My Name's Not George, But...

...I definitely think I fall into the camp of more curious than not. I've truly enjoyed each and every lesson this semester in Project Play - even those that most challenged my little grey cells to understand and find a library related use for (still thinking on weeks 10 & 3 from semester 2 and week 8 of semester 1). I think this image of Curious George (sing it with me: the curious little monkey) is an appropriate depiction of my reaction to new web 2.0 tools. I was a "connector" in week 1 and the fact that I'm interested in trying out and using fun web tools in my personal life probably helps boost my comfort level with and curiosity for trying out these tools with my library-colored glasses on. I like the idea suggested by the fabulous Project Play Fearless Leaders of setting aside just 15 minutes out of each day to play. This is a great way to think about and incoporate 2.0 tools into each day. In 15 minutes, I could easily:

• have a quick browse of my growing list of bloglines feeds
• do a more thorough read of an interesting post and comments
• add my latest titles to my librarything library, with tags and maybe a review
• create a survey for staff, or analyse the results of one I've already done
• look over a new tool and decided if it warrants further exploration: ex. check out yelp
• write up a post about new tools, or how I'm using the ones we've learned about
• continue trying to understand mashups and things like yahoo pipes
• add upcoming library events and schedules to my google calendar
• spend some brain time thinking about how to put some of these tools to use at my library
• spend some quality time with other staff encouraging themto try out neat tools
• spend some discussion time with my director figuring out how we can put these great tools into practice
• ...the list could go on and on...

I do wish there was a semester 3 since there is so much still to learn! Thank you, most fabulous Project Play Leaders, for providing inspiring lessons and empowering me to try out all of these tools. I hope my fellow Project Play-ers will continue to post to their blogs so I can keep up with their exploits, both on line and off!

A Graveyard Smash

I think I understand mash-ups, well, sort of. I was able to add my library to the Project Play mapbuilder map without any difficulties - thanks to the very helpful screencast demo. What I don't completely understand is what makes this mapbuilder a mash-up...is it that we are all inputting information about our libraries/fav spots? I thought mash-ups were a combination of information previously created in two places put together into one new place. Or maybe we're just creating our mapbuilder map so we can mash it with something else in Semseter 3 (there is going to be a Semester 3, right? Pretty please?)
Mash ups to enhance the content on my library's website could be really cool! I can imagine a mashup of book covers of books highlighting our library wide display themes (when we use the same theme throughout childrens, young adult, and adult areas) or a map of historic homes and buildings so people could create their own walking tour or even a map of some of our local cemetaries smashed up with the names and dates on the headstones to help genealogists and researchers more easily find who they are looking for (a graveyard smash).

Tubin'

I hope all of you loyal Project Play readers listened to Henrietta Pussycat and donned your favorite sweater in honor of Mr. Rogers a few days ago. The sound of Trolley at the start of that YouTube clip brings me instantly back to about age 3 or 4 - my favorite Mr. Rogers moment was always when he fed the fish in his fishtank.

But, YouTube is so much more than fond childhood memories! One can really get lost in watching video after video, one leading into another, until an easy hour has gone by and you are left wondering where you started. I imagine this is how many people still feel after trying to find answers from the average google search. YouTube could be a way to record and make available events in the library such as author visits/talks, children's storytimes, and lectures. Then people who could not attend the event could still sort-of experience the program. One would have to obtain approval from the person being recorded of course.

At one of our library book discussion groups, a staff person found a YouTube clip of some sperm whales to share with the discussion group (Title that month was In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex). It was a wonderful and easy way to add another feature to the discussion. Another fun way library staff could use YouTube as part of a discussion group would be to show clips of whatever author is featured doing a reading or a lecture. I found a bunch of clips of one of my favorite authors Toni Morrison - I remember watching a video of her being interviewed when I was studying her writing in college and I found it facinating to hear her voice, tone and inflection, as she discussed works that I had been pouring over for months. What a great and easy addition to student research when one can simply find this type of thing on YouTube rather than (or in addition to) searching and submit ILL video requests. I'll have to look into how to correctly cite YouTube videos in a bibliography ... I'm sure this question will come up at the Reference Desk sooner rather than later!

Henrietta Pussycat, meow, Recommends, meow...

Week 8, I'm Late

Screencasts seem like a great idea for quick tutorials on how to use various aspects of LINKCat, online databases, or web tools that we get lots of questions about at the reference desk. How to sign up for a free email account is one common question that a screencast might help with. Then again, those patrons who ask for help setting up their first email account may not actually "get" a screencast and usually need some serious one-on-one time with a staff person. Especially confusing to many are the idea that someone else may have already taken the screen name they initially come up with. A close second cause of confusion are the image codes used to prevent spamming. But, I diverge...

I think screencasts would probably be most useful for patrons that are already at least a bit computer savvy and have interest enough in whatever the subject is to want to learn more about it themselves. How to place holds in LINKCat is one screencast I could see patrons viewing, especially if it explains that putting something on "my list" does not constitute a hold.

Where I really got to thinking about screencasts was for staff training and development. This could be a great tutorial tool for those learning to use Dynix or learning a new aspect of Dynix. They could watch a screencast and then have a couple of preset lessons to try out. Ahhhh...I remember the days before I instantaneously recalled what screens need a "q" versus a ".q". If a new staff member joined my Team and was not already familiar with things like adding posts to blogs or printing temp slips in Library Online, a quick screencast would be a handy resource. Creating some screencasts and making them very easily accessible would also be a nice resource if my library ever decided to do some cross-Team staffing or hire temporary/substitute staff to fill in desk shifts while others are on vacation or medical leave. Having screencasts that one could watch just before a shift to gain the basics of a Department (enough to cover a shift or two here and there) would save the time of comprehensive staff cross-training that would only be used once in a while.

An iDog For Me

Seriously, I think I'm going to pick up one of these since Sequoia doesn't groove around when I hit play on my mp3 player. I know he'll dance or change color depending on the type of music but I wonder how the iDog would react to a podcast of book reviews or various community radio shows? I'll report my findings at a later date...after I find one of these nifty little guys.

Podcasts were fairly new to me before I began this Project Play lesson. I realized after reviewing some of the suggested podcasts that I have, in fact, listened to podcasts before from OPAL on my PC - I just didn't realize that was the name for what I was listening to. Ah-ha moment! Now that I have been introduced to this larger world of listening, I am going to need even more time in my day. Wouldn't it be nice if Leap Year days could be designated for catch up on all of the reading, and listening, that one has gathered in the previous four years (or maybe four months is more reasonable!)

I am in awe of the huge variety of classes offered by Orange County Library System. I like that they have podcasts of their programs as well as a link to thier class on how to create your own podcast. I imagine such a class would be especially popular with our YA crowd. I also think classes and space to try podcasting, and other cool techie things, would be popular, relevant, and of interest to the retiring Baby Boom population.

Poke, Poke, You Owe Me A Coke (diet, that is)

I am on Facebook though it is not my first foray into joining a social networking site. You are welcome to poke me if you'd like (and no, you do not have to owe me a diet coke for me to be your friend but you do have to know my "real" name)! I think the first social networking site I ever joined was probably friendster about 5 or 6 years ago. But, lacking very many "real" friends, I grew bored quickly and ceased to check my account. I moved on to myspace a few years later and found more "real" friends, renewing some fun connections to people I knew back in elementary, middle, and high school. Myspace was fun for me...at least at first. Customizing my page with layouts in fun colors, themes, and photos and checking in to see what friends old and new had been up to and were doing with their pages was the most enjoyable aspect. However, the novelty soon wore off and my checking in and updating my account there soon dwindled. Now I probably log in once a week to check out anything new my friends have posted or changed their status to. The strangest thing for me about social networking sites are all of the requests to be "friends" with people who I do not know in real life or have any commonalities with.

At one point I was friends with a number of different libraries and library systems on myspace. I was curious how these libraries/systems were planning to connect with me and keep me interested in being their friend. With the exception of one library organization, these libraries didn't do anything to connect with me beyond our initial friend-making. I was hoping for blog posts, messages, status indicator updates, or bulletins. Anything that would draw me into looking at the library's page again or inform me of what the library was up to. That simply did not happen, though I did recieve lots of requests from authors wishing to be my friend. My feelings now after about a year of hearing mostly only silence from all my library "friends" is that if a library, library system, or organization chooses to create a myspace presence, they should commit the staff and time to keep thier friends' interest and get their message out through regular posts, bulletins, etc.

I do think it would be fun (and popular!) to offer a teen program at the library with the wireless lab to show off ways teens can "pimp" their myspace pages. One could even throw in some education about online safety/privacy once there is a captive audience. I know I've heard of other libraries doing such programming and it being very successful. What about you, readers, have you tried any programs like this?