Monday, February 11, 2008

23 Things On a Stick: Thing # 2--Library 2.0

We know time is always an issue--Stephen Abram shares some ideas on where to find the time for 23 Things. Where will you find the time?

Sure, time is an issue-chances are if I'm awake, I'm not standing still for long. : ) So, where am I going to find the time? Same way I always do-I'll make the time. It may be odd moments, and they will usually be late at night, but it'll all get done. I'm treating this just like another class, and because there's 'homework', it's really no different.


Why are you participating in 23 Things On a Stick? What do you hope to learn?

I'm participating in 23 Things On a Stick because I know this is technology I need to be familar with. Besides, this stuff is cool, and I'm defintely a 'hands-on learner'. I also know myself well enough to know that if there's no deadline, I'll shuffle it to the bottom of my to-do list. During the school term, I operate mainly on a 'what's due next' mentality. This has a definite finish-by date so it makes it easier for me.


How has the Internet and the vast resource it can be affected your use of time at work and/or at home?

The Internet and all its resources has made my time at work easier. Instead of having to remember everything, I know I can look it up. Of course, it's a double-edged sword, too. If the Internet is down, well, it makes for an interesting work day... At home I have high-speed Internet, and use it every day. Since St Kate's is 1.5 hours away, I don't use the on site library resources much; instead, I use the online resources. I don't think I would be nearly as good of a student/librarian as I am without the technology available to me.


Where are you in your knowledge and use of Web 2.0 tools? How about your library?

I have a pretty good working knowledge of the theory of Web 2.0/Library 2.0 tools. I just don't have lots of concrete experience with it all. This topic is something that gets brought up quite a bit in various classes, but it's mostly the 'what' of it, not the 'how'. I don't think either my library or my library system is terribly Web 2.0 friendly, though. I know that of the 3 people at my branch, I'm the most tech-savvy, and that's alarming. We're learning, though.


What are you looking forward to in 23 Things On a Stick?

Hmmm. I'm looking forward to taking the time to actually go explore some of the things, as well as doing some of the challenge activities (I like to push my knowledge boundaries as much as possible). I'm not sure how much of it will actually be relevant to my position, but one of the things I've found over the past 5 years of being back in school is that nothing is ever a complete waste of time and there will always be something that I can take away from every situation that will help me later on.

One of the things that has come up in one of my classes this term is that oftentimes as librarians, we're not on the cutting edge of the newest/latest/greatest Web 2.0 things. I think this is true to a certain extent-there are plenty of times I think we're all just trying to catch up to what was cool last week/month/year, and not looking ahead to what could be. Also, it sometimes seems that we get so excited about this all, but don't really take the time to figure out how exactly it will (or won't) be beneficial to ourselves, our libraries, or the profession overall. That said, we have to start somewhere, and there may come a person someday that says, "Hey-this would be PERFECT for libraries-why don't we give it a try?"

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

23 Things on a Stick Master List

23 Things on a Stick-Master List (if it's done, it's in green; if I'm working on it, it's orange; if I haven't started on it yet, it's black)
1. Set up own blog (Done 5 February 2008)
2. Read & Watch about Library 2.0; Web 2.0, and the future of libraries (Done 11 February 2008)
3. Learn about RSS (Done 8/27/2008)
4. Explore Flickr (Done 8/27/2008)
5. Fun with Flickr (Done 8/27/2008)
6. Online Image Generator (Done 8/31/2008)
7. Web 2.0 Communication tools (Done 9/2/2008)
8. Sharing slide decks, photos, or presentation slides
9. Collaborating online with Web 2.0 tools
10. Wikis & how libraries are using them (Done 9/4/2008)
11. Tagging and del.icio.us
12. Social Media Sites: Digg; Reddit, and others
13. Online Productivity Tool
14. LibraryThing (Done 7/25/08)
15. Libraries & Games: Online games
16. Assignment Calculator & Research Project Calculator
17. ELM Productivity Tools
18. Discover YouTube & other sites
19. Explore Podcasts
20. Social Networks: Facebook and MySpace
21. Other Social Networks
22. Staying Current: keeping up the skills
23. One Last Thing:evaluation

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

23 Things on a Stick-Thing #1

Obviously I have set up my blog-that was the easy part. I even created an avatar through Yahoo!, but I ultimately decided to go with one from my own files.

I had already set up a blog for a homework assignment in one of my MLIS classes this term (I'm currently a MLIS student at St Kate's in St Paul, MN), and had figured out how to tweak the templates and settings. You can find it at: http://librarydigressions.blogspot.com/ . It's the blog I set up for the Winsted Public Library, located in Winsted, Minnesota, where I work.

I also added a Sitemeter visitor count widget-it was part of the Challenge section. I will work a doing a Blogroll next.

So far, the tasks have been easy. I'm not always enthused about new technology-too many times the upkeep & maintenance seem to take up too much of my already limited free time. I'm not afraid to try it out, though. My general theory is that if something goes wrong, I can always turn off or close the application and walk away to be able to give myself time to think about it.