SPLS Learning 2.0

If I were offered another discovery program like SPLS Learning 2.0, I would leap at the chance. Now I appreciate the creativity of blogging, the media democracy of podcasting and YouTube, the usefulness of LibraryThing, the customization of RSS feeding, the superior mapping directory of GoogleMaps, and the 24/7 availability of an electronic items library. If staff time had been available, it would have been wonderful to get feedback on assignments as they were completed. I am grateful to Anna, Michael and Rick for encouragement and help without which I could not have completed the course.

MySpace & Facebook

Mixed reaction to MySpace. It definitely fosters creativity. I don't appreciate terminology like "pimp" your stuff--guess it means promote. Sometimes seems vulnerable, lonely and exposed. Sort of like a dear pen pal letter to the universe. Symptomatic of our time like cell phones. Reminds me of picking up someone at college and watching persons spill out of classrooms, most not talking to anyone around them, just clutching and talking on cell phones.

Amazed to find c. 49,300 results for "public library" search. MySpace Jobs has New York Public Libraries listings including systems administrator, library manager, chief financial officer.

Facebook is graphically pleasant, designed with more white space and less clutter. If one hopes to connect with persons one doesn't already know, either will do.

Downloadable Class Distinctions

Audio books and other downloadable electronic resources offer library card holders a wealth of borrowable materials. These items depend on the possession of an internet-accessible computer outside the library. There's the rub. Despite the widespread possession of computers, some persons still do not own them and cannot afford to. Of course, one could make the same remark about DVDs and CDs.

I hope to brush up on French vocabulary, especially if "Burn to CD" is allowed! All I need to do is borrow an internet-accessible computer...

...and thanks to a generous colleague I have. The Greater Phoenix consortium holdings are awesome for language learners but accessing them as a first-time novice is daunting. There are so many steps to go through and then when the item seems within reach there is an "Unexpected Error" message with no hint as to cause. Trying again, one is greeted with items that are checked out. No instant gratification here. I would rate this as a beta experience--good idea with plenty of bugs to iron out.

Podcasting: Power to the People

As long as podcasting remains unrestricted by the Federal Communications Commission, it will continue to overcome media control in the hands of a few. This is even more remarkable than its technological accessibility and affordable cost.

*Podcast.net*Podcastalley.com*NPR's Podcasts*Learn Out Loud: I tried these directories and preferred Podcastalley and NPR. I also appreciated Podcastalley's prominent RSS feed address display. Some of the feeds I added to my Bloglines:

From NPR, I found:

Classical to Go! Podcast [WGBH] http://streams.wgbh.org/online/clas/clas_performance.xml

KUOW's Elections Coverage Podcast [KUOW] (Puget Sound, WA) http://www.kuow.org/rss_specials.php?program=elections

From Podcast.net (incorrect RSS) and Podcast Alley (correct RSS), I found Sunnyvale Public Library Podcasts http://www.librarypodcasts.org/?feed=rss2 with impressive local history and contents including:

Sunnyvale's Library of the Future Interviewed by City Communications Officer John Pilger, Sunnyvale Public Library Director Deborah Barrow talks about Sunnyvale's Library of the Future. Where are we now and where do we go from here?...Podcast Date: Aug 31, 2006 17:00:20

Sunnyvale Voices - How Apricots Were Grown and Dried A resident for more than 80 years, Ann Zarko shares a slice of apricot history with listeners. This story was made possible through a Library Services & Technology... Podcast Date: Jul 11, 2006 00:00:09

Sunnyvale Voices - Butcher's Corner Audrey Butcher shares the history of this well-known Sunnyvale landmark as well as stories of her life at Butcher's Corner. This story was made possible through... Podcast Date: Jun 25, 2006 00:00:27

Sunnyvale Voices - Work Hard, Play Hard Vince Cala talks about life in Sunnyvale in the 1930s and 1940s. He describes the hard work in the fruit orchards and dancing the night away in Santa Cruz. ...Podcast Date: Aug 14, 2006 21:00:39

Sunnyvale Voices - A Prune is a Prune! Dave Johnson tells the story of how his great, great grandfather won title to El Quito Rancho, a land grant along Lawrence Road, in a card game with Manuel Arguello, an Emissary of King....

There are surprisingly few public library podcasts and most seem short-lived with few recent entries.

Thank You YouTube

From the Third World, unfiltered by mainstream media, YouTube gave me access to entertainment and more. Direct communication between Ethiopia, Tibet, Czechoslovakia and me, between the rest of the world and me. I entered an Ethiopian name and found Dedication to tlahoun gessesse (abate tlahoun) by a popular singer about a legendary singer. Video images documented the legend's life; the video soundtrack sung his praises.

Applied to library websites, YouTube could be interesting for oral history videos and programs.

Web 2.0 2007 Award for Mapping

It is no surprise to me that Google Maps won this award: http://www.seomoz.org/web2.0/short. I first used Google Maps http://maps.google.com when it was called Google Local and soon I preferred it for online white page / yellow page / directions searches because its requirements are less rigid (partial information such as Mayo Clinic without city or state will give results), it combines Google's user-friendly, fierce search speed with mapping, and it is easy to use. Results include web address links. Now I also use the My Maps feature to create and change personally-relevant, customized maps on topics such as Medical and Trip. In a library setting, Google Maps is invaluable on the info/reference desk and in the call center. There's nothing about it I dislike, and, should I discover something, I am confident that Google will ameliorate it in no time.

Web-based productivity

I love Google and Google Docs beta goes everywhere Google goes, which is anywhere and everywhere, anytime. Being beta gives hope that someday its word processing sophistication will rival software apps such as Microsoft Word and Word Perfect. For now, Google Docs is primitive if one is used to fancy editing tools. But what Google Docs lacks in those, it more than makes up for in its social usefulness. The library's Google Doc Today in the Call Center [now Library] is currently the most useful and widely accessible way for staff to update and share time-sensitive information. Following that experience, I created a personal account Google Doc to share family information including genealogy.

Fear Eats the Soul

Favorite Movie added to http://splslearning.pbwiki.com/Favorite+Blogs. I saw this film in the 70s and have never forgotten it. A Turkish "guest worker" in Germany meets an older German woman in a cafe. Their relationship develops despite the disparate and racist societies they inhabit. Their love is beautiful but struggles against surrounding antagonism....PBwiki is great fun, easy to use and easy on the eyes.

We Wiki

And why isn't there a verb form of the noun "wiki"? Using a wiki to generate interest and involvement in a library event such as the Summer Reading Program has been nicely done by Princeton Public Library's BookLovers wiki: http://booklovers.pbwiki.com/Princeton%20Public%20Library. FAQs teach the uninitiated about wikiing (another unknown verb form of wiki) while conveying excitement and encouraging involvement in the SRP. It's a lovely design too.

Library 2.0 and Web 2.0

In the OCLC online newsletter Next Space No.2 ISSN: 1559-0011 2006 article "Away from the 'icebergs'”, the Director of Resource Acquisition, University of Nevada, Reno Libraries, Rick Anderson writes that "if our services can’t be used without training, then it’s the services that need to be fixed—not our patrons." http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/2.htm Before Library 2.0, this notion was called "self-service". I thought it was a good thing to encourage patrons--now called customers--to be self-reliant. I thought it helped them feel and be empowered in our library environment. With CREST at our library, emphasis has shifted away from ensuring our services are user-friendly to making our staff user-friendly. We need both. For example, it is ridiculous that the public printers are inscrutable to most users and require one-on-one staff instruction. In my view, being tutored by staff to do simple tasks does not enhance an adult library user's experience.

I Technorati

http://technorati.com/ must be the blogging center of the universe. With links such as "Rising blog posts by attention" and "Rising news stories by attention", Technorati might be a survey-taker's field of dreams, a seeker's route to majority interests and views. Photo searching by tag, small business percolating in blogs, rising posts and stories, every topic tab seeming to swirl with more and more stuff to envelope one in an ocean of information like shoals of fish swiftly changing direction. I am overwhelmed by it, the sheer volume of democratically semi-anarchic thought. Web page color scheme is pleasant enough, but the lack of left and right borders is annoying.

Web Harvesting

Del.icio.us http://del.icio.us/ website provides users with "social bookmarking" tools to bookmark, tag, save, and compare web pages and lists with other users. This method for researching and filtering topics is needed in the Web 2.0 age. Forty years ago, students used index cards to compile research information. Now internet-gleaned information can be compiled and the entire online world can share our individual harvests.

LibraryThing

I like LibraryThing. It's useful as a personal stand-alone online catalog. Plus it has useful shared features; I'm delighted to see Google Books info included. Here's my start:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/kherman

Image Generators

Book Cover Generator is fun but left me wanting more image choices. http://www.oreillymaker.com/.

Free Photo Calendar has tons of template choices: http://www.freephotocalendar.net/free-printable-photo-calendar.php.

HairMixer Generator is great for curious yet cautious persons: http://generatorblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/hairmixer-generator.html

Finding Feeds

In her July 10, 2006 podcast, Helene B said there are better tools than simple Google search for finding feeds. For me, that is not true.

I do find Bloglines search easy to use and it gave useful results. I like Topix for news although its drop down pop ups can be annoyingly persistent. Technorati and Syndic8.com were overwhelming and Syndic8.com's graphic design was uninviting. I liked Syndic8's ten flags and quick links to country-specific stuff at first glance; however a brief exploration did not reveal anything riveting.

Google's simple web search is comfortable and useful for finding feeds. A straightforward search phrase "RSS feed ____ " [e.g. public library, library new DVDs, library blog, David Austin roses, etc.] got good results.

A Google simple web search for "blog about ____" also produced good results. Search term "blog ___" gives different but also good results. "blog about library" turned up good feeds in blogs including http://www.loc.gov/blog/ [Library of Congress blog]. "blog library new dvd" produced results including this sample I added to my bloglines: http://www.talkr.com/app/cast_pods.app?feed_id=26496.

Helpful for both beginner and intermediate searcher, Blogsearch.Google.com (beta) provides date/relevance sort and date published sort.

Viewer's Advisory

Our library circulation statistics show significant use of DVDs and our library website includes movie viewer's advisory in the form of annotated lists. I found something even more exciting on Bloglines. Some libraries offer Windows Media-formatted Previews. This is the feed URL for this Lee County Library System (Southwest Florida) website entry (graphics can only be seen on the feed): http://rss.librarywire.com/rss.php?feed=6481.CNL12.

No Reservations By Hicks, Scott

View Windows Media-formatted Preview

Catherine Zeta-Jones plays Kate, an emotionally fragile chef whose life is turned upside down when she becomes guardian of her niece. Used to absolute control -- both in her kitchen (which she rules with an iron hand) and at home -- Kate now faces chaos on all fronts, as both the child and her new sous chef work their way into her heart.

2007/12 Warner Bros. BL12078 DVD Check Our Catalog

The Las Vegas-Clark County Library also provides movie previews (feed: http://rss.librarywire.com/rss.php?feed=5626,CNL12). Both libraries get previews from "Videodetective: the Movie Preview Search" http://www.videodetective.com/.

I shared this information with Aimee and she will investigate the feasibility of using this service for our library.

About Technology

The American Heritage Science Dictionary defines technology as:
1)The use of scientific knowledge to solve practical problems, especially in industry and commerce, and 2) The specific methods, materials, and devices used to solve practical problems.

I think we must interpret "practical problems" in the broadest sense. Some technological change affects situations which were never problems. And technology has resulted in novel tools such as Flickr.

Technology is what we do...what we humans do. We make, we invent, we organize, we screw up. Technology does not always result in solutions; some technological changes have resulted in environmental detriment. So we must be both captivated and cautious about technology.

Random

, originally uploaded by make it real not fantasy.

I found this photo on the Flickr Random generating mashup. Each image stands out because there is no connecting theme. This photo reminds me of a Brueghel painting.

Howell Theatre

Howell Theatre, originally uploaded by Joey Harrison.

This is the theatre in my home town and where I saw Exodus, Ben Hur, and West Side Story. It was a big deal to be able to go to the movies.

Beginning

At this point, I can't see the value of blogging. However, I know that this is just the beginning and perhaps it will become clearer in time. I also noticed that my template is not easy to read and I hope to work on that eventually.

Hardest?

It is hard for me to view problems as challenges. After all, if they are problems, they're problems. Still, I understand that a problem can challenge me to find a solution.