The end of 23 Things....or is it?

I am actually glad we wrapped up 23 Things as Summer Reading is already keeping me very busy. I'm glad I went back and checked up on myself as some things had not linked to my blog like they should have. I'm sure I will come back and spend more time on many of the "Things" as I have time or can find a need for them. There are a few that I will just probably not use anymore, but I am very glad to have had the experience and at least learn the basics of how to use them. Working with young adults it's always good to keep up with the latest. I am so glad I decided to participate in 23 Things because I would never have used most of this or realized just how easy it is. Onward and upward!
Have A Wonderful summer!

Final Lesson--Wiki

Wikis seem very easy. I did an edit on Wikipedia on the little town where I went to High school, Grinnell Kansas. I had never thought of creating or editing a wiki before, but now who knows where it will end. I really enjoyed this lesson and think I will do more of this. I am so excited that I made it to the last lesson and actually finished on the week it was assigned. I was behind for a while, but finally got caught up. I have enjoyed learning what is available for me as a librarian and for me personally to use. I should have lots of fun continuing to explore and create and share with my new found tools!

Slide sharing

Ok, so slide sharing is fun. I need to get some better pictures. I can see my family having a ball with this. It really isn't to hard, maybe a bit time consuming. I suppose we could use this to share pics of our summer reading events. It might also be used as a promo for events. HMMMM! The wheels are spinning now. I'll have to see how this plays out. I'll post them here if I use this as promo.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Screencasting

Screencasting is fun. I can see many ways to make use of this. I love using all the tutorials on Youtube, now I know how they do it. Also, when someone asks me a question now, I can simply show them rather than try and talk them through it without me seeing their screen or them seeing mine. Handy, Handy!!!! I like it, even though I couldn't get the audio to work right now. Screencast-o-matic is very user friendly and makes you feel like a pro in no time!

I thought I had linked my screencast on how to use the online Chilton's manual, but I guess it didn't link. I will keep trying to get it to link.

LibraryThing, Shelfari

OK so I'm doing my lessons out of order, but with working the front desk today I can't really do the older lessons.
I must say that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Shelfari. I can't wait to spend more time on it and get my books on my shelf. It is so easy to use and I love the reviews and recommendations. I can't wait to add and invite friends to see what they are reading. This is going to be great fun. I can see having my Young Adults do this. We can share and recommend titles and even do a discussion. I know how the teens would rather use technology than anything else. They can also participate in library related events without having to fit a trip to the library into their already busy schedules. Hmmmm! Possibilities, possibilities!

http://www.shelfari.com/mmader

Falling behind

Oh my goodness! I have been out of town and now am very far behind on my
23 Things. I will be working like crazy this week to get caught up. Maybe it's
a good thing I work this Saturday. It will give me one more day to get there!
Wish me luck!

VIDEO SHARING

One of my all time favorite videos! It really says it all without saying a thing! It has great music! If it shows an error, you can go to Youtube and search Lifehouse skit. There are several, but this one is my favorite!

VIDEO SHARING

Video sharing can be fun. I'm not sure if I will have time to do my "own" video, but I certainly can add a video to my blog. I love to knit and I am so glad when I can share with others how easy it is. I'm convinced "Anyone" can knit. Hope you enjoy the video!

Week 9 Instant Messaging

For some reason I did not like using Meebo. It just didn't seem confortable to me, but I'm not sure why. I do IM on facebook and keep up with my family, friends, and co-workers. It has come in handy a time or when the girls at work have a question and it is my day off.
I started IM long ago when I was in college with ICQ. It was great at that time because no one had heard of cell phones yet, and long distance phone calls were a luxury a college student couldn't afford. I was able to chat with my mom on occasion and at least stay in touch. It had a neat feature where you could record a message and send it. My kids sang happy birthday to my grandma and we sent it. She was tickled! I love that memory!
I think IM has great uses for many people. It's just a matter of finding out how to fit it into your life, whether it be for work or pleasure!

Cloud Computing

I love the idea of creating my summer reading brochure and calendar on google docs and google calendar, and then making them available for the schools to access. This will make sharing the information with the kids so much faster and easier. I think we can even link it to our website so that kids (and parents) will have access to it anytime.
We use google calendar in our library to book our meeting room. All staff has access to it including our administrative office. This is a big improvement over our paper binder we had before. No more running to the front desk to look at the calendar before you book the room.
Outside of work I can see using Google docs with my family to work on our family history. We each will be able to imput information we find without having to email it back and forth and burden one person with compiling all the data.

I shared a document with several other librarians, where we just introduced ourselves and told a little bit about our jobs. If we were supossed to link that here, I didn't get it done, but I did do it!!!!! I promise!

Microblogging

I am so far behind on my 23 things. I have been out sick, so I am trying my best to catch up this week. I signed up for Twitter (screen name is mader68). I find it interesting that people have so much free time to do all this stuff on their computers. I must be way to busy, or the computer is just not my priority. You can lose a whole day just spending time on all these 23 Things. I have not found a real use for Twitter as of yet. It is easy to do and use. I am following MetroLibraryOK which is the Library where we used to live, also hclib, because they have very useful Teen ideas on their webpages, and the libraryJournal and TopekaLibrary. Hopefully I will find time to check this and connect with people with great ideas for teen programing.

Social Tagging

Social tagging is totally new to me. I really like the idea and can see it being useful in my Young Adult programming for work, especially since we all share computers and they often get changed. It should also be useful for knitting, crochet, and education sites at home. I will need to spend much more time on the Delicious site to get the most out of it though. I like being able to bundle. There are great possibilities here!!

RSS Feeds

I chose Google Reader because I did not want my inbox flooded with stuff. I have enough to deal with there. I like being able to go to one page to catch up on any new information from several sites. At first I thought there was going to be to much information to deal with, but now after learning a little more I can see how it could save me some time. I subscribed to Fraggle Knits, New York Times Best seller list, and shelljos.blogspot.com. The first is for fun, the second for fun and work, and the third is a former co-worker and friend. It's a great way to keep up on what's going on with their family.

Photo sharing

This is not easy for me. I don't know why I have trouble with cameras and pictures. I am not sure about storing pictures on the web yet. I prefer at this point to burn them to disc or save on a flash drive. I still like to get hard copies and put them in scrapbooks/photo albums also. I will keep playing with flickr and try to get better at it.

I did find some interesting pictures that include books, libraries, and knitting (some of my favorite things). I enjoy seeing people getting together to create, share, and enjoy. Thanks for sharing your pictures Mallia Sakalak http://www.flickr.com/photos/sakalak/330005129/.

Week 3 Online Meetings

I have set in on a few online meetings before. I love the fact that you can access archived meetings if you miss the real time meeting. It gives more flexibility as far as travel, schedule, and numbers able to attend.
This week I listened to Gaming and Libraries by Tom Peters. I picked up many great ideas on how to start a gaming night for our Young Adults and maybe even other ages. Everything was geared to their much bigger library, but I think I can take some of it and scale it down to our little library. They talked about writing grants for gaming systems that could be taken around to partner libraries to hold gaming tournements. This might work for our branches!?? Good ideas to look into. They also talked about after-hours online gaming and creating teams to play some of the strategy games. They also talked about providing the time and the space for the kids to bring in their own systems to play. I think it would be fun to do an online tourney if the kids brought in their laptops and used our Wi-Fi. Lots of ideas swirling around in my head right now. I will have to do some work to see what will be workable at our branch. I look forward to visiting many more archived meetings and gaining so much knowlege my brain won't contain it all.

Week 2 Social Networking

I have used Facebook for a while now and have really liked connecting with family and friends. I look forward to making library friends as well. I also had a WebJunction account to take some of the classes offered, but had not used it as a social networking tool. I have found some friends there and look forward to adding more. I have looked at Ning and watched a co-worker working with it, but I don't think I like the style of it. It doesn't seem as user-friendly as the others. I will play around with it more before I make my final judgement. Regardless, I am learning a lot!

A Week Back Home

I was blessed to spend this past week with my parents in western Kansas. It has been sunshine and warm weather, which is very unexpected for this time of year. We have had a wonderful time. Mom and I have talked so much we are both hoarse. It is such a joy to be back in the house where I grew up, to walk on the farm in utter peace and quiet, and watch the sun rise and set across the pasture. I was able to see both my brothers and their kids for a short while this weekend. It is always giggles and laughs when we all get together.
If you are able, I highly recommend a trip home to refresh and rejuvenate your spirit!
Have a sunshine week, even if there are clouds outside!

Week 1 Blogging

Wow! I made it this far! I am a blogger....exciting!
I look forward to learning new things each week on "23 Things Kansas" that will help me help my patrons at Coffey County Library, Burlington Branch.
Yea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!