Thing #17 - Adding to Linebaugh Library Wiki

I hope I added to our wiki correctly. I added the opening and closing procedures for Eagleville Library. I like the concept of our operation manuals being on a wiki. I think it will be very helpful to me during the times I am working at the Eagleville branch and performing some circulation tasks that I do not normally do at the Reference desk and don't know what I'm doing. Being able to access step-by-step instructions on the computer will be very handy. Maybe our library system could utilize the wiki tool for committee projects created during our annual "Barb Ford" meetings (i.e. the "Employee Recognition" committee).

Thing #18 - Google Docs

NEW YEAR'S EVE 1852

Picture this:

It is New Year's Eve 1852 and an ancestor sits at his desk by candlelight. He dips his quill pen in ink and begins to write his ten New Year's resolutions:

1. No man is truly well-educated unless he learns to spell his name at least three different ways within the same document. I resolve to give the appearance of being exremely will educated in the coming year.

2. I resolve to se to it that all of my children will have the same names that my ancestors have used for six generations in a row.

3. My age is no one's business but my own. I hereby resolve to never list the same age or birth year twice on any document.

4. I resolve to have each of my children baptized in a different church--either in a different faith or in a different parish. Every third child will not be baptized at all or will be baptized by an itinerant minister who keeps no records.

5. I resolve to move to a new town, new country, or new state at least once every 10 years--just before those pesky enumerators come around asking silly questions.

6. I will make every attempt to reside in counties and towns where no vital records are maintained or where the courthouse burns down every few years.

7. I resolve to join an obscure religious cult that does not believe in record keeping or participating in military service.

8. When the tax collectyor comes to my door, I'll loan him my pen, which has been dipped in rapidly fading blue ink.

9. I resolve that if my beloved Mary should die, I will marry another Mary.

10. I resolve not to make a Will. Who needs to spend money on a lawyer?

Does this sound like a resolution many of our ancestors made?

I needed to type this document up and submit it to Bill Patterson to publish in the Friends Newsletter, so I decided to do it on Google Docs. It worked perfectly.

Thing #16 - Wikis

I liked learning about wikis. I really liked the Subject Guide Wiki by St. Joseph County Public Library. It was very user-friendly and full of great information on the listed subjects. I could see our library setting up this type of wiki. I also enjoyed the BookLovers Wiki by Princeton Public Library. I would like to see our library set up a wiki like this. I liked it so much I was very tempted to add some reviews to the Romance section because there were only two listed (which I may still do). I also looked at the Bull Run Library wiki and was impressed with the overall setup and information, especially the section "Seen on the Web".

Thing #15 - Library 2.0

I have spent two days reading, and reading and doing some more reading on Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 and my non-technoligical brain crashed. Even though a lot of what was discussed in these articles went over my head, I agree with the basic importance of moving toward becoming a facility that provides Library 2.0 services. The article "Away from the Icebergs" brought up some very good points on "icebergs" that threaten progress toward becoming 2.0 libraries: just-in-case collections, user education, and "come to us" service. First, we will need to redefine our "library collection" (books vs. databases) and reallocate budget funds to accomodate a shift. Second, we need to evauluate how user-friendly our technology is because libraries are not staffed for teaching and training patrons how to use a computer. Third, we need to loose the concept "patrons come to us" for information and find new ways to bring our services to the patrons. I think it is a direction libraries need to plan for.

Thing #14 - Technorati

I explored it and did the Learning 2.0 search exercise. In my opinion, Technorati is a tool for someone who is really into blogging. I'm too new to blogs and blogging to get much out of this right now.

Thing #13 - Del.icio.us

Well I spent quite a bit of time on this exercise and even created an account with some bookmarks and tags. The usefulness of this tool has not surfaced for me yet. I think I need to play around with it some more.

Thing #12 - Rollyo

I played around with this for a little bit and personalized my account towards my interests and favorite websites. I like this consolidation factor and grouping concept. I'm not one to sit on the internet very long so this will cut down on the browse time.

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