Thing #18 YouTube

I first discovered YouTube when Linda and I were looking for "Peeps" videos, and wacky library videos. Then I showed my grandaughter Apryl Miley Cyrus's new video. Then of course I added some music to my FaceBook page and it came from YouTube.

I went to You Tube and did a search for Blue Cats

and was rewarded with quite a few. So now I will see if the embedding worked this time.

Linda and I have talked about making a video. We could do a tour of the library, either serious or straight and then upload it to YouTube, then insert the code in the webpage, yeah, I bet that would work!

I think YouTube is fun and social. I don't care if people access it fromt he library or not, but they should be wearing headphone. As long as they are coming into the building and using the facilites, I really don't mind what they visit on the Internet, as long as they don't bother people around the. They are only allowed an hour a day anyway, so if they want to spend it watching YouTube sillies, playing a Piarate game, or loading up their research paper on the RPC, I say, LET THEM!

Thing #17--ELM

Good heavens but things have come a long way since INFOTRACK was on CD-ROM. Because I am not up in the reference department I rarely go into ELM or even think about it. So, I went through every single one of the assignments and challenges and tried them all. I set up accounts everywhere and do hope to go back and use them. I love finding information, so this THING was great fun for me.
To be able to save your serces, edit them and make comments is wonderful and will be very useful in writing papers and researching. I plan to take advantage of this before writing my next column.
As for the library, I searched out POETRY SLAMS because we are going to have one, and sent the articles to other staff who are helping out. So, it saves them time too. This is a great library resource and is important to add credibility to LIBRARY (or as you said--ask a Librarina) instead of Ask Yahoo. Point the patrons towards a reliable answer from respected sources. What a "novel" idea.
Bluecat

Thing 16--Student 2.0

I really thing this is a cool tool, and useful. We have student pages who work here, and it is getting close to the end of the year now, and they are all talking about assignments and moaning. I showed one the RPC and she was delighted and asked for the link. I plan to add the link to our webpage for students to use.

The instructions in the guide were brilliant. They explained the basics so completely (about writing a paper) that they should be required reading for everyone entering college. KNOW what your instructor is asking for, and learn how to give it to them. I wish I would have had a tool like this.

I think it would work for other library projects too. For instance we have a Poetry Slam coming up and I tried plugging that in. The ideas weren't geared for what I needed, but some of it was still useful.

I know this is a simple thing, but I just want to comment on the fact that LINKS make it all so easy. You can get so easily from HOW to write to paper, to creating your thesis, and more. Great tool!

Games Thing #15

Holy gamesite, Batman! I get too nervous to play on-line games myself. Well, either by myself or with others. I think it has to go with watching Sean Connery in an old James Bond movie. But, I did look at the sites and thought about games in libraries. Right now, and I have been known to change my mind, I think I weigh in (and that is considerable) on the side of gaming isn't a service a library need offer. I looked at the virtual library in Second Life, and kept thinking, why does it have to be set inside a game when all this info is already available. It seems weird to me that someone playing a game would want serious research info. Unless it is a librarian playing the game and the character is a librarian!

I can see the argument that playing virtual world games builds social skills, and it may, but f2f does an even better job.

Oh argh! I went to Pirate Puzzle and tried bilging. I did it for awhile and earned points. Okay, but probably not something I will visit very often. But, I am trying!

Thing #14 LibraryThing

I came across LibraryThing last year and I enjoyed going through it again. This time I created an account and hope to actually add my books to it. I honestly drew a blank when I thought about books I owned and what to add. I think the ability to add, and catalog by tags is very useful. I can see small libraries using this service, and especially church libraries! I bet they would love it! Have I mentioned how much I like cloud tags, they are very visual and beautiful to me in a misty dreamy way. Here is the link to my sparsely populated library.
CarolBorz
But, it will fill up. I should add my DVD collection. I also like the idea of web based services because you can check from anywhere to see what is going on. For instance if you were shopping and found a great book that you had been meaning to buy and couldn't remember if you had purchased it yet, you could use your cell phone to check the Internet, look up LibraryThing and see if you had the item!
ta da!
Not me, I don't use my cell phone.

Thing #13 oh my!

I have reached a magic number, 13! I am over halfway and feeling pretty darn good about it. I have Yahoo! as my home page, and went and added a few widgets, changed color and order and played around there. That is alwasy interesting. I used to have Yahoo as my home page, and will keep it "at home" but now I am using the SELCO homepage so I can be closer to accessing my email.
What did I find that could be useful? I liked sticky notes, and I can see using that among the staff. I can see it helping productivity, esp. for meetings and agendas. I did join Remember the Milk, but I can't figue it out yet, need more time to explore. Basically at heart, I am just not a list maker and find it a fairly souless operation. I loved the countdown clock! THat could be fun for counting down to the SUmmer Reading Program! I think I will do that.
The concept on online calendars is good if we can train ourselves to use them. Maybe we could actually know when staff was out on vacation or leaving early. If everyone could access the calendar and be responsible in putting down their days off and away it could be very helpful.

Thing #12 Digging!

Okay, personally, because I don't do reference, these sites are not something I would use at work. But, because the older I have gotten the shorter my attention span has become, I love the news headline aspect. I looked at Mixx, Digg, Redditt, and Newsvine. I liked the look of feel and ease of use of Digg. I liked that it broke up the white space with pictures and links. It wasn't just a long list of titles like Redditt, or Mixx. I really liked Newsvine and even read quite a few articles. I think I will sign up for that, and use it at home. Possibly on break just to see what is going on in the world. I enjoyed it. Some of the images and article titles on Digg or MIxx were more X-rated and I don't feel like wading through all that, even if it is ranked by the public.
Speaking of that, I do like the idea of getting the news and info that people are interested in, and not the news that "they" feel I should read.
evil laugh
Bluecat

Thing #11 Del.icio.us

Bookmarks and tagging. I like the idea of being able to access your favorites from any computer you are using. I can see using Del.icio.us as a reference link, when patrons can add and tag their favorite sites, and I can see library staff using it, but I can't really figure out how a library would use it as a service. I went to the libraries given as sample and it isn't apparent to me where DELICIOUS is being used.
I had it before my computer crashed, so I do have an account. I had to remember my user name :) And I tried to re-install the icon, but it hasn't shown up. I am going to keep working on it and then go to using Del.icio.us instead a favorites, just to get used to something new. Then I will explore other sites that are tagged.

Guess what I LOVE! Tag Clouds. They look like poetry.
Bluecat

Thing #10

Wiki wiki
I first heard about wikis at MLA 2 years ago, and I wanted one then, but just didn't quite know how to work it into the library. I am finding out that the more tools I play around with, the more other tools become clear. So by now I have made a wiki, edited the 23things wiki, and edited our library one on strategic planning.
Wikimeister Bluecat

Thing #9

Well, Bluecat got the badge to load! Linda told me the secret, which I did NOT find anywhere else, and I appreciate. If you write me, I;ll even tell you. In fact you can send me a Googledoc to look at!
I went to both GoogleDocs and ZoHo. I think Zoho is more jazzy, but found the Google very easy to use. However, I never did find the old manuscript there, I wasn't allowed. Plus I had to keep logging out and logging is as a different user (same old me) to use Google. I like it though, and can see it as an in-house or business application very easily. I see it more as a library planning tool, than just something to offer patrons to use.
The Zoho wouldn't let me edit at all. But I have been on some sort of killer computer program and CPU rampage lately, so I must need to go and get de-electrified or something.
We have a Wiki and I have used that and even set up up for the Fine Arts group. Another good way to share the info, and I see those growing like mushrooms!
Bluecat
going to see what is next

Thing #8, quite a bit of fun

Hey hey hey. I made a trading card, and a badge, and looked at some of the other toys. Right now I think I have to just try them out, and then think about ways to incorporate them into the website. I am thinking a mosaic or a flickr badge of photos from our upcoming book sale might be really interesting. Or even better, when we get the banner (150 yrs) I could take pictures and get those up on the site, and that would promote the fact Winona is going to be capital for a day, AND the library is a big part of Winona.

I can't get the Flickr badge to show, I keep getting an error message that the html is bad. I can't seem to find the problem on my own. Disappointing! I did find some neat pictures for the badge.
BUT!!! I added a slide show just on page elements, so I still get to use the cat pictures from Flickr, but not the badge.
Bluecat