Week 9, Thing 23: Summarize your thoughts about this program on your blog and learn about where to go from here.

Ah, the end of the line. Mind the gap on your way out...
1. My favorite discoveries and exercises were setting up the blog, playing online games, messing around with Youtube, and generally feeling more comfortable using all this stuff. 2. Lifelong learning goals have been sharpened a bit, refined if you will. I feel smarter for having completed this program. 3. It was unexpected of myself that I no longer hate blogging. And I take away the ability to add hyperlinks where ever I need them (it was confusing before). 4. Tough to say, not having been exposed to any of this before...perhaps having an initial staff meeting to explain in person the goals of the program. That way people could ask questions from the beginning. 5. Probably, but it will be nice to put this down for awhile (like for at least 6 months or so). 6. A few words: confusion followed by enlightenment, dismay transformed into knowledge, and frustrations turned into satisfactions. Overall a very worthwhile program; but it indeed takes substantial effort to complete.

Week 9, Thing 22: Take a look at the titles available on Overdrive or NetLibrary or Project Gutenburg and learn about downloadable audiobooks.

The Net Library site would not allow me to create an acocunt, so I jumped into Overdrive, and was glad I did! It's COOL! I like that one need only enter one's library card number to access this service. I picked two titles to explore, and was pleased to watch a short one minute video clip showing some art work from:
They Drew Fire [ENHANCED]
Combat Artists of World War II
by
Brian Lanker
Jason Robards
Franklin Boggs
Howard Brodie
Manuel Bromberg
I watched the water soaked pages video, impressive! I like how each title gives info like:
This title can be played during the lending period
Collaborative play of this title is not allowed
This title cannot be burned to CD or DVD
This title can be transferred to a portable device during the lending period
I can better recommend services to patrons now that I've dabbled a bit further into this neat elibrary consortium.

Week 9, Thing 21: Discover some useful search tools for locating podcasts.

I have chosen: LibVibe: the library news podcast
It was interesting to listen to, but now I must remember how to connect the RSS feed to this blog post. Podcasts have value, but I still like turning on the old fashioned radio and being surprised by what I may stumble across to listen to. However, if you miss a show or are otherwise unavailable, searchable podcasts are the way to go.
Here's the link: http://www.libworm.com/rss/index.php/Podcasts-%3A-Librarianship/19/

Week 9, Thing 20: Discover YouTube and a few sites that allow users to upload and share videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPliZ7OvRYQ

I tried to find the embeddable player thingie but could not. Anyway the above video is funny and topical for library staff. Bobby Bittman from SCTV, good stuff!

I like YouTube, I've been using it for a while now...it can be a huge time waster though; but I love reviewing old SNL clips with Chris Farley, watching 1970's rock concerts, and humor, tons and tons of funny clips to view. Aside from spending too much time on YouTube (it can easily eat hours at a time), there is just a lot of junk out there. Also I think their main page is too busy with ads and other junk. However, there is a place for this in librarires: I see training opportunites perhaps, or as a communication tool for meetings or orientation at conferences, etc. Or a personal greeting on the web page from the library director or some other library official, this could give patrons a real feeling for the personalized service we offer at FCPL.

Week 8, Thing 19: Explore any site from the Web 2.0 awards list, play with it and write a blog post about your findings.

I went to: Award Categories
then: Games
then: http://www.arcaplay.com/
and I played a game of Fleabag Vs Mutt, a fun little game where a cat and dog duke it out throwing empty tin cans and dog bones at one another. Winner is he who lasts longest and inflicts most damage on the opponent! FUN! The only real value to such a site is entertainment, but hey, if I may paraphrase from the FCPL mission statement: "...to provide for the educational, informational, and entertainment needs of the community..." So yeah, it's all good. A number of the award winners could certainly asssit in refernce work, for instance, Mapping: http://www.seomoz.org/web2.0/#cat_67
when some patron asks for directions.

Week 8, Thing 18: Online Applications & Tools.

Let us see if I can link-up a doc into this blog post:
Hmm, no luck. I did create two documents is Google dos and spreadsheets, and played around with a spreadsheet. I knida like Google docs, it is like MS Word only on the web! Never been much of a fan of spreadsheets (creating them, anyway), so I dabbled only a little with the spreadsheet. I can definitely see value in using these tools for shared or collaborative work, and for teachers/professors, etc. Good stuff to know about! I like that all the familiar features like text sizing, colors, spell check, etc. are available in Google docs, as one would expect.

Week 7, Thing 17: Add an entry to the Learning 2.0 SandBox wiki.

We have 3 cats that add to the sandbox daily, but it ain't wikis!!
I have been trying for he past 45 minutes to get my blog linked to the sand box page I created. It keeps saying "page not found" and I'm about to implode. Will re-visit when blood pressure drops to safe levels. ---time passing---
Ok, I got it. What a pain! I was able to add a link to my blog in the favorites page, and I added some favorites to the SandBox. It is mildly interesting to see what makes other people tick. Blog-out!

Week 7, Thing 16: Learn about wikis and discover some innovative ways that libraries are using them.

What I found interesting is that there is a wiki for just about every topic you can think of. As was pointed out, there is a lot of good info out there, but editorial command and control is a concern. Bias comes into play, and misuse is rampant. One user pointed out in the Bull Run PL (I think) wiki that they always verify their info at another source because of the subjectivity of a wiki's editorial content. This in turn raises the question of why not go to that other source right off the bat and avoid the wiki entirely thereby negating its usefulness. I like, for instance, Wikipedia's entry for the Battle of the Somme:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Somme_%281916%29
This is a great overview to this massive historical event, and it's links provide accurate detail, hence a wiki success! I like the SJCPL subject guides, it works well for libraries and could just as easily read, 'FCPL Subject Guides" for our reference work. What's in a wiki you ask? Well, a bit of everything. That's what makes them viable. But, they must be used with common sense and not necessarily taken as an authoritative source for all things. Verify the info from multiple sources as needed to correctly answer patron (and your own) questions.

Week 6, Thing 15: Read a few perspectives on Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and the future of libraries and blog your thoughts.

I read several of the perspectives about Library 2.0 from the given list. I shall comment on "into a new world of librarianship". While I agree with and understand much of what Michael Stephens, Librarian and Blogger puts out there, I think he asks too much. He wants each library personnel to be part administrator, materials collector, manager, supervisor, out reach coordinator,web expert (nay, even web designer or web master), and oh yeah, reference librarian all at the same time. Think you can handle that? To each his or her strengths I say! I think that is why FCPL is successful; individuals are allowed to take on as much of the right kind of job they are good at. It is a cornerstone of the reference work we do. We have multiple subject area experts in many fields, go find out which of your co-workers is knowledgeable in what area. It is not reasonable to expect one person (a Librarian 2.0) to do it all. I will not name any individuals but we have folks who do much of what Mr. Stephens asks, just not all wrapped up in one person. To do so would create an Uber Librarain, and the rest of us would be looking for new jobs! ~grin~ So while his concept is sensible, it must be combined with individual talents and subject area mastery...I don't know of any one person who can do all he asks, maybe there's one in MLS school now? But each of us that continues in this profession will have to absorb new ways of doing business, to meet the ever changing needs of our patrons. Upon that much we agree.