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.