I've visited youtube many times to search for videos and to look at videos that are referenced by friends or professional articles. I enjoy youtube but didn't particularly enjoy browsing the sites. It's too time intensive for the payback. I like looking for something specific.
That's why I chose the video about the elephant and the dog. I had actually searched youtube for it yesterday because of the children's book connection. I was actually very excited to learn how to embed a video in my blog but I must confess that I had to ask the cataloger to help me because I couldn't figure it out. But now I know...so I learned something new today. Always a good thing!
Library Staff
All in a row
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Best Friends
Here is a video that made the rounds on the Internet several months ago. Yesterday we received a children's book entitled Tarra & Bella : the elephant and dog who became best friends.
So I had searched for the video on youtube to show another library employee. Here it is:
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Method 5 - Take Two
The most interesting thing about this Method was the discussion of the legality of posting library photos on flikr. My library does have a flikr website and it's been great for highlighting events and activities at the library. Our policy has been that we will take down a picture if requested. We don't identify anyone by name. I will be circulating the Michael Stevens article to other library staff members and we will discuss the posting of a privacy policy and disclaimer at future events.
I apparently had signed up for flikr quite a while ago but had no memory of doing so. I had uploaded 4 pictures. I will look into uploading some of my pictures from my home computer during the Christmas holidays. I do have some personal concerns about losing "memories" though since I share all my pictures with my husband, he has them on a thumb drive and also on Apple TV so I'm probably okay. In fact, sometimes I think the ability to save so many pictures results in photo overload. When I actually print a picture now I will only print one that I love. The photos on my computer are pretty much anything I took. I do go in and delete them on occasion but it's still way too many pictures. Looking at the slideshow on Apple TV really brought this home to me. I'm constantly saying to my husband, "You really need to delete some of those pictures." It can be really boring.
I apparently had signed up for flikr quite a while ago but had no memory of doing so. I had uploaded 4 pictures. I will look into uploading some of my pictures from my home computer during the Christmas holidays. I do have some personal concerns about losing "memories" though since I share all my pictures with my husband, he has them on a thumb drive and also on Apple TV so I'm probably okay. In fact, sometimes I think the ability to save so many pictures results in photo overload. When I actually print a picture now I will only print one that I love. The photos on my computer are pretty much anything I took. I do go in and delete them on occasion but it's still way too many pictures. Looking at the slideshow on Apple TV really brought this home to me. I'm constantly saying to my husband, "You really need to delete some of those pictures." It can be really boring.
Method 4
http://www.earlyword.com/feed/
http://galvestondailynews.com/rss-feed.lasso?section=news
http://feeds.feedburner.com/awfullibrarybooks
I've actually been using Google Reader for quite a while now and I really love it. I'm always trying to convince other people to use it. I have about 16 subscriptions now and quite honesly that's about all I can manage. If I miss checking it for a couple of days I may have 100s of items. This is mainly because I subscribe to a Houston Chronicle feed which has lots of headlines every day. The library related feeds are not nearly as prolific. I picked 3 of the feeds to highlight above.
The first feed is Early Word which is spectacular for Collection Development. I should never be surprised by a best seller again!
The second feed is the Galveston Daily News which since my library is in Galveston County is an important souce of local information.
And the third feed is Awful Library Books which is just plain fun and reminds me daily of the importance of keeping an up to date collection!
http://galvestondailynews.com/rss-feed.lasso?section=news
http://feeds.feedburner.com/awfullibrarybooks
I've actually been using Google Reader for quite a while now and I really love it. I'm always trying to convince other people to use it. I have about 16 subscriptions now and quite honesly that's about all I can manage. If I miss checking it for a couple of days I may have 100s of items. This is mainly because I subscribe to a Houston Chronicle feed which has lots of headlines every day. The library related feeds are not nearly as prolific. I picked 3 of the feeds to highlight above.
The first feed is Early Word which is spectacular for Collection Development. I should never be surprised by a best seller again!
The second feed is the Galveston Daily News which since my library is in Galveston County is an important souce of local information.
And the third feed is Awful Library Books which is just plain fun and reminds me daily of the importance of keeping an up to date collection!
Method 3
I found the readings about cloud computing to be very interesting. I was particularly interested in the Google Docs applications. I had heard about this application from a library employee but had never taken the time to investigate. I love the idea of being able access documents from any computer, especially since I tend to carry my laptop from home with me on business trips. I can access my work computer using logmein but it is often very slow. I had found my self emailing documents to my home email address so I could access information while at TLA Annual Assembly. The only drawback for me is that accessing the Google Docs still requires Internet access. The times when I might need to access documents are often times when I don't have Internet access. That's an entire other issue!
Friday, October 2, 2009
Method 1 & Method 2 comments
The two videos were very good but the first one was a little too long.
The second video moved very quickly which kind of highlights the problems someone of my generation may have with the Web 2.0 etc.
I found the article by Stephen Abram to be almost out of date. It’s been almost 18 months since it was published much less written and I wonder how he would update it. With things moving so quickly, some of his thoughts seem almost antiquated.
I am always interested in exploring the value of new technologies for libraries and we have tried several here at our library. Our staff blog seemed like a really great idea for communication between weekly staff meetings. Unfortunately I am not seeing its uses come to fruition. Perhaps it’s because so few staff members actually sit at a computer all day, check their email, etc. The majority of the staff is out there interacting with the public or shelving materials. I could see more use for the staff blog in either a smaller or larger library. A large library system with more professional librarians might find the staff blog very useful as a communication tool. A smaller library with very little staff and some staff who might never even encounter other staff members because of part-time hours would surely find the staff blog to be useful. We’re not discontinuing it, it just hasn’t reached my expectations for usability.
Some of the other concepts haven’t panned out either. TLA tried using a wiki for collaboration between the program committee for the last two conferences. They also are trying to use a wiki for their “Transforming Libraries” initiative. All the TLA divisions, round tables, etc. have web pages, list servs, etc. They just don’t seem to be used all that much.
I have a Facebook page and a twitter account. I find them mostly boring. The only new technology that I’ve found to be truly useful recently is my Google Reader. I love Google Reader!!! It’s so great to have one spot to go to for professional and community news!!
What are your thoughts regarding Web 2.0 and Library 2.0? What do the terms mean to you? To your library? Or libraries in general?
My thoughts?? Can’t ignore Web 2.0 and Library 2.0. Be open to trying new things. Continue to search for relevant applications that will serve my community, staff, self. Try to gauge interest and expectations from community. Don’t dismiss suggestions “out of hand.”
The second video moved very quickly which kind of highlights the problems someone of my generation may have with the Web 2.0 etc.
I found the article by Stephen Abram to be almost out of date. It’s been almost 18 months since it was published much less written and I wonder how he would update it. With things moving so quickly, some of his thoughts seem almost antiquated.
I am always interested in exploring the value of new technologies for libraries and we have tried several here at our library. Our staff blog seemed like a really great idea for communication between weekly staff meetings. Unfortunately I am not seeing its uses come to fruition. Perhaps it’s because so few staff members actually sit at a computer all day, check their email, etc. The majority of the staff is out there interacting with the public or shelving materials. I could see more use for the staff blog in either a smaller or larger library. A large library system with more professional librarians might find the staff blog very useful as a communication tool. A smaller library with very little staff and some staff who might never even encounter other staff members because of part-time hours would surely find the staff blog to be useful. We’re not discontinuing it, it just hasn’t reached my expectations for usability.
Some of the other concepts haven’t panned out either. TLA tried using a wiki for collaboration between the program committee for the last two conferences. They also are trying to use a wiki for their “Transforming Libraries” initiative. All the TLA divisions, round tables, etc. have web pages, list servs, etc. They just don’t seem to be used all that much.
I have a Facebook page and a twitter account. I find them mostly boring. The only new technology that I’ve found to be truly useful recently is my Google Reader. I love Google Reader!!! It’s so great to have one spot to go to for professional and community news!!
What are your thoughts regarding Web 2.0 and Library 2.0? What do the terms mean to you? To your library? Or libraries in general?
My thoughts?? Can’t ignore Web 2.0 and Library 2.0. Be open to trying new things. Continue to search for relevant applications that will serve my community, staff, self. Try to gauge interest and expectations from community. Don’t dismiss suggestions “out of hand.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)