Learning is Forever

Coming to the end and looking back over what I've learned versus how uncomfortable I felt at first, the learning bit won out. I have to admit that I entered into this business with trepidation because I'm really private about most things and really didn't want myself "out there" all that much, but I really did gain confidence as I went along.

So here's what I learned:
Blogging is important for tracking your progress and for the moderators to make sure that you're keeping honest. But I'm not really a diary person. Nobody really has time to read everyone's blogs, and, frankly, who cares? I don't care to transmit information this way.

Flickr was fun, and a nice way to post photos, but I have my own favorite photo software that I'm comfortable with. I liked exploring it, though, but won't go back to it.

RSS feeds were really valuable. There are a lot of quality products out there, and lots of good information to subscribe to. What's hard is customizing it to really specific tastes. Most things are too general. But if you know NPR, well, what's not to like? I will keep these, and add to them.

Online image generators probably have passed me by. I'm not that keen on avatars, or making a badge or trading card, or a mosaic of myself but it was fun knowing about them. I loved the Library Thing, and marveled at how many people liked the same books I did.

It's great having Merlin and the MLA site to refer folks to who have jobs to offer. I will be posting soon some freelance positions there. I would not have known about this if not for this exercise.

Delving deeper into wikis was helpful to me since I use Wikipedia and didn't realize there were others. Powerful stuff here, and freedom of speech issues need to be explored.

Liked all the open source stuff and the ability to share docs and spreadsheets between computers and with others. Would not have known about these if not for this exercise because it wouldn't have occurred to me to know they exist!

The Web 2.0 awards list was most helpful. A del.ici.ous bookmark. Thanks for this! I'll come back to this again and again. Great stuff here.

YouTube is great fun, as is any streaming audio or video site where you can be entertained. I enjoyed the podcasting sites, even though you had to really hunt for good stuff, and Overdrive is nice for long painting projects and road trips.

All in all, great tutorials, good pace, most of the difficult things came at the beginning or maybe as confidence took over it just got easier. I did all of it at home; I can't imagine how staff were able to complete these exercises at work with all the interruptions and distractions, plus not being able to download software to a public machine. I would do another of these because it's important to keep up! I don't want to miss anything! Using the Internet continues to be like trying to get a drink from a fire hose, but you can't stop.

Unexpected? I didn't think I would learn as much as I did, and being directed to think about how these tools would affect libraries was very centering. All of the things we learned will help shape information transmission in the future. I hope I can be part of it.

Rosenblatt on Overdrive

Boy is this fun, having Barbara Rosenblatt's fabulous voice coming out of my 4 huge Magnaplanar speakers. I'm listening to her read The Dancing Floor by Barbara Michaels, unfortunately abridged, but beggars can't be choosers. Overdrive is easy to use, and I downloaded an IMAX movie too and will connect my laptop to the HD TV to check this out.
The software is easy to download and the interface is simple. You can see how long each ebook is, and you can start, stop, go backwards and forwards in timed steps just in case you zone out and forgot what you heard.


I like how all this technology can work together. Wowee. Things like this will make it even harder and harder to leave the house. Come on, winter!

Podcasts

There's an awful lot of material out there, some of it pretty amateurish, and you have to wade through before you can find some real gems. For fans of Joss Whedon's Firefly TV series on Fox, check out this feed and you won't be disappointed.

http://fireflytalk.libsyn.com/rss

Libraries can use this tool for storytelling, booktalking, advertising upcoming programs, and in other ways, but there's so much out there that's so mediocre that you'd have to get some real marketing expertise to make a BCPL podcast really stand out, and then have some fabulous voice actors to execute it, and some pretty darn good engineering too.

YouTube

There's a real range of things out there, something for everybody. I really enjoyed March of the Librarians and some of the other library related videos, but, as an EastEnders fan I was impressed to see whole episodes on there. This runs in real time in the UK but we're 5 years behind here, so it's interesting to see lots of new faces on the show that will eventually show up on PBS. Great fun.

Here's a tribute to one of the show's longest cast members, Wendy Richard, who retired after many years with the series. If you liked the Britcom "Are You Being Served" you will recognize her as Miss Brahms.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCClBd-RQ0U

This could have applications for teaching anything visual, sharing ideas for children's programming, demonstrating things like how to tell a story, how to merchandise, advertising the summer reading club--this technology really has great possibilities for libraries.

Web 2.0 Award Winners

Well, I guess we know what makes a winner a real winner. I played around with one of the music sites: Last.FM (Get it here http://www.last.fm/download/) thinking, oh yeah, how can they tailor a playlist for me based on my obscure music tastes, and, I was not disappointed. I put in what I thought was a real show-stopper (who's ever heard of the Italian group Arti e Mestieri) and not only did they find it, but produced so much music like them that I was astounded. Much of this music I own and played on WJHU when it was a carrier current 10 watter coming out of the Alumni Memorial Residences at Hopkins back in the eighties. Loved it then. Love it now. Just wish the sampling rate could be better, but picky picky picky.
Coolness factor: ten out of ten. Gain a teen's trust and turn them on to this, and you have a customer for life. Just make sure they have broadband.

Publishing on the Web

Word processing and spreadsheets on the web are great for folks who have a computer but don't want to spend big bucks for Microsoft products. And they are very easy to share--I like Google Docs because when you log into your mail you are already logged in and you don't have to create a separate account. It was very intuitive to use, so I shared a document that my father had given me that means a lot to me, both then and now.
Very powerful stuff.

Words to Live By

Not sure where this originated, but my Dad wrote this to me on May 1, 1987. Thanks, Dad!

Tomorrow and as many tomorrows as you can. Mend a quarrel. Seek out a forgotten friend. Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust. Write a love letter. Share some treasure. Give a soft answer. Encourage youth. Manifest your loyalty in word or deed. Keep a promise. Find the time. Forego a grudge. Forgive an enemy. Listen. Apologize if you were wrong. Try to understand. Flout envy. Examine your demands on others. Think first of someone else. Appreciate. Be kind. Be gentle. Laugh a little. Laugh a little more. Deserve confidence. Take up arms against malice. Decry complacency. Express your gratitude. Go to your house of worship. Welcome a stranger. Gladden the heart of a child. Take pleasure in the beauty of the world. Speak your love. Speak it again. Speak it still once again.

Creating a Wiki

I had fun making a Wiki for the music of Franco Battiato and putting an MP3 and my photo on there in a sidebar. Great fun. Since I have purchased several CDs of his music I don't feel guilty sharing some of it here. It's a pretty standard piece of music for him. Let me know if you want me to add some more.

here's the link to my Wiki
http://battiato.pbwiki.com/

Wikis

Share things, learn more. Good idea, but how accurate is the information if everyone and anyone can tweak it? The success of wikis will depend, I guess, on the comfort level of the user accessing the information.
I can see how library wikis can be useful. Our BCPL Virtual Book Club could be a wiki. How about the statewide training program for new librarians? Since this would be accessed by learners and their trainers almost exclusively not too many folks out of libraryland would be much interested in playing tricks here. How about a Readers Advisory wiki of recommendations for special hard-to-please populations like reluctant teen readers? Teachers and other educators could contribute.

Sharpening the Saw

How fortunate to be among those who remember the "traditional" library and its managed collections, and to experience Web 2.0 and to witness everything about data retrieval that those science fiction books only hinted at!

I read Dr. Wendy Schultz's article To a Temporary Place in Time, Chip Nilges To More Powerful Ways to Cooperate, and Rich Anderson's Away from the Icebergs. What resonates throughout these powerful essays is the realization that librarians need to communicate, share ideas, collaborate, and teach what we know to our customers, those who ask. Why settle for Google when there are better ways to search. Maybe we need to adjust our reference interview as we tweak our materials collections. What responsibilities do librarians now have as the Internet matures? I'm grateful that I can still be a part of this, and know that the younger librarians are already running with it as only they can.

Favorite Blog

For all of you out there who can't get enough of this, make me a favorite by going here:

Claiming My Blog

I feel a little like a 49er staking a claim, except that there will be no gold to pan here. Also not sure how many folks outside of BCPL will really want to read my blog since it is only concerned at the moment with the fulfillment of the Learning Libraries 2.0, so I guess that this is like an experiment.

So I claim it thus: Technorati Profile