2.0 Explorations

Del.icio.us: #13

2007-09-17T12:23:00.000-07:00

A few weeks into my position as a children's librarian, I realized that my department used to collect children's reference Web site urls in a binder that sat on the ready reference shelf behind the desk. I thought it would be more efficient to have the collection of links directly accessible from the computer, so I created a del.icio.us account for my department to use.

http://del.icio.us/avcr

It's very easy to update and organize, doesn't take up any physical space, and is accessible from any computer with an Internet connection. Each staff member in the children's department has bookmarked our del.icio.us account, and I've shared the url with the adult reference staff as well, just in case they ever get stumped by a children's reference question. So far, it's been very useful!

Rollyo: #12

2007-09-17T11:59:00.001-07:00

I hadn't heard of Rollyo before the 23 Things challenge, and now that I see how convenient it is, I wonder why there isn't more buzz about this tool! The ability to easily create your very own customized meta search tool could be a real time saver.

I've bookmarked a number of Web sites for use in storytime planning. By plugging the urls into a Rollyo Searchroll, I can now search all of these sites at once instead of having to visit them individually! And whenever I discover new storytime idea sites, it will be very easy to add them to my searchroll. Here's my searchroll so far. I like it!

Librarything: #11

2007-08-31T13:10:00.001-07:00

One of the first things I did when I accepted my children's librarian position was create a Librarything account. I knew it would come in handy as a reader's advisory tool-- and I was right! I use Librarything almost every day on the reference desk. I read 2-3 children's or teen books a week, and keep track of them with Librarything. I tag books with the genre and target audience age range, as well as other useful descriptors such as contemporary, series, illustrated, etc. So, for example, if a 10 year old girl comes up and asks me for a funny fantasy book, I'm prepared with my database of personal recommendations!

My Librarything account is here.

Image generators: #10

2007-08-19T13:20:00.001-07:00

I'm not sure if there's any practical purposes to online image generators other than to be EXTREMELY SILLY... but maybe it couldn't hurt a library to be silly now and then! Especially when it comes to working with childrens and teens, like I do.

For example, my coworkers and I could use simpsonizeme.com to create a Simpsons-esque avatar of ourselves and use them as our portraits for a display of staff-recommended titles, instead of using our actual photographs.

Or I could use the lolcats generator for teen event flyers or signs.

Twitter: #9

2007-08-04T12:44:00.000-07:00

Oh, Twitter.

I've been using Twitter for about two months now, and I just can't get into it. I don't feel the need to broadcast my every thought or action to the world around me. I think way too hard about what to write. I keep forgetting to update. I'm not "following" enough people to make it fun. Alas, I'm an embarrassment to the Twitter community! I haven't given up on it yet, though. I'll keep twittering away, hoping to see the light.

I've heard of libraries using Twitter to broadcast information to patrons, so I searched around and checked out some library Twitter feeds. I like how the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign Undergraduate Library is using Twitter-- their updates are frequent, concise, and seem relevant to students' needs.

I'm curious to see if Twitter will really catch on in the library community and beyond. As far as I can tell, it's not as well-known as other social sites such as MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, or Flickr, and I'm not convinced anyone would sign up for Twitter just to receive library updates. Still, using Twitter to disseminate library information is one of those wonderful "why not?" kind of experiments that Web 2.0 makes possible. It's easy, it's free, and it's not difficult to discontinue if it doesn't work out-- so even if only a few patrons take advantage of the service, why not try it?

RSS/Bloglines and library blogs: #7 and #8

2007-08-02T12:14:00.000-07:00

Well! This is the busiest season for a children's librarian, but even in the midst of the Summer Reading Program, I need to blow the dust off this blog and get back to the 23 Things!

So, what did we ever do without RSS? This technology makes it so easy to keep up with anything and everything. Bloglines is one of my favorite Web 2.0 innovations-- it helps me stay on top of the things I need to know, from professional topics and trends to the local weather forecast. It's like one-stop information shopping! I'm a dedicated Bloglines user, having had an account for a couple of years now. I currently subscribe to 29 feeds, and I've organized these feeds into folders by topic. I have folders for Entertainment, Technology & Web, and Libraries.

My Libraries folder is, of course, the most frequently used. I'm a fan of the following library blogs:

Feel-good librarian, for thought-provoking stories of life on the reference desk. Often uplifting, sometimes sniffle-inducing, always a good read.

Librarian in black, which always keeps me up to date on technology news and trends relating to the library world.

A librarian's guide to etiquette, with snarky observations about working in libraries that never fail to make me laugh. I dare any librarian to read this and not recognize themselves! (I'm guilty of decorating my office area with a Beanie Baby, I confess.)

librarian.net, one of the original librarian bloggers and simply a must-read.

The "M" Word - Marketing Libraries, which highlights clever and creative ways for libraries to market their services and resources. Libraries have great stuff. Why keep it a secret?

Web 2.0 in my library: #6

2007-06-08T09:33:00.000-07:00

Since starting my position as children's librarian a few months ago, I've been thinking about ways to incorporate Web 2.0 into the services at my library. One thing I'm super excited about is podcasting storytimes!

Right now, I'm on the Denver Public Library Podcast page, listening to Big Bear, Little Bear, read very delightfully by Ella. This is exactly the type of thing I want to do at my library. I have experience recording and producing podcasts, so the actual creation of the podcasts would be a piece of cake, but the main complication I would anticipate with storytime podcasts is copyright. I see that Denver Public Library got permission from Candlewick Press to reproduce the books' content on their website, and I'm making a note to myself to look into how to get this kind of permission!

In addition to storytime podcasts, I've also been thinking about trying podcasting as an ongoing project with our teens-- I imagine something like Denver Public Library's interview with Harry and the Potters would be fun for teens to produce. I'd love to see our teens thinking about what kind of information they want to communicate to the community and then making it happen.

I'm also liking Seattle Public Library's MySpace Teen Center. I developed a MySpace page for my library and although it's been quite successful so far (51 friends and over 400 views-- go us!), I'd really like to take it to the next level and make it more interactive, like Seattle Public Library's page. I love the way their teens themselves are providing content, like author interview and book reviews! This level of collaboration demonstrates that the library genuinely values its teen users, and I think that's an important message. My library doesn't have a Teen Advisory Board at the moment, but I'd like to organize such a group and elicit their opinions on what they'd like to see on our MySpace page. Using Web 2.0 is a great way to engage young library users and empower them to make their voice heard.

Flickr mashups: #5

2007-06-06T20:38:00.000-07:00

I had heard of mashups before signing up for the 23 Things Challenge, but wasn't sure what they did or why anyone would want to use them. I was interested to learn how commercial websites are using them, as well as how they can exist purely for fun-- and also to learn I've already encountered mashups without realizing it! I've spent time on Colr Pickr before; I remember being mesmerized by all the pretty colors and their associated images.

In exploring more flickr mashups, I spelled my name using Spell with Flickr and had fun clicking through the various options for each letter until I was pleased with the results!

Then I searched Tagnautica. It's more time-consuming than simply inputting keywords directly into flickr's search box, but is undeniably more visually pleasing-- I was hypnotized by the interface's liquid aesthetic. While I don't think Tagnautica is the most practical or efficient way to search, it's definitely an enjoyable and appealing way to browse through different concepts and see how people are bringing these concepts together by tagging images.

I also played with retrievr. It was sort of Zen to scribble some abstract shape and see the images retrieved... and to find that this application does actually find pictures that resemble the scribble! When I drew a red heart on a white field, for example, retrievr brought up images of vibrant strawberries.

And believe it or not, flickr Sudoku was actually my first introduction to sudoku. It's addictive!

Most of these mashups seem to be for amusement and diversion rather than for any particular practical purpose, and it's nice to see people developing applications for fun. I think these mashups represent another layer of Web 2.0. People created and shared content by uploading and tagging their pictures on flickr, and then other people came along and created mashups using that content. Fascinating and fun!

Flickr: #4

2007-05-22T16:38:00.000-07:00

I was excited to see that flickr is one of the 23 Things, as I've been a part of the flickr community since 2005. The ability to tag photos with descriptive keywords and file the images into sets is excellent, and the interface for uploading and organizing images is attractive and intuitive. I have so much love for flickr! In fact, if I'm allowed a bragging moment, I must mention that one of my photos was even ranked among the top 10 most interesting images on flickr at one point. Ah, my little moment of Internet fame! Here's a link to my photostream:

I credit flickr for motivating me to improve my photography skills. I'm a complete amateur and have never taken a photography class, but I've been really inspired by the high quality photography posted to flickr and the very active community there. I won't lie-- I love getting comments on the photos I post. I think the community aspect is a great motivator, and probably a major factor in flickr's incredible popularity. People in general like to contribute and communicate-- that's really what Web 2.0 is all about, right?

In the interest of constantly striving to improve my photography skills, I like joining groups dedicated a particular photographic theme, such as The Magic Hour. This group encourages its members to post photos featuring the beautiful golden light that occurs about an hour before sunset and an hour after sunrise. Before joining flickr, I never gave much thought to trying to capture a specific type of light in my photographs, but this group has motivated me to purposefully take walks about an hour before sunset to see what I can snap and share.

I'm also a member of the Libraries and Librarians group, partly to observe how libraries are using flickr for professional reasons and partly because I love to be a library tourist and see different libraries all over the world. In browsing this community, the many photographic library tours and pictures of library events demonstrate how libraries can use flickr to reach out to their patrons and promote their resources and services. On my latest visit to this group, the Pierce County Library's flickr account happened to catch my eye. This library is participating in another library-themed flickr group: 365 Library Days Project, in which libraries are encouraged to post one picture of their library every day for a year. I like Pierce County Library's creative approach in highlighting the variety of services and service points within the library through their daily photo-- they're creating a very nice tool for outreach and marketing.

I haven't yet used flickr in a professional capacity, but I'm looking forward to doing so. I think there's huge potential for libraries to interact with their patrons and other libraries by creating a presence in this online community.

First post: #1, #2, and #3

2007-05-19T16:26:00.000-07:00

Hi there, blogosphere! I've been reading blogs for years, and now I have my own. Over the next few months, I'll be discussing my experiences as I participate in Infopeople's 23 Things Challenge. Sounds like fun!

So far, I've fulfilled item #1 by reading the challenge FAQ. To ensure my eligibility for participation, I plan on viewing the archived webcast on Web 2.0 when it becomes available, and will post my thoughts on it at that time. Creating my blog, making this post, and registering it with the challenge fulfills items #2 and #3.

I should probably introduce myself. I'm a recent library school grad, enjoying my first professional position as a children's librarian in Southern California. I love it! My professional interests include reference, instruction, and using current and emerging technologies to reach library users. In my spare time, I enjoy photography, travel, shopping, aimless Web surfing, and finding really good restaurants. Oh, and- surprise, surprise- I read lots of children's and young adult books! They're my favorite type of books to read.

I'm really excited about the way people are using Web 2.0, so I'm looking forward to exploring these new technologies in a structured way through the 23 Things Challenge.