pretty good

An elderly patron just told me that my library is a good one, and that she should know because she comes from Pittsburgh, where Andrew Carnegie started his public library efforts. Her grandmother came from the same town as him and often said: "He did all right for himself, for a blacksmith's son. Back in those days he couldn't afford a kilt, even if he had been entitled to wear one!" Truth be told, I'm not entirely sure what this means, but I love it when patrons share bits like this.

Reflecting on 27 Things

Looking back over the 27 Things excercise, my overwhelming feeling is one of gratitude. I've so appreciated having this little push to try out new technologies and things that I may have been curious about before, but often intimidated by. It has made me feel good, in that the system believes in the capabilities of its employees to learn and grow, and is encouraging us to think in new ways. It has sometimes made me feel breathless, at all the possibilities out there, and daunted thinking about what choices will have to be made to keep libraries relevant in this flood of new outlets and connection points.

My favorite part was looking at all these different technologies and coming up with creative ideas about how to use them with libraries. I enjoy the problem solving aspect of that, and look forward to finding ways to use these, not just in theory, in my work.

I would totally do this again, and hope to see simular programs in the future to update staff on what is new. Plus it is also really fun to connect with coworkers in a new way, by reading their blogs. I think it would be awesome of the staff directory had voluntary links to people's blogs, for those of us interested in building community. I kinda wish not so many people went annonmous, though I do understand why they did.

This was the most exciting and satisfying, plus intellectually stimulating thing we have been offered in a long time. I am glad I participated and that it was offered.

some books on mp3 I plan to download!

Diamond Dogs by Alan Watt
Peter and the Shadow Thieves by Dave Barry
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
The Beginner's Guide To Meditation by Shinzen Young
Going Postal by Terry Pratchett
Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett
Thud! by Terry Pratchett
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver
Twinkie, Deconstructed - My Journey to Discover How the Ingredients Found in Processed Foods Are Grown, Mined (Yes, Mined), and Manipulated Into What America Eats by Steve Ettlinger

Thinking about podcasting

I have some friends who love love love podcasts, and I have to admit, I am a skeptic. Partially this is because I am a very visual person, and while I can enjoy radio and audio things...for me there are best utilized when driving, when I have a limited number of things I can be doing at one time. And that time is usually filled up with audiobooks already!

Podcasts to me are one more layer of information, and personally I'm a bit overwhelmed already.

But on the plus side, it is a very personal direct way to share information and connect with others, which is very cool.

How could KCLS use this? I think the best use would be to have a series of interviews with various staff members about their jobs, what they do, or upcoming projects they are excited about. Stuff the public might find interesting, and would make us seem more transparent, and worthy of continuing support.

Video podcasts could be great for booktalks, storytimes, fingerplays, and special events, too!

Fly on the Wall - Booktalk

Here is an good example of how a booktalk could be shared online. Makes me think...I could do that!

Exploring YouTube

I've been a long time fan of YouTube, and am very excited by all the posibilities it has to offer. As someone who doesn't watch very much TV, but likes to stay in pop culture loops, it has proven invaluable for me to keep up with must-see events...such as Stephen Colbert's speech at the White House Correspondent's dinner, which I otherwise never would have seen.

My favorite thing to look up is music videos, such as the treadmill dance of OkOk and Christopher Walken dancing in Fatboy Slim's Weapon of Choice. Classic!

The one that has infected my brain the most, for the least reason is a pet store commercial for a place called Wet Pets. I love it!

How could YouTube be used at KCLS? The most obvious use to me, as a Teen Librarian, is for booktalking. Or special projects with teens. When I was a teen active in a library group, we made a short video of theatrical booktalks called 16 Minutes. To do this we had to enlist the help of a crew from the local PBS affilate. The only people who say these were kids in schools, and who knows where it is now. But today, it would be so easy to do that sort of project, with just a little equiptment and a few teens. So cool!

MTV discovers Wizard Rock!

Harry Potter Fandom Reaches Magical New Level Thanks To Wizard-Rock Bands

We had Harry and the Potters at Crossroads, and though I was skeptical going into it, they really won my over by the end of the show.

I love how this article talks about what good things can grow out of the books, ever after the series is over, and how these crazy little rock bands can help mobilize for positive change in the world, inspired by Harry Potter.

Don't forget...Harry and the Potters are at the Kirkland Performing Arts Center on July 8th!

Exploring brand new Web 2.0 sites

I really liked looking at Webware. Not only does it explore the concepts around developing 2.0 sites, and put them in a context, but it has a wide range of sites featured, from super techie - to silly, fun and useful.

I specifically explored the networking area, thinking it would give me good ideas for connecting with teens. But the one I found was kinda silly, but something I would totally use all the time if my telephone had the web technology needed for it.

MizPee is a site where people can list and rate public bathrooms. So if you are out and about and suddenly find yourself desperate to go, you can just log on and not only see the closest ones, but know which one is least likely to be disgusting our out of paper. Simple and a bit goofy...but some of the most basic essential problem solving I've seen one of these sites address.

And, why not put all your public library's bathrooms on it? We always talk about finding new ways to get patrons in...why not promote this service, in which we rarely brag, but almost always excel. Library loos are some of the best around! And people might come in for a quick visit, and discover just how much more we have to offer :)

Exploring Google Labs

I had not heard of this before, and had no idea that Google had so many irons in the fire! Very interesting stuff they are experiementing with. Here is what I explored:

Ride FinderFind taxis based on real life locations. Now, I don't use taxis very often, so perhaps I'm really not the target for this one. But I am curious what this could mean for the future of how we move about. Right now it is showing a Yellow Cab within a mile of my library. Are these all available cabs? Otherwise, who cares where they are. If it showed competing companies, and you lived in a more isolated area...it would be very good to know who had a cab closest. One time this would have really come in handy for me, was last summer in New Orleans. A friend and I took a cab out of the city to go see a movie. Getting back took hours, because we had no way of knowing which company had a cab near by. This tool on a portable device would have been a godsend.

Google SuggestI think this has been in place in the Google toolbar for some time. I really like it, and think it could be a handy feature for library catalogs, too. Even an expert searcher like me gets good ideas for keywords to use, and it doesn't get in the way of the search at all. I like it.

Google Music Trends: Could be a good way of keeping up with what teens and other patrons are listening to. I'm terrible about keeping up with pop music, so this could be handy.

Google Trends: Again, a good way to keep up with pop culture news, and see what is buzzing out there. The search function I didn't find so interesting, but the hot trends of the day are facinating.

I was also interested that Google, in the experiements section, is working on keyboard shortcuts. I confess, part of me misses the days when you could generally avoid using the mouse altogether...just for the speed factor as much as anything. This intregues me about as much as any of these other ideas!

Using online applications

Today I played with both Zoho's word processing program, and Google Docs. At first I felt a little uncertain about them, but by the end of the exercise, I was sold. This is so great for folks who can't afford to buy software, but want to be able to access their documents regardlessly. And I like the idea of group access to a document, though I'm not totally sure how that would work best.

Some of the ways I think this could be handy for a librarian:
1) working on booklists over time...being able to add books without having a disc handy
2) working on articles...can just add a bit at a time when a new thought comes to mind
3) working on booktalks...could have multiple librarians add their own variations
4) any ongoing project you need to take notes for.

I'm going to have to explore these further!

My thoughts on Library 2.0

I'll confess, when I first learned about the whole 2.0 thing, it really gave me a headache. I felt like I was back in library school, focusing on my least favorite part...the sections of theory that felt the most detatched from the actual experiences of users and the workings of libraries. The thing that has actually finally given me a greater feeling of competence with 2.0, is having to explain it to others over and over again. While I'm no master, I can at least articulate where it is reaching for. And I think that is the important thing, is to understand that this is an atmostphere of reaching, growing, and shaking of rigid approaches of the past, to strive for a fluidity of learning and communication unimaginable just a few short years ago. I love the user-centered attitude of it all, though I do hope the needs of staff are not overlooked in the race to aquire the most tech possible. While I'm very excited about the user-focus of 2.0, I have to admit, reading about 3.0 and 4.0 just brought my headache back.

Exploring custom search engines

So, I'm trying out the custom search engines (Rollo and Google Custom Search Engine), and so far I can't see how this is terribly adventageous over a well worded google search. Between the two, I prefer Google's for it simplicity and speed. Rollo just feels too clunky, and has too many intrusive ads for me.

At GCSE I put together a search for Things to Do In Seattle. Useless for general things like "music" but more interesting results for something like "root beer". I'll have to play with this more to see how it goes.

But my impression right now is a well worded search in a broad engine will ge one further...

silly fun

This week's assignment was basically to have some fun and get caught up. Using this South Park Generator, I made this:

Wiki exploration

It is interesting to me to look at wiki's in this point in time. They very much feel like basic websites did when I was in library school...brimming with potential, but still a bit clunky.

I explored the Book Lovers Wiki at the Princeton Public Library. The best part of this wasn't so much the execution of it, but the fact that they are having an adult summer reading program...with prizes! Hooray for that :)

I've used the ALA conference wikis before, and think they too are off to a good start...but since everything is done by volunteers and not actually assigned to people (so far) there can be pretty big gaps in content. Still, it is way more helpful than the magazine version, since you can pop out to links to attractions, restaurants, etc...so easily.

The Library Instruction Wiki seems really useful, for those of us who teach classes in libraries. I think most people don't see a need to re-invent the wheel everytime, so being able to access these resources could be a real godsend.

I think a booktalk wiki would be really helpful for teen librarians. Maybe we can change over our clunky database on the Intranet to this new format?

homeless in libraries

There is an excellent commentary in the Los Angeles Times from yesterday about homeless folks in libraries.

This reminds me of a woman who came up to me at the reference desk last month and told me there was a homeless person in their car in the parking lot. "Are they doing anything wrong?" I asked. "No" she said. And I told her to let me know if they were, and I would be happy to deal with it. I hope I made my point nicely enough. She mumbled something about them all coming over from Seattle (as if Bellevue would never create the circumstances that put people on the streets) and got on a computer.

Cities that have tracked chronically homeless people estimate that a typical transient can cost taxpayers $20,000 to $150,000 a year.

I wish more people could understand that if we take care of each other better to begin with, it will save the communities (both dollars and heart) in the long run.

LibraryThing exploration

I've been resisting trying this out, as I was afraid I would lose hours and hours of time to it. Will have to see how the weekend plays out ;)

It certainly is really easy to use, and I could see it being a great book recommendation tool, since you see what other people who have your books like, too.

But at the same time, I've been trying to limit my possessions, and cutting down on books is a big part of this. I really feel that I don't need books I can easily get from the library...especially when there are always at least 300 books on my list of things I'm interested in reading! In a way, LibraryThing could be helpful here...because it could make me question if I want to be recognized as the sort of person who owns particular books ;)

I'll have to play with this one more at home, for sure.

Oh...I forgot to post my mini-catalog

Del.icio.us exploration

I'm excited about del.icio.us, but a bit nervous to dip my toes in, too. But I do like the idea of using this with groups of kids for specific purposes...the most immediate one to my life would be in posting a booklist of everything discussed by my bookgroup, so the teens could refer to them quickly. I could even do this during the meeting!

I like the idea of using it to organize recipes, but I will resist using it for this purpose in my own life, as I have WAY too many recipes floating around already.

Some of the articles were very helpful for imagining new uses too. I'll definitely have to play with this more.

a very exciting teen area

I would love to see something this exciting done at our Bellevue Branch!

MySpace and I

I've had MySpace accounts for some time now...I won't claim to be an early innovator, but my branch was one of the first to have a space for our TeenZone, and I've had a private account before that. I find MySpace to be kind of fun, but I confess there are a few issues I have with the whole social networking thing. First, I find it dizzying how quickly the trends occur, and how frustrating it can be to try and keep up! Also, I find the whole collecting friends thing to be a bit weird. I have no problem friending people I know, or adding local teens to my branch's page...but when total strangers try and friend me, I find that just weird! And that makes me feel old ;)

Here is the Lake Hills TeenZone MySpace page.

how Wii works

Does your branch have a Wii as part of their Game On program? Ever wondered just how it works? Popular Science has an explanation here.

Voluntary Mortification - teen diaries read aloud!

My co-worker Darcy shared this article about adults who are voluntarily stepping foward to read from their teen writings...diaries, letters, etc. Nowdays teens often post their diaries on the internet for everyone to read, so it is interesting to think about what used to be our darkest secrets, and how they look now.

Did you write much as a teen?

teen slang

Ok, so this is according to the Guardian, "language of the MySpace generation". From my experience with teens, once books get to the newspapers, they are seriously gone already from their vocabulary, but who knows...perhaps some of these haven't drifted from England to us yet :)

Something I'm proud of...

Here is a article featured on the Diamond Comics website about the committee I had the honor of chairing for its maiden year: YALSA Honors Graphic Novels with 2007 Recommendations. It was a great experience working with this committee, and I got to read a ton of terrific books (ok, and some lousy ones too ;)

If you ever want a recommendation for a graphic novel, just ask!

Learning about RSS feeds

I confess, I sorta knew what these were before, but really hadn't utilized them much. I just set up a Google Reader account last month, but so far I like Bloglines better. I've always been frustrated with how hard it is to keep track of people's blogs, but this makes it super easy to keep track of all sorts of stuff. I can see this being handy in all sorts of ways, both for my personal and professional life. I love it!

fun with flickr mashups

my trading card
Originally uploaded by DawnOfTheRead.

I went ahead and made my own trading card. I just realized it has been years since that picture was taken now! I feel old :(

I've also been trying to figure out how to post to flickr with my cell phone, but apparently I haven't gotten that down yet.

There are so many flickr related applications out there...I had no idea. Unfortuantely, I couldn't get a lot of them to work, and many of them didn't seem terribly useful to me, but I would love to hear about people's favorites.

Summer Reading Commercial

I would love to start doing this sort of thing for KCLS!

Golden Compass toys!

Check it out: Golden Compass toys based on the upcoming movie.

TeenZone @ Lake Hills

TeenZone
Originally uploaded by DawnOfTheRead.

For 27 Things, one of the things we have to do is use a flickr account. I confess, I've had one for a while, but never really learned how to use it. I'm really excited to be figuring it out now. It is a lot easier than I realized, and a great place to share information.

Brand new blog about books, libraries, teens and more!

Hello everyone!

I'm starting this new blog as part of the 27 Things project for my library system, but also to have a place to talk about all the great books I've been reading, too...and anything else I can think of that might be of interest to my fellow libarians and the teens in my community :)

Hooray!