My reflections on the 10 things

I am done. Yippee! I didn't think I would make it but I did. I do acknowledge I crammed most of it into the last week.

Initially the whole project overwhelmed me and I freaked out about how I was going to get it down when I had so much already on my plate. If this hadn't been mandatory I don't know that I would have done it and that would have been a huge loss for me. Once I started the project, though I grumbled about it, I do have to say I learned a lot from the 10 Things. I feel that I have a good basic knowledge of many of the new technologies out there. Some of the things like Wikis and IM I was already using on a limited basis. So I was current but didn't know it. Who knew!

My thanks go to the 10 Things Dream Team-Ruth, Jenn, Toby and Richard for putting this together and bringing me up-to-date on Technology. I am still not a Techno-Diva like Cathy but maybe someday!

Thing 10-The Finish Line

I finally made it. I have been a fan of audiobooks for a long time. I don't have an MP3 player so I just check out the CDs from the Library. This exercise served as a good opportunity for me to try to download an ebook to my computer. Now that I have done it I am better equipped to help patrons.

The Library's website is great. There is so much it has to offer that it is a truly a virtual branch. Sometimes, though, I do think maybe there is too much on our site. It can be a bit cumbersome to navigate with all of its many layers. When trying to explain to a patron how to access something I have seen some of them shut down because it appears so complicated to them.

As for my favorite thing on the website it has to be the CoolKids Collection but I am biased. Ruth and I worked to get this developed with help from Gail S. and Dawn T. I love it! I think another great feature is the events calendar. It is great to be able to go to one spot and see what is going on in the entire library for the day.

SPL Rocks!

Thing 9-Google Docs

I am in the home stretch. Yeah!!! I love the concept behind Google Docs but found the word processing to be a bit too basic. I was trying to change the font of my document, which consisted of some items I had cut and pasted into the doc. I wanted to get everything to be the same font and size and Goggle Docs wouldn't do it for me. I had to do each section individually. This aside the ability to share docs and invite others to look at it and edit it has much potential. I can't see a patron use at this time but I am sure there is one. I can definitely see staff using it to share and edit documents.

On to Thing 10!

Thing 8-To Wiki or Not

Wow, radical trust...that's radical! I would use Wikipedia with the knowledge that anyone could be putting information on there that might not be accurate. I would verify the information elsewhere. I think, though, there is a lot that can be done with wikis and our community. We need to understand that the wiki would not necessarily be authoritative. That doesn't mean it doesn't have a place. As for a wiki in Youth Services, I would love to see us use it to develop a YS staff training/procedures manual. As a department we could all be working on the document and it would help to have the input of many on the document.

I have used Wikis for some of my ALA committees and it is a really useful tool. One committee I was on was charged with creating a pamphlet about intellectual freedom. We put the document on a Wiki so everyone on the committee could work on the document. This worked really, really well.

Thing 7-Podcasts

My "library-oriented" podcasts both had to do with children's literature. I found a podcast of booktalks of children's books. This will help me as I plan booktalks to take out to the Skokie schools. The other "library-oriented" podcast I discovered was a podcast that offers me interviews of well-known children's authors. I think it would be great to offer these on our website and to publicize this to teachers. If a teacher was doing a class unit on a certain book by a particular author the teacher could show her students a podcast interview with the author. Ths would make authors more accessible to kids.

As for what type of podcasts the Library should offer. Maybe we could offer booktalks of our VOYA books. Some schools just can't work it into their daily schedules to have library staff visit their classroom to deliver a booktalk. This is a way we could take the booktalks to them without directly visiting the classroom. The teacher could run the podcast when it worked best in their schedule.

Prior to this exercise, my only experience with podcasts was watching episodes of Grey's Anatomy from the ABC website. I did this before I got a DVR. How did I live before my DVR?!?!?!

Social Bookmarking-Thing 6

Okay, this makes a lot of sense to me. I love the idea of being able to access my favorite sites from any computer. I think for the library great tags would include good books, quick reads, book report due tomorrow, short books.

Hanging out with Hannah and Kimberly Willis Holt

Hanging out with Hannah and Kimberly Willis Holt, originally uploaded by theskokieten.

This photo was taken this month when I had the chance to host Kimberly at Skokie Public Library. She is such a kind person and a wonderful writer of books for children. She is one of my favorites.

Michael Printz Winner Angela Johnson

Michael Printz Winner Angela Johnson, originally uploaded by theskokieten.

My fellow librarians, Lisa Marie Smith and Louise Barnett had a blast hanging out with one of our favorite young adult authors, Angela Johnson and her mom.

Newbery Award Winner Kate DiCamillo with LInda Sawyer

Newbery Award Winner Kate DiCamillo with LInda Sawyer, originally uploaded by theskokieten.

Kate DiCamillo is one of my favorite children's authors and it was a thrill to attend the awards banquet where she received her Newbery Medal for The Tale of Desperaux.

Thing 5

This one wasn't that difficult and it was fun. I can see the library using Flickr to post photos of library events.

Thing 4

I started a Facebook account a few months ago but never entered anything. Thing 4 caused me to create a profile and even upload a picture. My niece, who is a college freshman, is floored that her aunt is on Facebook. It allows us to keep in touch now that she is away at school.

Thing 3

Thing 3 proved to be a challenge for me. I had a hard time figuring out how to navigate with Google's Talk Gadget. I wish there had been more help screens. I now need to get with more of my friends and co-workers to expand my buddy list. Time to move on to Thing 4.

Thing 2

Writing Thing 2 reminds me of Thing 1 and Thing 2 from Cat in the Hat. I found RSS feeds to be less daunting then some of the other things that lie ahead. I found some neat RSS feeds to subscribe to and I see a real value in libraries using RSS feeds to keep patrons updated on collections, events, etc.

Thanks for the tip on adding an element to my blog. While I didn't add a RSS feed I did add a customized list to my blog. This project is certainly introducing me to new technologies

Who would have thought?

So, here I am with my own blog. This is new territory for me as I have shunned blogging. I was surprised by how easy it was to create my blog. Maybe I will be a technodiva like Cathy and Ruth by the time I am through with the 10 Things.