Thing 20

YouTube

On YouTube I searched for "Texas library public" which resulted in a list of 220 videos.
My favorites are the videos about book cart drill teams. I searched for "Fort Worth Public Library" which resulted in 8 videos. I watched a video that a patron shot while using a public pc. It was very short and did not seem to have a point. Then I watched a video about Southside (Evans Rosedale) History which portrayed the Ella Mae Shamblee Branch Library as part of the Living Legacy of African American history in Fort Worth. The piece was effective in portraying the history of the area and the struggles African Americans faced in accomplishing their goals and dreams.

I'd like to see more local videos during story time (I realize that there are copyright issues in
videoing the reading of an author's work) and during programs like LibraryFest.

Thing 19

Google Docs



I love the idea of Google Docs. I've always wanted to share docs with coworkers yet we do not have a shared drive. Is it possible that we can use Google Docs for this purpose?



I already have a Google account, so I started by creating a doc. I listed all the tasks I need to complete before the end of the fiscal year which is in 5 weeks. I saved the doc and shared it with Joseph who is the Catalog Librarian.

I then checked out the spreadsheet feature. I usually import data into spreadsheets, so I tried the import feature. I was able to import a couple of .xls from by pc. Worked great.

The feature I am really excited about is creating forms to request information from people to populate a spreadsheet. I do not have a task for this right now, but I'll keep this in mind.

Thing 18

Wikis

I've added an intro page "Beth" at http://dfw23things.wetpaint.com/ with 4 sub pages. I found the wiki easy to use though. I use pbjwiki to add pages on our staff wiki, but that wiki does not prompt for keywords or descriptions. I think that I actually like the wetpaint wiki better as you
structure the hierarchy as you create the page instead of after the page is already created. This makes the hierarchy more seamless, but you do need to remember to keep the name of your page unique.

Thing 17

LibWorm

I went to http://www.libworm.com/ and searched for kindle and 440 series. I did find
some interesting articles and blogs. I did a subject browse and chose Fiction and Cataloging. Most of the articles were not about cataloging and the fiction was very general.

I searched my library's name as a phrase and found a few interesting pieces. I'm not sure
that LibWorm is something that I would use in the future though. I get info from a number
of other sources thats easier for me.

Thing 16

LibraryThing

I've looked at LibraryThing before, but did not use it. Today, I signed
up for a free account and added 5 books by one of my favorite authors.
None of the records had tags so I added a few.

I find the ThingLang to be innovated. I have not heard of anyone using
the ISBN to determine the language of the title. This would be a great
enhancement to OCLC or an ILS.

I love the ISBN Check. I did not realize that LibraryThing had an API
to fix ISBNs and return a 10 or 13 digit ISBN. I'll use this when working
with a bad ISBN which happens once in a while.

I read the blog about MARCThing but have not used it. Since I work in
MARC records daily, I'm not jazzed about not seeing MARC in LibraryThing.
However, I would like to use MARC record as it would have subject in most
cases.

Thing 15

Digg

For Thing 15, I went to http://www.digg.com/. I took a look at some of the most highly recommended stories. Most of the things at the top of the Digg list are pictures, and some
are videos. It's a mixture of news stories and magazine articles. I found it interesting, but
doubt that I would use it on a regular basis.

Thing 14

Delicious

I've registered for Delicious and installed the software to add the buttons.
I'll have to restart IE so I'll post what I have done so far and come back latter to finish.

I've added three bookmarks to my Delicious account. When I get back to
my own pc, I'll try importing the bookmarks that I have saved in IE.

My Delicious page http://delicious.com/beth_walters50

I really like the way that Delicious organizes my bookmarks. It is very visual as all the tags are listed on the side. Unlike using folders where you
you can only use one descriptor. I also like the fact that you can get to your bookmarks from any pc. I change pcs frequently and migrating the bookmarks may or may not happen. I generally have my cataloging bookmarks only on my work pc, now I can access them anywhere.


I imported the bookmarks from My Favorites in IE.

Thing 13

Tagging

I've thought about tagging both as a catalog librarian and as a reader of fiction. There is a place for tagging in the library's OPAC. Current cataloging standards do not allow for a large number of subject headings per title. Even if this were encouraged, catalogers do not have the time to examine each title to that degree. Due to this, the user may not find the work they are searching for in the OPAC. By adding tagging, more access points would be provided to the titles allowing readers to find titles they are interested in reading.

I would not replace subject headings with tagging. Tagging is uncontrolled vocabulary and so will not collate all the works on a subject together. I think that instead of replacing, tagging can complement subject headings.

I would like us to encourage this practice and for the library automation vendors to integrate this technology into their ILS.

Thing 12

Twitter

I've heard a lot about Titter so this should be fun. I created
a Twitter account at twitter.com.

None of my contacts are on Twitter, so I'll either need to find
new contacts or persuade my old contacts to join.

Since my contacts are not on Twitter yet, I decided not to follow
someone I do not know. Instead, I searched the Twitter site for
a TV show that I'm watching. Unfortunatly, Dr. G is not on Twitter
but Army Wives is.

I watched the "Howcast" to learn more about using Twitter. Found
out I could add more info to my profile. Went to do that and discovered
that I was following 22 people (thought only 2) and already had two
followers.

Thing 11

Instant Messaging

I've heard about IM for a long time, but never really wanted to use it as
it is another source of interruption. I find it difficult to quickly get back to
work afterwards. So, it makes me less effective at work. But, as this is
a widespread communication tool, I'll choose http://messenger.yahoo.com/web/
for my test.

I've set up my account with the ID of beth_walters50. I'm working on
setting a contact. Should have one by the end of the day.

Thing 10

NING

It is sounding like Ning is used for keeping in touch with
people aka Facebook and MySpace. The biggest difference
is that you do not have to have a page in order to use Ning.
You can search and view other's pages without being a member.

I'm interested in the searching part, but with a Facebook account
already, I do not want to sign up for another social networking
account.

I'm reading about the business practices of Ning at http://www.chartingstocks.net/2009/03/ning-exposed-tech-company-ning-scams-its-clients/
and am appalled at what I'm learning. Do not really want to do
business with this company. Another reason to not create an account.

I searched ning.com for networks about cats. One
I liked was Warriors Fan Club A place for cats to connect!
Though it seems that cats have limited conversational skills.

Better yet was Going to the Cats. They have a picture of a cat waving
http://goingtothecats.ning.com/

Thing 9

More Facebook:

Or I would if I could get to it:

Sorry, an error has occurred.
We're working on getting this fixed as soon as we can.

Facebook © 2009


So, I'll do the best I can without Facebook. I'm finding out that
the best way to find people I know using Facebook is to add more
information about myself to my page. Then Facebook will automatically
bring up possible matches for me.

Find at least one organization and become a fan. Okay, this is not so
easy to do without Facebook. Checked again and Yeah! it's back. I searched
for "Fort Worth" and became a fan of the city's travel Facebook.

Thing 8

Facebook

I created a personal account and added two friends. I'm at work, so I do not have
pictures of myself for my profile. Will need to do that later. My husband is on Facebook
so I think I'll volunteer him to be my consultant.

More ideas at Facebook tutorials at Expert Village that I need to check out.

Thing 7: RSS feeds

I watched the video that explains how Google Reader uses
RSS metadata scheme to draw new entries from blogs, etc.

I signed up for Google Reader in an earlier Thing, so this was
helpful in learning how it works. I also was able to add two new
subscriptions to Google Readers:

Catalogablog: http://catalogablog.blogspot.com

Library of Congress: http://www.loc.gov/blog

Thing 6: Blog Readers

Using Google Reader as an aggregator to interact with a group of blogs and keep up with
the latest posts.

Adding blogs to the reader was straight forward and a lot of fun. I added three blogs so I did
not really need to organize them.

Thing 5: Image Generators

I chose ImageChef to imput my text into an image.

I used one of their images:

It was easy to get started. I discovered when I had a question

about entering the text that there was no help file or FAQ. Found

the answer through trial and error.

Thing 4: Mashups

Mashup choices:


Flickr Mashups where you can create your own image (or choose your own!)•Spell with Flickr -- Spell your name using Flickr images•Captioner--Add funny captions to a picture•Big Huge Labs--A wide variety of Flickr toolsOther Flickr Mashups to try (or search for your own!)•Flappr--Search for images•Colr Pickr--Search images by color•FlickrFling--See images related to RSS feeds•Flickr Sudoku--Play Sudoku with Flickr images•Retrievr--A sketchpad that shows related Flickr images



I tried Map Maker which is on Big Huge Labs. It creates a map of the places you choose, then you paste the HTML code to your page;

http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/map.php

Thing 3

Thing 3 is Flickr. I opted to create a Flickr account and upload
some photos I had on my computer for years. Take a look:

http://www.flickr.com/bb_ww

Thing 3: Flickr



I opted to create my own Flickr account. I uploaded two

pictures taken locally with a digital camera.



http://www.flickr.com/bb_ww

Thing 2: Learning about Learning 2.0

I started by watching a video on The Shifted Librarian page http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2007/02/07/think_library_20_as_you_watch_this.html

Digital text goes beyond printed text by allowing us to link resources. XML separates format and content to enable greater flexibility in creating web pages. By tagging we cataloging the web
so that other users can more readily find the resources. Every user can contribute to organizing the web.


Then I read the blog post: http://www.blyberg.net/2006/01/09/11-reasons-why-library-20-exists-and-matters/ by John Blyberg Assistant Director for Innovation and User Experience at the Darien Library in Connecticut.

Of the "11 reasons why Library 2.0 exists and matters" the ones that I think we need to focus on:

L2 requires internal reorganization
L2 requires a fundamental change in a library’s mission
L2 requires technological agility

Duplicate Effort

Not a comment on creating a blog. This is the title of a new science fiction book I've started to read. I have not read any work by Kristine Kathryn Rusch before, but my hopes are high. It looks to be a cross genre novel between sf and mystery