Wiki Wonderland

"Gone away is the old nerd --
Here to stay is the the new word --
He sings a love song
As we go along ...
Walking in a Wiki Wonderland"

Yes, I realize that those are not the right lyrics, but you get the idea. I use Wikipedia from time to time and enjoy its versatility, but I am also aware that any wiki can have its flaws, especially if it allows unrestricted editing. Some people choose to use wikis to express their own opinions on subjects that have nothing to do with the wiki entry that they are supposedly updating. In our own library wikis, certain staff members have used the wiki as a vehicle for pushing their own agendas rather than trying to add to the body of information for all users. I prefer the use of a wiki that is overseen by individuals that restrict the postings or who can edit out the nonsense. I was impressed with the wikis created for use by ALA conference members and can see how that would be useful as tourism tool for most communities. On the other hand, other library wikis that I looked at had been edited to the point that grammar and meaning had been lost in several places on the wiki. This is where it is useful to have someone acting as "overseer" to correct errors and omissions.

Library 2.0: Libraries of the Future

The first time I heard about Library 2.0, I was interested in the fact that "2.0" was being added on to the term "Library" as if it were a new course being offered such as "Librarianship 201" for sophomores. The term is very misleading. Library 2.0 is not a college course to be taken or a new software program to be downloaded; it is a new philosophy about the direction of library service for the immediate future. Just as Rick Anderson pointed out in his "Icebergs" article, we must prepare for this future by ridding ourselves of the philosophies of the past. His comments about the "just in case" collection hit too close to home. As a Reference librarian, I have shed tears over the loss of our beloved Reference collection and the books that we are no longer receiving as part of our standing order collection. Yet when I look at the books that we still have behind the desk, I think back 12 years ago when those books were being pulled off the shelves weekly to answer questions; those same books are rarely used now, if at all. Why? Our customers can find the answers they need on the Internet without us! So what is a librarian to do? I believe that we need to embrace the technological advancements and use them to our advantage. We have both the knowledge and the resources to create a product that our consumers want and need: free library materials and information combined with great customer service! Barnes and Noble can't compete with that! I look forward to the future predicted by Dr. Schultz in her discussion of Library 4.0: the library as "knowlege spa." Visit your online library for the full library experience, massages and meditation included. Count me in!

SlideShare in the classroom

If I were still teaching, I would love to be able to use this tool in the classroom! Not only is it a great way to do presentations, but it is so easy to share with others! I found a nice example of a slideshow where a teacher demonstrates the use of digital cameras in the classroom. My favorite shot is the one of the up-close-and-personal maggot! See at:

Digital Cameras In the Classroom

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: workshop cameras)

Tag -- you're it!

I have seen the Delicious logo on many Web sites and have wondered what it was; I thought the short YouTube video was a great introduction to the many uses of Delicious as a bookmarking tool. Whereas I could not see any advantages to using Twitter over Blogging, I can definitely see the advantages that Delicious has over traditional bookmarking sites on a computer. This is something that I hope to explore more, particularly with creating tags. It is interesting to see how many sites are being tagged at any given time. I was amazed at the number of tags on a given site on the NLC account; like Flickr, the more tags, the better.

Twitter Talk

Today was my first exposure to Twitter. I can't say that I am ready to go out and invite all my friends and relations to "get on board the Twitter Train" just so that they can read a few words of wit and sarcasm from me on an on-going basis. In fact, I was so turned off by the experience of reading a few librarians' twitticisms that I can honestly say that I do not plan to continue following these Twitter accounts in the foreseeable future. I was impressed with the Nebraska Library Commission's Reference Twitter -- impressed that they are getting the kinds of questions that we once received by phone at our own Reference Desk. I do wonder, however, what the advantage of Twitter is over the IM service; don't they find the 140-character limit confining?

Library Thingamabob

I had absolutely no exposure to library thing before this exercise, so I thought it was kind of fun to compile my own little library with this resource. It reminded me of being in a store and choosing books to put on my own display! It was interesting to find that there are other people who like the same obscure books that I do. I don't think that I would use this in my job, but it is interesting nonetheless.

http://www.librarything.com/home/musicmaam

Technology is here to stay

Technology is a wonderful thing. In spite of error messages, lost data and equipment failures, computers and the Internet are absolutely wonderful. I can't imagine my life without them. Imagine what Einstein could have done if he had had access to all the information we have at our fingertips now!

Talkin' 'bout my Generator ....

This was another fun exercise! I especially liked the Dynamic Einstein (adding text to the photo) and the Comic Book Cover generator. For my blog, however, I settled on an image from The Generator Blog. I will see if I can get this added.

Journey to the Center of Flickr

Exploring the various ways that you can use Flickr was the most interesting assignment I have done as part of the Nebraska Learns 2.0 program. I can see where this could be useful in making signs for book displays (using Montagr, Spell With Flickr or another application). Choosing images by color was intriguing, but not one that I would use in the things I do. Of the various web applications that I tried, one of the most unusual ones I looked at was the "Internet Inferno" based on Dante's Inferno. Several of the links for the web applications did not work -- something that happens frequently in Cyberspace.

Agate-Beach

Agate-Beach
Originally uploaded by mom2elanorandrose

Here is my favorite photo from my Flickr account. My two daughters were strolling on a beach in Oregon with no one else there -- just beautiful.

Flickr Photos Fun

I have a Flickr account that I set up as part of a class I took at the Library Commission last year. I enjoy going back and seeing those original photos, but have not added any since then. I do enjoy seeing other friends' and family members' photos in their Flickr accounts, but have not felt the need to share my own photos. (My husband publishes them, so I don't feel the need to duplicate his work.) This is something that I would like to try more often, but rarely find the time. There are some really talented photographers out there! I like to browse the "most interesting photos" section of Flickr.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Feeding Frenzy

The finding feeds assignment has been the most unpleasant one so far; wading through news sites trying to find the RSS feeds was part of the problem. It seemed easier with the larger news sources, most of which I do not care to read. I tried out the blog searchers only to find that they just don't work well -- too much information crammed into small spaces! I thought that the Google Blog Search worked best for my purposes. For some reason, there just aren't many people blogging about Wombles these days! Wombling along ...

Rss Feeds and Simplicity

For some people, creating links to RSS feeds and following them may seem like a Really Simple Suggestion, but for those of us who rarely find time to sit down at a computer, it becomes a Really Annoying Task! I was able to create the links over the course of a few minutes here and there in the past two workdays. Do I really think that I will have the time to sit at a computer and read through any of the news tidbits that I have subscribed to? In this library, this is just not a possibility for our public service staff. For those of you with desk jobs where you don't have to spend every moment of the day with the public or roaming the stacks, this might be easier. In any event, I have it done and will probably not use the RSS feature again. Anyone for a newspaper?

Call me!

I had the honor of being the person selected to set up our library's IM account. For this lady, this was no easy task! I did manage to get the job done, but rarely use IM anyplace outside of the library. Even our library IM account gets used rarely -- I haven't had a "call" all day! Hello? Anybody out there?

The Learning Process

In the 7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners, I had a difficult time choosing the habit that is easiest for me. I finally settled on Habit 2: Accept Responsibility for Your Own Learning. If I don't take responsibility, who will? Enough said. For me, the most difficult habit is number 6: Use Technology to Your Advantage. I often find that technology gets in the way of the learning process. Technology failures, lack of ability, and lack of time can slow down the person who wants to learn something new -- how to use that new MP3 player or that new digital camera. Making time to learn is the key to this stumbling block. We will see how far I get by Christmas!

Lifelong Learners

As a former teacher, I value the concept of lifelong learning. One of the joys of music instruction is that a person is never too old to learn the skills it takes to play an instrument and it will provide a lifetime of enjoyment (for yourself if not for others). In my second career as a librarian, I try to incorporate the elements of instruction that I learned as a school teacher. Teaching people to try using the catalog online after we abandoned the old wooden card catalogs was an interesting challenge. New technologies are always being thrown at us. How we deal with those obstacles to overcome the problems we face will be the basis for our own learning in the future.