hmrh librarian

QuarkBase: Everything about a website

2008-09-08T21:53:00.009-04:00

For those of us who often do library instruction sessions about website evaluation, there may be a new tool that can help with that task. Check out QuarkBase. According to their website, QuarkBase"is a mashup of over 30 data sources and many algorithms gathering information from Internet on various topics like social popularity, traffic, associated people, etc." There are other good web traffic sites out there. What is nice about this site, though, is that it has the added bonus of giving info from Twitter, Technorati, delicious, and digg. A very cool site to look into.

To learn more, visit this review of QuarkBase on Technology Review.

Library Learning Space

2008-08-15T12:50:00.009-04:00

Looking for some ideas to help you rethink your teaching and learning space in the library? Check out this site. It is a place to go to see how other libraries are using their space for instruction. They have a nice image gallery where visitors can leave comments as well as pages on furniture ideas, info on vendors, floor plans, and a place for discussion. I have seen a lot of talk on various listservs on the library as space topic, especially as it pertains to instruction--how to make the library more functional, how to be more creative with instruction rooms, how to make better use of what we have (since few of us have the money to renovate or build new space), what kind of laptop cart should be used, and what about furniture choices/options. If you have been asking these kinds of questions, you should definitely visit this site.
Image--Emory's Center for Interactive Teaching / Woodruff Library, Emory University

Virtual classroom at the University of Central Florida puts teachers to the test

2008-05-21T08:42:00.003-04:00

As a UCF College of Ed grad, I was very interested in this article about the way they are training their future teachers. I do think it is great that Lockheed Martin is getting involved. (They are a major employer in Orlando, are right down the road from UCF, and likely employ many UCF graduates considering UCF has a large engineering program.) I imagined myself "practicing" teaching this way, and I admit I was apprehensive. I am not sure which would be more intimidating, the virtual students or the real ones.

Google Calendar Sync

2008-03-27T08:41:00.008-04:00

It has been a while since I have posted. I have been trying to decide exactly where to go with my blog. In the meantime, my colleague and I recently discovered a wonderful tool that you will hopefully find as useful as we did. Many people have found work-arounds to syncing their Outlook and Google calendars for a while. Well, Google has finally created an official way to do it. Announcing Google Calendar Sync!

I work in an environment in which there are five library team members: two librarians and three library staff. The other librarian and I are constantly in and out of the office in meetings and instruction sessions and the other team members have appointments and meetings, as well. We do not have an administrative assistant who keeps up with where we are throughout the day, so we needed some kind of tool to help keep us organized so I could keep track of appointments, sick and vacations days, and so the other team members would know where the librarians were if that information was needed. We wanted to find a way to create a shared calendar for our team that was accessible via the web but that would sync with all of our Outlook calendars. We couldn't seem to find a simple way to do this with Outlook. So, we turned to Google. While there have been ways to do this in the past that weren't too complicated, it was exciting to find that Google had finally released their own tool that would sync one way or both ways. This works perfectly for us! We each created personal calendars that we sync with our Outlook calendars. Next, I created a separate "Work Calendar" for our team; then, I "shared" this calendar with each team member. This is not a public calendar since it may contain personal appointments that we want our team members to know about, but not the world. We can add appointments to this calendar in Google or in Outlook. Since it syncs both ways, the appointments will show up in both calendars. There is an advantage to adding events and appointments in Google: there is an option when editing an event's details to copy to another calendar. This makes it very easy to not only add it to one calendar, but to then copy it to a second calendar. (In our case, we copy it to the team's Work Calendar.) So, when we are in Google, we can add an appointment to our personal calendar, and then choose to copy it straight to the Work Calendar so we share it with our colleagues.

What we discovered, though, is that to make your Work Calendar events appear on your Google calendar, you need to make sure that 1) you are using the Google account that is affiliated with the same account as your work email address. We found that not all of our appointments and events were being added to our Google calendar when we were trying to sync our Outlook calendar with a Google calendar affiliated with our Gmail accounts. 2) You can only sync your Outlook calendar with your Primary Google calendar. If you are like me, you have more than one Google Calendar. Make sure you are dedicating your appointments and main events to the first calendar on your list of calendars in Google. That is the one it will sync with your Outlook calendar.

I hope this all makes sense. Feel free to email me if you have any questions. I am no expert, but I can share our experiences. Happy Syncing!

Online Photo Sharing Tutorial

2008-01-15T09:50:00.001-05:00

The folks at Commoncraft are at it again with another great video tutorial, this time covering Online Photo Sharing. I love their no-frills approach. Clear, concise, and easy to understand. Check it out!

Learning 2.0--Mashup Editors

2007-12-03T10:28:00.000-05:00

I worked with Yahoo Pipes to try and create my own mashup. Creating a mashup wasn't the difficult part; what I had the most trouble with was coming up with something original. I read through the Mashup Award Winners page and found lots of ideas, but I wanted something more related to libraries. What I really wanted to do was to come up with something that could somehow show relevant data from EKU's catalog (eQuest) mashed with starred reviews from School Library Journal or another well-respected children's literature review source. I know, I know. Way too ambitious. I could have done something simple with Yahoo Pipes that would have fulfilled the Option 1 choice of this learning activity, but I didn't want to just copy what the video tutorial showed us. I do want to revisit this in the future and find a way to apply the potential of a mashup to our catalog. I have ideas brewing, but I am waiting for Encore to emerge and to see if there aren't ways to blend it with an API to form a really cool mashup.

Another cool mashup that I found: Auction Reminder. OK...I am gonna stop posting about mashups now. I promise.

Learning 2.0-- LOLcat mashup

2007-11-30T14:53:00.000-05:00

I couldn't resist posting one more mashup. If you are a LOLcat fan, if you just like cats, or if you just want a good laugh, try the LOLinator. Too cute! :)

Learning 2.0-- Mashups...with one "wii-qwest"

2007-11-30T13:33:00.000-05:00

As we approach the home stretch of our formal Learning 2.0 program journey, we take on the task of exploring Mashups. I confess that this has been one of the more confusing applications for me. I think I am making it more difficult than it really is, though. A mashup, as I can figure, is taking data from two or more different sites and putting onto one site turning it into something useful. I remember looking through the flickr mashups earlier in the semester and found several that I liked. I wanted to try to find some mashups unrelated to flickr this time, so I explored the web mashups directory and looked through the top picks. I found a great one related to shopping that I thought was especially appropriate as I think about good deals for Christmas. Secretprices.com has a great all in one site: it is a place you can find information on products, where the best deals are for those products, product reviews, and even price comparisons. It is truly one stop shopping! That is my kind of mashup. Now, if it could only help me find a deal on a Wii...

Learning 2.0-- Podcasting

2007-11-27T09:25:00.000-05:00

This week's lesson required us to explore some podcast directories and find a podcast that interested us. I had already found a few library-related podcasts that I was subscribing to, so I wanted to look for some new ones. I found a children's book review podcast, Book Voyages, and an interesting Educational Technology podcast, The TechTeacher Podcast. I am hopeful that these two sites will not only help me with collection development but will also allow me to stay current with trends in children's literature and educational technology as it relates to teaching.

Learning 2.0--YouTube

2007-11-20T11:20:00.000-05:00

I have been exploring YouTube for a while now. In fact, I recently uploaded a private video of my little boy singing at church so my sister and mom could see it since they couldn't be there. It was great! This is one of the things I love about YouTube (not related to libraries)--the ability to see events that you wouldn't normally get to see. I have noticed that people are using their cell phones and even their digital video cameras to videotape events and even segments of events, such as concerts, and upload them to YouTube. We can all now see concerts we couldn't afford to attend or didn't get to go to because the event was too far away. Also, YouTube has allowed us to be eyewitnesses to events. Some might feel this is an invasion of privacy; others feel this is just the kind of extra set of "eyes" that can help prosecute criminals who commit crimes while unknowingly being caught on a cellphone or videotape. Of course, YouTube can also catch us at a vulnerable moment, like the well-known Miss Teen USA incident involving Miss South Carolina. It is interesting how a technology like YouTube has changed history in many ways. The Miss Teen USA incident, while embarrassing for Miss South Carolina, would likely have been forgotten in a shorter amount of time without a tool like YouTube.

This technology can have great implications for education and libraries, too. Libraries have posted lots of videos promoting their services and even instruction sessions and tutorials on YouTube and other video sharing sites. These are great tools to use to reach library users with a form of media that is appealing and familiar to them. These video sites, along with many of the other Web 2.0 tools, also allow for users to create content, a more friendly approach for libraries. Libraries have even had contests open to their patrons encouraging them to make creative videos either promoting a particular library service or tied to a holiday. The best videos were then uploaded to YouTube. Maybe the best thing about events like this is that it helps the library not just feel like a fun place to be, but that the people who work inside are approachable and "real."

Here is a video from the Allen County Public Library video contest:

Here is a fun video I found related to databases:

What "accent" do you have?

2007-11-09T12:21:00.000-05:00

OK, I just finished reading a friend's blog and saw her entry about accents. She had taken a quiz that showed where she was from based on her "accent." My results showed that I had "no accent." It said I was from the midland. Well, that part of the quiz didn't really "work." However, the other part of the description, "...for all we know you could be from Florida..." was spot on. :0) Take the quiz and see what accent you have.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The Inland North
The South
The West
The Northeast
Philadelphia
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Learning 2.0--Web-Based Applications

2007-11-08T13:31:00.000-05:00

We were directed to check out the UCD Library 2 go's blog post that lists web-based applications that might be useful to students during their college careers. I decided to check out the library's site a little further. I was intrigued by the idea that this library was 1) creating a blog and 2) pointing students to web-based applications that would potentially take the place of products like Word and Powerpoint, software programs that librarians are seemingly always being asked to offer technical support on the use of. So, I went to the library's homepage to find out more. [On a side note--It was neat to see a meebome widget on the front of their homepage. :) ] I think most (all?) of the applications may be new to many of the students. I knew about Zotero, and was a little surprised that they mentioned it considering they have a license for EndNote on their campus. I think the most useful applications would be Zotero and Google docs.

Also, students who need to incorporate surveys into their studies will find Survey Monkey useful; a user can survey up to 100 particants with up to 10 questions with their basic version for free.

A recent addition to UCD's blog that I think students will also find helpful is the post on online photography and image tools. More and more students are connecting with each other through social networking sites. Part of the connection is personalizing their sites with images; the tools mentioned in this post offer advice on photo editing, photo sharing and even photography blogs. In fact, I think I am going to check this post out further for myself! :)

Learning 2.0--Processing Words on the Web

2007-11-08T12:27:00.000-05:00

I have been working with Google docs and its presentation application and have really enjoyed them. Things I like: the ability to work on a document at the same time as my co-workers, no need to email a file back and forth between my co-workers, and a clean and simple interface. Things I don't like: dependence on an Internet connection. If you are at a conference and have your presentation in Google docs, you must have an Internet connection in order to present. This isn't always a problem, but with Bill G's product, your technology requirements seem easier to meet. For students, Google docs presents lots of advantages, not the least of which is the $0 price tag. It is exciting to think about the possibilities of collaboration if students could meet online at the same time to work on a project in Google docs. They could add content and edit and see those changes happening live. There would be no downtime as in traditional file swapping via email. Of course another benefit is the ability to access the document from any computer. The file resides on the web, making it accessible from any internet connection. With Google docs, you can also export the file as a Word file if you wanted to open it in Word later.

Web-based applications offer a great alternative to the high-priced office suite applications. They offer equitable functionality at a great price (free!) and can even provide more benefits than their software counterparts.

Photosynth...Oh the possibilities!

2007-10-10T09:19:00.001-04:00

I saw this video and was amazed. I guess I am behind the times since this was posted back in May, but I still thought it was worth sharing in case a few others had not seen it yet. Wow...how far we have come with digital images and how cool to see the possibilities of how to connect photos from all over the world to make them even more meaningful. Now this is "big picture" thinking.

Learning 2.0--More about wikis

2007-10-04T13:09:00.000-04:00

Now that we have actually added content and/or edited a wiki, we have a little more experience with the look and feel of how it works. We have all seen, and (be honest!) used wikipedia and even our own Learning 2.0 wiki, but how can we do more with a wiki beyond this experience? What I like about wikis is the idea that they invite connection and collaboration. That collaboration doesn't have to take place while people are sitting across from each other at a conference table. It can happen within a school building or a library. It can happen within an organization. It can happen between one classroom in Kentucky and another classroom in Germany. A wiki provides a forum for invention, discussion, creation and sharing. There are lots of potential uses for wikis in an educational setting. Students can collaborate on projects by posting documents, editing content, adding images, sharing feedback about group members' work, and embedding links to appropriate resources, just to name a few ideas. A wiki can be a good environment for problem solving skills to be put to work. Then, as the students work through different stages of the project, the teacher can offer comments via the wiki. (S/he can get notified when new content is added or when content has been edited on the wiki.) Teachers can also use wikis to share ideas and resources, post lesson plans, and collaborate on projects with others who may not even be in their school.

Because wikis do allow such wide access (or at least potential wide access), those who would use wikis need to evaluate how much access they want for their wiki. There are restrictions that administrators of the wiki can place on it, including who has rights to edit content. Those who have administrative rights can get notifications of changes in order to monitor content, if necessary. The notifications can also serve users and contributors so that they will be aware of progress on current work being done on a project, or if a document has been edited so that group members can go in and see changes.

Some examples of school wikis:
Arbor Heights Elementary School wiki
Carman Elementary School wiki
Westwood High School wiki
Salisbury High School Chemistry wiki

Learning 2.0--Gettin Wiki With It

2007-10-04T10:08:00.000-04:00

In this week's lesson, we were asked to explore some wikis to see how they are being used in libraryland. My favorite is the Libsuccess Wiki. I have found this to be such a useful tool as a librarian, especially in the early stages of implementing an instant messaging program here at EKU. I consulted this repeatedly during those months before we started our IM service in order to get names, to see examples of other schools' websites, and to look for ways that other libraries were promoting their IM service. Having the libsuccess wiki was one of the most valuable resources for me as I prepared my info for our IM workgroup. It has many more components that make it a rich resource for librarians, including links to websites that provide marketing ideas and success stories, suggested resources for online training, ideas for management and leadership, and, as I mentioned before, a huge section for information on online reference. If you haven't already been there, you should definitely check out the Libsuccess Wiki.

Microsoft Office Rival

2007-09-28T15:32:00.000-04:00

You know about OpenOffice and Google Docs, but have you heard of IBM's Lotus Symphony? It is obviously getting some attention. See the full article here.

Learning 2.0--Del.icio.us

2007-09-28T15:28:00.000-04:00

According to their website, del.icio.us "is a social bookmarking website" whose primary use is to allow a user to store links to his/her websites in one place so s/he can access them from any computer. When I first heard about del.icio.us,a few years ago, I immediately liked the idea because of the frustration of having to try to remember websites I visited at home and at work. If I went from one computer to another, I had to try and recall the address of the website, or I would have to Google the site to call it up on the computer I was at. Del.icio.us could solve that problem, yay!, so I created an account. I also discovered that several libraries are using del.icio.us instead of traditional subject guide pages. I originally learned about this at the 2007 ALA midwinter conference from a roundtable discussion I attended. I was excited at the possibilities, especially since patrons could contribute to the tags for the subject guides and could even add sites. How cool would it be to see what sites your fellow library users found to be most useful? I think the del.icio.us interface is not the prettiest, but its function and purpose is terrific, especially if libraries want to find ways to offer more user-centered services.

Learning 2.0 Tagging part 2

2007-09-28T13:43:00.000-04:00

I'm baaaaack. Well, after a very long hiatus, I am finally getting back into the swing of the Learning 2.0 lessons. The semester got started and I was drowning in a sea of instruction and other duties, but I am ready to get back on track.

We were directed by our Discovery Exercise #2 to explore Encore with a number of searches and to discuss the effectiveness of the tag clouds. My first search was for "differentiation," a term that is heard often in the context of education and teaching. So, I was expecting to find resources dealing with education when I did my search. The first item that appeared in the results list (at Michigan State Univ) was an education-related title. However, the tag cloud that appeared had no terms related to education. After clicking on the "more" button that appeared below the tag cloud, I was led to the larger cloud that did contain a few more phrases related to education. I had to click on "individualized instruction" (a phrase that appeared in a tiny font size) to find relevant titles. The tag cloud that appeared on the initial screen might not benefit education majors in this instance. In fact, seeing all of the biology and math related terms in the cloud might even confuse students. The concept behind the tag cloud is beneficial, however, with a search like "death penalty." In that search, capital punishment appears as a phrase in very large print along with many other very relevant terms and phrases that would certainly give a user ideas for related concepts.

I think the appeal of tag clouds lie in the visual ability to identify terms that are more "relevant" or appear more often in a catalog search. In the most recent search for "death penalty," for example, "capital punishment" was the more popular term and had more entries in the catalog than "executions and executioners." This wasn't indicated by a number (as is typical in a results list of a catalog search), but rather by font size. I think this visual indicator may appeal to students. Instruction will be key to our implementation of Encore and the benefits of features like the tag clouds. Showing students to go deeper than the first screen, to click on relevant "tags" to run a new search and to see titles that are relevant to that new term or phrase will be helpful. I think students will like not having to come up with new terms on their own; in that respect, the tag clouds are also very helpful. In an instruction session I would likely also demonstrate a non-example to students, though, to show that tag clouds are not perfect; the differentiation example shows that while tag clouds can be helpful and visually appealing, they aren't always instantly useful. If students are willing to put the time into clicking deeper, the "more" button can help them think through the terms and to get more ideas. Quality research isn't a quick process; I think it is worth reminding students of that in our instruction sessions.

Tagging--part 1

2007-08-24T09:33:00.000-04:00

Well, I must admit I dreaded this week's lesson. I confess, it was because I associated it with cataloging. (No offense, I promise.) I respect catalogers. I am jealous that I don't know enough about cataloging. I avoided it in library school. I avoid it still. Now, tagging isn't exactly cataloging, but I can't help but link it with that c word. The appeal of tagging over straight LCSH, though, is that it makes more sense, common sense. (imho) Tagging tends to use more brief terms and language that is more like everyday words that one might use to describe a "thing." Of course, therein can lie a problem with tagging, too. Simple isn't always best. Still, imho, it is more "friendly." I like searching flickr, for example, using tags. I think I find things much easier using one or two terms. (Trying to search google with one or two terms is difficult, though.) Tagging is less limiting than LCSH; a person can use more terms to describe a book, photo, movie, etc. and is not limited to the parameters of LCSH. I like the flexibility of tagging.

Getting back to the learning activity...in the spirit of the impending college football season, I chose to search "college football." In Google, I got 96,900,000 hits; in eQuest, I had less luck with only 34 results. I am not surprised given that we are not a library that is likely to collect many books/items on football. I don't think I chose a term/phrase that allowed me to see the benefits of tagging over LCSH, but reading some of the other blog posts have helped me to realize that tagging, while a flexible, more common sense option for areas outside of libraries, may not be the perfect solution for cataloging items inside of libraries where consistency still seems to be important for some library patrons. As Margaret's original post in the Learning 2.0 Lesson points out, we don't all use the same words to describe things. It seems important, though, to find ways to offer patrons flexibility in their search options. Perhaps we can allow patrons to add tags to items' records in the future to allow such flexibility? This makes the search more meaningful for users of the catalog, and it can inform librarians when it comes to collection development decisions because we can see what items are being "touched" in the catalog. The University of Pennsylvania is doing this with their PennTags. Maybe more libraries will incorporate this kind of idea in the future.

Rollyo

2007-08-15T14:08:00.000-04:00

Well, I have been taking a break from Learning 2.0 and now am back in action. I have just been exploring Rollyo. I admit I haven't entirely mastered this tool yet, but I see potential for this, especially if a person has a laundry list of favorite sites s/he likes to search. I don't necessarily do that very often, but it could come in handy if I applied myself and found a strong list of reputable sites that I knew had good content in a particular area of interest. The limit of 25 sites might be problematic, but reality is that I would probably have a hard time finding 25 right now on any one area, so for me 25 isn't an issue.

OK...have been doing some more exploring and I just thought of a possible use for this in an educational setting. If a teacher wanted her students to do a search, but wanted them to limit that search within a certain group of websites (reputable ones, or ones that had particularly relevant info on a particular topic), that teacher could create a searchroll for the class and have them search only those websites. While this may be limiting their search, it could point them to some highly relevant content. And, it could allow the teacher to introduce some websites to her students that might be of use to them in a later assignment. Just a thought. I am sure there are many other potential uses for Rollyo. In fact, I saw a few searchrolls that seemed to be promoting sites (for business/marketing purposes). Interesting.

Here's my roll.

Learning 2.0--Library Thing

2007-08-02T12:54:00.000-04:00

This week's lesson is all about LibraryThing. I confess that while I think this could be a great tool for some, it just wasn't something I got excited about. (probably because I am drowning with other things to do this week, not because it isn't a great tool) A few features I did like about LibraryThing were the ability to see what other tags were used to describe a book, to view ratings of books, and to see reviews. For those who really enjoy good discussion of books, the groups are neat, too. For now, here is my measly beginning of a bookshelf. Don't be too cruel fellow laborers.

Lolcats meets the iphone

2007-07-26T14:01:00.001-04:00

For TADL Folk
Originally uploaded by mstephens7

For lolcats and iphone fans...

Marketing exec's take on Library 2.0

2007-07-26T12:35:00.000-04:00

People outside of library land are talking about Library 2.0. Check out Rohit Bhargava over at Influential Marketing Blog. His recent entry, "Librarians Blogging And The Birth Of Library 2.0" speaks highly of librarianship as "one of the most important careers of the future." Bhargava, a VP of Marketing in Washington DC, comments that librarians are playing a role in organizing web content and making it more accessible to people. (I am reminded of the video. ("Web 2.0: the machine is us/ing us," created by Michael Wensch, an anthropologist at Kansas State University.) Bhargava also lists several 2.0 bloggers, including Michael Stephens, David Lee King, Meredith Farkas, and Jenny Levine. I thought this was particularly relevant to our group of library staff as we are in the midst of our Learning 2.0 journey. I liked his view of us. What do you think?

Found on LiB

RSS continued

2007-07-25T16:04:00.000-04:00

The second lesson this week encouraged us to add more feeds. I didn't really need more feeds (as I mentioned in my earlier post), but I found myself reading other people's blogs this week, which led me to add another blog. (Thanks for the tip, Kelly!) I have previously used my Bloglines for news feeds and blogs, but today I thought of something else. While playing around in Flickr, I discovered that you can add a feed for comments and new photos. So, whenever one of my contacts adds a new photo or if someone comments on one of my photos, I will be updated via Bloglines. This was something I hadn't thought I using my Bloglines for until this week. Very nice!

RSS to the rescue

2007-07-24T08:45:00.000-04:00

A few years ago, I was not sure about the whole blog thing. I thought blogs were just these personal diaries and I was not interested in reading people's personal diaries, much less creating my own. I didn't have the time nor the interest. Now, I can't imagine my professional life without them. RSS has made reading blogs and the news so much easier. I like that with my feeder, Bloglines, I can see the newest content in bold print, and can see the entire blog post without having to go to the blog. There are other feed readers, like Google Reader, but I am very pleased with Bloglines. I have been using Bloglines for almost two years now, but my feeds list has grown considerably in the last year. At some point, I am going to have to weed it, just like the outdated materials on the shelves...but alas, there is so much I want to know. :0) At least RSS brings it to me when I want it, lets me know what is new, and if I choose not to read it, I can simply click on the name of the blog or feed, and move on. I love RSS feeds!

Flickr Mashup

2007-07-22T21:01:00.000-04:00

I was playing around this weekend with Flickr, my newest addiction. I love the color picker! What I like about this mashup is how it highlights some of the beautiful photographs on Flickr done by people who are not necessarily professionals, but who just love taking pictures. Bad thing about this is that one photo leads to more and more and more...that is why I called Flickr my new addiction. :0)

I found this photo, which was one of my favorites in the "purple" color wheel. (Photo by eason)

The Most Beautiful Place on Earth?

2007-07-19T21:47:00.001-04:00

Isengard
Originally uploaded by southnz

If I could travel anywhere, I would love to go to New Zealand. So full of breathtaking landscape...I spent way too much time in Flickr looking through all of the photos that people had taken of NZ. I created a Flickr photo badge using public photos Milford Sound. I could just get mesmerized in those scenes. I've included just one below of NZ that captures several beautiful mountains, including Mt. Alfred and Mt. Earnslaw. Also in the pic is Diamond Lake. (Note: The pic is also showing the area that was a well-known scene from LOTR.)

Florida Fun--Week 3 Learning 2.0

2007-07-17T14:36:00.000-04:00

This week we are exploring Flickr. I am a photo nut, so I really love exploring Flickr, so much so that I get mesmerized looking at other people's pictures. I have a few photos up on my Flickr account (I created one several months ago), but I prefer Picasa, mainly because of how it organizes the photos on my desktop and meshes so easily with my Google account. I can go almost seamlessly from my desktop to the web and post photos to share with my friends and family using Picasa. (I am sure that Flickr offers this, too, I just haven't used it enough to know.) I confess that this is one area in which privacy makes me more leary of venturing out too far, though. I have posted a few photos on Flickr and Picasa, but for some reason I am more worried about it here than I am on Facebook. I have no real explanation of why other than because it is photos and because most of my photos involve my kids. Silly, I know.

We just got back from our vacation in Florida, though, and I thought I would share some of my photos that I uploaded to Flickr.
(These are on my Flickr site, but I had to upload them manually
here because they aren't "public.") One of the highlights was our fishing trip out on the Gulf of Mexico. Me, my hubby, and my mom's husband went out on his boat and all three of us caught sharks. Unfortunately, my camera malfunctioned and I was only able to get pictures of two of the three sharks. (Of course it would be MY catch that would be missed...) Anyway, it was a thrill to get to fish on the gulf. Even if I don't have the picture to prove it, I won't soon forget catching a shark!

Learning 2.0--Facebook

2007-07-16T09:19:00.000-04:00

It has been fun this past week to see people exploring Facebook. I have added a few new friends and even seen a few sheep being thrown! The neat thing about Facebook is that it is a nice mix of business and pleasure. I have met other librarians on Facebook that I wouldn't have met in other venues, and I have found friends from high school that I haven't seen in years. I like that the Facebook creators have opened the source code up so that almost anyone can create fun and useful applications, like the UIUC Search, the Marketplace (one of my favorites), and the Superpoke. I prefer Facebook over MySpace, though I think MySpace has an audience with a particular demographic that Facebook doesn't. Lots of public libraries are taking advantage of that, and I applaud their efforts to reach out to that group of patrons, to go where they like to "hang out" and to put a friendly face on the library so that those users will see that the library is a relevant place for them. If we want to educate all users, then social networks are one way to market our services and resources to certain groups, not to mention the fun you can have there, too!

35 Perspectives on Online Social Networking

2007-07-10T23:19:00.000-04:00

35 Perspectives on Online Social Networking

In light of our Learning 2.0 lesson this week on social networking, I thought this article was timely and could provide some interesting discussion for the brownbag lunch at the end of the week.

Big Brother

2007-07-10T11:25:00.000-04:00

This is a 1978 Leyland Mini next to my hubby's 2001 F350. A friend from my brother's church bought this off ebay a while back and had it imported from the UK. We drew quite a few stares and even had random people taking photos in the parking lot when we parked next to the mini. I was surprised that the teeny truck was very comfortable to sit in (it has racing seats), though the practical side of me (read: old, mom) couldn't help but think about what it would be like to be in an accident in one of these things.

It was very neat little vehicle, though. Because it was just their size, my kids thought it was made just for them!

Learning 2.0--Social Networking

2007-07-09T23:23:00.000-04:00

Libraries and MySpace profiles: What I like most about libraries having MySpace profiles is that they have them! OK, that seems like a cop-out answer, but it is true. As it was pointed out (by Stephen Abram, I believe) at an ALA session I recently attended, what matters is that libraries are trying these new things. Teens and young adults are in these environments, and Stephen Abram is very deliberate about calling them environments and not just sites. Libraries can learn from one another by creating inviting environments for teens to be in. These profile pages are a great place to market our services to an audience whose attention we might not normally have. If you look at the examples listed in the Learning 2.0 blog, you can see how libraries, including academic libraries, are able to list hours, promote services, link to special collections, post photos, and even link to tutorials and instructional videos.

A MySpace profile is a great way to add a "cool" and fun image to the library, not to mention a "human" side. Let's engage with our users in those virtual spaces that they enjoy being in. Implications for us at EKU? Not sure that MySpace is where we want to invest our time and efforts since most of our students are probably in Facebook, but we should certainly consider working on a Facebook profile (group) and trying to market ourselves that way. I want to take advantage of promoting our services in places where students meet and socialize and to give our library a friendly, familiar face.

Library 2.0 in 15 minutes a day

2007-07-05T09:18:00.001-04:00

Our library has recently embarked on a Learning 2.0 adventure, following in the footsteps of PLCMC library and so many others. If you have been wanting to do a Learning 2.0 program, but think you don't have time to put one together, think again! There is a great resource over at the Library Instruction wiki just for you. As it states on their front page, the wiki page was designed to give libraries interested in such a program a curriculum from which to build a 2.0 program on. For that matter, anyone can just go straight to the wiki and follow the activities to become more familiar with web 2.0 tools. Thanks to the supercrazylibrarianguy (Sam Wallin) for creating the wiki!

And thanks to the LiB for pointing us to the wiki. :0)

2007-07-03T11:51:00.000-04:00

2007-06-30T22:46:00.000-04:00

The Razr of Laptops

OK, I so want one of these.

2007-06-30T18:16:00.001-04:00

Interesting new video explaining social networking. The guys at The CommonCraft Show also offer videos on wikis and RSS in plain English. Cool stuff!

2007-06-30T17:28:00.000-04:00

When in Washington…

On Sunday evening of the ALA conference, I decided to take a stroll to find a place to eat dinner. As I walked toward E Street near Hard Rock Café, I noticed that there were several streets blocked off and a large police presence. The further I walked, I also noticed the shiny, black cars parked all along the road and crowds gathering at the corners. I stopped and asked someone, “What’s going on?” A guy standing nearby shared, “The president is in Ford’s Theater.” Curious, I decided to keep walking. I went around the block to the other side across from Hard Rock Café. Again, large crowds had formed on the corners near Ford’s Theater and Hard Rock Café. I stood with a group for a while, walked over and called my mom to tell her what was happening, then came back to wait. I figured, I was here, I might as well try to catch a glimpse of the president, IF it was actually him.

After some time, and many directions to move back, the tell-tale black presidential limousines were readied. The "decoy" limo backed in front of the white tent, which was set up in front of Ford’s theater. (I found out from my husband later that this second limo is actually a back-up limo for the president and first lady in case the real limo breaks down or if something goes wrong with it.) Eventually, the motorcycles were revved up, the police cars lined up, and the motorcade procession rolled by. It was something to see. Most (if not all) of those standing around were tourists. We were all pretty excited by the idea of the president coming so close and getting to catch a glimpse. When the cars passed by, the best view we got was actually of Laura Bush, and then the massive arsenal that followed in the SUV behind her car. I don’t know if George was in the car with her or not, but it was still pretty neat to see her. Kind of appropriate that several of us librarians got to see such a great advocate for libraries. A nice surprise for the ALA conference. :0)

2007-06-30T17:24:00.000-04:00

ALA—Sunday June 24
Bookcart Drill Team—Somethin’ to see!

This was my first ALA Annual conference. I had heard a little about “THE” events to attend, the socials to make an appearance at, the booths I must visit, the swag I must carry off. As I was standing in line to get my badge holder, how could I miss the sign for THE event not to miss? I had heard about the bookcart drill team, (heck, they had their own spot in the Program Guide’s Table of Contents) but I confess I didn’t really know what that meant. Even the young girl doing the splits over the bookcart on the sign didn’t give it away. So, I decided what the heck? I was here, I might as well be able to answer yes to people when they asked me, “Did you go to the bookcart drill team?”

As I sat down and waited for the event to begin, I couldn’t help but think that the guy walking around on the stage looked an awful lot like Mo Willems. The other guy looked familiar, too, but from a distance, I couldn’t be sure if these were the famous children’s authors I thought they were. (Why would these children’s authors be at an event sponsored by DEMCO?) Surely that couldn’t be them. Not Mo and Jon Scieszka. I had certainly not associated these guys with the bookcart drill team.

As soon as I heard him speak, I knew that voice. It WAS Mo. It turned out that this bookcart drill team thing was going to be way better than I’d even thought. I still wasn’t sure what to expect, though. I guess I assumed there would be some books involved. (Please don’t laugh too hard at me…see above reference to no idea about what the heck a bookcart drill team event was.) Anyway, these people were all decked out in bling. Four teams from different libraries twirled none other than bookcarts and performed well-choreographed dances to various music, right down to including signature “moves,” which Mo and Jon highlighted before and during the routine. Those two guys were absolutely hilarious. Their commentating truly made that event what it was. The winner was decided by three judges who gave scores similar to an Olympic event (8.5, 9.7, etc.). The competitors had obviously worked hard on their routines, though I couldn’t help but wonder just where and when you practice such a thing? Does your library director really let you use your library’s book carts to practice with? Or, do they just kind of walk/dance through it without the carts until they get to the conference and practice when they get there? I was trying to imagine me and some of my colleagues doing the bookcart drill team…now there is an image! :0)

It was definitely a sight to see! I hope I can bring my video camera next year so I can show some of the staff back at the library. Who knows? Maybe it can inspire us to put together our own bookcart drill team! (Um, just kidding…)

2007-06-30T17:12:00.000-04:00

Evaluating the Quality of IM Reference Service Through Transcript Analysis

Sarah Maximiek and Erin Rushton

This was one of several presentations that were part of “The 13^th Annual Reference Research Forum” sponsored by RUSA. This particular presentation focused on an effort by two librarians to evaluate the quality of their IM service. (Um, thus their title, right?) They used to participate in a VR service (QP, I think) but now use free a free IM aggregator to staff six accounts at their two libraries (main library and a science library).

Some highlights:

IM is staffed at reference desk. Interestingly, they acknowledged how busy their desk was, but planned to continue this staffing model.
n=248 transcripts (June 05-June 06)
76% of questions answered in one minute
saw a lot of business on weekends, especially Sunday
chat traffic patterns mirror their walk-in patterns
23% of questions demonstrated instruction
22% were research/quick reference

One idea I will certainly borrow from them is gathering info on what resource(s) the IM staff person used to answer the IM user’s question(s). I think that could be useful information for our IM service.

2007-06-25T15:29:00.000-04:00

ALA Conference: The Ultimate Debate: Do Libraries Innovate?
Stephen Abram (SirsiDynix), Karen Schneider (Free Range Librarian), Joe Janes (UW), moderated by Andrew Pace (NCSU)

Great panel discussion! I had to walk forever to get there, but it was worth achy feet to hear the lively debate. Some highlights:

Stephen Abram pointed out that people are innovators, not the institutions. Gave the NCSU catalog as the example.
Followership is very slow: example of libraries putting up MySpace accounts. This is proving to be a popular trend with library users, particularly teens. Why haven't more libraries added accounts?
Karen Schneider emphasized that we can't be afraid to fail. The example of the birth of the Mac computer was given. If Apple had given up after the Lisa (sp?) had bombed, there would be no Mac as we know it. Karen pointed out that we are not staffed to fail; we don't have built in to our library budgets the ability to fail. It is a sad reality, but true, I think. I believe this is one way we are fortunate at EKU. I am not sure that we have the finances to fail, so to speak. But we certainly have all the support we need and the room to spread our wings and try. We have no excuse not to!
Risk aversion theme was brought out. We are a field of people who almost doom ourselves to failure. I really liked the point, however, that Joe Janes brought out about library school applications. When he was reading applications for library school years ago, the typical applicant's reason for wanting to be a librarian? "I want a quiet place to hide and read books." An audience member who is a current LIS student responded to Joe by sharing that the reason she decided to go to library school was because she was tired of hearing complaining and she wanted to do something about the problems that she saw. She wanted to be an active member of the library community. She was applauded by the panel and Joe Janes encouraged library recruiters to seek that student and her peers (who were sitting on the back row) after the discussion. Those were precisely the kind of students who needed to be working in libraries.
Another interesting point was brought out during this discussion of innovators, however. An audience member shared that librarians don't typically wear the hat of "innovator." This was connected to the whole shy, hide out in a library and read image brought out earlier. A good point, but also one that was refuted by the library school student mentioned above.

Final points shared by panelists on the vision for future of library innovation:

JJ: The piece that hasn't come out yet: lots of good things are happening that we may not know about. We need to tell our stories, get the word out.

KS: There needs to be a culture of entrepreneurship and risk-taking; more merit-driven in terms of innovation.

SA: Believes that we need to get out and understand where are users are, "do the research first," know how end users behave; OCLC report on social networks (vast majority of libraries said we shouldn't!!).

KS: shared the Danbury Connecticut Public Library example; when someone does something innovative, when need to not trash them.

I hope this prompts further discussion within libraries and within the larger organization.

2007-06-19T13:33:00.000-04:00

ALA Bound: Googly-eyed and Mystified

I confess I am a bit overwhelmed though also excited at the thought of the upcoming ALA conference. With so many vendors, program, authors, exhibits, etc., I don't know how I will keep it all straight. I am excited to experience it all, though, and very glad that I have a few colleagues to share it with.