Saturday, December 27, 2008

Ready for the New Year

It's been a crazy few months, but I think it's time to get back to library blogging here - that was the purpose of this, after all.

The Library was able to fill a new position recently, which brings benefits to many of us. Katrina is working at the Information Desk and Computer Services, which frees up some time for other staff. She is jumping right in to lots of projects, and has great ideas for organizing and improving things - like a notebook at the Information Desk with the meeting room confirmations. Why didn't we think of that? She does Saturday mornings for me, and the extra hours away from the desk are an incredible gift! Finally I can do those little things I keep putting off (like updates on catalog computers, which should be done but never seem urgent when I'm turning things on each morning).

I also trained a new substitute in Computer Services, and she was able to fill in several times during the holidays - another great help! The training list we'd developed a while ago certainly came in handy; I could make sure important items didn't get overlooked and the new people were sufficiently prepared.

This winter has brought more international students - groups from Peru and Chile have been using our internet and wireless. We were able to help 2 stranded students before Christmas when they discovered the jobs they'd planned on were no longer available. That's always so heartbreaking - I take the Mom point-of-view and try to imagine how I'd feel if one of my sons was in that predicament. We got them a place to stay, and transportation to where they needed to go. Hopefully things worked out for them.

Next up: Offline! My favorite MLA gathering (maybe the chocolate is a factor?).

Friday, December 26, 2008

That was Christmas...

So Christmas is over - it was so low-key I almost missed it! It was wonderful not getting caught up in the holiday madness (although I did feel a little guilty, and sorry for anyone who wasn't so lucky - sometimes you can't avoid stress, I know). Every so often I'd think back to the Christmases in years past when the boys were little and we went all out - that was enough to make me glad that's behind me now!

Jon-Erik enjoyed the wonderful snowfall Portland received (and was very glad not to be traveling!). He spent Christmas at a church dinner, volunteering and socializing, with his new friend, Mallory (little is known about her, except she's working on a Fine Arts master's degree with a job as a waitress at Old Chicago in Beaverton, where they met). I try not to interrogate him on this too much. He gave her a jar of MT Huckleberry preserves, and she baked him cookies.

Tom is still in Gainesville, TX hoping for warmer weather - they have been below freezing more than he'd like. He spent the holiday with some friends there. Next month he will go to Alamos, Mexico to work on our house there, and hopefully get it more ready to sell.

James-Philip and I had breakfast with my parents, then he went on to spend the day with more friends. I had a wonderful (quiet!) afternoon watching "Christmas with the Kranks" (not nearly as good as the Grisham "Skipping Christmas" book it's based on, but entertaining anyway). Since it had warmed up nicely I went for a walk and came upon 4 deer on the hill - picture perfect, if I'd only had my camera with me!

Of course, warmer weather often means snow, and this morning was no different: at least 9 inches overnight (other people have said 12), which, added to the accumulation in my driveway, meant my SUV just didn't have the clearance necessary! I ended up high-centered halfway out. Not many options at 7:45 a.m.! Even the roadside assistance on our insurance plan wasn't helpful: they don't come to a place that hasn't been plowed! So it was a call to my neighbors, and their pickup, who were able to drag me out. They get their driveway plowed, and I'm just a branch off that, so I've asked their snowplow person to do mine also (which I wish would just have been done automatically - wouldn't they think I'd also want a clean drive?). But I think it will be OK when I get home tonight. At least I got to use all the 4-wheel drive options on my vehicle!

Happy New Year to all!

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Much too fast

This seems like the fastest month ever! Time seems to speed up around now, but I think this sets a new record.

Vacation in Gainesville was wonderful. We got the former closet-now bathroom almost ready, and I got my fill of painting. We had some lovely crown molding to go around the ceiling (because these are 12' high and need some interest) and quickly discovered that 3 master's degrees (between the 2 of us) obviously is not enough to be able to figure out how to cut it correctly. After several cuts (and shrinking molding supply), we turned to the internet and found a nice video. Unfortunately the tools we had weren't quite the right size to manage the very tall molding. So creativity kicked in and Tom came up with the idea of square boxes for the corners, so we could just make straight cuts on the molding instead of trying to miter them. (Pictures will be on teamhenley.net soon)

My dad had his "procedure" in Billings and is recovering nicely (although much slower than he likes; he wanted to be completely back to normal within a week and was a bit frustrated at first). My 2 brothers decided it was important to see him now (and provide some excellent distraction) so came out for Thanksgiving. Jon-Erik also decided this would be a good time for a visit (and I offered this as a Christmas present) so he arranged his flight to meet up with me in Salt Lake City on my return from Texas Thanksgiving Day. We had a fabulous turkey dinner (Mom tried my suggestion of letting a grocery store do the cooking - great idea!), and incredible laughter. It's a wonder no one choked, we were laughing so hard most of the time. Friday we put up their outside lights and Christmas tree, so they are ready for the holidays.

Tom and I also had LifeLine screenings but no urgent medical conditions were discovered at that time - we get results in a few weeks. It's something I'd recommend for anyone - these are tests that don't seem to be done in usual doctor visits.

A few more days to visit with Jon-Erik (he returns to Beaverton Dec. 3) then it's the big holiday madness. But we'll be relatively low-key in our family, so I plan to just enjoy the season.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Happy November!

It's my favorite month, for many reasons. My birthday, for one. A bunch of holidays for another (Veteran's Day, which I never appreciated until I realized I was married to one, Thanksgiving Day, and this year, Election Day). The steely gray sky on a fall afternoon when the sun hits the yellow aspen leaves. Or the bright blue sky with golden wheat fields in the valley and the snowy mountain tops in the distance. It only seems to look like that in November.

Tom has already gone to Texas with more furniture for our house there - apparently the yard was completely overgrown with morning glory vines! But he's making headway. I will be there later this month, to rake the leaves (we have pecan trees!) and paint what used to be a closet and has now been transformed in to a bathroom.

It turns out the medical screening group that discovered my dad's aneurysm will be in a town nearby while I'm there, so we've signed up for our own sessions. That seems like a fortunate coincidence to me; an opportunity not to be ignored. While I'm away, Dad will have surgery in Billings to insert a stent - an overnight procedure. They tell him he'll be able to walk out of the hospital the next day, although it may take a few weeks to be totally recovered. He's very optimistic. And then Mom will probably let him drive again. As she said, she didn't want something to happen while he was driving - if she was going to lose him, she didn't want to lose the car too!

So, we'll be counting our blessings this Thanksgiving.

Monday, October 20, 2008

A little rain...

Sometimes things go along so smoothly, and then there come the bumps in the road. Just last weekend I was have a great time with librarians in Denver, at the MPLA board meeting, and at Chico Hot Springs for the ASLD/PLD retreat (in spite of the weather - that's a bump to be expected around here). The weather even cleared up this week and turned back into the gorgeous fall we love.

Then this weekend happened: Saturday my dad called me at work in a panic - at a health screening an aneurism was discovered on his aorta; he was told to go to the emergency room right away. The librarian in me did some research: it turns out this was exactly what my grandmother died from 25 years ago. So it would seem to be a serious condition, and possibly genetic. Dad will be seeing a vascular surgeon soon - hopefully surgery will fix this, and he'll be as good as new.

Sunday morning, making plans to spend the day with James-Philip, he says he has bad news. One never knows what this will bring when JP is involved, so I prepared for the worst, but never expected this: his friend, Joana, a girl I'd met once and heard a lot about, had died Thursday. No apparent reason. She was 32.

Sunday night, checking my email, I see a "Shocking news" message from my dad. I figured he was sending a message about his health news to the family, so began to read and was shocked to learn my mom's best friend, since childhood, had died in her sleep the night before. Her husband got up Sunday morning, made coffee as usual, came back to get Ann and found her dead. I can't even begin to imagine... My folks plan to go visit next month for the memorial service. She was 76, the same as my mom.

So this puts a lot of things into perspective. Really taking care of my health has to be a top priority - high cholesterol and blood pressure seem to be causes of aneurisms (and you can spell it both ways: aneurysm for those purists out there). As James-Philip said when talking about Joana, you can never tell, and when your time is up, it's up. My mom agreed, but said she'd like a little hint: 76? 80? But there are no hints, so make the most of your time.

I'm going for a nice long walk now, on this beautiful fall day.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Another Month

Suddenly it's October! How did that happen?

I'm trying to put together a presentation on Open Office with DeeAnn for next Sunday's retreat at Chico. It's so easy to use, it's almost too simple. I think we'll show the download and installation - maybe there will be a few laptop users who will volunteer to try it out? This is such a friendly group it's easy to be very casual about the whole thing.

Tuesday will see Tom heading south for the winter. A few days in Laramie (not south enough, but we have a friend there). Then on to Gainesville, TX - luckily we found the house keys! He'll be bringing a trailer full of furniture so eventually that house will be completely livable. Right now it's relatively empty, with a basic thrift-store decor. Check it out: http://teamhenley.net/5.html

But first there is Sunday brunch to celebrate Mom's birthday (Gourmet Gas Station) and Monday's annual Firemen's Breakfast at the fairgrounds.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Back to Normal

Back in Bozeman, and it feels like fall - almost. The trip back from Portland/Astoria was pleasant, and we stopped in Coeur d'Alene. Bette Ammon gave me a nice tour of their beautiful new building (what a view, right on the lake). So now it's back to work! But I have an MPLA board meeting in Denver, followed by the ASLD/PLD retreat at Chico Hot Springs, so there is plenty to look forward to and keep me busy.

Then it's on to November - my favorite month (so many holidays in such a short time, and my birthday!). But there is Halloween before that, and I see it's a Friday - sounds like a possible party...

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Portland

Haven't seen a drop of rain in Portland - it's still summer here (although many locals seem to have checked the calendar and switched to their winter clothes: lots of sweaters and black). Today we visited the zoo.

Jon-Erik's apartment is nice - one last shopping trip tomorrow morning before we head off to Astoria. We were able to leave our car there and just use Portland's great transit system all this week. So much easier! And, one of the stops is right at the library so of course I dragged the boys along. Very busy! Lots of internet computers, and people waiting for reservations on those. We also stopped by Powell's (the book store).

Tom and I went to a performance of Phantom of the Opera last night. I've been waiting 12 years to see it (ever since we were in Germany and tried twice to get tickets to a London performance). So this was a real treat, and it was a great performance.

I hope to spend time in Coeur d'Alene on our way back - Bette Ammon has promised me a tour of their great new library too.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Preparing for Portland

We are planning a trip to Portland OR in September - Labor Day, to be exact. Jon-Erik thinks he has an apartment lined up, so we'll drive out with a U-Haul trailer filled with furniture and other stuff. We'll have a hotel - staying with Jon-Erik isn't an option! We'll be in Portland, while his apartment should be in Beaverton. I'm sure we can keep ourselves entertained (although I realized football season will start - guess I'll have to find a sports bar to watch the Giants and Colts opening games!). Then we'll go on to Astoria to a B&B for 2 nights. We haven't found anything for the return trip yet, so I'm not sure how that will end up. I'd like to see Couer d'Alene - maybe we can find a place to stay there. But it will be a nice vacation.

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Summer moves along

The Sweet Pea Festival is over, a sure sign that summer is marching on! We're in to the thunderstorm season now - I love it, except when we lose power for extended periods (18 hours a few weeks ago - lots of trees down along the road to our house).

I think tourists are also moving along, and most of the foreign students too. It's almost back to a normal Saturday at the library!

I just spent 3 days at Boulder Hot Springs, at a Montana Library Association board retreat. It's been a few years since I've attended one of these - I enjoy being more involved in the association again (this time as the Montana rep to the Mountain Plains Library Association). It's fun to meet up with old friends and get to know some new faces. I'll travel to Denver in October for an MPLA board meeting - I don't know as many people on this board but am looking forward to making new friends!

Jon-Erik Update: the free wireless internet at his temporary residence is incredibly slow so he's pretty frustrated! I don't want to keep harping on the need for a job when we talk so don't know where he might be in that process. I guess I need to be a little more specific and find out what he plans to do if Aug. 31 comes along with no prospects!

Monday, July 28, 2008

Big Changes

It's time for a new era in our family - Jon-Erik, the younger son, is moving to Portland, OR this week. No job, no permanent living arrangement, but when you're 25 these things aren't so critical. He's done a lot of research, arranged for a 30-day apartment, looked at the transportation options and applied for a few jobs. So he's all set, and we'll drive out in a month with his small accumulation of household items. I admit to being very envious of his adventure!

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Playtime for me too

Now that lots of staff have created their blogs and are really getting in to the Web 2.0 learning, I made more lessons available. When I first took the course myself I didn't spend as much time playing as I wanted, so this is a good opportunity to go back and do more!

Today I added a Library Thing widget to my blog, to display book titles on my shelf. I found the code easily enough but wasn't sure how to get it into the blog. I finally just decided to look at the Meebo widget, and pasted the Library Thing code in there. It looks like it worked!

If only everything was so easy - I tried to figure out how to add the Google widget Mike Price mentioned from MSC - personalized for our library - but couldn't find that anywhere.

Maybe I'll go make myself a trading card now!

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Summer continues

More blogs from the staff - they are doing great! It's fun to see the learning process, and how they are able to see practical uses for many of the social networking tools in their personal lives.

I read today of a committee, spread out geographically, using Skype for conference calls to plan activities - that sounds like a great use of technology. Our family uses Skype too - it saves cell phone minutes!

Even more fun - my son and I can play some Nintendo Wii games online, just as if we are sitting in the same room. Another favorite of ours - online Scrabble. I won't even consider playing anyone else - we just play for fun.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Fun stuff!

It's really summer - we are enjoying the heat for sure! All sorts of visitors are here; the Wally Byam caravan folks seem to be gone now. They all appreciate the library and internet access, though.

Tomorrow we'll lose a stubborn computer - it won't shut off at night! So it gets a serious time out with the IT experts.

Staff blogs are coming along - I'm hoping more will start the lessons next week.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Busy Busy!

I guess the lack of recent posts is a good indicator of how busy this month has been. We are definitely enjoying summer (lilacs are done, peonies are coming) and the foreign exchange students are getting used to our computer system. The time/print system upgrade didn't go well, but we have just about recovered - one little glitch still remains. But without glitches, what fun would we have?

My favorite time of year is coming: the new Fiscal Year! Time to order supplies! Spend money while it's available! Then organize everything so we can find it later.

Some of the staff have started the technology training - there are a few blogs already, and several are using IM around work for quick questions instead of phone calls. Hopefully people will see the value of learning new things and trying new ways of doing things.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Not complaining

We spend a lot of the summer wishing for rain, so I'm trying to be positive about all the moisture we're having now. The yard never stays this green for so long, and the flowers seem happy (ducks too!). This isn't that unusual - I returned to Bozeman in 1989 for MSU graduation and it was cold and rainy that June, too (MSU was on quarters then so graduation was later). So I pretend this is Seattle (or Ireland, as someone else suggested) and enjoy using my umbrella, which normally is neglected.

Staff training update: hopefully this week we can have people begin the first lesson or two. I will be working on later lessons to get them ready - things like Flickr and YouTube. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's blogs!

Saturday, May 31, 2008

It's Summer!

I can tell it's summer - the Library has been invaded by tourists and foreign exchange students. It's funny to see the different reactions people have to our time system: some people are so grateful to have an hour of free internet access, while others are so indignant to be limited to just one hour! The foreign students are interesting - they don't wait for any explanation of how to use the card I just handed them, so they often run in to problems - computers are already reserved, they don't realize they only get one hour each day. They all seem to use a Russian email program - mail.ru - which likes to hijack our homepage, causing problems to whoever uses the computer next. Or they set the language to something much different than English. But I guess it is good they can easily contact family at home (at least I'd like to think that's what they do with their computer time!). If I had a student studying in a foreign country, I'd be happy to hear from him once in a while.

So, I'll remind everyone how to reset the home page back to the library web site and review the computer use guidelines one more time!

Friday, May 23, 2008

Technology really is great

Even though we sometimes get frustrated and impatient, I was reminded today how wonderful technology really is these days. A frequent library patron today showed me the color photo of her 12-hour-old granddaughter, born in a state in a different time zone, that she had just printed from her email. How cool is that? How thrilled would my parents have been if I could have emailed them a photo of their just-born first grandchild 28 years ago, instead of having to wait 3 weeks and make an 8 hour drive to see him? I can't even imagine.

When my husband was stationed in Korea 20 years ago we would have been overjoyed at the opportunity to email, or IM, once in a while to get up-to-date contact. Instead we were grateful just to have a 30-minute phone call at a previously arranged time (6 a.m. for me, 11 p.m. for him), and if someone was already on the phone he hoped to use, or long-distance circuits were busy, all I got was a busy signal with no way to find out why we couldn't connect. Very frustrating for both of us!

So when I have to wait a minute for a page to load, or lose a cell phone signal, I think back to those dark ages and and amazed by how far technology has come!

Friday, May 16, 2008

I'm still learning

We're really getting started with staff technology training! First, we've developed a survey (online, of course, to get everyone comfortable with online activities) using surveymonkey. I've never been on the developing side, only the participant side, of this so it's been fun for me to try something new. I sent the first version to our technology committee, reviewed their comments, made some changes and sent the revised version back to them. Staff should be able to start on it next week.

We've also started a staff technology wiki outlining the planned course, very similar to the MSL Library 2.0 Challenge (thanks to Lauren and everyone else for letting us use your great plan!). We want to have an instant messaging lesson, too, so I'm working on that one. I've got a meebo account now and am including that in the IM lesson. We'd like to use IM at work instead of a lot of the phone calls we make - a few of us do that already and it's so much nicer than having the phone ringing while working with a patron!

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Staff Competencies

We're working on a plan to bring all staff up to a common level, technology-wise. The states' Library 2.0 course was the beginning of this idea, and a presentation at Computers in Libraries last month made us really get thinking about it. We're adapting the North Carolina version of competency levels to fit better with our situation. It's hard to draw a line between "all staff" and "staff who work with the public" here - everyone has some interaction with the public. The hardest part is deciding what to have at each level. There are so many basic skills everyone needs that the list can be overwhelming - that might make some staff give up before even starting! So we're planning some sort of survey: what do they know, what do they need for their jobs, what do they wish they knew. Then we can plan from there.

Then there is the issue of time: when will any needed training take place? But we're just going one step at a time.

Monday, April 28, 2008

It might be spring...

I got the bicycle out yesterday (and rode 4 miles!) so I think it might really be spring this time. The deer seem to have moved on, leaving only chewed tulip leaves in the front flower beds - I'm going to have to investigate deer-proofing tips out there.

Saturday night I was at the the great Mannheim Steamroller Fresh Aire concert and guess who was the French horn player? Our very own Greg Notess! There were 10 Bozeman Symphony players making up the MS orchestra, so that was fun to see.

I read this idea yesterday but can't find the link today: a university (I think) is using a hot dog cart for roaming reference work. When I first read it, I thought it was just in the library, but the photo showed the cart (and librarian) outside - using a wireless laptop, and some basic reference tools, they can be providing service where people are. Now that sounds like a really clever way to expand library services! Even if we could only offer that in the summer months here in Montana, it could be interesting.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Twitter

If Suzanne Reymer can cave in and sign on to Twitter, I can do the same. I've been resisting - even after seeing it in action at CIL a few weeks ago I wasn't sure it was really worthwhile. But maybe if enough of us in libraries start using it, we might come up with something? It is an easy way to keep up with people I wouldn't ordinarily follow, like Michael Sauers (who was in Bozeman a few years ago and astutely pointed out that the ultimate goal of the Reference Desk is to get people to leave). I admit I still haven't watched the video Steve McCann sent out (but did forward it to 2 coworkers who were also trying out Twitter) but plan to, and maybe that will be convincing?

At least this gets Steve some followers (a few years ago at Offline he showed his MySpace page, and sadly had no friends at the time).

I'm not sure I'm going to go for Twitter on my cell phone - there is a limit to how much information, and how often, I want.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Home Again

We made it home late yesterday and I haven't had a chance to even look at my notes from all the CIL conference sessions. Lots of staff from BPL are in Great Falls now for MLA - I can't find a blog or wiki for this year's conference so I don't know what's going on!

(Here are the InfoTubey Awards mentioned in the earlier post - very clever!).

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

CIL cont'd

This was a great conference again, and we still have one more day. Greg Notess was part of a great panel this afternoon promoting lots of web 2.0 technologies (wikis, videocasting, etc) although he played the part of the skeptic: why do we need these (similar to some of my earlier comments on some of these, too!). But after dinner we went to the InfoTubey Awards, where we saw 5 Youtube videos related to libraries - very entertaining! I can see some good uses for videos on library sites, and lots of other good ideas, too.

Time to return to Bozeman and think of ways to implement all the fun stuff we saw here.

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Computers in Libraries

It's that time again - Lois and I are off to Washington DC for the Computers in Libraries conference this week. It's not like this is a regular event for us - we went once 6 years ago - but we had such a great time we've been trying to get back ever since. Thanks to MLA and our Library Foundation we've been able to make it happen this year. There are so many good ideas out there - we know we'll come back really enthused about new ways to use technology in the library.

The down side to this trip is we won't be at the MLA conference this year, so to everyone who is going: have a great time!

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Second Life

I didn't have a chance to get to Second Life before tonight, but had hoped to join the party! I'm patiently waiting for my confirmation email, but don't think it will get here in time. It would be fun to have a few more 2nd Life meetings in the coming months - that's another 2.0 thing I've been curious about but haven't had a chance (or reason) to do anything with. Penelope Perl (that's me!) is looking forward to exploring that new world.

Sorry I couldn't join you tonight (still no email!), and now it's time for the Celebrity Apprentice finale - have to see if Trace Adkins beats the annoying Brit! Hope a fun group showed up and you all had a great time.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Concluding Thoughts

The funny thing is I thought I'd already posted a concluding thoughts entry but obviously it ended up somewhere in Cyberspace (or I was just dreaming, which may be even more likely).

I thought this was a great way to try out new technologies that I wouldn't have otherwise taken the time to learn, and get more familiar with those I knew a little bit about. I knew there would be someone to help if I got really stuck or confused, which made it easier to jump in.

I liked the format of posted lessons so I knew what was coming and I could get to them on my own time. The fun thing was I discovered I already knew a little about a lot of these topics - I had no idea I was so up-to-date!

Count me in if more courses like this are offered - this is a great opportunity and I'd recommend it to everyone.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

WikiWiki!

Last year I watched a College of DuPage "webinar" (at least I think that's what it was) that introduced PBWiki. We started a staff wiki at our library to help keep everyone informed without having to post notices, send emails, etc. Each department has their own page, and we've linked lots of useful information (staff phones, committees, equipment troubleshooting tips to name a few). It's handy to be able to check on news when I'm on vacation or at home, too.

I really like the Wyoming Authors wiki and the Best Practices wiki - I see there is lots of useful information there (like gaming in the library!). There is always the risk of someone editing incorrectly or posting false information, but overall I think wikis are really handy.

Del.icio.us

I've heard about this site before but never did set up an account, and even now I'm not sure I'd really use it. I find all the tags and comments to be confusing and overwhelming, and not all that helpful. Possibly I would use it for my own bookmarks, but I've got Foxmarks installed so things automatically get synchronized between my PC and laptop. I do see how the Reference staff could use this to share favorite sites between all staff, especially for those who work at several different desks and computers in our library.

I did find some new and interesting sites: the Penguin books podcast and Juice, an open-source podcast receiver.

I think the Penguin book idea is great - libraries could create similar podcasts with staff discussing new titles (but there is that pesky staff time issue to deal with!) I think I'll subscribe to this - I do have an online book club subscription that arrives daily in my email, but that requires actually reading the chapter! It would be much more convenient to listen to a podcast. This isn't exactly the same: it's not just a chapter, there seems to be discussion too, and it's not daily (these do take time to produce!) but there is a lot of potential here.

I'm wishing I'd found the Juice site earlier, before I installed iTunes on my home computer, just because I like open-source as a matter of principle. I've gotten other software from SourceForge (they have a great PDF creator!).

Video on the Blog

This should get the Yarn Harlot video in here:

Thank you Michael for explaining the details (I didn't realize the "embed" function was in YouTube; I was looking in the blog posting). Learn something new all the time (which I guess is the whole point of this exercise!).

Saturday, March 8, 2008

You-Tube

I'm always amazed at the number of patrons viewing things in You-Tube as I walk by - it seems to be incredibly popular (although there certainly is a broad spectrum of content and quality!). The Library Dominoes was a great idea. Naturally I had to search my favorite knitter, The Yarn Harlot, and was amazed to watch her knitting without looking - I'm not sure I'll ever be able to do that.
(I haven't figured out how to get a video here - I can't find the Embeddable Player part on the Edit HTML tab, and inserting video wants me to browse to a file). I have seen (and used!) knitting videos demonstrating various stitches and techniques - I think that is a great use of this technology.

I've been trying to come up with practical uses for this on a library website. Certainly short videos of library programs could be posted. I'm not sure about instructional uses (How to turn off your cell phone as you enter the library? How to approach the reference desk with a question? How to use the self-check machine?). I think this is still in the entertainment stage...

Sunday, March 2, 2008

A Brand New Month

Wow - February really did go by fast! But since I was away for 2 weeks, and then had a great Offline weekend, no wonder!

I mentioned in an earlier post that I've become a podcast fan - my favorites involve knitting (because it's so easy to knit while I listen - multi-tasking at its best) but I have also discovered some tech-related ones: the Mike Tech Show and the New York Times Tech Talk (since I'm already subscribed I'm not subscribing here).

I could see using something like this for patrons, describing the latest new books or upcoming programs at the library. It would take a little time to get good at creating these - I can tell the difference between the NYTimes (very professional) and one of the (unprofessional) knitting podcasts. And it would require dedicated staff to keep it current.

There is always the danger of using technology just because it's there, not because you really have a good use for it.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Library Thing

I realized I had an account at Library Thing already (I'd heard about it at a previous Offine) so this was an easy assignment. The hard part is remembering to add books - I need to continue to do that. I'd like to use this more to help me remember what I've read, and what books we have hiding in our home library.We get to a book sale and can't remember if we've got specific titles or not - at least this would be a handy to way to check!

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Conflicting Groundhogs

Each year I anxiously await the prediction of Punxsutawney Phil (he has his own website!). On less busy years I even celebrate with a viewing of Bill Murray in Groundhog Day. So I was shocked to find out Phil is not the only groundhog people listen to - here is an incredible list. Who knew the Canadians use groundhogs to predict spring too? And, amazingly, the various groundhogs don't seem to agree. Although I grew up close to Pennsylvania, and actually met a girl from Punxsutawney in high school, I'm going to go with the Canadians on this one and hope for an early spring.

Besides, it appears that Phil is pulled out of his burrow very early - before the sun comes up! So how can he really tell...

Even more interesting (to me, anyway - it doesn't take much to humor me!) Germany has a similar tradition, involving a specific day in June and rain: if it rains that day, it will rain all summer. When I lived there, it did rain on the required day, and we had a miserable rainy summer. Gray skies for an entire year (winters are cloudy almost all the time). By the following spring we all were a little crazy.

Playtime!


I've been looking at some of the other blogs - there are some really creative people out there!

I will be away for the next 2 weeks, so my image generator practice involved an airline ticket. This is as close to a first class ticket as I'll ever get.

I will be ready to catch up on the remaining fun when I get back, and look forward to seeing lots of folks at Offline later this month.

Monday, January 28, 2008

More photo stuff

Some more photo thoughts:

I've been using Snapfish for my digital photo managment. I can upload photos there to an album, and send a message to family and friends for them to view. I really like it, because I make calendars each year for assorted family members. I've also had photos made in to mouse pads and mugs - they have lots of ideas.

Webshots would be handy too (in spite of my accidental posting of photos mentioned above!). I was able to create an album there and make a link to it on our family website, so it was easier to share than going through Snapfish - no registration required to view. And, I love the daily photos - I use those for my desktop on my home computer.

I'm looking forward to trying out the trading card idea at Flickr just for fun.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

WOW! Photos!

I haven't done much with Flickr, although I did post some library photos a while back when we were still under construction (and that was over a year ago...). I'll have to go through the collection of library pix to see if there is anything fun I can post soon.

I have done things on our family website so have a look. I will admit to accidentally posting all my camera photos once on webshots, too - I haven't tagged them, because I really didn't expect anyone else to look at them!

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Offline is Coming!

Just a reminder for anyone who hasn't registered yet - Offline in Missoula sounds like a great time this year (and for anyone who knew I had applied for a job outside the Library World: not to worry, I am staying where I am!)

And if you had your own Book Babes Calendar, you could write it on there to remind yourself! (Notice the nice reduced price - there is still plenty of 2008 left to get your money's worth!).

I'm enjoying reading all the blogs, but wish everyone had a profile so I could figure out who they are!

Thursday, January 3, 2008

RSS Feeds

This is one technology I've not been very comfortable with - it was always just a bit confusing, and I'm not sure why. I understood the basic idea, but didn't quite get the specifics. Then along came iGoogle, where I was able to subscribe to several feeds on my personal homepage. There are so many fun things out there, this at least helps save some time (but now I'm keeping up with things I never knew I'd want, so I'm not sure about the time saving...)

Being a knitter, this is my favorite: http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/

I've also recently become a great podcast fan, but I see that's a lesson for another day...

January 3, 2008

How fun to be required to create a blog! One of those things I've considered but didn't think I'd have reason to try...

The easiest habit of the 7 1/2? Definitely Play - that's why this class will be a great learning opportunity! Using Technology also seems to be an easy one for me, although I can appreciate the difficulties others have with this - it hasn't always been something I've naturally taken to.

The hardest? Seeing Problems as Challenges - many times an obstacle is just that, and reason enough to give up. This probably goes along with Having Confidence (also sometimes difficult for me): if you have confidence an obstacle can be overcome, often it isn't as overwhelming as it originally appeared.

Can't wait for the next lesson!