Martha the Librarian

OK, I skipped around and forgot #8 too!

marthathelibrarian1 — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 22:21:30 +0000

This sign was put together using flikr and bighugelabs.com. I think that my next purchase will HAVE to be a digital camera. I am like, so living in the last century…sigh

Whoops – Forgot #19

marthathelibrarian1 — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 22:10:27 +0000

Podcasts – tonight’s poetry night for kids at my library will be podcast on the homepage soon – listen for it!

They’re a good idea, and not too tricky either. Though I haven’t put one into this blog – I listen to a few different podcasts including the ones on MPR.

Thing #23 I’ve finished

marthathelibrarian1 — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 22:00:14 +0000

I’m not sure I would have signed up to do the 23 things if Michael Stephens hadn’t been teaching the 2.0 class in the St. Kates LIS program.

And now that I’ve completed both…I really feel smart! I have used language only the teenagers seem to know, and I have helped some of my co-workers with tools I thought didn’t even know existed in 2007, but now use religiously, and I look forward to change…thoughtful and purposeful (as in, the right tool at the right time for the right person).

Thing #22 Never Stop Learning

marthathelibrarian1 — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 19:53:43 +0000

The last resolution I made was to wear more blue…now I have upgraded that resolution: never stop learning.

As an “older student” in the LIS classes, I found learning new things invigorating, and was often disappointed when colleagues weren’t as enthusiastic. Continuing education is not currently mandatory, and maybe shouldn’t ever be, but that is not a reason to live under a rock, and it seems there might be some who are.

These 23 things have been interesting…and an important part of what I do just about every day…only now I do it better!

Things #20 and 21

marthathelibrarian1 — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:05:20 +0000

My daughter will not friend me…sigh.

My son said that he was about to delete just about everything on his site because he is graduating from college and is looking for a job. I’m proud of him for recognizing that the information on facebook is public and if it is anything less than flattering, it may be used against him.

Students at Eden Prairie didn’t understand that, and were quite upset when they were “excused” from some activities because of their facebook “antics”

I have a friend who has joined eons.com. It’s the social networking site for boomers! Think facebook with wrinkles!

I joined Ning too, just for fun…make it sound like I HAVE a social life!

Thing # 17 ELM Productivity Tools

marthathelibrarian1 — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:30:15 +0000

The tools that ELM provides at the public library I work for are great tools! The EBSCO data bases are some that I recommend regularily. Many people will come in to the library looking for information about a current topic an these are the tools I help them use. Information about medical issues are generally not in books – they take too long to publish – and the information is then out of date – so the EBSCO data bases are a great resource.

I haven’t used the Discovering Collection much- but primary resources are not always easy to find. Every middle school teacher should know about the tab in this data base!

Thing #16 Getting Organized

marthathelibrarian1 — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:21:52 +0000

Great, I just finished the last class of my masters degree and NOW I find these amazing applications!

ReadWriteWeb really has lots of great ideas…I’ve put it into my del.icio.us so I can remember where to find it – I will suggest this site to some of the middle school teachers I work with!

#18 YouTube

marthathelibrarian1 — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:08:22 +0000

Well, I loved Purple Rain…and I am a producer of a YouTube Video! Check out ">Dewey or Do We Not? a St. Kates LIS 2.0 class project presented recently by the one and only Michael Stephens.

I also think that my library could save a bunch of staff time by producing training videos and posting them – and having staff watch them on their own time rather than gathering a whole bunch of people together at a time that is always going to interfere with something!

#15 Online games

marthathelibrarian1 — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 20:57:12 +0000

Does solitare count?

I tried out Second Life for awhile – I really think that I have a pretty good first life! I had trouble moving around – and just wanted to get to a different island – a few others stopped to “talk” but I just wanted to lurk, and they did leave me alone.

I don’t think second life is for me…I might see if the kids in the library will let me in on their RuinStone games

#14 Library Thing

marthathelibrarian1 — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 20:52:11 +0000

My friend has 500 titles in her library thing…alas, I have 8. She has been using it for almost a year now. We had a discussion about library 2.0 tools, and social networking, and she said she didn’t quite understand the concept…Oh, I think she understands ok, she just didn’t have the terminology down!

I’ll have to work on tagging a bit to find out what words are most useful to me long term. Are the words I’m using ones that I will not remember days and months from now?