All Tuned Up!

I have now completed all the tech tune-up sessions and feel really proud of myself for doing so! Thanks to the committee for putting this all together and encouraging the entire staff to participate. It's been fun! :)

A Different Kind of Bookmark!

This session on social bookmarking really opened my eyes to all the people out there who are using tools such as Delicious to organize their technology experiences. I found the podcast on Delicious very helpful since I wasn't understanding the concept of social bookmarking to begin with (a visual for me always helps)! I can truly see how using Delicious would be beneficial in organizing research once you understand the idea of tagging (just like labeling a file is so important for finding that file later). When I was looking around in our account, I found it very interesting to see how people tagged the same article--some used only one tag and others had maybe ten for the same article. This alone would be helpful for research assistance. I did not set up a Delicious account simply because I don't think I would use it enough for the social aspect and it would be too much work for just the bookmarking! However, I am cetainly glad I know what it is and can now add it to my "something to think about" technology notes. I would hope that our students are learning about these technology tools to aid them in their research tasks. Can the public libraries do more in getting the word out? I think so!

To Tweet or Not To Tweet...

Probably not! I have to say it was quite interesting learning about Twitter and what is involved, but it is kind of overwhelming to me right now. I do like how short and sweet the messages are, but I just don't get it! I'm not sure I would use this at all, but I do see how it could be helpful in a business or profession. I first looked at some of the top tweeters and then searched for librarians. I tried narrowing it down to children's librarians but there were no matches. I did set up an account and went down the list of suggestions on the left to add some followers to my account. I selected Borders, PBS, People, Libraries, some entertainment stuff, and then discovered my son's twittering and followed him. He actually was pleasantly surprised and he is now following me. I didn't realize that I would get Twitter notifications through my email (I guess I left that checked when setting up the account) and got a tweet from Ellen DeGeneres which was kind of cool! I'll have to play around with it more and maybe it will grow on me!

Virtual Fun

This session was a fun one as well. Previously, I had spent some time looking at many of the databases since I filled out the ResearchPro survey just a couple weeks ago. I honestly didn't think there really was a restaurant called Juan More Taco, but I'll have to look up Fremont, CA and find out where it's at--my son just moved to CA and maybe we'll check it out! I was also familiar with the HeritageQuest resource because my husband has been doing some research and has used it quite extensively. This time I looked up my grandparents (I had to go into the 1920 census) and found them on the 56th Precinct listing. At the time, it showed my grandparents had eight children, and my mother was 7 years old (they eventually had 14 kids!). I knew my grandfather was from Italy, but he was listed as not being able to read or write. I will go back and look for my father's family and since he was adopted, it will be interesting to see what I can find out.

I really enjoyed digging deeper into our library resources and thanks for having us do just that! For example, I wasn't even aware of the newsletter email function for "good reads in your inbox" and am truly impressed by all our website has to offer. I especially liked the favorite author list and will be requesting books in this way. I know I will definitely be using our website more and it will also help with assisting patrons. I am almost embarrassed that I wasn't aware of some of these things! :( I will be definitely using our web site and resources more!

Downloading Audiobooks

Again, this was something new to me, even though I enjoy listening to audiobooks from the library. I have never downloaded one, so I was anxious to see how this works. I really liked exploring LibriVox and ended up listening to Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (I thought it would be fun to re-visit that classic since it was a favorite of mine way back when). As with any audiobook, the reader does make a difference and this one was excellent with a wonderful British accent. I did look at Audible and was impressed by the myriad of books that are downloadable. I am definitely going to try to download one to my computer first, then to my iPod (great suggestion for walking my new puppy)! I'm not sure how much downloadable audiobooks would be used at the library, but making it available for patrons at home (just like Tumblebooks, etc.) might be an option.

IMing...

I have been IMing for a few years now, ever since my daughter went to college. I guess you could say it was a necessity if I ever wanted to communicate with her! I have to say, I am glad I learned how to use it and feel I couldn't so without IMing at home! I use AIM, but am familiar with Meebo and Pidgin since we did use those here at the library. I like having an AIM account for the YS department and feel we should use it more between/within departments--we just haven't made it a regular practice as yet. I really have not used it with friends or other family members, so I did invite a few friends to chat with through my gmail account. Only one responded and we thought it might be a good way for us to "chat" with our little social group who we see every month. So we're going to try it out and see how it goes!

Pondering Podcasting

I have never used or explored podcasting so this was all new to me. It was interesting to see how the libraries have used podcasting for sharing of stories, etc., but I kind of like our Tumblebooks audiobooks because of the visiual aspect of "seeing" and "hearing" the story, especially for little ones. I thought that using the podcast method for giving a tour of the library might work and I'm sure there are many other ways that podcasts would benefit the library setting. It did surprise me to see a listing of the libraries using podcasts, such as Moraine Valley Community College, as I would have thought some other larger libraries would use them more. I did find the Podcasting Tools site very informational and from there I did check out some fitness, book, humor, and news-type podcasts that I might enjoy. I would definitely need to spend more time exploring these. Podcast Alley was a little confusing to me (maybe because there was so much there), but I'm glad to now know what podcasting is and can at least talk about it!