Frustrations, Enjoyable Moments, and Things I Learned

Frustrations:
1. RSS feeds
2. Screen Shots
3. Finding a good high school library related podcast

Enjoyable Moments:
1. Library Thing-Of course, because I LOVE books
2. You Tube-I really like videos-provided I can find a good one!
3. Technorati-I liked finding the Unquiet Library blog

Things I Learned:
1. To persevere while learning new technology
2. The more I know, the more useful I am
3. Learning new things is sometimes painful (but this pain is necessary)

Although there was often a lot of stress while doing this blog, in the end, I did think this Learning 2.0 assignment was very useful. It forced me to get out of my technology apathetic state. Additionally, there were a lot of other things that I enjoyed, such as the image generator and the word cloud (love the visual aspect). Basically, what it comes down to is that if I'm going to be a librarian, I simply need to be constantly learning new things, especially in the area of technology!

My Wordle URL

Because my screen shot is so small, here is the URL for my cloud so that it can actually be seen:

Wordle

Neutrality, iPad, MLIS From a Graduate Perspective

Here's the link:
http://www.thepocketlibrarian.com/ and also found on iTunes under "The Pocket Librarian"

This is a podcast by two girls who are in graduate school to become librarians, of course! It's a brand-new podcast that is supposed to have many more episodes over the summer.

Library Neutrality
Do libraries really need to be 100% neutral? Do libraries need to have literature that denies the Holocaust existed in order to be "neutral" and "unbiased" towards certain points of view? Emily claims that "library neutrality" is just code for library indifference.

The New iPad
Potential uses of the iPad in the library: Magazines, newspapers, video, graphic novels-all can now be extremely accessible-BUT it won't replace the book. Problems with eye strain? Lola claims that this is not an issue. Another pro is that the iPad will save space. Font size and font type can be changed, so large print can be available for any book as well as audio readers for the visually impaired. It can also be used as a social media device which in turn will promote collaboration.

Overall, it was a decent podcast, but a little on the slow side. I think the idea of library neutrality is an interesting one, albeit one that probably wouldn't come up too much in school libraries since we focus so much on just getting the necessary parts of collection; however, it could become an issue with religion because it's important to not promote any one denomination. What it really comes down to is the fact that we need to have a diverse collection inspired by the needs of our students.

As far as the iPad is concerned, the idea of using it a library is cool, but probably not at all realistic consider the budget cuts that are so prevalent. I personally don't see the benefit of an iPad over a laptop at this point besides the cool factor and, of course, the slightly smaller size.

DISCLAIMER for Video

Warning: This video does have an explicative! (Not the worse in the book, but it's definitely there.) Additionally, this isn't specifically about school libraries, but I thought it was the perfect video to display how a lot of people think of librarians. SO, it's a great example of what whe SHOULDN'T be doing!

Librarina Lays Down the Law

Tweet Tweet

Because I'm not a huge advocate of broadcasting myself to the world (one huge reason I have yet to create a Facebook account), I've never been impressed with the idea of Twitter...until now. I think using Twitter for a business, or library as specifics would have it, is really not that bad of an idea. It's a great way to let people quickly know about upcoming events and keep the library (and librarian-whom we know is on the hit list of late) in mind. My major concern, however, is that people won't follow the "tweets." If patrons and parents of patrons could be encouraged to follow you, then I think Twitter could be a very beneficial tool in the high school library setting.

RSS or RFF?

RSS or Really Frustrating Feed experience? Sorry to complain, but I've really had a hard time figuring out everything with RSS. I do feel slightly better now that I know more about it, but the bitterness is slightly lingering ;)

Nevertheless, despite my small meltdown, I did find a few blogs that I would like to follow. A couple of things that I looked for were that the format was easy to use (not too busy), that the information looked interesting to me, and that the person/organization behind the blog updated it often (it's little use to me if they only update it once a month).

One blog was from the "10 librarian blogs to read in 2010," and it's called "The 'M' Word - Marketing Libraries." After looking through some of the others, I decided that this would be one of the more useful ones for me because of two reasons: first, librarians need to really put themselves out there these days and she seemed to have some really good ideas; second, she also had some technology based ideas and obviously knows what she is talking about to a certain extent since I'm viewing her blog-and after my previous venting, it is very obvious that I am not a technology guru-wait, scratch that, I'm not even technology proficient.

The second blog that I plan on following is "The Unquiet Library: Not Your Mother's Library. Your Library." Although the blog could use a slight visual makeover, I do love that the creators of this blog post tons of videos. Videos are a great way to see something in action and to really involve the students and get them interested in visiting the blog and coming into library. I also really like the title and premise of this blog: that their library is different than the stereotyping librarian-shushing library. And, of course, they update it regularly with detailed posts! I think it will be a great asset and be fun to boot!

Insights from Christopher Harris

I really enjoyed this article about library 2.0 by Christopher Harris. Harris brought up a lot of interesting issues about "the relevancy of libraries in an online world." Harris was pretty adamant about the fact that libraries do have a place-if they rise to the challenge, "It was school libraries, in fact, that led the way in the first wave that brought computers and then the Internet into our classrooms. This is about adapting, once again, to a new, perhaps even more compelling digital revolution, in which powerful new ideas are enhancing the way in which we function in an electronic information environment."

Harris had a lot of great ideas for libraries to incorporate in order to be a part of the new technology age. Some of my favorites were using Librarything, or some other comparable website, where students could keep their reading updated, write reviews, and share. Another idea I liked was having students call in and give book talks onto electronic voicemail. The final idea that I think would be really useful, especially in a high school setting, is screencasting. Through this, the librarian could still help out the teachers, but wouldn't necessarily have to be physically with them in the classroom.

Searching Blogs Through Technorati

Well-represented categories: Technology, Books (yay!), Food (another huge yay!)
Under-represented categories: Pets (sniff, sniff), Tennis, and Motorsport

I searched first for "Canine Companions for Independence," and sadly I didn't find anything under blogs or posts. My next search was "CCI," the more colloquial term. Surprisingly, I didn't find anything under posts, but I did find a few actual blogs concerning CCI puppies. I thought for some reason that I would find more posts than blogs, but that was obviously not the case.

Next, since Technorati doesn't really have a lot of blogs concerning pets, I decided to do a search about something else I love, that's category was much better represented: ice cream! This is what I found:
265 blogs for ice cream
293 posts for ice cream
Once again, kind of surprising results.

Technorati is a pretty useful tool if you like to search for random people's blogs. However, I don't find it extremely entertaining to read the blogs of people I don't know since blogs, in my experience, are typically personal.

del.icio.us -YUM!

Honestly, at first I wasn't very excited about the idea of delicious. However, after I played around with it more, I can definitely see some of the benefits of using this site. People spend so much time "surfing" the Internet, but it's never really known if a site is good or not. Even more time-consuming is figuring out exactly what to put in that magical search box. Although I think that Google does a great job at "reading my mind," it's still an imperfect process. Delicious helps by expanding your search into relating fields that have some tie-in to what you're looking for. For example, on Google I searched for "high school library." What I found was literal information about high school libraries. In delicious with the same search, I found more links to websites that are helpful or applicable to the high school library setting. I thought this was great!

I think delicious can be really helpful for students because they could use this site to share websites they like with their fellow classmates (this is also applicable for librarians and teachers alike). They could also use it when initially brainstorming for a research topic in order to broaden their ideas or consider related topics that they had not previously thought about. Teachers and librarians can use delicious to share what they've found with each other and to simply keep all of their favorite websites organized and in one location. Additionally, they can read other people's comments about certain sites, getting a second opinion, which is always extremely useful.

Overall, I think delicious is a beneficial, time-saving tool to be used in and out of the classroom!

CCI Addict-o-matic

Here is the URL for my addict-o-matic website:
http://addictomatic.com/topic/Canine+Companions+for+Independence#btn.dyu.olhjx
I hope I did it correctly. I really like the little vacuum guy addict-o-matic created, I think he's cute. When I first looked at this concept, I thought it was cool, but didn't think it would be for me. However, since I "created" my website, I keep looking at it. I really hope I don't become "addicted" ;)

The Joys of Library Thing

I created my Library Thing account last semester after we had talked about it in class and have loved updating it ever since. I think it's a great way to keep track of the books that you have read, review books, look and see what other people are reading, and other related activities. I really like the versatility of the site and think it is very applicable to the library setting. Students could simply create accounts and then share their accounts with friends or classmates. You could also encourage the students to write reviews for the books they've read so that their classmates could view these too. Another helpful feature is the recommendation list, which would also encourage continued reading by providing a list of books that would most likely interest the student. Overall, I really like the idea behind Library Thing and am excited to explore it more and eventually implement in my own library.

LibraryThing

Ice Cream + Caramel = LOVE, LOVE, LOVE

The Wiki Tree

So, it's true. I am totally computer illiterate. I've always thought that Wikipedia was just Wikipedia, and didn't realize that Wikipedia is simply a branch on the massively large Wiki tree (a VERY LARGE branch). I really liked the common craft video for Wikis, which explains things with visuals and layman's terms. I loved the example they used too because this semester I have TONS of groups projects and it is extremely frustrating to coordinate things over email with several people. I'm going to play around some more with my new wiki and then perhaps suggest to some of my groups that we create our own Wiki to use. Learning all of this new stuff is kind of like a brain overload for me, but I guess I'm that much closer to being more computer savvy!
http://beccabowmeow.pbworks.com/FrontPage

Moblile Library at Cambridge Market

Moblile Library at Cambridge Market, originally uploaded by caro6302.

I chose this photo because I spent my elementary days in a rural town with a very small library. Even then I read books all of the time and so I was always ecstatic when the bookmobile came. I loved to climb up the stairs and walk into that movable library, with floor to ceiling books, and that wonderful smell of old, loved paper.

Here is my mashup. This was one of our engagement photos. Of course we had to include Edna!

P.S. Edna was also one of my two bridesmaids at our wedding :)

7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners

Having been a perpetual student since preschool, it seems like the world would stop spinning if I wasn't formally learning something. 7 1/2 Habits has shown me, however, that learning is not just about what you are taught in school but also what kinds of things you learn in your day to day life. I think one of hardest habits I will have to cultivate is to "view problems as challenges." I tend to look at things that I don't plan or ask for as problems and do my best just to struggle through them. My dad, however, is a sterling example of viewing each "challenge" as something exciting, fun, and educational, even if he was stranded at the side of the road for hours, or he made a mistake fixing the sprinklers and the yard was flooded with a foot of muddy water. With work, perhaps even I can learn to view the fact that my pants are soaked to the back of my knees on a snowy, wet Logan day as an educational experience teaching me that I should always check the forecast and plan accordingly with boots and umbrella!

One of the habits that I feel was once a weakness and that has become a strength in my later years is that of making goals, and keeping the end in mind. I believe that I have developed this ability with my volunteer work for Canine Companions for Independence. Raising a puppy for people with disabilities requires a TON of work, time, emotion, and adherence to rules. If I didn't keep the end result in mind, that of being able to dramatically help somebody who is disabled, I would be tempted to slack off on the training or to foil the whole plan in order to keep the puppy. By volunteering for CCI, I have learned of the strength that can come from keeping the prize always in sight.