlook, which is much easier to speed through, read through, delete and mark messages.

OMG, what is with the music on that video? Are these people not aware that we work in libraries. Sheesh! :) We use IM regularly in the library and it's a nice way to communicate quickly with other branches, and to check and see if they have items on their shelves that your patrons might want. Of course, people need to log in to make this happen, and also, turn off their IM when they've left to make it useful. Also, it helps those of us in smaller libraries feel a connection to the outside world. If you're only working with one other person, it can be nice to get a little additional human contact during the day. What? Oh, patrons don't count.

Thing 6 - It's a Sickness

2008-04-04T11:54:00.001-07:00

Thing 6 - Can't Stop Generating

2008-04-04T11:29:00.000-07:00

Thing 6 - In the Groove Now

2008-04-04T11:09:00.001-07:00

Check it out! I'm generating! I know I'm supposed to make a trading card or something, but isn't this way more fun? Thanks to the person who posted Generator Blog in the comments under Thing 6. I made a screed too, but can't figure out how to post it, which is all probably for the best. This should really be a screed-free day. FOR ONCE.

Thing 5 - More Fun

2008-04-04T10:59:00.000-07:00

The photo in this link is an old family photo of my mom and her cousins. I tried out a variety of the Big Huge Labs Flickr tools with varying success, but kind of like the framing feature shown here. I'm a wee bit skeptical of the usefulness of these tools in the library environment, as most of our design work is done in adminstration, and it seems like your basic photoshop or design software has tools like this, which are easier to use. But that's just me. Slightly negative and fighting a head cold, which is not making me any more Miss Susie Sunshine than usual.

Thing 4 - Continued

2008-04-04T10:27:00.001-07:00

starspangled
Originally uploaded by schka46

Here's my blog posting for a photo from Flickr, as requested! I'm not entirely convinced of the usability of Flickr for libraries. Each use that comes to mind (library photos for an online tour, book covers of new books at the library) don't really need the extra step of adding photos to Flickr. Hopefully, the library website will be able to house these images on its own. But great for personal use, especially for people who communicate with far away families via blogs. The Blog This feature would be a great timesaver for them.

Thing 4 - I'm BACK!

2008-04-04T09:58:00.000-07:00

So, I watched the video as instructed and I see the appeal of backing up photos online. I can see how some people might want to share their photos online with others. For me, though, I'm strictly an amateur photographer, and I'm always advocating for more photos with people in them. Therefore, I'm a little skeptical of sharing them online. I can see putting pictures online after a party so your partygoers can see them, but why would strangers be interested in these photos? Isn't there an old adage about boring your neighbors with your vacation slides? And those are people who like you! Hmm.

Of course, there is a lot of good mocking to be had from checking out people's photos online. Case in point: http://www.flickr.com/photos/32336057@N00/sets/72157600029442018/. Yearbook pictures from the 1970s and 80s. Having grown up in that time, I can agree. It was an UGLY time. Found for me by the fabulous Pop Culture Junk Mail. Some of the coolest things I've seen on Flickr have been linked by the weblog Scrubbles.net. It's a great way to show off cool images, advertising art, collections, vintage prints, film stills, etc. I definitely like Flickr for this aspect.

I did upload a bunch of fifties book covers to Flickr, for the experience. They're all from my collection that I scanned in for use on my website devoted to fifties teen romance novels which you can find here.

Thing 3 - Clever Title To Come Later

2008-02-24T19:37:00.000-08:00

So I signed up with Bloglines, did my RSS feeds. For ages, I've been meaning to work on this, and learn the great wide world of RSS. But to be completely honest, I'm not really seeing the usefulness of this for my everyday life. I have about six or eight blogs and websites that I check every so often, when I feel like killing time online, and it isn't a great hardship for me to actually visit the sites. That said, Bloglines was very easy to sign up and use. I just don't think it's something that I would be using on a regular basis. I feel like I should probably pretend that I spend so much time online catching up on Web 2.0 stuff that I really need Bloglines or Google Reader to keep up to date, but I just don't. By the way, is this knitted Thing (from the Fantastic Four) the cutest thing you've ever seen? Or is it just me? Check out more at http://www.craftjuice.com.

Thing 2 - It's Your Thing (do what you wanna do)

2008-02-22T10:48:00.000-08:00

So I was momentarily stymied by Thing 2, as the technology at my small library was not up to the challenge of playing a video. No sound on my desk (public) computer, and not adequate Flash on the backroom computer. But luckily, my home laptop came to the rescue and the video can consider itself watched.

That said, I find it enormously hard to give videos (and even long essays) on the web careful attention. I think having 'grown up' using the web as carefully concealed and sporadic escape from a dull job (not my current job, of course!), my attention online is pretty fragmented. The video was interesting, though, and he makes an excellent point about librarians keeping up with technology. Also, I can't believe that guy used to smoke three packs a day. Dang. That's a lot of smoking.

As for the blog and article discussions (and if anyone's really read this far, I give them mad props), I found the discussion of Library 2.0 interesting. I love the ideas of how it can enhance the experience of readers and readers advisory, and connect readers together. I think the Ann Arbor District Library website is a thing of infinite beauty. I also like the increased options for ways of providing reference service, such as IM/Virtual Reference. However, it's also important to remember what the percentage is of people who use libraries in traditional ways--let's not assume our entire population is flooding in to send podcasts from our libraries. We still have a class on "mastering the mouse" after all, and it's quite well-attended. I guess most of all, this comment on the blyberg blog post really hit home for me: "unacceptable Galapagos?civilizes Ritchie highlands!…". That's really something to think about.

Thing 1 - Part Three (bordering on obsessive)

2008-02-13T11:12:00.000-08:00

Does Thing 1, Thing 2 etc. make anyone else think of these guys?

Thing 1 - Part Two

2008-02-13T10:56:00.001-08:00

The avatar is up! I am fully represented in the online world. I hope my avatar doesn't run off and make trouble with other 23 blogs and get in brawls with other avatars. Clearly, there could be some trouble what with the snowballs and all.

Thing 1 - It's a BLOG!

2008-02-13T08:57:00.000-08:00

I have followed directions and have set up said blog for the 23 Things on a Stick program. Sadly, Yahoo Avatars is down right now, but I'm hoping to get the avatar up and running soon. I set up a couple of trial blogs on Wordpress, but got bogged down in the appearance and decided to go back to Blogger, which I've had several blogs on in the past including The Bitter Spinster Librarian. And that's it!