What's next

The fall TV season has started and I'm learning how to tape from my VCR with the new digital cable services I have. Another technical challenge that is much more frustrating than it needs to be. All of the shows I like are on at the same time! And of course there are football games to watch too (Go Bucks!).

This week marks the anniversary of the Longmeadow Horse Rescue's saving horses bound for slaughter. These poor creatures were involved in a tractor trailer accident on the interstate. Many horses died horribly but many were saved and fostered. I have supported Sweetie but I love the hinny, Bazonka Donk who looks very handsome now.

Thing 23-Satisfaction guaranteed

Well, like many of you, I made it and the exciting thing for me is that I am ready to go on to more things in Library 2.1. When I first heard about Library 2.0 last year, I figured it was for the most technically savvy generation of 20 and 30 somethings (or Teens). I am pleasantly surprised that with patience and perserverance I could learn about social networking, new methods of communicating, share some of my interests and knowledge, and have fun doing it. I am among the staff who started working here before computers. Do any of you remember the TWXIL(sp?) machine in General Reference for ILL? I am proud to have created this blog without outside help, through trial and error, a bag of M&M peanuts, and a desire to go on with it. Once Michele Mellor showed me the blog template, I was on my way.

My goal has been to logically and methodically go through the exercises and blog about them. I easily could have gotten carried away with the image generators which seem to be not only popular but also fun to create and post. As you can see, I have them too. I couldn't help myself. However, I wanted to have an understanding that I could build upon with each exercise in order to see where this use of technology would lead me and help in my job here at the Library. I hope I have done that and that others will enjoy reading and clicking on things but learn something too from my blog. I plan to continue to tinker with it in coming weeks and make sure the layout and widgets are where I want them, etc.

One of my favorite things to do has been Library Thing and I will continue to add books I am reading there. I would like to add a few book reviews or comments to my entries. I also want to work on my tags. I like the concept of tags and being able to search by popular terms or similar concepts. I think we could reach more users by adopting this kind of technology in our library catalog. I will definitely use my bloglines account and follow the RSS feeds. I am glad to know about Technorati and Podcasts but will need to play around more with them to see what library applications might occur to me. I blogged about my interests in Wikis and definitely like the ability to create and edit entries that are shared work. What was the hardest? Believe it or not--posting the Bloglines widget to my blog!

Thing 22- Net Library and Digital Library Reserve

This was probably the easiest "thing" for me since selecting electronic content is one of the tasks I work with regularly here at YPL. Net Library has over 2,000 titles available to us but the titles are more reference in nature. To be honest, I am more excited about our new Gale Virtual Reference Library than Net Library. One of our primary vendors, Recorded Books, uses the Net Library platform but costs for downloadable audio from them (based on our population served) is very prohibitive. The exciting thing about electronic formats is that it is constantly evolving. Once Overdrive (our provider of digital content) added downloadable audio and many publishers started to come on board, the selection has grown. Since many of you are reading our blogs and are not aware of the eBooks service featured on the frontpage our library homepage, please check it out. Our catalogers add titles regularly to our library catalog. Since we order online from Overdrive and titles are added once we hit the "submit" button, the eBook site is updated the day the order is placed. Did you know that we have simultaneously released audio titles that are hardcover bestsellers? Nora Roberts, High Noon, is one such title. James Patterson's books are constantly being replaced in hardcover and paperback. Check our electronic holdings. We have Patterson in all formats. It is important to know about the library's digital content and to use it in reader's advisory service. Many titles on our purchase alerts are available without holds in electronic format. It is interesting that the selection of romance titles is comprehensive. There is better selection in nonfiction than in the past. One thing to remember as you explore this exercise is to know that not all authors want to relinquish digital rights to their books. Classics and books in the public domain are more readily available. Overdrive has started to provide music and video content this past year. At this point, I am still looking at the content of their selections since in music it is mainly classical and in films it is not the feature films that are so popular with our DVD users. But as with the books, the content will grow. Movie studios need to get on board. What is so great about this? We own the content forever and it is hosted on Overdrive servers in Cleveland; the "books" are never missing or stolen; no one has to re-shelve them; we don't run out of room to shelve them; patrons and staff can reserve the titles. It is my hope that those who complete their 23 Things will use their MP3 players to download electronic content and tell their friends about this wonderful service.

More on Podcasts

I can see where Podcasts would be useful to our Library patrons to promote Library events, to describe a procedure like creating one's library account or instructions for Search Ohio, or even promoting books through reviews patrons can listen to. Since there are different learning styles, those individuals who learn best by listening could benefit from this kind of service.

Thing 21-Podcasts

I have to say that I was expecting to find a lot of interesting podcasts using these directories and/or going to my favorite sites and looking at the podcast logos. I looked at Podcast.net and Yahoo Podcasts. Using Yahoo I played around and searched some topics; I learned that I can add podcasts through my Yahoo account but I followed the instructions to add to my Bloglines account-- http://www.bloglines.com/public/sleuth . When I went to one of my favorite sites--NPR I located no less than 504 podcasts there! I added some music podcasts and of course, Nancy Pearl's book reviews. Two big interests of mine--music and books.

YouTube--Thing 20

I have had an account with YouTube for about a year now and went to the site to see what the buzz was all about; I realized that some of those silly videos family and friends sent to my home email originated on YouTube and got a life of their own. There is talent out there and there are are lousy videos too. Like the other social networking sites, YouTube allows anyone to show their creativity. The tagging and searching features tie in to what we've been learning. I continued to follow YouTube after Barbaro's passing because mourning fans created some lovely tributes to him. The Hennegan brothers also posted some of their footage of First Saturday in May on YouTube before the screening at film festivals this past Spring.