Sticky Stuff

Thing 36

2009-05-13T16:55:00.003-05:00

Which of these generators seems the most useful... none... they were a lot of fun and interesting, but mostly just a waste of time. I have not really used them for anything, but now I will think about how to use them in the future. Perhaps if we had a public library blog the comic tools would be useful, they could also be used for a newsletter as well. Maybe they would make board meeting agendas more interesting for instance. Perhaps a summer reading program weekly comic about.... whatever is going on that week or the week before.

Thing 35 Books 2.0

2009-05-09T16:18:00.002-05:00

I have a friend who is an avid reader and recently got a kindle. What is nice about this tool for him, is that he does not want to wait until a book gets delivered, or going to a store only to find they are out of copies. This way he gets his book NOW and can immediately start reading. For those that travel a lot carrying several books in one lightweight device versus multiple books that you have to drag around is a huge benefit. I really liked the section for resources for children's books there are so many possibilities for these tools! I just wish the internet were safer and easier to navigate for children so that they could access these tools themselves. On a lot of the sites there were features that seemed like chaff to me, useless for the most part, but there is probably a segment of the population that would find them of use. I think that as romantic of an idea as everyone reading from books in the traditional sense is, it is no longer a reality and needs to be let go. BUT books will never lose their place in our society completely. Even in a demi-Star Trek reality there would be a few that would hold on to old copies of classics instead of reading them of a handheld device of sorts. I also don't think that we will ever give up reading and go to wholly audio books either.

Thing 34 Online Answer sites

2009-05-09T15:31:00.002-05:00

I think the appeal of an online answer site lies in its convenience. If you have a question at 1am, what reference desk in your area will be open? (there are now online reference desks you can access 24/7 but they are not very popular yet.) A lot of the questions I saw related to things like, what kind of bug is this, my cat ate this plant is it poisonous, relationship garbage, cooking questions, and tech questions. Most of the actual questions (not the social advice ones) absolutely can be answered at a library and probably on a more timely basis than waiting for an answer on an online board. PLUS, you will most definitely get a better answer (unless by some random happenstance an Elizabethian scholar pops up to answer your random question about Shakespeare) I think that in truth many people use these sites because they do not know that they can go to their local library or even call and get an answer to their questions. Thank you to slam the boards, what an awesome movement!!! I will probably participate though not regularly, it depends on my schedule. I will chat with my fellow reference librarian about this and maybe as a group we will get involved.

Thing 33 Travel 2.0

2009-05-07T20:02:00.002-05:00

Would any of these sites be useful to our library, short answer No, BUT it could be useful if, like we have talked about recently, we started a travel group or taught a class about these tools. Some of them are pretty neat and as one who likes to travel this would be a good way to share my experiences with my tech savvy relatives. I especially liked the travel blogs a few seemed pretty insightful and just interesting to read. I could see us putting together a pamphlet of such sources for the afore mentioned travel group/class.

Thing 32 Google Maps and Mashups

2009-05-07T19:43:00.003-05:00

I made a map of the places I visited in Iceland with my fiance Ryan last year. Some of the mashups that were listed on the site that I tried only really worked well for the US, if you wanted to map anything international they got messed up which is a shame. We could create a mashup of all of the libraries in our regional library system including pictures, maps (and directions), etc. This one was a pretty short thing as compared to the epic proportions of some of them!

Thing 31

2009-05-07T19:09:00.002-05:00

My Twitter page probably says I am pretty boring... but that is okay, I am not looking for a mass following. Although really, everyone should be interested in what I am doing!

I am using Twitter to tweet with friends and colleagues as well as following a few famous people, and new sources.

What Twitter Stage am I at? Honestly, while that chart made some sense, I felt it was wholly unnecessary and for the most part inaccurate. They weren't real "stages" as I would see them.

Twitter is a microblogging and social networking tool. As simple and complex as that. It could be adapted to be used for advertising, money-making schemes, and many other uses as well.

It is slightly addictive, I can see the appeal, I may be hooked...

Thing 30

2009-05-07T15:30:00.002-05:00

I am trying to get a bit caught up here, there is a deadline and I have been getting side tracked with my real job as of late. However, I do get paid to do this so here we go again...

RSS Feeds I can see the handiness of these for many people. I had also been wondering what is del.icio.us update pop-up on my computer was all about. All I knew was that it was something I didn't use and thus didn't care about. Now I know, and really isn't that the point of this whole program, to be in the know about what's out there what the cool people are doing and how they get to know and find all this stuff.

After some investigation into rss feeds and delicious and looking at organizing bundles of info I can safely say that this is not the thing for me at this point. There was just too much and if I were willing to put more time into the actual organizing and seeking out of what it is that I really am interested in it could be great, for now... I am moving on with my life.

I do feel more informed about this topic and can now help others out with these tools. YAY!

Thing 29

2009-05-07T14:57:00.004-05:00

Google news
Google Calendar

Google news is very user friendly. I like that it will pull new articles of interest to me based n my searches. Example: news stories form Kenya Africa that otherwise would not pop up. It is divided into convenient sections for your browsing pleasure. I would definitely point patrons who are news hounds in the direction of google news which pulls from such a broad range of sources.

I have been using google calendar for a while now and it is a VERY handy tool for me at work. My schedule changes so rapidly it seems at work that having a flexible calendar tool like this which will send me reminders is awesome. Originally I set it up so that my supervisors could use it to track my schedule and where I was in the area, since then I have gotten engaged and now use different calendars within the same tool to schedule my hectic life: normal work schedule, special SRP events, church functions and meetings, wedding planning, etc. The color coding system is also helpful to figure out what hat I need to be wearing at a glance.

Thanks Google!

Thing 28

2009-05-07T14:18:00.002-05:00

I am using iGoogle, I go to Google so frequently everyday (perhaps hour) that it only seems fitting. The backgrounds are really nice and it was VERY simple to set up. I have especially liked the skins that change according to what time of day it is. I watch the news a lot and have several widgets that show the top news stories. It is nice to get that info at a glance. Also I have some art of the day, jokes, quotes from famous authors, etc. Nice to have a quick little bite of interesting info or media before beginning whatever search I am currently headed towards. I also like that this format makes it easy to get to my google calendar, blogs, and mail with not more than a click. One widget I will probalby add in the future is a monetary exchange widget to track rates between currencies of interest to me. (something I do every now and again especially before I travel abroad) What would I recommend? I would recommend a good tetris widget, or perhaps a wedding to-do count down sort of thing.

Thing 27

2009-05-07T13:37:00.004-05:00

Twitter... well I can see the charm, but I am not hooked yet. I will continue to use it for a while and see what comes of it. My username is GrendelLives

I would like Twitter to have more preset options for backgrounds and such, but that is such a minor thing. I really enjoy reading status updates on Facebook and this is essentially the same thing, just without all the extra junk. I also appreciate that many news sources and broadcasters tweet.

How could libraries use twitter? All sorts of ways, it would be a good way to advertise to that specific audience about events, what's new, post information about closings due to severe weather. As a children's librarian I could see posting what I am reading, what I recommend, quick storytime tips, or simply posting what the theme and craft are going to be for an upcoming program. Ex. Finger painting tonight: please wear clothing you can get dirty!

Thing 26

2009-03-16T14:50:00.002-05:00

I joined the 23 Things on a Stick Ning in Round 2. So far i have really liked the discussion groups. I have answered/commented on several and really appreciate having a forum with other professionals in my field where we can discuss issues and ideas to use in our own libraries. I haven't joined any groups yet. Things have been really busy lately so I haven't explored the Ning as much as I would have liked to, but I will. I'm sure there will be loads more useful tidbits in there that I will use. I am wondering about the usefulness of a Ning in a book club. It seems to me that the format would be great for that sort of a thing. Being a Youth Librarian I am interested in seeing if a simpler (and very safe!) version could me made and used for youth in a youth book club type setting. i thought I was tech savvy when I was a teen and I certainly don't consider myself old yet but kids are all over the Internet all the time. I was wondering if this would be a way to bring the library to them on that level. (and in turn get them more involved in the physical library as well). I will continue pondering and discussing this (Perhaps on the Ning!) and see if it is feasible.

Thing 25

2009-03-02T15:37:00.003-06:00

Adding widgets and gadgets to my blog was a lot of fun. Some of these tools will be useful on my other blogs. The clustrMaps widget would have been great on my blog when I was overseas. I had a lot of readers then and it would have bee interesting to see where everyone was. I tried adding a few of the widgets listed under the "get social" category, but found them to be obnoxious and distracting. I removed them because I didn't want to have to look at them anymore.

The links under useful features were all very good and useful things, I added a few from there. I also did a bit of browsing online ad found a few widgets that I liked. I might remove the Salvador Dali art one because it has no real reason to be there, but the wikipedia search tool could be very useful. It took me a bit to go through the lists and decide what I really wanted on my blog. This is something a person could spend hours tinkering with, but I opted for a few reasonable choices like a search tool, a clock, and and then had to call it quits before learning time turned into playtime online. Watching all of the videos and fiddling with widgets and layout all together probably took me two hours maybe a bit more.

I had fun with this and learned more than I expected. I wish I would have done this "thing" a few weeks ago because a patron was asking me questions about embeding material into his blog. I would have had a much more informed answer. I will however be more in the "know" about this in the future.

Thing 24

2009-02-24T17:44:00.000-06:00

Things on a Stick, here I come!

I am just starting this program having not been involved in the original round of "23 Things". I have however had several fairly successful blogs in the past and maintain at least one of them at present.

In the past I have had a personal blog for friends and family, a blog about my 3 month trip/residence in Kenya Africa, and the most recent was a blog posting various creative writing pieces I have been working on.

Blogs that I read with any regularity fall into two categories: personal blogs (from friends and family) and craft blogs. I use the craft blogs for inspiration and ideas for my libraries family craft night each week. I do make comments on these blogs if I feel like it will be worthwhile.

I really enjoyed making a new avatar. The links provided were varied and ones I had not used before. I tried to make this blog have a different look than any of my others. I tried out different layouts, color schemes, etc. I like the way it has turned out so far.

More Things on a Stick

2009-01-30T11:55:00.000-06:00

Blog Created... More Things on a Stick to follow.