Thursday, May 22, 2008

Thing #23 Wrapping Up

In spite of myself I actually think that I got something out of this Web 2.0 Challenge. When I first started this I looked at the list of things and felt anxiety. I thought I would never see the end of the Things but here I am!

I got something out of it for my personal life by learning about Flickr and its uses. I got something out of it for my professional life here at the library by learning about Google Docs. I found that I learned so much about the RSS news feeds. I get this question often in the library's e-mail reference question box. Now I can easily answer this question because I understand about opening a Bloglines account to accept the newsfeed. What a great idea but who has the time to read everything.

There are many other things that I learned about but only skimmed the surface because I really didn't have the time to spend on each Thing. So I am going to go back over some that I didn't like too much like Del.icio.us and look at it again.

I guess this is what it is to be a lifelong learner. I am always interesting in something new if I have the time. I really like the Web 2.0 Challenge at the end but it was tough getting through some of them when there are so many other things to do at work. It certainly was a challenge to get through all of the Things but it was worth it!

Thing #22 ListenNJ

I do not have an MP3 player and so I tried downloading a book on my computer at work and it wouldn't work. So I used our PC Plus computer to download a book.
I went to ListenNJ and downloaded the book "Lady Susan" by Jane Austen. First I had selected Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert but there were 21 patrons on the waiting list.

After selecting "Lady Susan" I clicked on Add to Cart. Then I clicked on Proceed to Checkout and then scrolled down to Ocean County Library and typed in my barcode number. This allowed me to download the book which opened up in the Over Drive Media Console. This put it on the desktop. On the desktop was a folder with the name of the book I choose. When I clicked on the folder it opened up into Windows Media Player. The book had 3 parts so I clicked on part 1 and listened to a few minutes of the story.

I wrote all of this information down because when patrons ask me about how to use this I can look at my notes again. We get this question every so often at the Reference Desk and when answering e-mail reference questions.

I actually think I might use this because I love to listen to stories. I used to check out a lot of the Books on Tape years ago but stopped doing it because it involved so many tapes.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Thing #21 Finding & Listening to Podcasts

I went to Odeo.com and searched under Business. This is listed on the right under browse by Topics. I went down the list and found this podcast. It was really interesting about how Starbucks has to reinvent itself because there is a lot more competition now for coffee especially McDonalds. The company now has to go back to making a better product for people to spend that much money on their coffee.
http://odeo.com/audio/18570743/view
Rescuing Starbucks, Ford Sells Jaguar, Foreign Investors Move into the U.S.
Channel: TIME Business Podcast
Statistics: 80 plays since March 29, 2008

This is a good website and I am going to remember this one since the name is so close to Oreo.
I logged out by mistake and tried to go back in and typed in oreo.com. This of course came to the wonderful oreo cookie website. So now when I think of this site I think of oreo cookies!

Thing #20 YouTube & You

I love gray cats! My gray cat Henry is cute but I don't think as smart as Nora

The video I choose--
Nora: The Sequel - Better than the original!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0zgQAp7EYw

I remember seeing the first Nora movie on television and on the internet.
It was called Nora: Practice Makes Purr-fect

Thing #19 Web 2.0 Awards

I found so many websites here! What a great variety of them. Here are a few that a choose--

Biblio.com-- This is a great website! I always use abe.com that it is nice to have another website to use to find old and out of print books.

Medstory.com--This is one great search engine for medical information. I typed in a search and I got so many webpages. Many of the web pages are from Medline Plus, MayoClinic, etc.

Last.fm--Another great website! You can type in your favorite artist. I did a search on James Taylor and I got a list of his top songs. They compile a list of the top songs that people have listened to. They also have videos that you can watch and you can read what other people have to say about the music.

Cocktailbuilder.com--I am going to tell my niece about this website. She is a bartender/waitress at a local restaurant in Manasquan. What a great site you can type in your ingredients that you have on hand and you get a list of drinks. Wow even if you don't drink this could be fun!

Thing #18 Web Applications

I think I am really going to like Google Docs. I never knew that this existed until I did this exercise. It never seems to amaze me about Google. I can see that this will help with my committee Going Green. Our subcommittee has been talking about putting together a document before we get together with the larger committee. I can see that this will be put to good use because unlike e-mail we can each add something or edit a document. This will be so helpful to us.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Thing #17 Sandbox

I love the Sandbox but this certainly was complicated getting into it. Thank you Angela for helping me. I really can see the use for this. It seems like a wonderful tool for everyone adding something. Computers are so complicated though it was so much easier to play in a real sandbox when I was little!

Thing #16 Wikis

This is one of the few things that I have used before. Sometimes in looking for articles on a subject I found Wikipedia articles. Some of these articles have been quite good and might be the only source you could find. For example, I was looking for information on the Lovelandtown Bridge located on Bridge Avenue from Point Boro to Bay Head. I found a great article about the new bridge and the old one.

I went to the Library Success wiki and looked at a few things. I liked the articles on Traditional Reference Services. I read ato a few specific blogs/articles such as: Do I Still Use Reference Books? and A Day Without a Library Catalog. Both of these were done by ricklibrarian. I could tell from his writing that he is a reference librarian who works with the public. I found the study on the use of reference books very useful.

I really like the wikipedia article on Ocean County Library. I wish the article was longer and included the date each branch was opened. I looked the history of this wiki I couldn't believe how many changes had been made.

Thing #15 Library 2.0

To Better Bibliographic Services--I looked at the NCSU catalog. I tried a few searches and was surprised to see that they did not have the book called "The Nine" by Jeffrey Toobin. Anyway I did like that when you searched for a book it gave you a choice of databases that they subscribe to on the subject.

Away from the Icebergs--I don't agree with the author Rick Anderson's thoughts on the "Just in Case Collection." He is trying to make the case that since circulation rates have dropped over 55 percent over the past 12 years then libraries shouldn't build large print collections. I guess with the price of books lately part of this could be true. However, there are certain collections that we need to maintain such as local history.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Thing #14 Technorati

I tried several searches on Technorati. First I tried a subject search and used Business. I was looking for investing blogs. These were listed under Finance but I really couldn't find anything here that looked good.
Then I tired a search on the Top 100. I went to the first one "Breaking News and Opinion on the Huffington Post." I looked at some of the blogging since I like politics.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Thing #13 del.icio.us

I used the OCLwebthings account for del.icio.us. I'm sorry but I really wasn't impressed by del.icio.us. It is too hard to remember where to put the periods in the spacing of the word. I really can't see the point of this tool.

Thing #12 NetLibrary and WorldCat

NetLibrary--I had an account years ago when the library first subscribed to this database. I didn't use it much and my account lapsed so I have a new account now. I do e-mail reference and I am constantly telling people how to get an account. This is when people are using our card catalog and they come across a book with the word (electronic) in the description. At the end of the entry is a weblink button that says "An electronic book accessible through the World Wide Web." When you click this on this brings you to NetLibrary. I can almost type this in my sleep because I answer this question all the time. "In Our Collection" allows you to browse the collection of books.
I did a search on our catalog for "home-based businesses" and came up with a few electronic books with links to NetLibrary. Going into NetLibrary directly I typed in Jane Austen and selected the book "Sense and Sensibility." NetLibrary has such a great selection of the classics.

WorldCat--I use WorldCat all the time since I am always filling out interlibrary loan requests for patrons. I did a search on one of our famous books in the Wheeler Room called"To Drop a Dime." I found that our library was listed first and then Monmouth University Library is listed next. I noticed today that WorldCat is now on our library catalog welcome page.

Thing #11 LibraryThing

I never heard of LibraryThing until I did this exercise for my blog. What a great tool for keeping track of books that you read and want to read. When you add your books you get links automatically to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Worldcat. I get questions from people in the
e-mail question box about keeping track of the books they read and want to read. This would be a great website to tell people about.


http://www.librarything.com/catalog/KCGal

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Thing #10 Technology Blogging

I am not a techno person. I bought a digital camera last November and I still don't know all the buttons on the camera. The funny thing is I don't think I will ever remember what all the buttons will do. I still like my film 35 mm camera because it takes great photos and all I have to do is put in the film and take photos. I don't have to be a techno wiz to use my Minolta film camera. Now I have a Cannon digital camera and I'm sure that I will get used to it someday. It's not that I resist changing to the digital it just takes so much time to learn it all. The only advantage to the digital is that I can take the memory chip to the store and print the pictures that I want.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Thing #9 Finding Feeds

I looked at all of the websites suggested to help search for newsfeeds
Syndic8.com, Topix.net and Technorati and I found the organization of these feeds confusing. So I went to Bloglines.com and click on the Top 1000 listed under additional features.

Thing #8 RSS Feeds

I set up my Bloglines account last month but I didn't have time to post anything until now. I chose newspaper, political, finance, recipe, and a cat RSS feed.
http://www.bloglines.com/myblogs

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Atrium at Toms River

This is the view across the atrium at the Toms River branch and it is quite an attractive sight.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24827499@N08/2345054341

Beautiful beach

I found this picture of a beautiful beach on Flickr here is the link

http://www.flickr.com/photos/andzer/1109654182/sizes/o

Thursday, March 13, 2008

7 1/2 Habits

I watched the entire 7 1/2 habits of lifelong learners

My first blog

My first blog is a wonderful thing. I can type anything I want to here.