Thing #14 Library Thing

This site is amazing! It's my favorite "thing" so far. I've been playing around with it now for a couple weeks - so far I've entered everything from my personal bookshelf in our home office, (only about 170 books or so). I just may have to get one of those lifetime memberships..... I've enjoyed looking at other members' personal libraries, author clouds, tag clouds, etc. Since I am a very visual person, I really like being able to have a picture of each book cover along with its description. By clicking on a book in my library, I can find out how many other members own it, see its tag cloud, read reviews, and get recommendations from LibraryThing on similar books I might enjoy. You can even click on the "Unsuggester" and it will tell you books to avoid. I tried this just for fun with one of my books, "The Complete Chronicles of Narnia" and was very surprised by the results--there were SEVENTEEN knitting books on the list! Since I enjoy both knitting and Narnia, and have even read some of the listed knitting books, I thought this was really funny. There are lots of possibilities for libraries to use this tool on their websites. We could highlight newly published books, local authors, award winners, best sellers, etc. We could even promote LibraryThing as a way for patrons to keep track of the books they have read.

Thing #13 On-line Productivity Tools

I used iGoogle to set up a customized start page, since I already had a Google account. I started by deleting most of the "default" things ( like You-tube, CNN, How-to of the Day) because they were things I didn't need. Then I added a few of the many available widgets, the local weather forecast, and Google Calendar. I don't know if having this page will actually increase my productivity, but it is nice to have everything in one spot. I am having problems with the Google calendar--maybe they are related to the change to daylight savings time. All of my appointments for the week of 3/9 -3/15 are showing up on my agenda as one hour earlier than I entered them. When I go to Google calendar, the correct times are still in there, but for some reason, the wrong times are showing up on my start page. In order for an online calendar to be useful, it needs to be accurate. I guess I'll stick to the regular calendar that I carry with me in my purse. I tried TaDa list, it was easy to do, but I didn't see any real advantage to having my lists online, other than I can't lose them. Backpack looks great for businesses where people collaborate on group projects, but it was way too detailed for my personal use.

Thing # 13 Reflections on Productivity

"Despite good hearts and equally good intentions, work in the world rarely feels light, pleasant, or healing. Instead, as it all piles endlessly upon itself, the whole experience of being alive begins to melt into one enormous obligation. It becomes the standard greeting everywhere: I am so busy" Wayne Muller

What is productivity? To try to do more things in less time--so we have MORE time to do MORE things? It seems everyone these days is so busy. The Chinese character for the word "busyness" is formed by combining two other characters - heart and killing. This is an interesting insight into how the stress of being too busy, always rushing to meet the deadline, "multi-tasking", etc. can affect us, both physically and otherwise. So, today I encourage you to slow down, take the time to relax with a good book, and remember that you still have 44 days to finish up the 23 Things.

Thing #12 Social Media Sites

After exploring the various sites, I decided to join Digg. I liked how you could customize which kinds of news you wanted to view. I submitted an article from the BBC News into their "offbeat" section, and browsed around, "digging" a few articles as I went. I came across an interesting slideshow of an Albino moose-the pictures were taken in Montana. This item has received 3472 diggs so far. Although I liked this site, and many of the articles were very interesting, it can really be a time-waster. Its kind of like reading an on-line magazine. I'm not convinced that social media sites are actually a better way to become "in the know" than traditional news sites or news media, but they are certainly an interesting alternative, and something to be aware of.

Albino Moose
Originally uploaded by pizzler

Thing #11 Tagging and Social Bookmarking

Tagging was easy--I've used it before in LibraryThing. The concept of social bookmarking was new to me, though. Signing up for Del.icio.us was a challenge, as Firefox refused to allow me to install the necessary buttons on my toolbar. They installed into my Bookmarks Toolbar Folder, and I have to open the folder to use them, but at least they work. I bookmarked several sites, and searched by tag to find some other sites similar to them. This would be a useful tool for someone who is doing research and needs to keep track of information on a lot of different websites. It would also be great for doing online comparison shopping (cars, hotels, etc) and for organizing and saving recipes. If you put your most frequently used sites on Del.icio.us, you can access them anywhere from any computer. I found the Library Del.icio.us sites that I looked at to be somewhat confusing. Their featured websites are organized according to when they were bookmarked. If I just wanted to browse what was new or popular, this would probably be OK, but if I really needed information on a topic, there would be better places to go.

Thing #10 Wikis

I've used the Wikipedia quite a bit in the past, but didn't really have any idea how it worked. Now I know what a "wiki" is. (It's such a silly sounding word!) The Common Craft video gave a simple explanation of how a wiki can be used. It's a great planning tool for a group of people who are unable to meet together in person. I really liked the library staff wiki from Albany County. The library where I work could easily set up something like this to keep staff updated on procedure changes, etc. I explored the MN 150 wiki, and found it very interesting. The site had excellent instructions for how to edit their wiki . They even had their own "sandbox". So I practiced in there for a while, then set up an account. I added an entry of my own to the wiki, and then went back later and edited it. The site encouraged people to share their memories on the selected 150 topics, but I found that very few people had done so--maybe they need to learn how to edit wikis! One thing about wikis does concern me. If anyone can add or edit an entry, how do you know if the information in a wiki is accurate? Who verifies the information? What if someone deliberately (or through ignorance) enters incorrect or offensive material? This could be one reason why teachers do not want students to use Wikipedia as a source. (Bird photo taken by Balaji Ditt.)

Thing #9 Online Collaboration Tools

This Thing was frustrating. When I tried to edit the document in GoogleDocs, it wouldn't let me because I didn't "have permission", so I e-mailed the team, who sent me another link to the document. I still could not edit the document, because I had to "sign in". Since I have a Google account, I signed in, and finally I was able to edit. (However, the instructions said we didn't need to have an account...) Google Docs was easy enough to use, the font size was nice and big, and you could click on the revisions tab to view the changes that had been made, when & by whom. This tool would be useful to students working on a group report. I never did get into ZOHO. I emailed and got my "invitation" to edit, but when I clicked the link, all I could do was view the document.

Thing #8 Share Your Creations Part 2

I spent some time experimenting with Lazybase, and created a database of my favorite mystery authors and the books they have written. (see link on sidebar) This site is a good place to make and share a simple list of information. There aren't any step by step instructions- I kind of muddled through by trial and error and was able to get my basic information entered, although not exactly in the format that I wanted.

I was REALLY impressed with the eFolio Minnesota site. This online resume/portfolio would be a great way to "sell yourself" to prospective employers or college admissions offices. The "tour" gave very detailed instructions on how to put together your own eFolio. It was a bit overwhelming for me, but most college students could probably breeze right through it.

Thing #8 Share your Creations

As I looked out the window this morning at the falling snow and cloudy grey sky, I decided to make a slideshow of some flowers from last summer's garden to brighten my day. Hope it brightens yours, too! I used Picture Trail, because they offered so many creative ways to display my pictures. This one is called Floating Pics. It took about 45 minutes to create - most of the time was spent waiting for pictures to load/reload, and for files to save, etc.

Thing # 7 Communication Tools

Personally, I prefer to communicate face to face with patrons and co-workers. My second choice would be to have a telephone conversation. However, often this is not possible. ( I hate playing telephone-tag with voice-mail messages!) I've found that e-mail is a great way to communicate at work, especially if you want the same message to go to a number of people. My library has several groups set up, such as Circulation Staff, Reference Staff, etc. It is very useful for updating staff on new procedures, sharing information, asking and answering questions, etc. We use automatic e-mail to notify patrons about requests and overdue items, and recently added a new "reminder" feature that notifies them 3 days BEFORE their due date that they have items to return or renew. E-mail could also be used to answer patron's reference questions, etc. E-mail definitely increases productivity--I can't imagine what we would do without it! All in all, I think e-mail is the best web tool for communication in public libraries.

I really don't like instant messaging very much. When I am online, I am usually working on a project or doing research, and I need to concentrate. IM is the web equivalent of a constantly ringing telephone, interrupting me and demanding immediate attention. To use IM, both people need to be online at the same time. In my department (Circulation) staff are usually not working on internet computers, so IM would not be a good way for us to communicate with each other. There are possiblilites for using this in reference though, as shown in the video we watched. I found the comments about reference use of IM in No Lutefisk on a Stick's blog to be very interesting - his system used it for a while with mixed results.

Text messaging is something a lot of people use, especially students, so it may have a use in academic libraries. I find it to be very cumbersome. It is difficult to type a a message on the tiny keypad of a cell phone, and the myriad of abbreviations used in texting make the "conversation" awkward at best. Plus, it costs $ every time you send or receive a text message. I can see possibly using this as an option for notifying patrons that requests are ready to pick up. (PK RQ ACL NTN) ??

I attended the OPAL conference on "Podcasting" by Sam Chupp. I found it to be very interesting, as I previously knew very little about this. I was surprised at how easy it is for the average person to make their own podcast, using free software called "Audacity". He also gave some examples of how libraries can use podcasting.

Thing #6 Conclusion

Well, I've finally come to the end of Thing #6, and as this picture from Image Chef suggests, its time for a break. I've also played around with another site, Meez.com, where you can create animated 3D avatars (see sidebar). I wish I had time to experiment with more of the image-making tools! I did have a concern about patrons who do not own a computer. How could they take advantage of Photo-sharing sites like Flickr? I checked into it, and found a place (Pro-ex/Ritz Camera) that will upload your digital photos for you to their site (RitzPix). Could libraries possibly offer this kind of service to their patrons?? (maybe some of them already do).

Thing #6 Online Image Generators - Mosaic Maker

This one was a little trickier--had to figure out what the URL was for my pictures and where to find it in order to make the mosaic.

Thing #6 Online Image Generators

Here I am on a trading card. Maybe some day when I am famous, it will be collectible! This was really quick and easy to make. These cards could be given as rewards to kids for reading books by certain featured authors--"Collect all the Gary Paulson Cards Now, at your Local Library's Summer Reading Program".

Thing #5 More Flickr Fun

I went to the Big Huge Labs site and created a jigsaw puzzle of my library! You can even order a real 250 page puzzle made from your photo. These would make great gifts. I also experimented with Spell with Flickr. To see my message, scroll all the way down to the bottom of my blog. I wish the letters were smaller--a 5 letter word was the longest I could make and have it still fit on one line. Libraries could use tools like these to enhance their websites, design posters, flyers, bookmarks, etc. How about offering an on-line tutorial (kind of like the 23 Things program) to teach patrons how to use them? I would never have found sites like these on my own, and I'm sure patrons/students would enjoy learning about them.