Fine!

Wow, I have finished this 23 Things self-paced workshop, and I have learned quite a lot. I was not necessarily technologically challenged, but I had not taken the time to really work with some of the technologies.

I am very excited about several technologies that we could use in the library. I was very impressed with the concept of using IM and Wikis for staff communications. I see that this oucld save us quite a bit of time. I can also see that using Del.icio.us could work quite well with my teens or with my staff to come up with webliographies. For now I am using Del.icio.us to bookmark in such a way that I can access it anywhere.

For our patrons I can see a multitude of possibilities. While we currently have a wiki, we need to get permission to have a blog and some sort of IM for reference. Our main problems here are working within the rules of our city. We are trying to determine if IM would constitute
"public record." If it does, then we would have to keep logs of everything. What a mess. I can certainly see many of the "fun" web based programs being used in programs for our patrons. I personally loved the trading card maker to make librarian cards to hand out to teens. I have also been won over to having library sites in mySpace, Facebook, and flickr. I now have a much better understanding of how to use them as marketing tools.

I have also started using some of the things that I learned in this class for myself. Del.icio.us, the RSS, the iGoogle, and the blog are the things that I use the most. I enjoy getting google updates about Harker Heights and our Library. For purely personal reasons, I have started my own blog about role-playing. For Christmas my daughter and I used the trading card maker to make sets of cards for our role-playing group.

I would definitely take another, more advanced course like this. I think that many of my staff were so knowledgeable to begin that they would like advanced material. If I were going to change anything for this workshop or institute changes for upcoming workshops, I believe that I would look at breaking workshops into smaller pieces so that "attendees" could feel completion. To be done right, this workshop took far more than 15 hours for even my most technologically advanced staff members. We thought that individuals could work on the workshop when they were not busy at the desk, but we soon found out that wouldn't work at all. We had to schedule staff members the time to complete the workshop. I had my entire staff take this online course. About half the staff has completed the program. I firmly believed that everyone needed to take the course regardless of their prior knowledge. By doing so we now can refer to technologies with which everyone will be familiar.

Podcasting

I have tried several times, but was unable to get into the podcasting and videocasting website.

Our Library has just received permission from our IT department to work on podcasting and videcasting. We have several ideas for services.

1. We are interested in doing videocasting of portions of our storytimes. We are currently contacting the publisher of a book to see if we can get permission to use it.
2. We want to imbed short helpful hint videos to help patrons with Internet and computer based questions. The idea is that if they get stuck on something like searching in the Tex Share databases, then we could have a short video right there.

Downloadable Audiobooks

Our library has been marketing downloadable audiobooks for several years. We have enjoyed CTLS' NetLibrary consortium. We have had only limited success getting our patrons to use the service. I feel that things are changing for the better. We've recently had several individuals ask for information abouthte NetLibrary program. Here are our major concerns with the NetLibrary eAudiobooks.

1. Right now most of the interest is coming not from those who are technologically savy, but from individuals who have relatively little knowledge of the technology. It is very difficult to get individuals prepared for NetLibrary since every player seems to work differently.
2. Individuals who are using downloadable audiobooks in area tend to like Audible better.
3. Right now most people still have iPods. I keep hearing the NetLibrary is working with Apple, but I never hear that anything is actually happening to allow iPod users to use NetLibrary.

On the other, more positive hand ...

1. NetLibrary is affordable.
2. Once you start using it, it is relatively easy.
3. The collection is sizable if not necesarily the "best."

I was very impressed with the Libravox site. I searched for Jane Austens and could certainly see downloading it. I would also be interested in volunteering to read for the project. I wold especially like to do children's books if I can find stories that are in the public domain. Our storytime parents would love to be able to download books read with our voices. The children are used to them.

Our library also circulates MP3 players. This has not been a particularly well utilized service because most people who are familiar with the techonology already have their own and those unfamiliar with the technology are reticent to check them out. Now we even download the NetLibrary eAudiobooks for them. We also have car adapters available.

I would like to mention that some MP3 players such as some Sansa's are not great for library use. The downloadable audiobooks HAVE to be removed from those players by connecting to the same computer from which the title was downloaded. Consequently, we have players on which patrons have downloaded eAudiobooks form home. Those eAudiobooks can only be removed form those players if the patron remembers to remove them.

YouTube

I am probably the last librarian in the world to use YouTube. Actually I have attempted to use it several times before, but it was and still is normally blocked from use on staff computers. I first saw the purpose of YouTube when I was at a friends house. We were trying to play Dance Dance Revolution without much luck. We finally foudn some helpful, and many not so helpful, You Tube videos of people playing Dance Dance Revolution.

I was able to get into YouTube for some strange reason today. In so doing I was able to find several helpful videos. I particularly enjoyed videos showing other librarians presenting bilingual storytimes. Those short videos helped with ideas for future programs.

Here's Tanya and Rosie leading a bilingual storytime.


I also found a very nice animated short of Teddy Bears Picnic. I just have to find out if I can show it or use it in my storytimes. If not, at least I have the song that I can sing at a later date.

We are excited because we have just been given permission to record soe of our storytimes to plac eon YouTube.

Web Awards

The Web Awards offers users a tool to find some interesting and often unusual "things to do" online. Many of the "23 Things" are also listed. I looked at several sites.

1. Comiqs (Beta) -- I can see that this site could offer excellent programming opportunties. Users can create comics. Unfortunately the site does not appear to do a very good job of explaining what photos can be leagally used. The site is limited, but fun.

2. Lulu -- This site offers opportunities to self-publish. Membership is free, and it appears that users can work on projects without paying any fees. This site reminds me a bit of an online Kinko's. I could imagine several programming possibilities. For example, we could do a cooking class and then publish a cookbook designed by the class. I coudl have a child's photography class and then make calendars from the photos produced.

3. Biblio.com -- This site offers librarians and others free accounts to search for rare books. This site is very easy to use. I often look for storytime books that are no longer in print. This would be another excellent source for obtaining those materials. Most of the materials that I found were at incredibly low prices. The main drawback that I saw was that often large lists of items are not available. For example, I clicked on a link to graphic novels and almost none of the long list were available.

ZOHO Writer

ZOHO Writer Blog Post

 

I am excited about the possibility of using online applications. I just purchased a laptop computer for my daughter, and I think that using these applications could be very helpful for her as well.

 

At this point inthe process I am finding that the ZOHO Writer is quite intuitive. The Welcome information gives you just enough information to get started. I have heard, however, that the help functions are not as good as we might like.

Technorati Tags     writing,online,application,ZOHO

CTLS-23-Things-Sandbox

I have just added some content to the CTLS-23-Things-Sandbox. I was surprised at how easy it is to do. I can see that something like this might be useful for our staff to add their favorite books. Our patrons are always interested in what we like to read.

I have added content to blogs and wikis before. Unfortunately they have never been in particularly well used sites. I have found that the ALA wikis are harder than necessary with which to work. I have lately been editing a page about technology outreach for ALA, but the site is so controlled that I cannot add audio or video content.