23 Things and Beyond

Earlier this week I had attended an ILL conference filled with exciting ideas about where technology is going as far as libraries are concerned. We heard everything from cell phones with barcode scanners so that patrons could do their own check out, to making gaming a regular part of what happens in the library. These are certainly exciting times, but I think I will pose the question to cyber-land, "How can a library keep up with changing times if it has a constantly decreasing budget?"

It is my understanding that my little Information Resource Center (IRC) may be getting funding pulled from it . I understand that sometimes sacrifices need to be made. Necessity is indeed the mother of invention. If anyone has any ideas on how to incorporate technology into a library for less money I would be happy to hear suggestions.

I have also been wondering what are some simple and easy ways to give and old building with old furniture a warm inviting look. I will again ask for any suggestions on creating an ambiance conducive to academia.

Thanks for your time and attention. :)

Thing 23: The End

I LOVED THIS.

What a great way to learn something new and think about applying it to the library world. In the blog prompts it asked how we have taken Library 2.0 and what have we done with our own library. Well, I have brought to the attention of the director a need for some form of virtual reference...tomorrow is our trial launch with the staff. We'll see how it goes.

Facebook and MySpace and other social networking sites, also, very interesting. I think I will investigate on how to make a library Facebook page next.

I would also like to keep learning about how else to network with other libraries. More things to read and connect with would be great.

I haven't had a perfect experience as some things were difficult and I couldn't log into quite right or the video wouldn't play. I would like to see something done about that to improve the experience in the future. Perhaps that is on my side of the house.

I would love to hear from someone, anyone on if I did this correctly and how I could do it better in the future. Thanks.

Thing 22:

I will promise to try to maintain my blog and continue to learn. The learning part may be easier than the maintaining the blog part. I think it is important to keep a commitment to not being afraid of new technology. I found myself doing this at times during 23 things. I also think it will be important for me to keep talking with students. Now that I am no longer a student it will be important for me to be intentional about bridging the gap.

This has been an over all great experience. A little frustrating when I couldn't access everything right away, but over all great. :) Can't wait to use some of what I have learned.

I think that I will have to start an NCU library facebook as we look to the future and how to be relevant to our students.

Thing 21: Other Social Networking

I don't belong to any of the suggested social networking sites, however I think that the movie and book sites are interesting and may join.

I found Ning to be a little complicated. I couldn't even successfully change my picture. I'm not entirely sure why as I think I followed the instructions correctly.

In the future I think these specific sights will be helpful to me in enriching what I know about what I am interested in. It is nice to know that there are grown-up versions of social networking sites that I can use when I decide to grow up. :)

Thing 20: Social Networking

I can appreciate the use of social networking sites. Even now I can stay connected to people all over the country that I went to high school with. I love myspace and facebook. However, I do think that one is better than the other. Myspace, seems to have been hacked some much that people can post anything anywhere, whereas I feel like Facebook is a bit more secure.

I chose to join the facebook group that was Library 2.0 interest. It is a great way to network with other people and see what is going on.

I think that the IRC can use this page to network with other libraries, to network with authors, speakers, students, faculty...the list goes on. I am a believe that this will be even more successful move in the future.

Thing 19: Podcasts.

This thing was interesting. I had no idea there were so many ways to get a podcast out there. Very cool what iTunes is doing to with putting up professors podcasts. I think that podcasts could be specifically helpful for those who may miss a class from time to time but still need to hear the lecture. I think this would also be helpful for our own library with the IRC instruction.

I think that the easiest website to search for podcasts was the Yahoo! Audio section.

In addition to these thoughts I also found that the podcast you can make from the phone is pretty incredible. It will have to be something that I look into personally for use here in the IRC.

http://web.stcloudstate.edu/schoolmediapodcast/podcasts/podcast_wanda.mp3 (the podcast I listened to).

Thing 18: YouTube

Love this thing!!! How fun! I had to run into my director's office with ideas and excitement the moment I finished it.

I think this could be used for a number of purposes in the IRC. I think that we could use it to be informative in a fun way. It would engaged the student as well as keep them up to date.

Because of the 2.0 tools has prompted me to think more about how to engage students electronically and keep them involved. How can we help them to create something and learn something at the same time. YouTube could be an answer.

Thing 17: ELM

ELM

Our IRC has many of the features in ELM already. It greatly expands our research for students and is a quicker way to get materials and sources sometimes.

It helps our library staff now by making reference easy. We can answer questions faster with information provided by ELM

It helps our students in research papers and in countless other projects. I am very pleased with its service so far and will continue to get to know ELM a little more as time goes by. :)

Thing 16: Research Calculator

I really like the research calculator and the other tool. It is nice to see that there is something that students can look at to help them organize themselves for their research.

If I had this tool when I was in college I know I would have used it for my senior project. So would many of my friends. It would have definitely saved some people from pulling an all-nighter.

I also think that this could be very helpful to what we do here in the IRC. We are in a state of change and are looking for ways to help ourselves and help our students to really know what needs to be done when.

Good tool. I think I will talk to the director about getting a link on our library page and including it with our in-class presentations.

Thing 15: Games Games Games

I found the games, interesting, but very hard to use. I didn't always understand what was happening. I'm not sure I see how a virtual library in Second Life would play in to actual library use. However, it would have possibilities.

The pirate game I could not get at all and think it isn't very useful to the work world right now. However, I'm willing to be proved wrong.

Thing 14: LibraryThing

Fun, fun, fun tool. However, I'm not sure how accurate or how useful it would be to a small academic library with an older than average collection.

I do think it is a great tool for personal libraries and for public libraries. It was easy to use and easy to find. It was very cool seeing who else had the same book as you. It was fun to see how they were rated.

Our library doesn't particular share book lists. This would be a good way to start doing that. I guess I was previously thinking of it as a tool to make cataloging for specific things easier. When one would use it for book list sharing that seems more logical for the small library I work at.

I liked that there were tons of discussions on my all time favorite book, "Pride and Prejudice." Classic. :) Good tool. I think I will bring it up at the next staff meeting.

Thing 13: Productivity Enhancers.

I tried all sorts of the productivity enhancers. I think that sticky note could be used for marking weather or not a page is worth looking at for a research paper and things of that nature. I really liked the countdown...as you can see...and also the weather. I believe that those are the three most useful tools that I can use.

The compounding google features one was a not helpful to me as it is easier for me to keep track of them by keeping them separate.

I think the countdown would be a great tool to advertise for National Library Week at our IRC.

Interesting indeed.

Thing 12: Do you digg?

I think this is a neat tool. I like that you can see what others are viewing and that what is viewed is based on popularity with people rather than 'the man.' Ha. Anyway, I think that the library could keep track of it's most popular feature on the website and then work on improving those. It could be a very good thing.

I think that these tools could definitely be a productivity enhancer. A person could get around faster and get more done. It's all about navigation sometimes and where the right place to look is.

I have never read a story or an article through this way that I know of, but it is really interesting so I may start reading articles and stories that way more often.

Thing 11: Tagging and Del.icio.us

I think that del.icio.us could be a helpful tool. I can see where it would be useful to tag website and other things to be better organized. It would also be convenient to be able to access the IRC's websites and databases from anywhere. Students could grab those off campus. They would have an easy way of finding what they need to.

My one complaint is that the whole del.icio.us experience was a little confusing for me. I didn't understand at first exactly what the point of it all was, so I'm not sure how user friendly it is upfront. Still, once something is learned it can be exceedingly helpful.

Thing 10: The Wiki

I'm not sure I exactly understand what a wiki is. I get that it is public information that can be edited, but I'm not sure how to properly incorporate this in to the IRC I work at. I could not view the video, which was discouraging, but I did investigate the wikis as best I could.

I think I really may have missed something here. I wasn't even able to edit or add to anything on the 23wiki. If I have missed a step I would really appreciate someone pointing me in the right direction.

Wikipedia has been banned from scholarly papers here at the institution I work at. I think it is because anyone can edit it or post anything to it. I know that if something wrong were posted it wouldn't last long, but I wonder how Wikipedia is regulated.

Thing 9: Online Document Editing

Online document editing sounds like it could really do good. I'm wondering though, if it has it's down falls. What happens if, for example, Google Docs crashes. Are there systems in place that would save that file online as well? Just curious.

I think both of them you needed an account so unfortunately I wasn't able to try them through the 23 things. However, I've tried it before using another program and I do like it. I think that Google's features are easier to use and understand, plus the Google video really breaks the service down to what it would do. Zoho is pretty similar and carries the same idea. What would our founding fathers think? I think that they would think it is forward thinking and I believe that they were pretty forward thinking guys.

Thing 8: Photos, slideshows and other adventures in online sharing

This where I work. The TJ Jones Memorial Library and the reference room. All of the wood work is wonderful and original. It was formally used as housing for the Asbury hospital in Minneapolis, MN earlier in the 20th century.

http://www.slideshare.net/guestf3b659/ill-presentation. Behold my very own slide show Interlibrary Loan Presentation. Could be a great tool, especially since a few of the people on staff go into classrooms and teach students this information. It seems like our technology is always faltering. It is a good idea to back it up online.

http://lazybase.com/dbhome?a=934782298&k=276192668 the experimental database. Because of the nature of what I do at the library I am not sure how useful this specific database tool would be. I don't want to discredit it, because I do think that it could be useful, I will just have to think hard about this one. :)

I studied over the e-folio. I think this could go either way. I see how useful it could be to students who are looking for jobs right out of college, or even for professionals who are looking to move-it-on-up, but I wonder if employers are really out looking for things online. Perhaps this comes from limited experience in the work force, but I have seen largely that the would-be-employee comes to the potential employer and applies accordingly. It seems like e-folio may have the potential to be mostly dealing with the opposite. It seems that employers would be seeking out employees on the web. Is this done on a wide scale basis?

Thanks for your time and thoughts.

Thing 7: IMing, Texting, E-mail within the library?

Wow, I am excited to see what other libraries are doing. The videos and the articles that I read are not pictures of the library world that I grew up in. It is exciting to see libraries moving forward and making themselves more available to students...in an academic setting, shouldn't that be one of the most important things? I think so.

TJ Jones Memorial Library, uses e-mail on an inter-campus level. We can e-mail and send out reminders all using the tool Microsoft outlook. Outside of e-mailing regular full and part-time employees we are discouraged from using e-mail. This is understandable especially considering the outside influence and hindrance it could have on the work day. I, however, would like to see an e-mail account set up specifically for the reference librarian on duty. The librarian on duty could check it along with her other work e-mail. I think this would better serve patrons.

Texting and IMing may be a good way to make the library and information more readily available. I love the idea of having real time reference questions via texting and IMing, I do worry a little bit about the physical use of the library. Would offering these services decrease how many people are physically in the library. This effect could be devastating on our small library. It could take our low circulation volume and wipe it out.

However, now that I am thinking about it, would offering e-services (as it has been referred to) bring more people in. Is it becoming a more inviting place to be by taking the step out of our comfort zone? I think it could go either way, but I am willing to take a gamble on it in hopes for the better. Besides, as long as students are getting what they need we are serving our purpose. Right?

If anyone has gone through this situation I would be interested in hearing the outcome. Thanks.

Jen's Wonder Blog

Thing 6: Fun with the Image Generator

This is fun, it's a great way to instantly grab people's attention in a presentation or other related setting. I find that students are not always interesting in going to the library or in library related things. Perhaps posting signs and enhancing our literacy training visual aids with some of these tools would draw people in. I have a presentation tomorrow in class, I think I will see what I can do to use this tool. I could spend hours playing, but I shouldn't. I have cataloging to do.

Thin 5: Flickr Mashable

Very cool tools. I'm a little confused on how you can actually make the mashable, but the example were very cool. Hamster sudoku, that is something I could get into. :) That is, if I knew how to play sudoku in the first place. I think a way that I could use this tool would be in a presentation. Being visual is always helpful.

Jen

Thing 4: Flickr and beyond

I am fairly familiar with Flickr already and think it is a good tool. I like that you can share, save, and organize photos. I question though how useful it would be to an academic library. I don't mean to be skeptical, but I must pose the question what uses would this have practically speaking in the library? Any responses would be appreciated. Thanks.

Maybe this question will be answered in the next Thing. :)

-Jen

Thing 3 RSS Readers

I think this tool could go either way for being useful or for being something I could easily forget about.

I do think that it would be incredibly helpful for the students who use our library regularly to keep track of their own research and other websites.

On the flip side, I think it could be one of those things that I forget I have. I am so used to doing things how I do them, would I realistically use this tool on a regular basis? I hope so.

I signed up for the Google reader and found it very easy to use and set up. However, pasting the url in the 'add subscription' area was not always working for me. As a result I found that searching by a keyword was more helpful in selecting sites than the other way.

A great tool with great potential.

Thing 2 Library 2.0-Questions for my own library

Wow, after reading through and watching videos on the potential that this Library 2.o movement could have, I am exceedingly excited. I will admit being 23 years old and am on the generational line of being a Gen-Xer and being a Millennial. I tend to harbor qualities of both, at least that's what sociology classes tell me. Another piece of information that may be vital to understanding why I think and blog the way I do is that I work at a small library; limited budget=limited technology.

With the above being mentioned I will reflect on that which I just saw and read. Stephen Abram made mention to a few things that I really got excited about. He made a reference to planning to have the time to learn something new. I think that as generations pass they seem to loose the ability to take the time for anything. Fast food, fast information online, fast track to success, fast money. Easy and quick that is how our society is functioning. This is no surprise and no news to anyone out in cyberspace I'm sure of that fact. However, the implications that this could have on how libraries function is huge. It means changing; keeping up with the times. Going completely online.

I say that with the limited staff and budget that the library I work at possess poses a problem to the library's ability to keep up with the changing demand on it. The library itself is located at an undergraduate university that harbors many millennials that are loosing interest in how traditional libraries function (this was mentioned in the posted blog). Sadly, I will agree. Our fast and easy society demands that libraries keep up or face extinction. Library 2.0 is real and it's coming and it's going to change how libraries work.

Something I do wonder, that was hit on in that posted blog, is that many think that Library 2.0 will turn into a club of rich libraries. This is a possibility in my humble opinion, and brings me a bit of sadness as an employee of a small library with little money. I think for libraries that have limited budget priority has to be given on the nature of what is in demand and on what actually is in demand. This library is at a Christian institution and has a large collection of old books and commentaries. We also have a growing Psychology and Sociology department with ever changing resources need to accommodate them. There is a small myriad of other majors, but these are the two that seem to frequent our humble library. Older information is important, but are we, as a library, presenting it to them in a way they can find it and have easy access to it. I don't believe so. They could out on to other online catalogs and find what they are looking for faster and easier than what we may offer them. How do we keep up?

We make it a priority to spend money on technology and to keep up with the nature of demand. I have much to learn about many things in library science, but I think it is safe for me to assume that it is essential that the way libraries are run much keep up with the changes in society or face obliteration to the Google monster.

I am participating initially because the library director thought it would be good for me to learn a few things to aid our students, staff, and faculty at the university. After reviewing the first few Things I am excited and anxious to see how I can apply new concepts to what we do here at T.J. Jones Memorial Library. I look forward to learning more about the details of how library science is done, but also to catch a glimpse of the big picture and see where libraries may be going.

Thank you for your time and attention as I write out my thoughts. Any helpful comments are certainly welcomed.

Thing 1 Setting Up a Blog

Thankfully, this was not a hard aspect of the 23 things. It was nice being able to follow simple step by step instructions.

I'm Jen, I'm from a small academic library. It is located at North Central University in Minneapolis. I am not a certified librarian, but I have had a number of years of experience in libraries, both public and private. There is a lot to learn even for a para-professional and I am excited to see what the 23 Things has in store.

I must admit that I am a bit skeptical. Not because I think the content will be poor, but I wonder how much it will apply to a non-certified library worker. I suppose I shall see.

-Jen