23 things #15

Now I feel like I'm back in library school. While I love working in this profession, and feel that I am fairly progressive in accepting the changes it is experiencing, I'm much more interested in the hands on than in the theory. I think that this has been a great experience so far because it has forced us to actually do the things as opposed to just reading about them.

Having said that, I think that Away from the "Icebergs" was especially relevant. We need to be responsive to the changing expectations of the customers we serve. This is something, I think, that libraries have always strived to accomplish. I remember, a number of years ago, when the library system I worked for re-cataloged all of the Samuel Clemens' books to Mark Twain. Why? Because that's were the customers look for them. They also stopped spelling out all the names of the initial authors (C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, T.S. Eliot, etc.). Library 2.0 demonstrates the same thing on a new level. If we continue to stick to the old adages of the profession we risk losing our relevance in the world.

23 things #14

I just investigated Technorati. It's fun to be able to (sometimes) find my own blogs on the site. Sometimes they come up easily and other times they're hard to find. I have not claimed my blog or done anything to bring it to the sites attention. It seems to me that there's something a little dishonest (no that's not quite the right word, but I can't think of another one) about having to bring it to their attention before it gets easier to find.

Anyway, I searched for Learning 2.0 in a variety of ways, but had much more relevant results when I searched for 23 things. I got lots of library related hits with that tag.

The 100 top blogs list was intersting to glance at. Although nothing really made me want to quick click and look at them. How do you such awareness of your blog to get to be the top one? (Other than bringing it to the sites attention). I guess word of mouth, advertising, etc.

Okay, I think that's it for this thing.

23 Things #13

Okay, I seem to have taken a long, long break from this project. Some little things like collection work, vacations, and impending transfers got in the way. Now I have to get back on track so I can finish on time.

I took a look at del.icio.us today. It took me awhile to understand the concept. I don't seem to bookmark too terribly many sites, so I'm not sure how applicable this would be to my daily workings. I think that the research applications would be endless. To be able to springboard from concepts you felt were important to see what others had found, would be extremely helpful. I may have to look at this one again when I have a little more time to see if becomes more relevant to me.

23 things #12

Rollyo - hmmm - interesting concept. I can see the application for a number of reference related activities such as homework, government info, genealogy, etc. I see less use for it on the personal interests level. Sites come and go and if you only limit yourself to what you've found already, you may miss a lot of stuff. I don't see myself using this tool too often.

Nonetheless, I created an account and added a search roll for some of the places we like to take the kids in and around Baltimore, Harford County, and Pennsylvania. Here's the link:

http://www.rollyo.com/lpm0502/jzn_favorite_places/

23 things #11

I'm just getting back to my 23 things after a week or so of being occupied with other stuff. I looked at the LibraryThing info a couple of days ago and just had a chance to create an account. I thought I'd start off adding titles from my collection of signed books. I'm not sure I'd ever have the time or desire to add everything and maintain it, but it is a little fun to see them all lined up. Now if I could keep them all lined up perfectly like that in real life - the majority of them are children's books, so I'm constantly reordering them after my childrens' little hands have been into them. That's okay, though. That's what books are for, right? To be enjoyed.

Here's the link to my collection:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/lpm0502

23 things #10

I've spent some time exploring a variety of image generators and all I can say is wow! You can go just about anything with them. I liked the YourGen text genrator (www.yourgen.com). It generates all sorts of unique fonts. I used it to change the font on my blog title. I also created an avitar on Meez (www.meez.com). I posted it at the top of my blog. Now if only I could superimpose 3 kids hanging on to my legs, it would be perfect. I'm sure there's an image generator that would do it, but my fiction collection is calling my name.

23 things #9

I explored the Merlin site and added the feed to my bloglines account. My account has just been activated, so I haven't yet logged in.

I also looked at the a number of the search tools. Technorati was easy to use and brought back tons of information. I did a search on Reader's Advisory and found the blog I just created (about 2 hours ago) for a personal project. Wow, that's fast! I'm sure that you can find something on just about anything out there. I searched for "underwater basket weaving" - a term from maybe middle school when a teacher used that expressison (his own, I think) whenever someone wasn't paying attention or was doing something wrong. Technorati retrieved 2 blogs with those words.

I don't have much more to say today, so I'll be back after I finish the next thing.