Fin

I can't believe I've made it to the end of Learn & Play!

Overall, I have enjoyed the experience. I learned about a lot of new resources and how I can use them in my everday life. I don't spend much time in front a computer or with my cell phone so things like Twitter or delicious haven't grabbed me like they have others. I did find some cool websites and new ways to share information with my friends.

I particulary liked Library Thing and the Wikis.

But ... I think the best thing about Learn & Play has been how it forced us to work together to figure out what the heck we were doing. I heard staff interacting on a whole new level. That's nice to see.

I struggled a bit with completing the activities because I was in Europe for three weeks (honeymoon!). I still managed to fit everything in but it felt more like an obligation than a diversion in the past few weeks. I'm glad we had some extra time to finish but could we do future exercises over a longer period of time? Maybe one or two assignments per month?

I would definitely participate in any future development programs. I love to learn new things. It's good for me and more fun than eating my vegetables.

Many thanks to Joy and everyone who put this together. It was a good experience.

MOLDI and it's treasures

I am amazed at the number of titles available on MOLDI!

I searched for Rick Steves travel guides since we used many of his books for our honeymoon. Wouldn't it have been great to download his books and listen to them on the flight or our trains through Italy? The most recent editions are not available on MOLDI but Europe probably hasn't changed much in the last 36 months.

I checked out some of the cooking books and thought about how handy it would be to have a cookbook on my home computer. I would have the recipes handy and save some space on my cookbook shelf.

I don't have kids but it's nice to see that someday we could download a book or two to the PC.

What an amazing resource!

Messing about with the Learn and Play Wiki

I added my Favorite Movie (This Is Spinal Tap) to the running list and I think I correctly added my blog to the list (fingers crossed). I was worried I would mess up the formatting for all of the entries.

It's fun to have this sort of sandbox where we can learn about other CML employees. I enjoyed reading the pages of favorites.

Podcasts

I subscribed to the Podcasts of Car Talk and The Splendid Table - two of my favorite public radio programs. I'm not always near a radio when they air so I'm excited to listen to each week's show at my convenience.

I saw several book and film review podcasts. Could the library link to some of those sites from the home page or throughout the catalog so that as a patron is browsing for a title, he/she can hear a review of the book or other books in that genre?

You Tube

I'm no stranger to You Tube. I've been on the site to see my nephew's talent show perfomance, the famous lion reunion (that made me cry), Tickle Me Elmo in action, and more.

I guess I was feeling nostalgic today and search for some of the old Saturday morning PSA's I saw as a kid. My favorite was "Timer" who hankered for a hunk of cheese.

I'm attempting to attach the opening from The Banana Splits. If that doesn't make you smile, I don't know what will.

CML Power Tools

I looked at some of the Power Tools on the CML site and spent some time playing with Stumble Upon. It was interesting. I felt that the search was a little broader than I had hoped but I found some interesting information.

I think it's great that the library has the Power Tools blog and gets feedback from our web-savvy patrons. I think we could do a better job of promoting that in our branches.

Fun with Web 2.0 Tools

In searching through the Web 2.0 award winners, I stumbled upon two tools that will help me enjoy two of my greatest loves - food and music.

First I went to UrbanSpoon and found the UrbanSpoon Columbus with details on hundreds of Columbus restaurants. The site features reviews from critics and regular folks but what I really love is that the site shows a percentage of UrbanSpoon folks who like the place. Plus - you can search by neighborhood or ranking. I can see myself use this tool every few weeks or so when my husband and I can't decide where to dine.

I also played around with Pandora radio. You type in an artist or song you like and they play songs and artists like your selection. I tried to trip it up by entering "Joni Mitchell" and I'm listening to a CSN&Y song that I forgot existed (but love!). I think I'll be coming back to Pandora Radio. Hey ... now it's Norah Jones. Nice!

Google Docs

I wish we had Google Docs when I was in high school and college. How easy it would have been to finish those arduous group projects!

In the professional world, I can also see many applications. In my past jobs, I could have sent out press releases and radio copy to all the managers for proofing and revisions. We could have created one spreadsheet to track statewide revenue and allowed each region's manager to update the information. Great!

We could use this tool in our libraries to maintain staff or community calendars. Our supervisors could send us all Google Docs to read and return in place of paper memos that circulate.

This is one of the coolest 23 Things I've seen.

Who doesn't love a wiki?

I love wiki. I have for some time, but now that I'm aware of what a wiki can do ... I'm all in.

I think it's a great idea to allow patrons to comment on books like customers can at Amazon. And we could set up wiki pages for tax information, voter registration information, FOL, etc.

And image how much bigger our programs could be if we set up wiki pages for Parents with schedules, book recommendations and more.

Of all the things we've learned about, I see wiki as one of the most useful of our #23 Things.

Library 2.0

Sure, new technologies will be great for the library. More access to information. More methods to communicate with our patrons. Better and easier for everyone, right?

Our challenge will be to make the transition a smooth one for our patrons. When we upgraded the catalog, we knew that lots of people used it successfully. We liked the word webs and the places where the new catalog led us. But ... some of our patrons missed the old catalog - the one to which they had grown accustomed.

How do we introduce this customer to a library wiki? How can we coerce him to dive into the wonders of Google when he's afraid to put his toe in the water?

On the bright side, we should be able to reach more users - and maybe even the techno-sophisticates who have stayed away from the Old-School library model.