(23) Evaluation

I plan to work with the new blog I have created for a while. I have added my blog URL to my work email signature. I plan to experiment with a new blog - I am still defining its purpose in my head (I have several ideas). I also plan to tell my librarianship classmates at Univ. of North Texas about the 23 Things website. Since it will be up all 2008, those interested might find it useful. This has been a useful exercise. Thanks.

(22) Keeping Up with Technology

Technology has changed our world in the library. Just as we keep up with new interfaces on Proquest or Google, we need to understand the other options that many young library users are comfortable with and use. They are going to come to us with questions when things do not work. And if we can show them that there are good tools then we are doing our job.

One thing that was not covered per se, is scanning pictures. I was able to do all these Things without scanning in a single picture. I have had teens ask me how they can upload a picture, scan a picture, move pictures to Flickr, etc. We should know how to do that.

I have added some of these tools to my Favorites folder on my home computer, and I plan to add them to del.icio.us so that I can easily access them at work. However, I don't know how well-received it will be at work to spend any time on these tools even now that I know how to use them.

(21) Other Networks

NOW we are getting to the good stuff.

Gather (http://www.gather.com/) looks like a reasonable place to search for information and possibly get to know people. I don't know that the articles here are accurate. But there is a broad range of decent stuff. I did a search on JFK and came up with some good information.

WebJunction (http://www.webjunction.org/do/Home) is something that I want to keep and use. I have never heard of it before now.

I used to have an account on LinkedIn after I saw a piece on ABC about how useful that is for professionals. It is hard to tell how useful this is for anyone. I am no longer using the account.

I already had a Ning account, but I joined the 23 Things Ning. I was not able to load the badge, because Blogspot did not recognize it as valid HTML code. Oh, well.

I also already use GoodReads, which I recommend because of the reviews.

(20) Facebook & Myspace

I have a Myspace account, which I did not put my last name in, and I have not found a use for it. I created a new Facebook account today, and joined the Minneapolis/St Paul group. I found 2 guys I went to college with already, but I did not contact them yet. Joining a library group might be useful, as well as groups for hobbies.

(19) Podcasts

I listened to a couple MPR podcasts, but at first a condo ad popped up and I got distracted ... Radio & TV could profit from podcasts. It is another way to entertain us. I was unable to load the St. Cloud State University podcast page. Families could also use this to keep in touch - something to go back and watch many times. Library applications could be made here - "How-to's" could be added to a library blog for setting up an email account, finding certain types of information, etc. Since some library users are visual learners, they might find this very helpful.

(18) YouTube

I can see that YouTube and iGoogle could end up consuming the whole day for some people. It is more reality TV, plus you can comment on it.

One video that is good is: My Favorite Minnesota Camping Campsites
by Paul Sundburg, who is a park ranger.



I did a search on "Minnesota", this one was at the top of the list, and rated highly. YouTube is certainly a place for people to experiment as film makers. I think a few people have had their 10 seconds of fame: the dance guy, the singing group that used treadmills in the video, etc.

This video is by Kirby Productions & shows how technology moved from the scroll to the book:

(17) ELM Tools

I have used these databases before, but did not realize they had the ability to create webpages, etc. Very cool. I suppose if I was a teacher, this would be very useful. A creative librarian could make the standard library search page more student-friendly.

(16) Student Calculators

I like the Assignment Calculator (http://www.lib.umn.edu/help/calculator/) & the Research Project Calculator (http://rpc.elm4you.org/). But don't kids in school learn about these?

When asking students how many sources they need, or how long their paper has to be, most students seem to keep it as small or short as possible. But I still show them what we have and encourage them to take home more than they might need in case some sources do not work out. That usually goes over well with the parent.

(15) Games & Libraries

With all the junk on the internet, it is about time that libraries started helping library users find the good stuff. For example, the game Puzzle Pirates has good points, such as teamwork, cooperation, doing your job, etc. It would be easy enough to add links to games on the Teen page of the Library website. I watched the Second Life video. Hmmm.

(14) Library Thing

I heard about Library Thing a few years ago, because I was looking for a way to list the library books in my church library without doing all the work. Try this link to Library Thing by entering "weasel" in the box below.

(13) Online Productivity Tools

I use lists for many things - I make a calendar for classes I take; I have a calendar at home for work schedule, appointments, vacation days, birthdays; I keep a list of what needs to be done this week at home; I keep a list of exercise I do. I tried Ta-Da, but really, that is just a set of very simple Word files - online. I am not impressed. I think I would have to be a really, really disciplined person to start lists on one of these websites and follow through with actually using it. Not for me.

Library applications? The only one that seems to be useful is Zamzar (http://zamzar.com/) because our library system does not have a lot of word processing software installed on the public internet stations. When library users try to download a PDF job application or email attachment, it does not work. Perhaps Zamzar would solve their problem.

(12) Social Media Sites

Sorry - you can't possibly be serious. These are wikipedia-look-alikes, only for opinion, not even news. These are similar to doing a Google search for "news". Waste of time. Period.

(11) Tagging

I already had an account on del.icio.us. This is a useful tool for me as a substitute librarian, because I work in several buildings. I can't save Favorites on the computers at work, so I set them up on del.icio.us. Also, I noticed today that someone else was using the same tags as I was for a subject, so I checked out what else that person had bookmarked on my subject.

(10) Wiki's

OK, I admit it, I have not been a fan of Wikis. But I can see now that there are other users for Wikis other than Wikipedia. I like the Princeton Public Library Book Lovers Wiki (http://booklovers.pbwiki.com/Princeton%20Public%20Library) because it is clear these are personal opinions about a book read, and this information can be useful to other readers.

I also like the Library Success Wiki (http://libsuccess.org/index.php?title=Main_Page#Programming) because it is a place to share ideas and things that have been tried somewhere else. This Wiki had a note posted at the top that vandalism had become a problem, and they were asking for email verification before a user is allowed it edit. Good lesson.

The Library Bloggers Wiki (http://www.blogwithoutalibrary.net/links/index.php?title=Public_libraries) is a good resource to have as a library is creating their own blog.

Wikis can be useful for libraries in several ways:
1. Start a book review wiki where library users can add their own reviews.
2. Solicit input from library users about improvements or needs at the library.
3. List FAQs (frequently asked questions) and the answers.
4. The video was great - it illustrates that wikis can be used effectively for internal projects.

I edited the 23ThingsonaStick wiki.

(9) Document Collaboration

http://www.zoho.com/ is great. I had unexpected results when I saved a file in Zoho, then published it into my blog. I thought the link only would show up in my blog. Instead, the entire document was inserted into my blog. I removed it. While this lesson emphasizes how library staff can use this tool to work on a document together, there is also an application for users:

Students creating a Word document can save it on Zoho from school or home, come to the library, do their research, and update their document at the library!

I will use Zoho in the future both personally, for documents my husband & I work on together, and I plan to introduce it to my classmates at school (since we are taking classes online from all over the U.S.).