CheckItOut

Read..Reading..Read

2011-03-26T09:54:00.003-05:00

These are the books that I read this week:
The Bone Yardby Jefferson Bass
Mystery
Southern reform schools
Forensic anthropologist
Fiction

Read Alikes- Kathy Reichs, Patricia Cornwell
My rating 4 of 5

Now You See Her by Joy Fielding
Death of Daughter
Mental Illness
Grieving
Fiction

Is Devon really dead or has she run away to Ireland? Her mother, Marcy, thinks she has seen her there.

My rating = 3

Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer
Literary Nonfiction
Afghanistan
Pat Tillman

This was a hard book to read especially since my nephew just returned from Afghanistan and will probably return in the near future.

My rating= 5

Dragon and Princess

2011-03-23T14:13:00.002-05:00

Today the toddlers danced like a dragon, counted colorful dragons, and enjoyed a couple of dragon fingerplays. Polly the dragon and Danielle the princess also told the story of The Princess and the Dragon. They listened to The Little Girl and the Dragon by Minarik, The Knight and the Dragon by DePaola, and Goldilocks and the 3 Bears by Marshall. Goldilocks is Polly's favorite book and she requested that I share it with the children. After storytime, the toddlers made their own dragon.

#23 THE BEGINNING

2009-01-15T09:30:00.003-06:00

Though I've come to the end of CTLS 23 THINGS, it is really the beginning of my exploration of library2.0/web 2.0. This was a fantastic learning program that Kam put together for the central Texas libraries. I will be returning to some of the lessons and discovery exercises to spend more time on them.
I'm a part-time reference librarian at Westbank Community Library and did my 23 Things course from home. The library is too busy to be able to be able to complete it while at work.
Favorites: Exploring Google - There are so many options in Google that I didn't realize were available. I set up an IGoogle page for my husband who is legally blind and he really likes the eyes that follow the mouse around the screen. It is really great to able to use my google password to log onto other programs like Zoho Writer.
Podcasting - Surprisingly, I enjoyed learning about the many different types of podcasting that's available.
I actually learned something new in every discovery lesson that was presented and hope that you will continue to offer more discovery programs. I loved it!

#22 Audiobooks LibriVox

2009-01-15T09:13:00.002-06:00

Examining LibriVox is our discovery exercise for activity 22. This resource is available through our library catalog and I've never taken the time to explore what it offered. Shame on me, because this is a really cool source for audiobooks. I've listened to "Kubla Khan" and started "Persuasion" by Jane Austen. My list to download includes some Edgar Allan Poe and since my father-in-law said he was raised as a "Little Lord Fauntleroy", I thought that I'd listen to that as well.

Downloading was easy though Kubla Khan went to ITunes and Persuasion opened in Windows Media Player. I just now realized why that happened....I saved Kubla Khan but only double-clicked on the Austen title?

#21 Podcasting

2009-01-14T16:30:00.003-06:00

The podcasts that I first checked our were ones pertaining to the library. How cool is it for teens to be doing library podcasts like the ones in Seattle! I also liked the stories being podcast by Denver Public Library. Wow! I didn't know that CTLS was doing podcasts.

My next place to explore was Podcast.com and I really enjoyed that! First, I listened to some jazz music and interviews and then I heard a podcast of "AP on Broadway". Jane Waldman interviewed the 3 boys who share the title role in Billy Elliot. It was very great.

#20 YouTube

2009-01-13T17:47:00.002-06:00

YouTube is a neat site to visit. I like the ability to search for videos and that's how I picked the one that I'm trying to embed in this blog. I really like doing storytime so I used that as my search term. There were several videos using flannel boards in storytime and several that were definitely not for children and then I discovered Mercer Mayer telling his "There's an Alligator Under My Bed."

I think that storytimes could be video taped and placed on a children's page. It would be great to use with children who are ill and can't make it to the library for storytimes.

Web 2.0

2009-01-13T17:37:00.001-06:00

Revolution Health was the first place winner in the Web 2.0 health category. The home page has lots of great features. You can simply begin a search for some health related topic from the search box, check out headlines and news, or explore of the other options listed on the page. Under "Start Your Revolution" there are options to 1)find and rate doctors and treatments; 2) Access and track your health; 3) Take control of your health records; and 4) Support people in need. There are numerous tools under each option.

This site would be a great addition to research web links.

There are so many great tools listed that I'll bookmark the Web 2.0 awards page for further exploration. Here's the address - http://www.seomoz.org/web2.0/short

Zoho Writer

2009-01-13T17:12:00.001-06:00

ZOHO WRITER

This was my first experience using this application and I'm so excited to learn about it! I wrote a small entry about our niece and then posted it on the blog. It has been so easy! Can't wait to share this site with others.

I had put a picture and a smileyface in this entry but when I published it to the blog, neither one appeared. So, I deleted the blog and returned to zoho writer where I removed the picture and the smiley face.

Hawaii Trip

2009-01-13T16:55:00.001-06:00

HAWAIIAN HAPPINESS

There was once a little girl named Leslie who brought lots of sunshine and happiness into our lives. She was beautiful, sweet, and yet quite competetive. We had lots of fun in our game competitions playing Trivial Pursuit, Catch Phrase, and other board games.

Leslie has now grown up and will be getting married on May 30th in Maui. We have much to do to prepare for this upcoming trip.

#17 Playing with PBWiki

2009-01-13T16:31:00.002-06:00

I found working with the CTLS 23 Things Favorites wiki very easy to do. Wikis have more applications than I realized.

#16 Wiki

2009-01-09T16:25:00.002-06:00

For some time I've heard pros and cons of using wikipedia but never really thought about a library wiki. After looking at several of the examples, I can definitely see where this could be a good and fun thing for the library; however, I believe that a great deal of time would be required to establish one and keep it up to date. If I were still in the public schools, I can see using it for homework discussions, book reviews, school news, etc. Reader's advisory would definitely be a place where a wiki would come in handy. I put the ALA reader's advisory wiki on my delicious page. .. I am learning so much in this 2.0 program.

#15 Library 2.0

2009-01-09T15:53:00.002-06:00

Library 2.0 Service for the next-generation library. By Michael E. Casey and Laura C. Savastinuk -- Library Journal, 9/1/2006

This article had my favorite definition of Library 2.0 :"Any service, physical or virtual, that successfully reaches users, is evaluated frequently, and makes use of customer input is a Library 2.0 service." I agreed with Jenny Levine's response that most librarians aren't in the mode of 2.0 thinking and would add that it is important for all library staff to be onboard with this new type of service.

Our news library software allows members to leave comments in the form of reviews on material. I think that tags would be a great feature to have in a catalog. This article mentioned several libraries that are using 2.0 services along with online tools that are available. It will be interesting to check out those mentioned to see how things are now (2 years later). The libraries mentioned include Temple University in Philadelphia: AADL MI; Saint Joseph County Public Library in South Bend, IN; and the library catalog of Hennepin County Library MN. Online word processing tools included Writely and Whiteboard.

I've placed a link to the article in Library Journal on the left side of the blog.

#14 Technorati

2009-01-09T15:14:00.002-06:00

I spent more time today exploring Technorati and did the assigned searches for Learning 2.0. I had tried doing this search on a different computer yesterday and the results were much more numerous today. There were 995 results for blogs; 30,165 results when searching posts, and 822 for tags. There are several blogs that I follow and I searched for them and was successful in locating all but one. Judging by this, I think that I'll keep Technorai in my del.icio.us bookmarks for future use.

One feature of Technorati that was very entertaining was "Popular Books". It was fun to click on the title of the book which took you to Amazon.com. You could then see what tags others placed on the book.

Tagging #13 in 23 Things

2009-01-08T19:39:00.002-06:00

It's no longer "tag" you're it but "tag" you've got it! I set up a del.icio.us account on my home computer and hope to be able to use it at the library reference desk. It is a way better method of organizing lists of urls. How much time could I have saved a few days ago if I could have set up a list of urls regarding titles that book clubs around the country are using or urls for state recommend lists of titles for elementary and middle school readers. I'm looking forward to learning more about this site.

#12 Online Gaming

2009-01-08T18:52:00.002-06:00

Yeah! It's game time at the library. The assignment was to play 2 of the variety of games: simple, competitive, interactive, or virtual world. The simple games are just that..simple to get started and play. I tried Bejeweled, Cubis, Chuzzle, and Zuma and decided that I liked Cubis best. I think that because of the virtual smashing of cubes it seemed to be a stress reliever.

In the Interactive type, I used my facebook account and tried MindJolt - Bomboozle. Since I really like games, I can see getting hooked on this. Puzzle Pirates in the virtual world type looked really cute but had some difficulty getting it to load in a timely manner. I will definitely try some of these again.

I agree that it will be useful to be able to talk with patrons about gaming, whether it is to impart information about the benefits or to do the gaming reader's advisory.

Facebook # 11 23 Things

2009-01-08T16:00:00.002-06:00

Just finished linking my new facebook account with this blog. For some reason, it felt a little weird setting it up. An adventure challenge was to add an application like Goodreads to the facebook account but I'm not sure whether it worked or not. Will have to spend more time getting familar with facebook. Instead of in this entery, I put my facebook link on the left-hand side under "Linky"

Chat CLTS2.0 #10

2009-01-07T13:13:00.000-06:00

Google Talk
I have been surprised by 2 nieces on Google Talk since beginning the CTLS challenge. It was such fun to be able to "type talk" to them! Google Talk is very easy to use. I like how you are able to see who is online so that you can immediately "type talk" them.

Finding Feeds CTLS#9

2009-01-03T14:18:00.001-06:00

It must take some practice to get used to the Google Reader. I usually read about 15 blogs from my bookmarks and it feels weird to do it through the Reader; however, I've added several sites to the Reader to use for practice.

"Topix.net - This search tool allows you to locate recent newsfeed items based upon keyword or phrase searching. The tool focuses specifically on news and media outlet RSS feeds for information, not weblogs. " This was very interesting. I found news, comments, weather, and a map of different towns where I've lived. I'll be checking back here for news from my home state.

Technorati was useful in locating blogs by subject. I wasn't successful in finding blogs by people from certain locations but perhaps I needed to spend more time on it.

Google Reader CTLS2.0 #8

2009-01-02T16:11:00.000-06:00

Since this activity was posted, Google Reader has a new look. The Discover function discussed in the CTLS post has changed to "Browse for Stuff". It takes several minutes for this function to load. I guess I've gotten used to immediate action.

My newly added links include:

New Reviewer & Other Site Newsfrom Young Adult (& Kids) Books Central Blog by Kimberly Pauley (for keeping up with books for children and young adults.)

Library Stew..It was listed in the recommended sites when I first tried the "browse" function.

Cookie Madness by Anna (This is a blog by a woman living in Austin and I really like her recipes.)

These are listed in a box on the left side of this blog. I was surprised to see that when I followed the directions to have them posted on the blog they were listed by the title of their latest entry instead of the name of the blog.

Hawaii library jigsaw

2009-01-02T15:45:00.001-06:00

Hawaii library jigsaw, originally uploaded by librariansharon.

CTLS2.0 Image Fun # 7
This activity had us play around with "The Generator Blog" and "Letter James" and "FD Toys." Waimea Public Library is on the island of Kaui and I selected that picture to upload to be turned into a jigsaw. It was then transferred? to Flickr and then to this blog.

Here's the link to FD TOYS - http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/

Wow! Aren't we learning to do some cool things!

CTLS2.0 MoreFlickr Fun #6

2009-01-02T15:02:00.000-06:00

I'm enjoying learning about mashups. The first one that really interested me was a third party Flickr application from Yahoo..."Trip Planner." On this site you can not only start planning your trip but you can search for trip taken by others. You can read the traveler's journal, see pictures and a map of their trip, and also read feedback and questions regarding the trip. I want to plan a trip to Austria and a return trip to Ireland using this site.

If you decide to post lots of pictures on Flickr, then the app Flickr Explorer might be useful. You can search to see if any of your pictures have been one of the daily 500 interesting pictures. From the description, you should also be able to locate your pictures but I couldn't get that to work.

The Rappin' Library Bird

2009-01-02T14:51:00.001-06:00

Cardinal, originally uploaded by librariansharon.

Every morning, staff and patrons hear this bird rapping on the window (or attacking it). He keeps it up for at least an hour and nothing we do seems to make him stop. We've gone outside and tired chasing him away as well as taped bird cutouts onto the window. Everyone says that he is seeing himself in the window and wants to chase the interloper away. I prefer the idea that he is trying to get to all the new books that he can see through the window.

Juvenile booklists

2008-12-30T10:23:00.000-06:00

New and update book lists to be posted on our website include:
Skinny chapter books
Picture Books Too Good To Miss
After American Girl
Sports Authors

Reading to myself

2008-12-04T16:35:00.001-06:00

, originally uploaded by jotyco.

I missed storytime so I have to read to myself today but this story seems a little heavy to me. The reference librarian suggested these titles instead:
Essential cat by Caroline Davis
Silence of the songbirds by Bridget Stutchbury
Cat owners manual by Bruce Fogle
If you give a cat a cupcake by Laura Numeroff (my favorite)

Great Google!

2008-12-04T14:34:00.001-06:00

Google has been part of my internet world for some time. I began using gmail in its beta stage and am very familiar with the search and map features. I also switched from a purchased photo program to the fabulous Picasa product. The “23 Things” exercise has introduced some really cool google features. I love the igoogle page with the many options available. It has become my new home page! I also want to learn to use the notebook feature and as for the digital books in the book search..WOW!! I’ll never be without a book to read as long as I have my laptop with me

23 Things

2008-12-02T10:45:00.000-06:00

Life long learning! My 81 year old mother is an example of this type of thought process as she begins to learn Spanish. I'm looking forward to the 23 things that Kam has setup for library staff to use in their life long learning process.

Habit 1: Begin with the end in mind

Habit 2: Accept responsibility for your own learning

Habit 3: View problems as challenges (hardest for me)

Habit 4: Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner

Habit 5: Create your own learning toolbox (easiest)

Habit 6: Use technology to your advantage

Habit 7: Teach/mentor others

Habit 7 ½: Play