Ten Random Things: the Bonus Round.

1) I played in a few rock bands in my dissolute youth (the 80s, that is). The bands were of varying quality, but it was fun and a real learning experience. We got a local government noise ordinance changed in the first band I was in (we were a bit loud).

2) I was a bird-watcher for about 10 years. I enjoyed tramping across woods and fields to get a glimpse of a bird I hadn't seen before. A birdwatcher's secret: you usually identify birds by hearing their songs, not by actually seeing them.

3) I was a member of the All-Ohio Youth Choir in high school. Nothing like singing the theme to 'Happy Days' in 4-part harmony! I enjoyed singing.

4) Italian food is awesome. It can't be beat. There is no such thing as too much Italian food.

5) I've read The Lord of the Rings 13 times. I used to read it yearly back in the day.

6) I was a classical music fan in my youth until Simon & Garfunkel lured me into pop music. Styx turned me into a rock fan. The theme song for Homecoming my senior year was Come Sail Away.

7) I taught myself how to play guitar. I started out just listening to songs and playing them back on an acoustic guitar without understanding the concept of standard tuning. It was rather creative until I learned how to play properly (that sounded bad).

8) When I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut or an astronomer. I stayed up late and saw the first step taken on the moon by my astronaut hero Neil Armstrong. I took pictures of the TV screen to document the event.

9) I met Jesse Owens when I was a young kid. He was signing autographs at a car dealership if I remember right, a promotional thing. My dad took me up to him and told me what a famous man he was. He signed a poster for me.

10) When I was really young I carried around a yellow blanket, sort of like Linus on Peanuts. It got really ragged and my mom threw it out one day. I went on a crying binge until they bought me a new blanket- it was blue, it wasn't quite the same, but I carried it around a while. Then I decided the whole blanket scene wasn't cool.

Learn & Play: The Retrospective!

Well, it's been an interesting few months. Learn and Play at CML has expanded my 2.0 horizons, and I'm not new to the concept. It familiarized me with several things that I'd had virtually no experience with. This is a great way to continue lifelong learning.

I'd have to say my favorite exercises were learning about RSS feeds through Blogines, and tweeting through Twitter. Being able to subscribe to web sites that you frequently browse, and to do mini-blogging by tweeting were both worthwhile 2.0 experiences that I shall continue to engage in.

I was pleasantly surprised that the whole Web 2.0 phenomenon was deeper than I realized at first. Not only is there user-created content to see, but the users are communicating in much more non-traditional ways than even email, which is not that old a communication medium.

I would do another discovery program like this in a heartbeat. Perhaps one exercise a week would be plenty; it was easy to fall behind with normal workloads on top of Learn & Play. But count me in for any more programs! :)

MOLDI looks like the future of libraries.

MOLDI- the Mid-Ohio Library Digital Initiative- is a step towards what the future of libraries will be.

MOLDI gives you, the library user, the capability to check out online books, films, music, and audio books, right from your PC at home. Or perhaps your PDA, wherever you are.

This is the future of libraries, folks. Easy to access from anywhere; no having to go to a physical location to check out and return items; in fact, no items to lose or to owe fines on; all still for free. Just like public internet computers are now the major draw to libraries across the country, once everyone has an internet PC at home, libraries will evolve to serve customers anytime, anywhere.

I looked through the ebook offerings on MOLDI- and found an interesting biography about Alexander the Great. I will be looking at more selections with the eye towards downloading them at home.

I love libraries 2.0! :)

Podcasting.

Podcasts are a great way to get broadcasts on demand on any subject. One more Web 2.0 technology that frees you from the tyranny of scheduled broadcasts from certain outlets. Broadcast on demand is rapidly becoming the preferred way of experiencing content.

I went to Podcast Alley, which lives up to its motto: Free the Airwaves. Browsing among the various subjects, I found an interesting podcast series called Econtalk that deals with economics in everyday life. I added their RSS feed at http://www.econlib.org/library/EconTalk.xml to my Bloglines account. Very neat!

Libraries can definitely take advantage of podcasting as a way of reaching customers. You could broadcast current library news, interviews with authors and staff, and local community happenings. This would connect you to your customers when they are at home, and make your library web pages more information-dense and much more relevant.

YouTube!

And now, for a timely topic:

Electing a US President in Plain English



YouTube is famous in the Web 2.0 world, and justifiably so. The ease of finding videos, the sheer amount of them on an incredible variety of topics, the optional high-resolution mode, the handy URL and Embed codes right next to the vid- all much appreciated. The comments section can be rather rough, but it is fun seeing how many times a video has been watched. Creating an account allows you to build your own favorites list.

Having videos embedded in library web pages could be an effective marketing tool, or a convenient way for customers to see instructional how-to clips such as 'how to reserve a book from our online catalog'. Perhaps staff at a particular branch could record their own videos for use about their location for the public.

Many, many possibilities!

CML Power Tools Blog.

My favorite part of the CML Power Tools page is Tooling Around, the Power Tools page blog. This blog highlights useful tech and Web 2.0 features (as well as CML's tools).

For instance, a recent post there was: Top Five Reasons To Use Gmail. Since Gmail is my favorite email service, I heartily agreed (and chimed in with a comment on the post). Reasons discussed were the availability of built-in chat, the large amount of storage space, and the ease of labeling and archiving emails. In my comment I mentioned the tabbed email conversations that allowed an ongoing conversation in one single email, as opposed to a new email for every response.

Tech blogs such as Tooling Around always interest me, because you almost always learn something from reading them. One can never have too much knowledge in this fast-moving technology world we inhabit.

Biblio.com

Biblio.com won 2nd place in the 2008 Web 2.0 Awards books category. If you like used, rare or out-of-print books, this is a great resource!

To quote from their site, "We are proud to host over 5000 of the finest bookstores and booksellers worldwide, representing a combined inventory of over 50 million books from these bookstores." Biblio is a centralized site that allows you to buy from thousands of booksellers from all over the planet. You simply create an account- you have the option of using Paypal or, if you prefer credit card, of not storing your credit card info on your account (this is a nice touch). If you've ever ordered anything from Amazon, you'll be familiar with their system.

Doing a search is easy. From the front page, you can search by title, author, keyword or ISBN number. One can easily be surprised at the amount of hits on a particular title that you can come up with. Here is a sample search- check out those low prices!

The sheer number of sources that Biblio.com uses to find books for you is a powerful incentive to use their service. There's even a textbook section on their site.

Buyers and sellers from around the globe come together at this one site, and this benefits everyone in the process.

Web 2.0 is a wonderful thing :-)

Google Docs.

Now this is something to be excited about!

Google Docs is an online application suite similar to Microsoft Office. Sure, there are other free apps around that one can use, like Open Office, but the key word with Google Docs is- online.

Online applications allow for two very useful things: they allow you to access your work from any online PC regardless of the software it may or may not have, and it allows for collaboration on projects by fellow co-workers. Think of a wiki experience with documents, spreadsheets and presentations!

Google Docs is simple and streamlined. The essentials are there for you to create an application that looks good, and is functional. The controls are intuitive. You are not bogged down with too many options, yet you have enough control over what you are doing to come up with an effective document.

Libraries could easily benefit from such an online application. Think of work groups that can collaborate on a single job, bringing different participants together to share their strengths.

The days of being asked, "do you have Word?" are definitely numbered.

Learn & Play Wiki

It was only a matter of time- Learn & Play @CML has its own Wiki.

OK, you've seen Wikipedia, now its time to actually post on a wiki. It's surprisingly easy- three cheers for WSYSIWYG editors! I added this blog link, a favorite quote, and a favorite website there. It was easy to go back and edit what I added- very useful.

I'll admit I was already familiar with PBwiki, since the IM committee I'm on has a wiki there. I've found it quite handy for such work.

I forsee more wikis in our future at the library!

Wikis at Libraries.

Wikis are cool ways to collaborate with lots of users to bring useful information to any subject, and libraries are natural organizations to take this approach. Subject guides are the most obvious example- posting links to aid staff in readers advisory efforts, or even posting reviews of books that you think would be interesting to readers, as in this example.

I'm currently working on a committee to incorporate instant messaging services to my library system. We have a wiki that we use to communicate and share ideas, and create collaborative documents. This is a great way to stay in touch without having everybody meet on a frequent basis (which makes it easier on everybody's schedule).

Wikis draw on everyone's contributions to incorporate the particular insight and wisdom of all participants. What a wealth of knowledge to make available to others in a quick manner!

Library 2.0, or: the long tail comes to the stacks

Library 2.0 is a hot topic these days. Fitting right in with Web 2.0, this means greater customer service through technology. In reading about Library 2.0, I'm impressed how much The Long Tail keeps coming to mind. In essence, the new online social technology revolution plays right into customizing an optimal customer service experience for each customer, no matter how obscure or mainstream their interests are. Think of the huge number of choices in RSS feeds, Flickr or Twitter communities; and then think of the myriad number of interests that library users have, not only in a vastly different number of reading tastes, but in audiovisual and computer technology as well.

Amazon pioneered individual book recommendations for customers; Google uses targeted ads in a similar fashion. Libraries are just beginning to approach this level of individual attention for their customers. Technology has made it all possible.

Delicious Tagging!

Del.icio.us is a very handy way to have bookmarks on hand away from home, sort of a Web 2.0 reference tool. Learn&Play@CML has its own bookmarks there, of course. It is interesting to see how a consensus of users develop tags- much more collaborative than the old cataloger's method. Bookmarking this page will make learning and playing at work much simpler :)

Twitter Time.

Blogging is one thing, but tweeting is another. Using Twitter is a step into the world between blogs and instant messaging. It's quite interesting to see how technology provides users with more tools to refine their communication skills. Tweeting definitely encourages you to be concise and to the point.

People tweet about all sorts of subjects. Often they are just reporting their moods or their whereabouts to friends. Sometimes they tweet about bigger subjects to start a conversation with users they may not personally know.

I can see tweeting being a useful tool for libraries- for instance, I am on a committee that is investigating how to add instant messaging to our library system. Instead of email or IM sessions, tweeting back and forth could have its advantages during the day when working on assignments.

My Twitter account has been started- I'll try to tweet more soon.

Librarything!

LibraryThing is a very handy way to share your reading interests with others online. It makes cataloging your books a snap. Adding books is as easy as searching the Amazon engine through LibraryThing and clicking on the book you want to place in your collection.

You can take a peek at my LibraryThing catalog - as you can see, I have an interest in history and economics. I could put scores of titles there!

Image Generator Entertainment.

The ALA Mini READ Poster Generator allows you to create your own Read posters. Tons of possibilities with this one :-)

Finding Feeds.

I prefer going to sites that I like and clicking on the RSS feed button to add them to my Bloglines account.

However, the Web is huge- and to find new feeds, I prefer browsing category searches available at sites like Technorati.

Technorati took me right to the categories I am interested in, and let me find things of interest that way. I prefer a direct and to-the-point search, as opposed to clicking here and there.

The real trick to RSS feeds:

Don't get too many.

An analogy- if you have thousands of bookmarks, how is that helping you?

I prefer to keep it concise and focused, myself. Your techniques may vary.

RSSing with Bloglines.

Don't want to surf all over the Web to find your favorite sites? Has an interesting blog been updated recently?

Subscribe!

I've got 18 feeds on my Bloglines account. With Bloglines, interesting surfing comes to me. In one place. Very handy, no list of bookmarks required!

Library Technology.

It seems that just when you think you've caught up with technology, you've fallen behind again.

Change seems to come ever faster.

Remember when people came into the library asking for word processing and floppy disk capability? Now that we have that- and more, they ask for scanners and public fax service and Microsoft Publisher.

It's too easy to get complacent these days.

With more and more tech coming from web-based applications, this will be easier to keep up with. Just make sure your hardware doesn't become obsolete. 5.25" storage disks, anyone?

Easier said than done!

Library Trading Card Mashup at Flickr.

new trading card
Originally uploaded by eclecticlibrarian

How fun is this?

Easy to create, attention-grabbing. Make trading cards of your own. Pass them out at the branch to the kids. They'll think you're not such a fuddy-duddy after all. Maybe.

Flickr Landscape.

Rocky Pahoa Beach
Originally uploaded by Mellard

The power of landscape imagery is immense- you reflect inward at why it moves you so.

Lovely photo.

Lifelong Learning

You are a lifelong learner, whether you know it or not. It's much more engaging to realize you are doing it as a matter of habit!

Reading is a big key here. Something library employees can relate to very much :-)

The 7 ½ Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners

1. Begin with the end in mind
2. Accept responsibility for your own learning
3. View problems as challenges
4. Have confidence in yourself as a competent effective learner
5. Create your own learning toolbox
6. Use technology to your advantage
7. Teach/mentor others- it’s the best way to learn something
7 ½. Play!

I'd say the easiest of these for me is number 4, because anyone with natural curiosity is much of the way along the path to be a competent learner.

The hardest? Perhaps teaching or mentoring others. You have to be confident in what you know. That takes a little longer!

First Post. Hello!

Time to Learn and Play at CML! This looks like a great way to pick up some useful skills. Good deal!