Thing 8.2 Library Limbo

Take a break and enjoy this YouTube video!

Thing 8.1 Mosaic Maker

Thing 8. Share Your Creations

This is a slideshow of some of my quilts.

Thing 7. Web 2.0 Communication Tools

From Library 2.0 immersion into a unit on Web 2.0... The goal of "reaching users where they are in their preferred means of communication". No argument there. It's all about communication. The telephone isn't, after all, the easiest way to communicate many days in the Children's room. One (or more) loud criers or, just as frequent these days, patrons on their own phones, make listening and answering a telephoned library question difficult. It makes sense to have other avenues available. Instant or text messaging would be useful alternatives. The email productivity article made good points about the distraction and abuse of email as a communication tool, especially within the library organization. The point, I gather, is to take care when we write and take care when we respond and don't gum up the works with non-library stuff or waste our colleagues time with email duplication and unnecessary chatter/memos/news. I have instant messaging personally in both AOL and MSN but use it very seldom. Email seems more convenient and more considerate. The 15-year-old thrives on IMing with AOL - definitely a "preferred means of communication"!
I had never listened to a Web Conference before. I went to OPAL (Online Programming for All Libraries) and searched the archive. I chose "Virtual Worlds for Kids, Tweens and Teens" with Tom Peters. I especially enjoyed the information about "Whyville". There are dozens of articles, blogs and websites discussing virtual worlds for kids. For the Challenges, I joined the 23 Things on a Stick Google Group -- I am member # 2. Hmmm...I emailed the "owner" to introduce myself... I also joined Twitter and found an old friend teaching at Stanford. If any other 23ers are reading this blog, I hope you join me soon at some of these virtual places.

Thing 6. Online Image Generators

OK, I have to admit I had no idea that such things as this existed. I made a couple of different things before I decided to publish this one. This was made at Big Huge Labs. I just followed the directions to select "Trading Card" from the drop down list so I did most of my exploring there. I did have some frustration with the icons so I just started over a couple of times and didn't insert those into the posting.

The animation of "23 Things on a Stick" was generated at Image Chef. So easy/user friendly. View it at the end of the sidebar. I find the animation distracting so I put it out of first-frame sight

Review and Reflect

5 Things Done. Time for R&R. Review and Reflect.
The buzz at the workplace indicates that others are experiencing the same fun and frustrations. I see possibilities everywhere for use of technology all over the place in the public library. I found this morning getting back to my own blog that I was sidetracked by my own feed connections. This is a good thing! Imagine the library patron looking forward to the Home Page as a source/resource/inspiration -- destination! What new video or podcast author interview might be there? What poll or invitation to tag or photo submission sought? What upcoming event in the summer reading program or online storytime registration? This is nifty to thing about from the patron's point of view. For us working through the "23 Things" there is opportunity upon opportunity to become involved in the projects of today and ready with ideas and concepts for tomorrow's projects. One of the first articles I read along this road was by Meredith Farkas. In her blog Information Wants to Be Free she asked the question: if there were no impossibilities/problems/budgets/naysayers (I paraphrase a bit and embellish) what could/should/would the library be? I love this question. I think about it in terms of Youth Services (children/juvenile/YA). WOW. I have a blank paper before me and I begin to draw the room(s).... This is what Library 2.0 has done for me.
On the specific THINGS: I have learned that blogging is very similar to journaling with pen and paper. This "personal/professional" kind of blog is the most common according to Brad Hill in Blogging for Dummies. I have had mixed success with journaling in my life but each time I did it there was a specific reason, a desire/need to meet myself and talk it through. So there is definately an imprint of Nan Hoekstra here. Hill's chapter 13 "Hooking into RSS Feeds" really cleared up by questions and difficulties with Thing 3. I'm a "try-it-first-and-then-read-the-instructions" learner basically so I was in deep there for a while. This morning I went on back to Bloglines and it was way clearer. Thanks, Brad. Flickr time was sweet. Now it's on to Thing 6.

Thing 5. More Flickr Fun

I loved the spell with flickr and it really got me looking around the house for letters. I just couldn't wait to do a quick one. The THING MONKEY tile photo at the end of the blog is also done with spell with flickr.

Thing 4.2 Photosharing with Flickr

Flickr is easy to use and very useful website. The possibilities are plenty for use in the public library. Enriching blogs and storing photos for viewing by patrons and staff, photo contests, additions to catalogs, previews of activities, even scavenger hunt clues...wherever a photo can be used...think Flickr (or something like it). I experimented with tags --even tagged 2 of my own photos with "23thingsonastick"), joined a couple of groups, asked permission to join another. I even started a group that includes a discussion; look for it --23 Things on a Stick. The "add a note" feature is very cool, the way that Clemens and Alcuin Libraries use it is cool. It would be perfect for a display of the Maud Hart Lovelace nominees and/or the Anokaberry.

Thing 4.1 Photosharing with Flickr

This banner hangs in the entrance portal at the Northtown Library, Blaine, Minnesota. These are my own photos (I made the wall hanging). I uploaded these photos to Flickr a couple of weeks ago. I used Flickr's photo upload feature, "blog this photo" for the close-up and the "add image" feature here on blogger.

Thing 4. Library 2.0 Photosharing with Flickr

sockmonkeynewie orignally uploaded by j gavin heck

I do enjoy Flickr. It dazzles me. I get lost there. The whole world of digital cameras and Photoshop and on and on is beyond words. Yeah, pictures. This sock monkey face, well, when I'm done with Thing 4 for today, I am going to work at making my first sock monkey. It's in The Daily Bowl.

Thing 3. Set Up and RSS Account & Add Feeds

Just reading through this assignment rattled me. Especially the second paragraph "if you could visit all those blogs and all at the same time... The ALL word refering to something about the internet...hmm...really don't want to even want that. Even the good stuff. Ya know?
I chose Bloglines and went for it. Several hours, many mistakes and ugly postings later, I have a Blogroll element available on Thing Monkey. I chose a feed from Reader's Club, General Fiction, YA. I'll just experiment here for a few days to see if this changes or remains constant. I had a nifty logo icon at one point but I can't find that again. I do realize that this works better for a list of blogs than just a favorites type list, so I will put Bloglines in my Favorites. Doing that will force me to go back when I find additional blogs for this topic and add them. This morning, however, I am not headed back into Bloglines if I can help it. I've done some additional reading and stewing, the Wikipedia entries for RSS and Aggregator are helpful but I am swimming in deeper water in Thing 3 than I like to do alone. I'm going to call this one done for now and revisit later. I'm thinking there would be plenty of ways to use this Thing on a library home page. At this point, I'd be happy to look for great feeds to offer patrons but somebody with a grasp of the how would have to set it up....

Thing 2.2 Library 2.0

Blogging is not a rough draft for a paper. This is what I am learning, I think. See the avatar, think many questions, few answers. The excitement, the momentum, the urge to act and exchange ideas is prompted--driven maybe--by the prospect of having a part in the process, participating in planning. This is NOT a daily given. Working at the library brings so much joy and fulfillment but there can be frustrations, irritations-- these are not formidable but they stir emotions of apathy and clockwatching. Sometimes. The staff is a varied bunch but all are important to the future of the library and, most specifically, to the patron's experience and sense of ownership of the library.
I have a specific idea simmering in my head. Having this idea fuels my enthusiam for the Library 2.0/23 Things on a Stick project. Yes, I am a student at heart. I relish self-guided inquiry and discovery. The construct of this project, the "syllabus", lays out my plan of study but having a specific idea as well as a daily workspot and career informs my reading and comment.

Here's an article I would love to discuss. The author, Walt Crawford, of Research Libraries Group (RLG - RLG has merged with OCLC) wrote this article for Cites & Insights. It is 32 pages of thoughtful and respectful ruminating. He contrasts Library 2.0 and "Library 2.0".

I may have one more post in me yet before I leave Thing 2...

Thing 2.1 What is Library 2.0?

Evolution? Revolution? Transformation? Mutation? There is more than one school of thought about Library 2.0. Proof is the lively and opinionated discussion ongoing on the web. The definitions are as varied as the definers and there is even a backlash against the label and the concept.

hmmm...here are some examples:

"Library 2.0 simply means making your library’s space
(virtual and physical) more interactive, collaborative, and driven by community needs. Examples of where to start include blogs, gaming nights for teens, and collaborative photo sites. The basic drive is to get people back into the library by making the library relevant to what they want and need in their daily lives…to make the library a destination and not an afterthought.” Sarah Houghton

John Blyberg summarizes the chatter in his article "11 Reasons why Library 2.0 exists and matters" His reasoning is pretty provocative and his commenters raise crucial issues and concerns. There seems to be more going on here than first meets the eye. What seems at first to be a simple obvious path for libraries of the future isn't necessarily so? The Stephen Abram video presents such a calm "of-course-this-is-the-way-to-go" dynamic. He says,

"It is essential that we start preparing to become Librarian 2.0 now. The Web 2.0 movement is laying the groundwork for exponential business growth and another major shift in the way out users live, work, and play. We have the ability, insight, and knowledge to influence the creation of the new dynamic - and guarantee the future of our profession. Librarian 2.0 - now."

This posting is in process and will have additions. I have a stack of articles to read and think about. Further comments and reflections to follow.

Thing 1. Set Up Your Blog

Today I officially set up my blog: Thing Monkey
I did some research and practiced steps here and there but now I am registered as a participant in the Library Learning 2.0 Program, 23 Things on a Stick.
The instructions on Blogger and 23 Things are very user-friendly and easy to select, preview, save and change. I named my blog "Thing Monkey" to connect to the learning goals and to remind my readers and myself that this is about curiosity and discovery. I previewed several templates and decided on this one. Creating the avatar was really fun, my son gave me his approval for the final result. I already had a Yahoo! account so I could skip that step. Bringing the final avatar result to the blog involved making sense of the Blogger Dashboard, Add Page Element and Layout pages -- a little bit complicated but very responsive and easy to manipulate after some forays. For a challenge, I added LibraryThing as a sidebar page element. I am having a wonderful time with this independent learning.

"...You will see something new.
Two things. And I call them
Thing One and Thing Two.
These Things will not bite you.
They want to have fun..."

Dr. Seuss, The Cat in the Hat