Living and Learning

Underground Railroad Quilt Code Sampler Quilt 003

2009-09-23T13:42:00.001-04:00

Underground Railroad Quilt Code Sampler Quilt 003
Originally uploaded by quita_schillhammer

The Underground Railroad used quilts that contained messages for refugee slaves.

Downloading an eAudiobook to my new MP3 Player

2009-01-12T09:58:00.002-05:00

Well, after some trail and error I have successfully managed to download a book to my new MP3 Player. Registering and charging up the device was pretty straightforward. However, I ran into some problems trying to use the instructions that came with the Player in order to download my book.
In the end, I found it much easier just to link to the Overdrive Media icon that I had already installed on my computer. From there it was simple to just click on the "transfer" button to transfer the book I had already downloaded from the CCLS ecatalog.
Then I just had to figure out how to turn the Player on! After re-reading the instructions I realised that I had to hold down the play button until the unit lit up.
I am pleasantly surprised by the audio quality on my new Micro-Clip MP3 player; this is my first experience in owing such a device. I was also surprised by the tiny size of the device. It will obviously be very easy to use this when traveling etc.
Now I just have to figure out how to download some of my favorite music to my Player.

Thing #23 !

2009-01-08T12:11:00.002-05:00

Well, it looks like I finally made it to the end of this journey. I was more than a little dubious of my success at the start of this adventure due to my relatively little experience with technology. Sure, I knew how to access various web sites and send and receive emails and I was an expert at online shopping! However, RSS feeds, social networking sites, mashups,wikis and the like were all new to me.
Getting a late start on the project was also a little daunting but I was determined to see it through and just took the "one step at a time" approach to it. Valuable help was offered by another staff member, Sue V., who helped me through the stages of "adding a gadget" to my blog. Once I had mastered this aspect of blogging there was no stopping me. Why did I find this so difficult in the first place? I guess it was just the number of steps that I needed to take in order to successfully save and add a particular gadget. It all seems so simple now!
This is the most valuable lesson that I have learned from this exercise; ask for help if you are having trouble understanding new technology; we cannot be expected to just pick this all up at the drop of a hat; especially if we were not lucky enough to be part of the generation of people that seem to be born knowing how to program a computer!
One of my favorite discoveries on this journey was the flickr web site. As you can see I had great fun using the wonderful images on this site to decorate my blog. Another surprising thing was the RSS newsfeeds that I added to my blog. It continues to amaze me that the news headlines are magically updated for me on a regular basis; I am connected to the "outside" world even though I may be working away on my blog.
One of the most surprising outcomes of blogging was the realisation that others were actually reading my blog. I had not expected to receive comments from anyone other than family or staff members. This had led me to realise that blogging is probably not for me. I prefer to actually know who it is I am communicating with rather than corresponding with an anonymous person known only by a screen name.
Over all this was a great experience for me although time consuming at some points. I now have a much greater level of confidence in my technological capabilities and feel that I am much more equipped to help my library patrons with this new aspect of our lives.

Thing #22 Downloading an Audiobook

2009-01-08T11:23:00.004-05:00

Downloading an audiobook proved to be a lot easier than I had previously thought; although this may be due to my increased confidence in dealing with technology! I must make a confession here and say that I was completely unfamiliar with the emedia catalog of the CCLS. The introduction to emedia was very helpful and easy to follow. I ran into a small glitch when trying to install the required softwear; it seemed that I needed to upgrade Windows MediaPlayer security, however, this was quickly rectified after following the instructions that appeared on screen.
When browsing the emedia catalog I was a little confused because I could not see how to place an item in my cart. I finally realised that this was because the item I was attempting to check out was already "circulating". A due date does not seem appear in the emedia catalog; we are simply instructed to place a hold on an item that is currently "out".
I really liked the option of listening to a brief excerpt of an item that I may be interested in on the emedia catalog. This helped me to make a selection of an item. I think we probably would all agree that the narrator of a book plays a huge part in maintaining our interest in listening to it. I finally found an interesting book that was available to check out;" Absolute Fear "by Lisa Jackson. Ironically the title of this book could be used to describe my state of mind when first perusing the exercises that I was expected to perform to successfully complete these 23 Things!
I was also surprised to note that this book will take over 14 hours to listen to. I wonder how long it would actually take me to read the paper version? It is not something I have thought about before. At the moment I do not have a device on which I can download an audiobook (something that I hope to obtain soon!) so I think that it is probably unrealistic to believe that I will have the time or inclination to sit in front on my computer for a total of 14 hours listening to this book. Even so, it is fun to know that I now have a book on my computer that I can browse at any time.

red and gold baubles

2008-12-18T19:19:00.001-05:00

red and gold baubles
Originally uploaded by KarenSaraGaches

I am not expecting to be able to add a new post to my blog for the next several days due to Christmas obligations. Here is another wonderful image from flickr to decorate my blog for the holidays.

Podcasts - Become Your Own Television Station! Thing # 21

2008-12-17T11:55:00.003-05:00

Here is a podcast feed from Arizona State University entitled "The Library Channel" that I found on Podcastalley.com. I obviously couldn't resist adding this to my post today!
This is yet another thing that could work in our library system. Just think; we could make podcasts available of the many authors and speakers that we have visiting us here in the library. Not to mention the many other programs that people may be interested in attending but don't always have the time to. Instead they could download the podcast and listen/watch it at a time of their own convenience.
This is another one of those sites that could eat up hours of your time!

Having fun with YouTube Thing # 20

2008-12-15T10:47:00.004-05:00

I found this site to be addictive! You could stay here for hours and peruse video clips for almost anything you could think of.
Here is an interesting (and short) clip from someone who gives advice on how to find mystery books to read online:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AE7XG2pAls

I enjoyed watching the library services video clips from Coatesville Library. Having never had the chance to visit this library it was interesting to see what they had to offer. I think all libraries in the Chester County Library System would benefit from having similar postings on YouTube. After all, we all offer our own unique services to our different communities. For instance, we have a wonderful children's library complete with it's own story time room, aquarium and a bank of computers especially set up for children.
One of the most unique programs we offer here is "Reading with Animals" that involves having real live animals in the library! This would make a really fun and interesting posting for YouTube.

Rainbow Books

2008-12-14T13:11:00.001-05:00

Rainbow Books
Originally uploaded by bluemarla

Another wonderful photograph from Flickr. Not sure I would have the patience to do this with my own collection of books.

Winter Scene

2008-12-12T12:27:00.001-05:00

Winter Scene
Originally uploaded by Chesil

Couldn't resist "decorating" my blog with some more images from flickr! These photos are so much better than my own attempts at photography.

Thing #19 Do we really need to Twitter?

2008-12-12T12:05:00.002-05:00

About social networking sites and libraries: As all of our patrons (especially the younger ones) are using technology more and more on a daily basis, libraries must offer them what they are looking for. After all, we offer audiobooks, movies, softwear etc. in an effort to appeal to a wide group of users.
To encourage more teen library users we must appeal to them at their own level. We would all like to see more teens actually checking out a book now and then but actually getting them into the library in the first place is a good start. Having teens in the library, within arms length of interesting books can be nothing but a good thing.
The WCPL MySpace page was impressive. The fact that someone can access their library record, link to their school web site, receive homework help and network with their friends all in the same place is amazing.
This brings me to Twitter. OK I have to admit that I just do not "get it". Do my friends/family really have a need to know that I just had a cup of tea while watching the evening news? Must we be "connected" at all times? If I am going to take the time to write to someone I think I would have something a little deeper to say which would probably take up more than 140 characters. However, judging by the popularity of this site I am obviously missing the appeal; maybe it is just my age!

Thing # 18 Discovery!

2008-12-11T13:45:00.002-05:00

Just spent some time learning about an organizational site called Backpack. Here is the link if you want to peruse it:http://www.backpackit.com/tour

I watched all the video tour clips and found them very impressive. It seems like having a Backpack account is almost like having a very technologically advanced kind of day-planner! You can create pages, add photos and maps, upload existing files, create a company or individual calender ( we all need this one!) and even have an online message board for your employees.
I think this is a great tool for businessess that have many employees and companies that need to continually keep in touch with their employees and customers.
This may be useful for larger libraries that employ a lot of staff who are not always at the library at the same time due to part-time hours and/or travel schedules.
The message board seemed like a valuable option for sending and exchanging information with others. Instead of sending individual emails out to everyone, people just check in to the message board and can read and respond to news and comments at their convenience.
This site seems to encompass a lot of what we have been learning about so far on our discovery of the 23 things. It takes information from varied sites such as Google Maps and incorporates it into it's own format. The only thing that worries me is what happens if the system crashes? Will we all remember what we are supposed to be doing that day?

OK - Here we are at Google Docs.

2008-12-08T12:21:00.003-05:00

OK, here we are at Google Docs. As with Zoho Writer the formatting bar seems to be simplified as compared to the one on the new Word program. I also see the 'share' button prominently displayed in the upper right hand corner. I believe this is what I need to click on to publish this document to my blog. I can see how this type of word processing application would be useful for work purposes and for bloggers. However, I need to explore further to find how this application will work for those people such as college students who need to insert headers and footers, page numbers etc.

OK, I see this kind of information is available under the 'insert' tab; this took me about 30 seconds to discover. As a new user of both Zoho Writer and Google Docs. I am pleasantly surprised by their simplicity and ease of use.

Follow-up Post: Publishing this document to my blog was not quite as easy to accomplish as it was on Zoho Writer. I had to click on the 'help' button to find out how to do it but after that it was relatively simple.

Thing #17 Zoho Writer

2008-12-08T11:57:00.002-05:00

So far I am loving Zoho Writer! It was so easy to use and surprisingly simple to add the document to my blog. I think having an existing gmail account made things easier because once I entered my email address and password they just knew this blog existed somehow. I intend to explore the Google word processing program next.

Zoho Writer Thing # 17

2008-12-08T11:55:00.002-05:00

This is my first attempt at using Zoho Writer so please excuse any errors! I am really interested in learning about this new word processing application as we have just switched to the new Word 2007 program at home and at work and I am having some problems working with it. I don't think it is as 'user friendly' as the old program; especially for someone like myself who just wants to create a simple document without necessarily needing all the bells and whistles that seem to appear at the top of my screen on Word.

I am also excited about seeing if I can really manage to send this document directly to my blog. We shall see!

New RSS Feed Added

2008-12-05T20:55:00.001-05:00

Today I decided to add another RSS feed to my Blog. This time it is from the New York Times website. I must admit it was a lot easier to accomplish the second time around.

#16 Playing with wiki's

2008-12-04T15:59:00.002-05:00

Today I had some fun with the CCLS23things Wiki page. The instructions were pretty simple to follow but I had a problem with trying to figure out exactly where my favorite book comments needed to go. Eventually I just added a comment to the bottom of the page. Hopefully someone will let me know if that is not the place for them! I intend to visit this wiki again to check on the new posts/edits.

Thing #15 Wiki Mania!

2008-12-02T14:23:00.002-05:00

It was fun to find out the true meaning of Wiki (quick in Hawaiian). I had always wondered where this word originated from!
I particularly enjoyed reading some of the entries on the Library Success wiki. There seemed to be some helpful sharing of information that would be of use in many libraries. It is almost as if you have hundreds of librarian friends instead of just a few!
It was interesting to note that the Library Success wiki had obviously been having some difficulty with vandalism because they now require you to give an email address in order to submit/edit an entry. This would be my major concern about obtaining information from wiki's; can the source be trusted? In fact one of my son's college professors prohibits his students from using Wikipedia due to this very concern.
It seems as if wiki's need to have some kind of permanent overseer in order to safeguard the site in some way. Obviously a full-time job for someone!
I also found the Bull Run Library wiki interesting although it obviously revolved around that particular library and the events/news going on there.
I see this particular wiki concept as something that could be useful to the libraries here in Chester County. At the moment most of us have our own web-sites which give our patrons library information. However, it might be really interesting to allow our patrons to post their own thoughts and responses to programs and events rather than having them send us an individual email.
This would also encourage patrons to interact with one another. For example, the children's library could have its own wiki which allows parents to share information about books that their children have particularly enjoyed and which ones to avoid etc. To deal with the concern of wiki vandalism we could allow access to the site only to those who have a Chester County library card such as we do now with PowerLibrary home access.

Having fun with Creating Images

2008-11-29T12:20:00.002-05:00

Now that I have caught up with the rest of you guys I decided to have some more fun creating another ALA mini-reads poster. The original photograph was sent to me by my daughter who lives in Brooklyn. She was passing a work-site when she came across this sign that had been placed near the chain link fence by someone who obviously was trying to educate the residents of Brooklyn.
Only in New York!

Thing #14 Why Library 2.0 ?

2008-11-28T21:13:00.002-05:00

The Wikipedia entry for Library 2.0 contained a few sentences that really stood out to me. They refer to an argument against the project by someone called Walt Crawford. Mr. Crawford believes that Library 2.0 incorrectly places libraries as the appropriate source for users to gather information. Well, if libraries are not the appropriate sources to gather information what is? As library staff we must attempt to meet the growing demands of our patrons who are ( like everyone else) increasingly using technology in their daily lives.
Thus, I absolutely agree with the blog by David Lee King that Library 2.0 is useful in many respects but the most important one may be that we must be able to understand what our patrons are talking about when they approach us for help in using these net-based information systems. It is time we all learned this new "language".

Technorati Thing #13

2008-11-26T11:57:00.002-05:00

Searching for Library 2.0 in blogs returned 761 results for me including some in German and French. I guess I need to find out how to limit results to English only! Most of these results did seem to be Library related in some way.
When I searched under posts I netted 401 tagged results for Lib. 2.0. There seemed to be a large amount of posts (tags) by a blogger named mstephens7 who appears to be a librarian or someone intrigued by libraries and who has too much time on their hands! Many of these posts appeared to have some vague connection to libraries but not 2.0 in particular.
Todays popular blogs and tags appear to revolve around politics with much chat about the new Obama administration and (not surprisingly) technology. In fact the top blog for today was The Huffington Post followed by Gizmodo the Gadget Guide! Just in time for Christmas!

Delicious Thing# 12

2008-11-25T19:15:00.003-05:00

I can see that this site could be a very useful tool in research for teachers and college students etc. However, it seems like it would take some time to really get to know how to use this site to its best advantage. Just playing around with it for a while seemed to take me in many different directions. I intend to visit here again with one subject in mind which may actually help with my understanding of this site.

Schools out!

2008-11-25T17:02:00.003-05:00

Today I learned that many area schools are already out for the Thanksgiving Holiday. It seemed as if most of the students decided to visit the library today and get stocked up on DVD's to watch over the holidays. We were really busy; I must have checked out about 4 dozen DVD's between 9.30 and 1pm today!

Library Thing #11

2008-11-24T16:10:00.001-05:00

Wonderful site that catalogs all your favorite books. I read the Enid Blyton series of books as a young girl and was surprised to see that they still exist!

http://www.librarything.com/addbooks

Link for creating your own mini ALA READS poster

2008-11-24T16:02:00.001-05:00

http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/hqops/publishing/graphics/READ_Mini_Posters.cfm

Playing around with online image generator Thing #10

2008-11-24T15:56:00.001-05:00

After all the hassle I had with the RSS Feeds it was a pleasure to create this mini-poster for ALA Reads.

RSS Feeds Success! Thing# 9

2008-11-24T15:13:00.003-05:00

Check out sidebar for RSS Feed that I added today- headlines from MSNBC.

RSS Feeds create a headache! Thing# 8

2008-11-24T11:46:00.003-05:00

Today I have been struggling with adding some RSS feed links to my blog. Still have not figured out how to do this but I have subscribed to many news and political feeds via RSS Feeds on the Google website. I found myself going around in circles on the Bloglines site even though I successfully set up an account there. I intend to work on this problem later today and together with my faithful trainer Sue V. I'm sure we can figure out how to add this information to my blog. I have the feeling that I am missing one simple link!

Fall Leaves and Winter Snow

2008-11-22T16:02:00.002-05:00

Today I learned that I should have finished raking the leaves last week! The unexpected snow that we had yesterday really does not go well with leaf raking.
Perhaps the weather will return to fall later in the week and I can finally get all those leaves off my lawn.

Thing #7

2008-11-21T09:38:00.002-05:00

As a comparative newcomer to the world of technology, I am astounded by what is out there! It really is a whole new world. The frustrating thing is, it doesn't always work the way it is supposed to!
This week I discovered Flickr and tried to download a photo from the site; it seemed as if I was going around in circles and getting nowhere until I discovered a photo that showed the "blog this" icon above it. This was the key!
Once I had linked my blog to the Flickr site it was a piece of cake!
Looking forward to learning more (and probably having to tear my hair out again when I can't figure out where I have gone wrong).

Trading Card Thing# 6

2008-11-21T09:25:00.002-05:00

Trading Card
Originally uploaded by janetthomas74

Today I learned how to create a trading card using Flickr Mashups. Here's the first in my series!

A Rose is just a Rose. Thing# 5

2008-11-20T12:14:00.003-05:00

A Rose is just a Rose.
Originally uploaded by min51

Today I spent about an hour trying to figure out how to download an image to my Blog. Hopefully this lovely picture of a rose will soon appear on my Blog page!

I discovered that Flickr is a great site for obtaining a host of wonderful images. I am attempting to download a photo from my own daughter's Flickr page but not having a lot of luck. Looks like I will have to attend another training session for help with this one!

Thanksgiving on my Mind!

2008-11-19T11:39:00.000-05:00

Today I learned a tasty new recipe for turkey stuffing that I intend to try this year (courtesy of Rachael Ray). I think I will amend it a little though, not sure about those pumpkin muffins!
I am really starting to enjoy this blogging thing and am attempting to get some of my family and friends to start reading mine!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/pressed-herbs-and-spices-turkey-breast-pumpkin-zucchini-muffin-stuffin-with-chipotle-gravy-recipe/index.html

Enthusiasm Builds for 23 Things Thing#4

2008-11-18T21:07:00.001-05:00

Lots of excitement at work today for those of us involved in 23 Things, especially those who had the experience of creating their first blog!
Habit 7: Teach/Mentor others was definitely a factor here with those staff members who had not yet created a blog being inspired to do so by those of us who had.

What I learned today? How to find a permalink and add it to my tracking log. Although I must fess up here and admit that my son gave me a little help with this one. (I think he might become a useful tool in my learning toolbox!)

Things I learned today (so far!) Thing# 2 and Thing#3

2008-11-17T13:06:00.002-05:00

Today I learned: what an RSS Feed is, what exactly a blog is, how to set one up -and- that I have some catching up to do here! All this before 10am this morning!
So far it has been fun. My goal is to post at least one new thing that I have learned each day which may or may not be related to this work project. I often use the phrase "you learn something new every day" so now I really have to prove it!
P.S. How to be a lifelong learner: The easiest thing for me is accepting responsibility for me own learning.
No-one else can do this for me!
The hardest thing for me is going to be learning how to use technology to me own advantage.