23 things #7

I saw 2 articles in my professional reading this week that I felt were very applicable to this 23 things project. I copied the articles and am routing them to my staff.

1. Meredith Farkas, "The Evolving Library: Ten timeless tech tips," American Libraries, (June/July 2007): 50. I thought that several of the tips were extremely relevant to this library system and to the 23 things project in general: Tip 1. Develop a risk-tolerant environment - with our emphasis on innovation over the past year + we've already come a long way in tasking risks and accepting possible failure. Tip 2. Avoid technolust - It is always so easy to be caught up in the latest and greatest phase. We should always remember to critically look at the new technologies and determine which ones actually fill a need in our service. Tip 5. Play with technology - That's what this 23 things project is all about - exposing us to the new technologies so that we know what they are, can hopefully assist our customers with their needs (instead of having no ideas what they're talking about), and helping us be better equipped to do evaluate and incorporate the new technologies into out work (see tip 2 above).
2. David Lee King and Michael Porter, "Thirty-seven Sites in Two Thousand Words or Less," Public Libraries, (May/June 2007): 30 - 33. I loved this article. I was very fun to read and very non-threatening. They list (and give a short description of) many of the sites that we will be exploring during this 23 things project and many more that we can use to continue or 2.0 journey (if desired).

In addition to my professional reading, one other technological thing struck me this week. My daughter is taking swimming lessons and in packing her back pack (which is a new one - received at school for sucessful completon of a project) I noticed a rubbery hole on the side of the bag. Upon closer inspection, I saw that it was basically an AV jack. I'm assuming that the cord of the MP3 player is inside the bag and the cord for the headphones goes through the hole. It was just a reminder to me of how fast technology advances and how young (my daughter just finished kindergarten) children are learning about it. I won't totally date myself here, but I didn't use a computer until high school. She started using computers in her 4 year old class and has to show her grandmother how to work the DVD player when she comes to our house. I'm sure as soon as she sees my MP3 player (that I'll receive for completing this project), she'll want one for herself. And in no time she'll probably be showing me all the cool little things I can do to enhance my blog.