"Cool Stuff"

So I wasted some time playing Wordshoot,which was awesome. But then I started to feel guilty that I was sitting at my desk playing a video game, so I quit and headed to Yahoo Answers which seemed vaguely more work-related. I wasn't too surprised by the dumbness of the questions asked:
Club penguin?
i kno theres a cheat so that you can buy stuff but not spend your money. i kno i sound cheap but my friend needs to buy alot of stuff and i want to help her so please help me! ♥
But I was blown away by the quantity. Obviously people (esp young people) have got some questions! In 10 pages of questions, the oldest question was asked 5 minutes ago! The majority were unanswered and will probably remain that way. Who's going to scroll through pages and pages of questions in order to answer one? I did feel for this guy and considered replying, but I didn't want to go through the log-in process:

I need help with the college process?
alright, i have a couple questions:
1. How do you know whether or not you can get a full ride somewhere? Is it after you apply to the college, or do they tell you before so that you'll want to apply there? Do you have to ask them if you qualify for merit based scholarships?
2. Around what time should I ask my teachers to write letter sof recommnedation? And do you have to ask your principle and guidance counselor for one, or do they all do that themselves?
3. What are some good national clubs and organizations to join that look good on college applications?

I'm glad librarians "slam the boards" once a month and answer questions. I'll try and remember to check it out next month.

So what are we doing wrong that ref questions are falling while online questions are skyrocketing? How could we improve our marketing to reach those questioning citizens?

So I'm at the FVRL website and the "Ask a Librarian" button is in a really good location on the homepage. But then I click on it and I get this long list of fill in the blank questions, including my name, my contact info, my library...etc. We've already lost the majority (?) of young patrons looking for answers. And where's the librarian avatar (thank you, Manya!)? I'd love to see a place on the website where questions could be posted anonymously and answered by a FVRL librarian.

Item #12: Image generators

Hmmm, I didn't realize how many crappy pictures there were on Flickr until I started looking for something to manipulate. First I tried Mt. Fuji, now I'm looking for Japanese Maples. Really, it's impressive how many out of focus, uninteresting photos there are of bright red Japanese Maples.

Soooo...using Sketch Generator, I changed these lovely red leaves into a "sketch." It's very easy to do. I don't really like how blogger has placed the photos, but I guess it's livable. Any thoughts on how to make the images go exactly where I want them?

The other part of this assignment was to mention what 2.0 sites I'm enjoying and using on a regular basis. I've definitely become completely addicted to my bloglines account. I check it from work and from home. It's something I look forward to coming into work and doing first thing in the morning. Mostly I look at reviews of children's books and library 2.0 blogs, but I also have some news feeds, the addictive "blog" of "unnecessary" quotes (speaking of which, I just ate something called a "Veggie" Ham & Cheese Veggie Wrap. I'll be taking a photo and submitting that, fer sure!), and a few friends who occasionally post. In the past week, a few of my friends have created Facebook pages, so I may begin to use that more...too soon to tell. It's weird how when I log on I get a notice that my friend shani left this message ____ for another friend. Obviously you need to be aware at all times of what you're posting and who (everyone?) will be seeing it. And we'll see how much I use JacketFlap...

What do you think about libraries taking part in social networking sites?

I like it. Our YAAB page is a good example of what a library can do in myspace. I think it's a great place to have a presence and advertise books and library events. I think FVRL could also have a page that marketed our online HOMEWORK resources and had the option for homework help chat with a librarian. The arguments against it, saying 'we need to stay out of teen spaces cuz they might not want us there,' are moot because we wouldn't be soliciting friends. We're just there and if teens want to be our friend, then cool.

When I worked as a librarian at Portland Community College one of the student library helpers was adamant that the PCC library should have presence in myspace. She said that she was on her myspace account several times a day and she would appreciate getting messages from the library on that account. What kind of messages? How about new books, change of hours, you need to renew your materials...

I think FVRL would also benefit from a Facebook account. This would attract the "older" crowd and could include messages about hours and events. This would also be one more venue to solicit feedback and ideas from the community regarding the library and what our users would like to see us do.

I think the main concerns are: keeping up with the current social networking sites...don't stay on myspace once the majority of users have moved on; make sure that the personnel time spent on managing the pages is worth the PR and interactions we are getting out of it; can these sites be accessed at the library, or are they blocked by filters?

Mozdev.org

One more thought today. When I use Firefox, I love the search box next to the address box that let's me do a quick search on google or amazon.com. I use this ALL THE TIME. This afternoon I thought, "Hey, wouldn't it be great if I could search Worldcat that easily?" So I chose "manage search engines" from the drop down box and pretty easily added Worldcat. Then there was a link to Mozdev, (no idea what that means,) so I thought I'd see what they had to offer. On a whim I typed in www.fvrl.org to see if I could search our catalog. No results. Then I tried www.multcolib.org and easily added Multnomah County Library's catalog to my search box. Can someone make this happen for FVRL? Please?

RSS

Here's another example of "new" technology that I tried out a few? couple of? years ago and didn't stick with me. I'm willing to give it another go. For some reason, going through my bookmarks seems easier to me than using bloglines. I'm not a big fan of the interface for starters. I just don't like the way it looks, I get overwhelmed with the number of posts I haven't read and then I just quite reading them all together.

I had some success with a personalized igoogle homepage last year. I liked picking my own background and that I could read the post on my page or open it in a new window. I guess maybe it's just and aesthetics issue for me. Huh. But I don't check my google homepage anymore and I don't even remember my login. I'll try the Bloglines for the next few days and see how it works for me and report back.

I do like the idea of RSS feeds and libraries. I know we send out a monthly newsletter to folks who subscribe, but I'd also love to see the option for little reminders through RSS feeds. Upcoming reading group at Ridgefield? Add it to the blog and let RSS subscribers receive the message in their bloglines. Friends booksale this weekend? Ditto. ALA Newbery and Caldecott winners? Storytime break? Hot new book by popular author in the catalog and ready for holds? I guess the first step is to get some FVRL blogs going and advertise them so that the public can sign up for them. I'd love to see this happen and I'd love to be a part of it!

more flickr

I love mashups. I used the beader (right) and the warholizer (below) to manipulate my Outside of a Dog photo.



How could libraries use mashups? I'd love to see a google map with photos (external and internal) of all of the FVRL locations and hours and contact info. That would be so much better than the current map on the FVRL site.

lifelong learning

After viewing 7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners I think the habit that comes most naturally to me is accepting responsibility for my own learning. I love to learn new things. I'm always making plans to take a class, read a how-to book, travel, watch how-to videos online...as technology evolves I'll be right there trying to figure out how i can use it to learn something new. My weakness (which i don't necessarily see as a weakness!) is definitely beginning with an end in mind. I get ideas in my head about learning something new, take a class/read a book/play with it online, then promptly move on to the next learning experience. I took a film making class at the Northwest Film Center in Portland a few years ago. It was great and I learned how to create a vlog (video blog) and got really excited about film making and posting videos....and then...

Right now I'm taking a tap dance class. I have no plans to ever dance in front of anyone, I'm just doing it for fun and will probably give it up by the end of 2008. I also plan on learning to sew this year and maybe take some cooking classes. I don't really start these with goals in mind, and I'm not usually disappointed when I quit. The drawback is that I never become really good at any one thing, but know bits and pieces about enough to be able to beat my husband at Jeopardy. Sometimes.

introduction

I am a librarian at Fort Vancouver Regional Library in Vancouver, WA and a part of FVRL Discover 2.0. I feel very lucky to be a part of a library system that values all of its employees learning about new(ish) technology on their work time, and is even rewarding us with a day off if we complete the program in a timely manner. Very cool!