I had a few problems setting up my account on Bloglines...fortunately on of my fellow staff members had done the 23 Things the first time around and was able to help me through the problem I was having. Actually it was as simple as trying to load my HTML code into the wrong place. Now I'll remember that that section is there. Hopefully as I work through this getting used to using my Blog will become easier.
Once I had it set up it was actually pretty easy to find a lot of feeds to add to my Blog. I can see, that like bookmarks, this will be a really easy place to keep links to a variety of websites in one place. The convenience is fantastic!
I haven't tried to add fellow Thingers blogs yet but will try that next and update my posting as to my luck on that...
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Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Thing 2: What is Library 2.0?
What to talk about for this thing...the ideas are currently running rampant! Some of the ideas presented would be ideal for our system to implement to truly make our system "relevant to what people want and need in their daily lives". What does this mean for me and how can 23 Things help?
I can see 23 Things getting me involved hands-on in what the younger generation is working with every day and that myself and my co-workers need to learn to be able to keep up with what they want and need to see in our libraries in the upcoming years. We need to look at the way we do business in entirely different ways from the "Marian the Librarian" model. We need to be out there working with them one on one and not just in the stacks but through all those technologies that are part of their everyday lives.
I need to start understanding all the tools that are out there and learn how to use them. I also have the responsibility to help my staff start to understand the multitude of options that are out there for us to reach our patrons. I know this will be an uphill battle as many of them are of the baby boomer generation that are barely just hanging on in understanding what they do day to day.
I look at our library's website and see that we need to make it more exciting and interactive. Right now, at least to my eye, it's pretty dismal. There needs to be more exciting graphics, more links to outside information and places for patrons to create personalized library lists, such as Hennepin County does with their Bookspace. We need to work on doing more online reference, answer questions via texting and in general make ourselves more accessible to more people in more ways. Where to start when you're a lowly Circulation Supervisor? At this point I'm not sure but hope 23 Things will give me more insight into what I can even suggest we do.
One piece of one of the articles that made an impact was that we need to see the Library is Human! We need to make the library a social and emotionally engaging center for learning and experience.
I can see 23 Things getting me involved hands-on in what the younger generation is working with every day and that myself and my co-workers need to learn to be able to keep up with what they want and need to see in our libraries in the upcoming years. We need to look at the way we do business in entirely different ways from the "Marian the Librarian" model. We need to be out there working with them one on one and not just in the stacks but through all those technologies that are part of their everyday lives.
I need to start understanding all the tools that are out there and learn how to use them. I also have the responsibility to help my staff start to understand the multitude of options that are out there for us to reach our patrons. I know this will be an uphill battle as many of them are of the baby boomer generation that are barely just hanging on in understanding what they do day to day.
I look at our library's website and see that we need to make it more exciting and interactive. Right now, at least to my eye, it's pretty dismal. There needs to be more exciting graphics, more links to outside information and places for patrons to create personalized library lists, such as Hennepin County does with their Bookspace. We need to work on doing more online reference, answer questions via texting and in general make ourselves more accessible to more people in more ways. Where to start when you're a lowly Circulation Supervisor? At this point I'm not sure but hope 23 Things will give me more insight into what I can even suggest we do.
One piece of one of the articles that made an impact was that we need to see the Library is Human! We need to make the library a social and emotionally engaging center for learning and experience.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Thing #1 Set Up Your Blog
Whew got all of those new email accounts set up. I was suprised at how easy it actually was to work through those processes. I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks! The instructions are very easy to follow and I think I could tell a patron with confidence it is very easy to set up a free internet e-mail account.
The blog was fairly easy too. Very straightforward to work through. I can't believe I've got a blog of my own. I've heard people talk about them (mostly teens) but never thought I would have one of my own. Other than completing the 23 things I can't see how I will be using the blog very much in everyday life but this experience will be very useful to learn a lot of new tech kinds of things. I always thought of myself as fairly computer savvy but see there are a million things out there I wasn't aware of...
Creating the Avatar was fun. I can see how that could be very addicting and how teens could spend hours on this kind of thing. Now I know why they spend so much time at the library on our internet stations.
I know I will need to learn how to fully utilize my blog in the coming couple of months. Right now I'm just trying to get a grasp on the whole experience. But then I've always said I want to be open to mind expanding excercises.
The blog was fairly easy too. Very straightforward to work through. I can't believe I've got a blog of my own. I've heard people talk about them (mostly teens) but never thought I would have one of my own. Other than completing the 23 things I can't see how I will be using the blog very much in everyday life but this experience will be very useful to learn a lot of new tech kinds of things. I always thought of myself as fairly computer savvy but see there are a million things out there I wasn't aware of...
Creating the Avatar was fun. I can see how that could be very addicting and how teens could spend hours on this kind of thing. Now I know why they spend so much time at the library on our internet stations.
I know I will need to learn how to fully utilize my blog in the coming couple of months. Right now I'm just trying to get a grasp on the whole experience. But then I've always said I want to be open to mind expanding excercises.
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