Happy New Year!

Today, instead of productive, I'm being retrospective. Which lead me to the 43 things page: www.43things.com. There is a quiz to determine your "personality".

I took the 43 Things Personality Quiz and found out I'm a Romantic Spiritual De-Clutterer

Anyway, I find I'm truly unique:

0% of the 12718 people who have taken this quiz are like you.

I think I'm going to join and list my goals while I am in the pre-new year funk. Once the year turns to 2009, it's all about getting through the week, much less my goals. However, maybe if I really put some effort into this, some goals will be realized.

You know, I'm still searching for a tag line...

Happy Holidays!

Amazing what you can find just driving around and listening to the radio. I heard an OnStar ad where the driver and kids are looking for the North Pole. I also heard this group, Straight No Chaser. I found some of their videos on You Tube, which are really enjoyable. I've embedded their "12 Days of Christmas" as my musical holiday greetings to all.



Happy Holidays!

10 Random Things -- a superscript

Our Digital Strategies Director at CML issued this challenge: Why not blog ten random things about you and twitter me the link and that way I (& others) could also get to know you better.

So on my long drive over the river and through the woods, I compiled 10 random things about me:

1. I love traveling. My parents took our family camping for vacation every summer growing up along the east coast. As an adult, I’ve been to Colorado, Florida, Boston, Nashville, Italy (Florence was my favorite city) and London, England and my next destination is either Ireland, Scotland or Austria.
2. Lacy J. Dalton (country singer) is a distant cousin, although I have never met her. At family reunions, I have seen the branch of the family tree which connects us.
3. I had a déjà vu experience as teenager at Harpers Ferry, VA. I leaned on a table in a building which had been used as a surgeon’s table and I could hear sounds and smell the surgery. To this day I pay attention to how I feel when I visit places and I feel most at home when I visit historic sites in Virginia.
4. I survived Three Mile Island; I was a freshman at high school and spent mornings at another school to ease overcrowding. We were about 5 miles from the nuclear plant during the emergency and school officials exiled us unsupervised to the auditorium.
5. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger received an honorary degree from Allegheny College at my graduation in 1986.
6. I love to play Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit.
7. My parents opened their homes to exchange students during the summer and hosted an end of summer party for the exchange students in the area. At one time we had about 25 nationalities sitting in my back yard singing songs. Our family hosted students from Germany, Italy, Mexico, Brazil, and Iraq. I’m still in contact with my friend from Iraq; she now lives in Canada.
8. I really like to cook, particularly for a special event. At the holidays, I make biscotti for family and friends who drop in for a visit.
9. My high school chamber choir competed at the Worlds Fair in 1982 in Nashville, TN and we performed in front of the Grand Ole Opry (the new one) at Opryland.
10. I read historical romance novels. My favorite author is Diana Gabaldon, writer of the Outlander Series, a time travel romance series taking place in the 18th century. The most moving line in her series of books (and I paraphrase badly): “If ever there comes a time when we are parted and I fail to tell you I love you, it will be because I didn’t have time.”

Hope your Thanksgiving was full of turkey and things to be thankful for.

A journey, not a destination...

This week, my final exercise for CML’s Learn & Play is to reflect upon my learning journey. While I really started this program to get the USB stick (and maybe one of the other cool prizes), I’ve learned new things and stepped outside my comfort zone. And I finished, which is a personal goal. Here's some additional reflections:

What were my favorite discoveries on this learning journey?
Flickr and its toys -- for fun
Delicious -- for work
You Tube -- to interact on common ground with my tween
My colleagues

Were there any take-aways from this program that surprised you?
I really enjoyed reading others blogs and getting to know them; finding connections with coworkers. While I wanted to make connections, I have really enjoyed finding the nuggets that have opened avenues of communication at meetings, expanding my capacity. Also, having the freedom to try new things in an environment which encouraged me to learn was really refreshing (thanks boss!)

What could we do differently to improve upon this program's format or concept?
I think we all learned that not every activity took 15 - 20 minutes, so allotting more some extra time is good. Not everyone learns at the same pace. Also, sometimes I felt overwhelmed when 2 things popped up on the blog on Monday, instead of one. I was already behind and that psychological idea that now there were 2 more things instead of 1 could be discouraging.

If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you partipate?
ABSOLUTELY!

How has this program assisted/affected your lifelong learning goals?
In addition to the USB stick, I've got new tools at my disposal and I've broadened my horizons about those tools. I keep thinking of ways to use them.

I am disappointed that my dad hasn't been able to participate as we planned, but when I see him over the holidays, I will share some of the cool things I've learned. We might even set up a modified Learn & Play. You're never too old to learn, if you're open to the possibilities.

Thanks CML for this opportunity.

MOLDI, but not an oldie

This week I played around with MOLDI, the Mid-Ohio Library Digital Initiative. If you don't have a library card through a member library, I think you are only able to browse. I’ve looked around this resource before, but no so intently. The searching was a little awkward and I’m frustrated that newer items are nearly always checked out.

This time, I reserved Inkheart in an audiobook format. Since the movie’s coming out soon, I thought I could listen to the book and maybe even get my daughter to listen. I was disappointed that it didn’t show up on my CML account reserve list to check on it, but then I remembered MOLDI has its own log in. I just checked on it and it’s not in yet. I’m excited to try something new.

I’m not a huge fan of audiobooks. Slowly, I’m being converted. I’ve spent so long reading textbooks, I’m enjoying re-discovering pleasure reading again and I’m like a junkie! I do like reading the physical book in the evening and listening to a chapter or two in the car. I’ve learned I have to be careful during my commute because I get distracted and run red lights. Sometimes, my reading choices are not always suitable for tween ears in the car. So many books, so little time. I will remember MOLDI as an additional option when I’m looking for titles.

Thing #21: Podcasts

I was looking forward to learning about and play with podcasts for purely selfish reasons – I hoped to find podcasts related to fitness walking. I did look through the podcast directories, since I don’t have iTunes, and I found podcastalley to be a little more organized in it’s layout. However, on both podcastalley and podfeed, the user has to wade through a lot of drivel. Additionally, the search is pretty basic and I couldn’t find any way to refine my searches. I was successful in finding a library-related feed: http://sirsidynixinstitute.com/podcast.xml and I found several that provided me music for my 1 mile walks. I added all these to my Bloglines account.

What would be really useful podcasting for CML is the obvious -- putting children’s storytime in a podcast; (although there might be some copyright issues with that), book review groups, or keeping patrons updated on the many events in the system. More specifically, we could make some of CML’s classes for customers available in podcast form, so they can come to the "library" on their time, not just when we say.

I just discovered Thing 1 (my husband) has an iTunes account; I’ll be looking for more podcasts there.

Podcasts: 2 music notes.

Not 23 but Thing 1 & Thing 2

Just taking a moment to share our scary Halloween party photo, since it fit into the theme of the blog...

You too can You Tube!

When I saw this Learn & Play exercise, I knew exactly which video I wanted to share with my CML collegues: The Fredricksen Library Book Cart Drill Team. This is my mom's library (and the one from my childhood). What I didn't know is that they had a new video posted in August. I give them kudos for their creativity.



What I like about You Tube is that you can find videos of just about anything -- some good, some not so good. I liked that I could reach out and expand my network by connecting to the librarian who shared the drill team video. I opened a You Tube account just so I could send a message!

I didn't spend too much time on this exercise, since I knew the video I was looking for. I think I could spend another couple hours exploring You Tube.

I can see any features or components of You Tube that might be interesting if they were applied to library websites and we are already doing that in the Learn & Play blog. We can invite patrons to become part of our community by sharing their videos as well.

I was unable to get the entire embeddable code to copy and paste into my blog and I don't quite get why... if anyone can help me -- I'll also put a message on Twitter, since most of my Learn & Play associates are addicted to tweets. Once I figure it out, I'll post it. However, I've embedded the link above.

CML Power Tools

I downloaded the library’s tool bar the minute it was available; I have it both at work and at home. It’s great at work because I all the shortcuts I love right there in front of me. At home, I showed by daughter how to use it and she can go right to the CML homepage (I'm sure I've shocked some that my homepage is not the library's) and look in the catalog or check her account. It empowers her to be responsible for her own account, even if I still have to lug the materials back and forth!

I also looked at BoingBoing; a really eclectic collection of things. It’s like News of the Weird but global and on steroids. It’s part news, part scavenger hunt from around the world, but 90% entertaining. For example, today there was a post about NASA’s top 50 photos and the one featured on BoingBoing is the Star Trek Enterprise crew meeting the real Enterprise. I think I may have to add this to my bloglines account.

I did post a comment on the library's blog Tooling Around about the highlighting feature. However, I have to say I'm disappointed the last post on the Tooling Around blog is from Sept. 2. Although, I was almost convinced to better use my Gmail account.

Kudos to the CML Library toolbar...

And the winner is....

While not the Oscars, this week I explored almost ALL the Web 2.0 Awards nominees and even some in the databank of Web 2.0 applications as well. Some were useful, but I didn’t spend time with those which had costs associated with them. Here are my favorites:

MyHeritage: Geneology has long been an interest, so I had to try this. It was free, so I built a quick family tree which other family members can add to, expanding my research capacity, as well as being included in the social piece. I liked you could add photos, link in others’ family trees, and there was a search function I didn’t get to explore, but may be promising. In the quick moments on the site, I couldn’t find the privacy button, nor could I see my account, which was weird. I also couldn’t find how to make my ex-husband my ex, so it looks like I have two husbands. Let me know if you find it; I used sopranolibrarian for my screen name. I’m anxious for some feedback. In a library setting, you could use this on a Family History Day like CML just had, giving patrons hands on experience for building their family tree online.

.docstock: This is an administrative assistant’s dream! I was particularly impressed with the Creativity Link, which had oodles of powerpoint templates available. There was some drivel in each of the categories, but you can upload what you’re looking for or keep it in a folder on the docstock site. I didn’t create an account, but it has potential to be a good place to go when your boss says “Find me an RFP template,” instead of a web search, where there is even more drivel to wade through.

Imcooked: The place for budding Food Network TV stars to launch their careers! I was amused by this site; cooking is another one of my passions. This site was free, though I didn’t create an account there either; I was mostly interested in how it functioned and if it would be useful. If you're inclined, you can make your own cooking demo video and a whole community of foodies can watch you. I did find some cool new recipes, so I bookmarked this with my delicious tags.

Fixya: This site is a toolbox for just about anything. If you need something fixed, you create a post. Someone else on the site may know the answer and tell you how to fix it. It’s like a community of handymen, helpdesk gurus, and car folks. They proport to have a huge database of manuals, but I couldn’t think of one to look for. But now I know where to look. Good for librarians who get those reference questions on how to fix things.

I’ve tagged the Web 2.0 awards site, so I can continue to find applications to assist me at work and at home.

#17 Google Docs

I was so excited when I read this Learn & Play activity because I’ve actually done this one before Learn & Play. In my Academic Libraries class, each member of the class was assigned an academic library and we developed a spreadsheet in Google Docs to compare and contrast our libraries with each others. With this information, we were able to collaborate and provide information to each to use, without a million documents clogging our email and wondering which version was the most updated. Our professor didn’t have to be the one to collect everything and repost it back out. In this sense it worked really well. However, since we had about 20 in the class, the spreadsheet grew rather large, sometimes resulting in lags in updating and saving information. Also, at peak times, being in the document was agonizingly slow, even with broadband and you had to make sure you didn't delete someone else who was editing at the same time.

In my day to day work, I’m not really sure how Google Docs would benefit me since I’m non-exempt and there is little I actually do collaboratively. I can see project managers and project leads perhaps using this technology to gather information for a group, but everyone in that group should have access to the same files.

In a broader sense, incorporating these tools at libraries is a little beyond my scope. I guess you could use them for collaborative learning environments, such as we did for the Academic Libraries class, especially those involving patrons. My imagination is not working overtime today. For now, I’ll keep on mulling it over. I’m sure my fellow Learn & Play participants can spark some conversation on this; I’ll have to review their blogs.

Learn & Play Wiki

This week, I added my blog to the Learn & Play wiki. Like others, I had to wait to have access, but unlike others who commented on the Learn & Play Activity Blog, it didn’t take too long – the administrator worked pretty quickly on that (Thank you!).

I enjoyed learning other Learn & Play participant’s favorite things. It was fun to see what others had put and who like the same things I did. The favorites also jogged my memory about my own experiences. I added my favorites to the Books, Restaurants, Vacation Spots, Web Tools and Childrens’ Books. Let me know if any of my favorites are yours!

I hope I can find a purpose soon for creating my own wiki.

Wiki & the Library??

Today I explored the potential uses for wikis at the library. Some made sense, such as book discussion groups and knowledge banks for professionals. Other library wiki uses made me think “Cool” but really make sense, particularly if you’re trying to build a community. These include making catalog annotations, like customers are invited to do at Amazon or IMDB, intranets and web sites, and courseware.

For my department, I’m going to make a giant leap. Our budgeting team produces an award-winning budget book annually and department heads contributes their achievements. Maybe the Budget team makes a wiki so that instead of a once a year edit, the functional areas could add their achievements as they occur, making it easier to prepare a final draft at the deadline. Proofreading each section could also be easier because several people could proof read it before printing, with one final proof at the end. This might make the sections more cohesive and less compartmentalized, because others can see what is being written and how.

Who knows, wikis could assist with project management for those who missed meetings or in place of meetings input on projects without having to leave your office to drive to a destination.

So is there a place for wikis in the Library? They already are in use, but library wikis are only limited by our own lack of imagination.

PS. still searching for a tag line....

Library 2.0

Wikipedia defines Library 2.0 as user centered library services where users help create content and build community. I see Library 2.0 as where we are heading – meeting our customers’ needs where the need is greatest instead of making them come to us – and beyond.

We all have been there – the only time I get to really use my computer is after 10 pm when my child is finally asleep, and I’m in my PJs (I know, too much info). The world is now about my convenience instead of someone else’s timetable. Heck, I’ve even found positives with my boss having a Crackberry.

Providing service is not new to librarians; however, the way we deliver those services is what is shifting and librarians feel it. The disconcerting thing is the speed at which patrons not only wants the information, but the speed at which the delivery systems change. I found three main ideas from all the articles in the Learn & Play readings:
• Removing Barriers
• Creating Community
• Always Aware Technology

Libraries are more than books; they are communities and conversations (Dr. Wendy Schultz, To A Temporary Place In Time). Library 2.0 is the way libraries and librarians participate in the community and conversation. Intertwining the library into the fabric of the community is the way to sustain our libraries, and ultimately our democracy.

Yum -- I mean del.icio.us

Del.icio.us is by far the most useful tool we have discovered. With only MLIS my research project left to go, web research can be easily be aggregated in one place with del.icio.us, helping with my bibliography. Just as easily, I can see using it for work – creating a “work” tag so I can quickly sort my del.icio.us list.

Personally, of the Web 2.0 things we have tried, del.icio.us ranks in my top 3 so far, and way above the RRS aggregator (which I have not really check on since I created my account).

I did set up del.icio.us account (I’m sopranolibrarian, of course!) and my interest was with making connections. For example, I did a search for Girl Scouts and found a host of resources I’ve not yet discovered myself. Many items were posted by leslies_junk, so I went directly to view her (?) bookmarks and found several sites of interest for ideas for my troop. I can see opening an account for our troop leaders for additional resources. The possibilities are only bound by my own limitations :)

Tweet Tweet

This week I opened my Twitter account; I’m soplibrarian, if you want to check me out. Twitter, for me, is slow to start. Unless you are bold or have a community out there, you have to take time to build your connections. I’m just now beginning to enjoy seeing what everyone else is doing. Since I don’t have Twitter connected to my phone (which I prefer), I think the more immediate connections are lost on me.

I searched twitter for the TV show I was watching at the time (The Mentalist) and found several people that liked it as much as I did. I searched for Girl Scouts, but I didn’t find anything that led me to other Girl Scout leaders, which is who I really wanted to connect with. I did find my undergrad, Allegheny College, has a Twitter account.

I searched for libraries on Twitter and found quite a few. Libraries are using Twitter for book discussion groups, immediate reference, updates on events, meetings and services. At the LPI Library in Houston, several Twitter posts were about the library’s status with power. It was just another venue to reach out to patrons.

I can’t say that I’m a huge fan of Twitter – maybe because my followers and following are not extensive. I also am looking for ways to disconnect some evenings when I’m at home. Some days we are so connected, I come home and want to get rid of all technology. I think it’s a useful tool to get quick hits on topics of interest and expanding networks.

Library Thing

I learned about LibraryThing this weekend and fell in love. I put some of my favorite books in my booklist and checked out several of the discussion groups. I read some of the posts from Librarians who LibraryThing and the Historical Romance group, my favorite post being "What time period are you in now?" That was fun discussion.

LibraryThing reminds me a little of BookCrossing which is another booklovers discussion site for specifically for the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise and tracking it. There are discussion groups there as well.

For my Readers' Advisory class about a few years ago, we had to make a personal reading list. I've been trying to keep it current, now that I can read fiction again (which you can't do when textbooks are your life). So, everytime I run through the Main Circulation area of my library and I notice a title or I'm browsing on Amazon, I have a better place to put my reading wish list (and I can share it with family for gift ideas).

So many books, so little time....

Image Generators

Image generation has so far been my favorite Learn & Play activities. I am a visual learner, activities such as these are how I prefer to learn. I tried all the suggested image generators and I could have played all day! However, my other responsibilities have surfaced -- LOL. I'm sure the image generators suggested are the tip of the iceberg, but what a great place to begin.

I used the Generator Blog and found Glowtext to make my new header on my blog. Cool eh? I also found Superstickies which I want to come back to and explore more. I think I really liked the Generator Blog best, because it aggregates lots of fun thing in one place.

I used Letter James to create this photo for my daughter using her soccer jersey number (above).

Now if I can locate a tag line creator, I would be a happy happy soprano librarian.

RSS Part II -- Care & Feeding

This week, in spite of the electrical challenges (remind me not to choose to live in a hurricane zone), I did explore ways to feed my bloglines account. As suggested, I have played with the search feature in Bloglines, I checked out Topix, Syndic8.com and Technorati. It was easy to lose part of a day in these sites, one thing can really lead to another.

Out of all, I liked Technorati best, because it was more human interest-y. I found more blogs of interest there and found myself wanting to make comments (aka connections) with folks sharing the same interests (parenting, travel, food).

Topix was good if you need to get your news up to the minute and over the net. I don't. However, just the home page was a good place to visit for aggregated new stories, including really unusual headlines from around the world.

Syndica8 .com I found to be cluttered and really community driven, almost too much for my comfort. I also didn't like the look and feel of the site. I also didn't quite understand how the site functioned and in the fast pace of my work, I didn't have time to try to figure it out. Sad, I know.

The past two "things" have made me more aware of the online community and how to feed my bloglines account (which I confess to neglecting, it may whither and die at some point). I did learn to have my bloglines account open when I am exploring.

And when I find something like Cakewrecks (thanks to Blogger's scrolling blogs), I have a place to store it and access it wherever I may roam.

RSS

This week, I played and learned about RSS and newsreaders. It's a really great concept if you are a person who visits the same web sites looking for new information routinely. I worked on this at home over the weekend, and my IE browser has this feature as well, under Favorites. I haven't been able to explore the difference yet. I set up my bloglines at www.bloglines.com/public/sopranolibrarian. I added the three required, except I don't like Unshelved, so I chose Dilbert instead. I also added a few more blogs from the top 1000 at Bloglines. Check them out.

I don't know that I'll use this particular technology in either my work or my personal life. The majority of the web sites I routinely use don't have RSS feeds. Bloglines was kind of difficult to figure out and I am having trouble making my blog and Bloglines talk to each other.

I can see libraries taking advantage of this technology, particulary in the reference area or in a reader's advisory capacity. Libraries can receive RSS feeds for reference updates and new books from publishers. They can subcribe to the New York Times Bestseller List and can pass that along to patrons or allow patrons to connect to RSS feeds based on new materials in specific interest groups.

Building Technology Bridges

This week I can write about any technology I want and I'm struck by technology bridges.

I came from vinyl 33.3 and 45 rpms. I still have them. My first car had an 8-track player in it and I owned Billy Joel's Glass Houses on 8-track. I copied all my albums onto cassettes to make them portable in my Walkman wannabe and for in my later car. Last year I purchased a car with only a CD player, so all my favorite road trip cassettes are history.

In 2007, the CD turned 25 and earlier this summer there was an announcement that MTV turned 25, both things I remember with clarity. We moved from Walkmans to iPods in the blink of an eye and now my CDs are only good for moving music to my MP3 player. I missed the boat on downloading music because I wasn't technologically ready and then the RIAA began prosecuting.

My husband and I were perusing our local Best Buy and I noticed the newest trend in purchasing music -- purchase a card with a code to download the album from iTunes. Great gift giving idea! I mentioned that I saw this as the beginning of the end of the CD, to which I was told NO WAY! It's much cheaper to subcribe to iTunes and download albums than pay for that card. Besides, too many people use CDs for file storage, they'll never go away. Bells went off -- haven't we heard this arguement before? Can anyone besidse me see this will be the technology we will use to bridge an older generations to the latest way of acquiring music?"

For that matter, aren't libraries and librarians are bridges between the old and new technologies, making information available to all? Aren't we participating in Learn & Play so that we can better meet the needs and expectations of our patrons? Aren't we connecting family, friends and coworkers with our blogs and other Learn & Play activities? We are a bridge, a human connection between generations and technologies. Way cool!

PS: I've been trying to find the first pop album printed only on CD -- I think it was Roxette. I can find the titles of albums first printed on CD (Dire Straits and Billy Joel), but they were also pressed to vinyl (I have Glass Houses on vinyl too). Let me know if you know.

Dreams

Abbey Road
Originally uploaded by sopranolibrarian

Abbey Road. Yea, we did the cheesy tourist walk across Abbey Road.
I did this using a mashup. I was having so much fun with this. I wanted to make trading cards for all my Girl Scouts, but I don't have individual photos of them. Maybe I'll do that over the next several months and make them for them for Christmas!

I am really intrigued about the mashup (ShoZu) which will allow me to directly upload photos from my camera phone. I took some cool ones yesterday and this will let me upload them myself instead of waiting on someone else. If anyone else has used this application, let me know what you think.

British Library Gate

British Library Gate
Originally uploaded by sopranolibrarian

I have a bulletin board of library photos. This started as a joke and my family rolls their eyes while good-naturedly waiting as I take library photos. Maybe someday I'll post a photo of my bulletin board -- won't you be excited!

This one, though, was special. I got to visit the British Library in London. I really wanted to enter the "Library" part but wasn't allowed. However, the "Visitor" part was fun -- original manuscripts from the likes of Shakespeare, Bach, Beethoven, Austen, Beatles and the Magna Carta. Way cool. Even my honey enjoyed it (he's a blacksmith). You can check out the British Library at http://www.bl.uk/.

With respect to the CML Learn & Play, my experience with Flickr was pretty seemless. I tried to search for public photos on Flickr without creating an account (because it is yet another password that eluded me for days). So I set up an account, which was super easy. I didn't get to "play" so much today, but it appears I will with Thing #6.

Now I need to bump my kid off my computer and upload more photos. I really can't wait until my dad does this exercise, so he an upload his photos from Alaska!

The Hyperlinked Library

Yesterday I had the pleasure of hearing Michael Stephens kick off CML's Learn & Play program and he had some really interesting points about libraries and the web. I think he gave two good reasons to participate in the Learn & Play program:
1. It's about making connections -- which, in my experience, is what makes work easier
2. It is not so much about keeping up with the web as it is participating in it.

I listened to the 7.5 habits of life long learners and realized that I've already developed most of the habits of life long learners -- I mean you don't enter graduate school 20 years after undergrad without having some of those habits. For me though, setting a goal is difficult; lots of times I just want to learn something new for no reason other than I have in interest. The easiest habit is how I learn best -- by doing -- by playing.

My dad lives in PA and recently retired. I shared with him about the Learn & Play program and he's interested. So we are going to do this program together; we are going to be connected even though we are not in the same city. What a cool thing!

Learn & Play @ CML

I am really excited to begin CML's Learning 2.0. I am really looking forward to the presentation next week. I hope others in the CFO group join me in experiencing Learn & Play!


Happy Week!