Thing #23: The End

My Reflections…

Well, I learned a lot from this program – way more than I thought I would.  It wasn’t that I was scared to play with the 2.0 stuff, it was more that I either didn’t know it was out there, or just didn’t have the time to mess around.  At least this learning program gave me an excuse to play.

There were a couple of tools that seemed to be pretty useful, and that I’ll probably continue to use in the future:

• Zoho
• Bloglines
• WordPress
• YouTube
• Flickr

If I were to change anything about Learning2.0, I would allow more “at work” time to play with this stuff.  A half hour per week isn’t enough time to do most of this stuff, especially if we have to blog about it too.  I would also try to get the managers involved in promoting it among the staff.  I know that my boss didn’t with us, but I don’t know if that was the case with her main branch.

Either way, this was fun – I’d do it again if we offered something similar in the future.

Thing #22: Audio Books

*sigh* I can’t finish this one because I’m not at the library, and won’t be until Tuesday – AFTER the deadline for the prize stuff.  I’m pretty sure that NetLibrary has some pretty awesome stuff though.  It has to, if our library uses it, right?

Thing #21: Podcasts

For this assignment I looked at a couple of different podcast search engines.  Yahoo! came up with a lot of search results, but many of the links were broken, or not in any kind of order.  It didn’t seem very user-friendly, so I looked at Podcast Alley instead.  Podcast Alley seemed a lot easier to use, although it took a little while for some of the podcasts to load…

I don’t see myself using podcasts very often, but I have had teachers that used them to help us figure out the assigned reading and as a supplement to their regular lectures.  They worked OK, but they seemed excessive, especially since we saw the teacher 3 times a week anyway.

Either way, I found the FlyLady on Podcast Alley, so I’ll probably subscribe to it.

Thing #20: YouTube

Microsoft Windows (code named CEMENT)

My hunny found this video on YouTube and we both laughed hysterically about it. Sorry if you’re a Microsoft fan… (2:05 minutes long)

Either way, I’m supposed to comment on YouTube’s possible uses inside the library.  YouTube might be a good way for libraries to get to know one another, for customers to get an orientation of library services, how-to videos (how to check out, use a database, etc), and library staff training.  The only thing is that we’d have to think to search YouTube for these kinds of videos, and I somehow doubt the general public would do that.

Thing #19: Web 2.0 tools

I was surprised to see how many of these winning tools I’ve used and/or just played with.  Here’s a list:

• bloglines (my BIL’s blog is there)
• Library Thing (for learning 2.0)
• Yelp (just because)
• Yahoo!Local (just because)
• Craigslist (found my apartment there)
• PBWiki (for learning 2.0 and school)
• WetPaint (for school)
• 43 Things (just because)
• Google Maps (Because I get lost)
• Zoho (for learning2.0)
• Flickr (for learning2.0)
• Yahoo!Answers (just because)
• Zillow (because I’m into real estate)
• Rollyo (for learning 2.0)
• Del.icio.us (for learning 2.0)
• YouTube (because it’s fun)

So, picking one that I hadn’t tried already and that looked interesting was hard!  Well, since I’m planning lots of weekends away, I chose to look at Farecast.  Their search engine has a clean appearance and is easy to use.  There are very few options, so you don’t have to worry about clicking too many buttons or checking too many boxes.  Because it was so clean (no major pictures/advertisements) each page only took a second to load.  Currently, there are only two tabs: one for flights, and one for hotels.  The hotels are still in their beta version. 

I appreciated being able to search multiple airports for flights, and then being able to narrow the flights from there.  The sliding bar adjuster for times was easy to use as well.  Farecast also lists the different websites where each price can be found, so that you don’t have to look all over the place, or open a million browser windows to find what you’re looking for. 

I think they might do well to offer vacation packages, but I do know that they’re still new and in their beta stage, so it’ll probably come later.

Thing #17: Zoho

 The document I created with Zoho and published to this blog is below.  It’s basically an outline of what I have to write for a paper that’s due on Monday.  I’ll have to scramble to finish it, because my day has been taken up with waiting for the window guy to show up at my apartment.  So far, it’s close to 3PM, and he’s nowhere to be seen.  Either way, I have to pick a public library at which I won’t be recognized, so I can’t pick a library that I work at.  *sigh*  Lots to do.

Zoho seemed pretty simple and straightforward.  It would really work well for those that don’t own regular document creation software.  It would also make online group work very easy for the same reasons a wiki is helpful.  I haven’t played with any of the other options though.  I’ll have to do that later.

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Due 3/3/08

Evaluation of Library Management

Length: at least 8 pages

Format: double spaced, APA style

This assignment is designed develop your skills of observation and to practice doing an environmental scan.  The ability to objectively observe, analyze, and report the current environmental findings about a specific site is essential to creating a strategic plan.

Public Library name:

Address:
Community Demographics:

 

Website/discussion:

 

External environmental variables that affect management (ID 5-10):

• Explain how each affects management of collections and services
• Compare/contrast community demographics with collections and services
• Include visuals (graphs, tables, charts, pictures)
• What are the implications of these variables when compared with strategic plan?
• Neighborhood
• Location

Internal environmental variables:

• People (customers) reaction and feelings as they enter
• Signage clear and consistent?  Easy to find?
• Navigation within the building
• Cluttered or clean/sparse?
• Staff easy to find and ID?
• How does the library change on different days/times?
• How does the internal environment fit in/reflect the external?
• How doesn’t the internal environment fit in/reflect the external?
• What is the organizational structure?
• What were the expectations based on external?
• What surprises you when you compare the internal and external?
• What are the implications when you compare them to the strategic plan?

Note any indications of organizational culture of the library

 

Constituents:

• Observations
• How is the library answering demographic trends you IDed in your research?
• What does the library do to address those constituents?
• Which constituents are underserved?
• What are the implications for a strategic plan?

Summary:

• Summarize your main points
• Briefly restate your findings and the best supporting evidence
• Review the implications of your research on a strategic plan
• Add any personal or editorial comments

Use the required readings and any additional sources to support your position. 

Use APA style format for your citations.  List your references at the end of your essay, again using APA style format. 

Post your Essay to the assignment manager in Blackboard.

This assignment is worth 10% of your total grade.  In points it is 40 of a total of 400 points

Content is worth 90% of the grade.

Thing #17: PBWiki

I was intrigued by this assignment because I’ll have to use PBWiki in one of my classes this semester.  It was nice to play with it and see what I can do, but I must admit it was a little scary to know that if I slipped and hit the wrong buttons a couple of times, I could erase everyone’s entries.  Luckily that didn’t happen.

So, I added my blog under general blogs because I didn’t see a blog list for ACLibrary.  If someone could point me to the list (if it exists) I’ll re-list mine.  I also added Las Vegas to the favorite vacations page.

Alright, I’m exhausted.  Too much to do and not enough time.  Worked today, then to mom’s to cook dinner, then to a birthday party, and now I’m home.  I think it’s time for a nap.  A nice 8 hour long one.

Thing #16 – Wikis

Thanks to services like Wikipedia, wikis are here to stay.  I’m not sure how I feel about that; I’m not entirely comfortable with the idea of unpermanent (is that even a word?) information.  Call me old-fashioned or even self-centered, but the thought that someone could change or discard my thoughts makes me sad.  It makes me feel as though my words are unimportant.  This doesn’t mean that I’m against wikis, because they can be very useful tools, but still…

I can see wikis working very well for group projects or commonly used search tools.  It definitely makes more sense to allow group members to update one page instead of having a bunch of different documents floating around in cyberspace.  And with search tools, it’s easier to prune away dead links or add better ones than it is to try to save everything to all computers.  So, I can see where they’d be useful, but I still don’t think I like them.  I’d have to play with them some more to make sure, though.

 Here’s a link to an article I found on Library Link of the Day.  It’s about Wikipedia and School Curriculum. 

Thing #15: Library 2.0

For this thing we were to read a couple different webpages about Library 2.0 and what it means for us and for the future.  Then we were supposed to write a blog entry about it.

“Into a New World of Librarianship” by Michael Stephens talked about what it means to be a 2.0 Librarian.  He writes that a 2.0 Librarian plans for their users, making sure to break down barriers to allow information access everywhere.  In doing this they should be avoid creating policies and procedures that impede such access and take away the transparency that library users want. 

The 2.0 Librarian should embrace Web2.0 tools, but not embrace them to the point of “technolust.”  These tools should work, fill a need, or create a service that’s useful for the library’s users.  In doing this, the 2.0 Librarian is a trendspotter, and makes good, fast decisions while listening to what the staff and users really want when they’re planning for the future.

I thought Stephens’ page had some good points about embracing technology while avoiding technology for technology’s sake.  I often worry that techie folks are techies just because they like collecting the technology, not because it’s useful.  If libraries become the same way, then they will suffer from technology overload and do no good for themselves or their customers.

Thing #14: technorati

For Thing #14 we were supposed to look at technorati, a website that allows us to search blogs hosted by different companies.

It’s definitely interesting to see how many different blogs are out there, and how many different topics they cover.  Something like this would be useful if I were searching for opinions on specific topics.  I’m not sure how useful it would be for research papers, because different professors will accept different sources for students’ work.  Still, it’s interesting.

I added a button to my sidebar so that you can make me a favorite on your technorati account.  So, there we go!