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Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Thing #23-- The End?

Wow...its been a while since we started this course! Time flies when you're busy and having fun. And I must say, that this has been a really cool work experience for me.

My favorite discovery along the way, hands down, has been del.icio.us. It is the coolest thing ever. I know I was a bookmarking nay-sayer, but this thing has been so helpful to me. I like how simple it is to use, and I have discovered so many cool sites I never knew of just by browsing through this site on my free time. Totally cool!

My second favorite discovery from The 23 Things program was LibraryThing. I LOVE it! I find it to be much more in-depth than Shelfari (which I had been using for about a year). I have been using the LibraryThing site to discover new manga.

By reading the reviews from various people, I have been able to make suggestions to our school librarian about things that might be high school appropriate. I have also been reading various reviews for myself...it's a great place to discuss books and learn new ones you may want to read!

I think this program has proven to me that I can still find the time to try some new things and dedicate myself to something besides just work. I have been working two jobs for four years now, and I always tell myself or say to others that I just don't have the time to do extra things...and I found that I DO have some time to do extra projects.

Maybe for me this class was about proving to myself that I could, some day soon, go back to school part time and get that MLS I keep promising myself. Maybe I can make the time for that!

Del.icio.us proved to me not to always jump to conclusions too soon. I tend to be very opinionated and I make up my mind quickly about things. I learned that even though I originally thought a social bookmarking site was pointless, that it really isn't once you start trying it out on a daily basis. I have found it to be relaxing, informative, and fun!

I think I can use this experience and apply it to my work every day with the kids at South High and with my patrons and co-workers at Willa Cather. I can take with me the idea that I am not too busy to learn new things, and that I need to be more open-minded when it comes to different things. Oh, and I know for sure this taught me to utilize my patience!

I think the program is great the way it is. The only thing I would do differently is give staff more time to work on this AT work. But I know with staffing being as it is, that that was not possible this time around. I think if staff had time off the desk to work on this, there would have been even more staff involvement and completions ( Even more so than all those folks who did do the program, and that was a lot!).

I think it has been fun to see what my co-workers came up with for each assignment. It's good to do something out of the "ordinary" library work and see fellow employees do something fun or different for them!

I have enjoyed using Blogger and learning about other tools such as Flickr and del.icio.us along the way. I think it's good for library staff to learn and try new things and be trained to be up-to-date on the latest ways to find information. It's the only way we can be of most use to our patrons in the long run. This has been an excellent learning experience and I would do it again!

Thing #22-- Media and Book Downloads

I really think it is cool to have books available online, though I cannot personally see myself using this feature that much.

I like reading short stories on my PC, but I have a hard time reading a long time and looking at the screen. I love the feel of an actual book, and I find it easier to have a book with me rather than having to sit down to the computer to read.

That said, I still think that this is an excellent option for patrons...anything to get them reading...and if they want to read the books on their PC or download them to their iPod or Kindle, I think that's awesome!

Accessing Overdrive was easy. I had never tried it before, but I found the proccess to be quite self-explanitory. I practiced by downloading a Spiderwick book. I think it would be really easy to explain to a patron how to use it. Maybe the library could hold short forums or classes explaining this service to customers and reminding them what they can do with it.

Again, I think this is an excellent service for our patrons, as long as e-books don't take over on a whole, lol. Just like some of our patrons like to listen to audiobooks, I think this service gives them just one more option, which is great.

Offering movies is also good, as long as we don't try to compete with the rental companies. I think many of our patrons use our library to search for DVDs and CDs, and if we don't provide movies in the same way that many rental places do, we are losing customers and doing them a disservice.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Thing #21-- Podcasts

Podcasts are new to me. I have never really used one before. I used Podcastalley.com and found the CNN podcast and listened to some of that (it was about the elections today). I then posted that RSS feed to my Bloglines account.

I think podcasts come in handy if you missed something important on radio or television, or if you are somewhere without a television but you have a computer. I also believe you can also put them on your iPod or MP3 player, which I have not tried yet.

I looked up library podcasts on PodcastDirectory.com and saw that lots of libraries have podcasts of book reviews for their YA and adult book sections.

I think this is a great way of utilizing this tool. People could tune into a podcast about different genres of books that might interest them, and see how others reviewed them. The library could use podcasts to also tell patrons of programming or broadcast a storytime, even.

I think it would be cool to have a podcast of big library events like Mayhem in the Midlands. The library could podcast short segments of interviews with authors or Q&A sessions from the event.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Thing #20...YouTube

YouTube is something that I have used off and on for 3 or 4 years now. I don't usually watch a lot of full television programs on it, but like music videos and stuff are handy to watch on YouTube.

I've always liked YouTube because it's pretty simple to use and it's really easy to find one kind of video that you like, and once you've watched that one, you can choose from the list of other suggested videos on the right and see more like it. I have always liked that feature.

The video I chose to view for this assignment was a video that one of our library co-workers made! It's really cute and very well done:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZZ4S8IlxuE

Jeff Pospisil and his wife Erinn, made this video using their son Asa's toys! They made it using iVideo I think. I was really impressed with the video and he says that in less than 5 days it's had over 400 hits.

I think being able to comment on videos can be both good and bad. The good side, which I think could be utilized by libraries, is being able to rate things and comment on things and other patrons could see what people think of an item.

The down side to that is non-constructive criticism, as well as just outright rudeness and flaming between parties. The library would have to have someone monitor comments or have some sort of tools installed to control that sort of thing.

I like that you can click on the stars and give the videos a star rating, which I think we could do with library books. This kind of rating would cut back on rude commenting, and just give users a simple rating for an item.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Ghosthunters Live: A Guilty Pleasure For the Whole Family

It's all Gavin's fault. I blame him. And now Devin and I always have to tune into Ghosthunters. Yeah, sometimes it's a bit cheesey, but there have a been some episodes where really weird stuff happens, so it's definately worth a watch. Especially when they DON'T find anything...and then they explain what the "ghosts" might be. I think this shows that they aren't always out for the ratings and for the shock factor and that's what makes this show fun to watch and not a total joke.

ETA: Wow this sure was a let-down this year! Supposedly last year's program was really interesting, but watching some of it this year on Halloween night, I didn't see anything interesting at all. If anything, the most entertainment we all got from this program was laughing at how bad the Sci-Fi channel's live team was at transmitting the show.


Monday, October 20, 2008

Thing 19 Web 2.0 Awards

According to the Web 2.0 Awards site, del.icio.us was voted the #1 bookmarking site. I can totally understand why.

It was hands down my favorite bookmarking resource that we used during our lessons. I have been using it almost every day now, especially for down times when I am simply bored and want to find something interesting to look at online.

It has been an excellent source for new sites, and I have found it to be equally excellent for being able to go back to something I found that was interesting from any computer I'm using. I love how easy it is (just click on a bookmark and hit "save") to use, and I enjoy being able to share my sites with others as well.

The design is simple (which I like when reading through things) and I really like that.

I would like to try out the #2 pick, StumbleUpon because I have heard friends talking about it. I have not had time to use it as of yet. I believe you have to install it on your computer, and I am not sure I want to do that at this time. But that concept, that you can have sites recommended to you based on sites that you already visit is intriguing to me. I don't like the idea that all of your moves are (probably, I am guessing) being monitored or taken down (by The Man, lol), but I use Lastfm which works in a simular way, only except for music, and I actually like that. I try not to think about who might be monitoring my useage, lol.

So yeah, the bookmarking site del.icio.us is pretty darn useful, easy to use, and the best thing I have gotten out of this class. I was not turned on to social bookmarking completely, but this site is definately worth a look, if anything, so that you can add your favorites and take them anywhere you use the computer.

Thing18 Library 2.0 assignment


Here I am trying out Zoho Writer for the Library 2.0 class. Seems pretty simple so far...I like that it is set up like most word proccessors. I think it is really convenient to have this available online, because I find that a lot of the times different versions of Microsoft Word won't be compatible with one another. That used to get me into trouble sometimes in college. I would do homework at the public library or at home and try to bring it up to print at school only to discover that the version at UNO was different. With this program, you could bring your homework etc. up anywhere and it would always stay the same. I think this is an excellent tool in that way. The only problem is if the internet is not available in a location or if it is down you may not be able to access your information as readily.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Why Doesn't...

...OPL staffers have a LibaryThing group?

I have been enjoying playing with this site and in my free time, have been exploring there. Other libraries have a group and I think we should, too!

I'd start one but it won't be any fun without others, lol. There are places to talk (message boards) and I think that might be fun.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

#17--Wikis Pt. 2 (SandBox Wiki)

I went over to the SandBox Wiki and put my library blog on the favorite blog page. I saw that some of the blogs were arranged by system...I was wondering if OPL's will get their own spot on the list or if we'll all just be on there wherever.

I found it to be a bit messy overall, which I don't really like. I don't like wading through information all ran together. It's like reading a run-on sentence...tedious and confusing.

When I was looking at some of the music listed in the favorite music wiki or in the movie wiki, I was annoyed that each person's comments were just sort of blobbed together, one after another, without any sort of break in between them. I am not sure if this is like this because each individual poster did not put the breaks after their post or not.

Even so, if there is a moderator of the page they could step in and put some breaks in between or something so that a person can tell where one person's thoughts begin and end.

Other than that though, it can be interesting to see what other library staffers are into. I know that this wiki is just for play so I can understand why it is more lax about style and appearance...I guess I just like reading something less jumbled.

#16- Wikis Pt. 1

Taking a look at some of the examples given for library wikis, I saw lots of variety. I also imagined what it would be like if OPL had something simular to Printceton Public Library or Bull Run Public Library...two that I really enjoyed looking at.

PPL had book reviews. It think this is an excellent use of a wiki because patrons can comment openly about what books they've read. It creates dialogue and allows library staff to see what kinds of books their patrons are reading and enjoying (and what they aren't).

Bull Run had information about their library programs, Friends booksales, as well as information about the county history. I think having a wiki like this possibly combined with a book review wiki might make for a really cool wiki site for a public library.

The Library Success wiki was also highly useful, providing information about leadership and materials development, as well as customer service...lots of useful info. for library staffers.

One of the most professional and well organized wikis I looked at today was the WikiNorthia site for Melbourne. I liked how everything was sorted out by topics and the look of the site was very clean and easy to navigate.

A wiki for either staff or patrons could be useful in the future at OPL. I would love to see what our patrons feel about what they are reading from our library, and I would like to see information about the library and its functions become accessible through this media.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Thing #15: What Library 2.0 Means to Me

I read the Library Journal article entitled, "Library 2.0: Service For the Next-Generation Library" and thought about what this movement meant to me as a library employee.

According to the article, Library 2.0 is based in "user-centered change." I agree with this shift in service ideas because technology has been allowing more and more patrons to become information-seekers online, with more joining the online ranks in just the last few years.

This changes the way our patrons find and receive information. If we are the keepers of information to the public, why shouldn't we then be changing the way that we provide this information for them? This is where Library 2.0 comes into play.

With websites like MySpace, Facebook, LiveJournal, Library Thing, and Flickr, our library clientele are becoming used to choices and personalization, as well as voicing their opinions in a public format. They choose what kind of blog they want to start and talk about their lives there, what sort of profile page they want to have on MySpace, what books or music they want others to know they are interested in.

Our patrons shop online, they download music and videos, they look up information about their health or what food to prepare for dinner. They share themselves online through blogging or sharing photos with family and friends. Even our presidential election has found its place online with candidates boosting support via their websites, spreading their message through cyberspace.

At the library, we want to be able to provide our patrons with the same kinds of choices and options that they receive elsewhere. Part of this comes with allowing them to utilize their Internet savvy in part with their love for books and information at the library. If we give them choices and options, input on what services and materials we provide them, we are including them in the information process and ultimately, they have a stake in the library itself.

As the article states, "This increase in available technologies gives libraries the ability to offer improved, customer-driven service opportunities." The article states that we as library workers should be providing our patrons with the chance to "create their own stuff to contribute to the ocean of content out there."

When I worked at the elementary school library, one thing that the librarian did was let certain kids help with simple library duties. She felt that if the kids were given a chance to help with the library work, that they would take pride in their school library. I think this simple concept is at the basis of what Library 2.0 is all about.

Each one of our patrons should feel like they have a stake in their library. Hy-Vee touts that it is "employee owned," why shouldn't our library patrons feel this way about their neighborhood library?

According to Library Journal, Chris Anderson, who helped coin the name Library 2.0, talked about providing a voice for patrons who may want items that are not necessarily the "hit" movie or television show. I agree. I think for all the people we have who will want movies like "The Dark Knight" we also have patrons who would want us to purchase foreign films or British television shows, and we need to give them the proper channels to request these items, as well as give them the opportunity to voice their opinions on such things.

And as the article points out, Library 2.0 is not just about technology. The idea can be implemented just by considering "...what services your library already offers that could be improved as well as new things that can be added. This includes both technology-based and non-technology services."

At OPL, we have begun to embrace the concept of Library 2.0 through our programming alone. Teen lock-ins and game nights, including gaming themes utilizing Dance Dance Revolution, Rock Band, and Runescape have gone over quite well throughout the system. Baby Reads has been a hit with new parents, as well as providing parents and child-care providers with tips on how to read to young children. We have started an online movie service, as well as a service that provides books to be delivered via mail. All these things are examples of how Omaha Public Library is incorporating Library 2.0 on a daily basis.

If we allow patrons to participate in, and be a part of, the library and it's offerings, we are exercising the Library 2.0 mindset. By giving them options to review books, fill out a survey, or teach them how to use free, online technology, we are putting the Library 2.0 concept into play.

In conclusion, I feel that Library 2.0 is a customer service mindset. We can retain the beauty of what libraries have always been, providing books and reference for our patrons but at the same time, allowing patrons to be a part of the library by utilizing new technology in order to give our clients a feeling of ownership of their library system. Customer satisfaction can only come from knowing our patrons and what they want from our services.

Library 2.0 will not go away now that we have reached this point in technological advancement, even if the name changes or the concepts expand. The libraries who are not on board with this concept will surely be left behind in the long run. I am excited to see what this new surge of ideas will bring to our line of work, and I have enjoyed learning about some of the sites and technology available to librarians through the O! What A Geek program.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Thing # 14: Technorati

Technorati is FULL of information...LOTS of information!

I could probably stay busy reading up on topics from sports and entertainment to music and blogs. I like how you can look into different subjects like Entertainment, and see various stories. But also, along the side, you can search the popular tags in the tag cloud.

And a topic can cover a wide variety of things. For example, the Entertainment category sent me to a page with an article about sheep having to be tased so they would not block the road in Wales (LOL), to the sneak peak of a Jonas Brothers video.

Btw, Christie Brinkley is requesting a restraining order against her Ex-husband or something.

I like that you can not only get information from websites about various topics, but also, you can search blogs according to topic as well.

There IS a whole lot of information...so you have to be prepared to hunt a lot or know exactly what you are trying to find. But I do find this site to be informative and fairly easy to use.

I claimed my blog on Technorati, as well!

PLCMCL2<--I have to figure out how this works!

Thing #13: Del.ici.ous

At first I wasn't too sure about del.ici.ous...but now I am!

I spent a lot of time messing around with it. I created an account, and started surfing and tagging things. I found it really useful to be able to pull up my favorites on any computer I'm at...this is an excellent plus to using this site.

I know that this site will come in handy to librarians and teachers because all of your information is in one place. I was exploring the Omaha World Herald website and discovered that they too, have a del.ici.ous account! I searched it and found all sorts of useful resources for journalists, as well as the every day seeker of information. Their tags were full of interesting sites and links...I was thrilled to have found them on del.ic.ious!

I found a people search called pipl that was quite interesting (and fairly accurate), as well as free, while I was searching tags today.

I even found O! What a Geek, and my own blog, lol.

I don't think del.ic.ious will totally replace bookmarks, just because not all people are going to want to use another program or go through a second party to use their favorites. Some people aren't into sharing that information, and will most likely stick to using their favorites on the computer.

I think I will be using this site though, and I enjoyed exploring on it!

Saturday, September 27, 2008

#12 Roll your own search engine

Rollyo is pretty interesting. I think it is handy to create your own search engine using sites that you use. My sites were sort of all over the place, so I chose to create a roll with various sites that I frequent each day:

http://www.rollyo.com/melflint5108/

I don't have a whole lot of sites that I tend to use daily...but I will continue to try and think of some to add.

This might come in handy when helping students find information for school or patrons find information about something they are researching. For instance, a patron or student might be looking for a certain topic, and you could have a Rollyo that is just news sites and you could search those to find them some information and sources.

#11 A thing about LibraryThing

I like LibraryThing.

It's a lot like another site I found a while back called Shelfari (http://www.shelfari.com/) except this is where you add your books you own and Shelfari is more about what you are currently reading. Though I suppose you could just add what you've read to your LibraryThing as well.

I don't own lots of books but I put a few that I can remember that I have:

http://www.librarything.com/home/melflint5108

Feel free to look me up on Shelfari (see above link), too. My name is Mel5108 (look for a pic of a guy in a tux with a martini...that's Devin), and you can find me under a members search.

I really like these sites because people can share their interests and you can discover new books to read.

#10 Play around with Image Generators





Well I discovered one that I really had fun with (see above):










This generator gives you really goofy, old, comic book coveres and a word bubble that you can write whatever you want into...and yes, some of them lend themselves to be quite silly!






Here's some more I did:




















Thursday, September 25, 2008

Packer Pride

Just to toot my own horn...

...here is a link to the South High webpage. I have been building the library homepage for a few days now using DotNetNuke (which I taught myself to use) and I think it's pretty nice for a first-timer:

http://www.ops.org/high/south/STUDENTS/Library/tabid/413/Default.aspx

Take a look at our beautiful library. It really is a great place for our kids and the staff to work in. I am proud of our library at South and I am proud of my little webpage, lol.

#9 Finding Feeds

This part of the lesson was pretty easy.

Most every site you go to these days has the RSS feed symbol, so it was pretty easy to find sites I frequent and add them to Bloglines.

Always the journalism major at heart, I added Omaha.com and KETV to my Bloglines. I also have added USA Today and BBC News. I am generally reading news when I am online. There area few blogs I read as well.

I think the easiest way of adding the feeds to Bloglines was to just find sites that were interesting and copy, cut, and paste their URL's into the Bloglines "add a feed" search (or type the URL if I knew it).

I really like Topix.net. I thought searching was easy and the site has a neat and simple in design. I especially liked the fact that they were news stories. I can see myself looking at Topix.net in my free time.

Technorati is very nice as well (Syndic8.com timed out when I tried to load it so I will try it another time). I found it easy to use and I liked how it broke down searches according to your interests (entertainment, sports, news, etc.), which is always helpful.

Again, I really can't see myself using RSS when I am using the Internet for personal reasons, except for Topix.net since I am really into the news. I can see myself setting up a Bloglines for work reasons though.

I didn't really find any of this confusing in any way. The only frustration was not being able to load Syndic8.com 'cause I wanted to see what that was all about.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

#8 Make life "really simple" with RSS & a newsreader

Okay...

I'd hate to be a Negative Nellie here...but I don't really like RSS feeds. Does that make me some sort of weird-o? And honestly, I don't know anyone personally who uses them much.

Though that does not mean it isn't valuable to others, though.

I enjoy reading through websites, especially blogs, for information. I like to look at the sites I'm on and explore them. To me, that's the whole joy of blogging and reading them and seeing the entire layout. It's like Christmas morning, bringing up a new web page to read!

But maybe I'm some sort of whack-o girl, lol.

I mostly use LiveJournal for blogging, and they have what is called a Friends Page which basically gives you a short blurb from each "friend" you have (like an RSS but in keeping with your page layout and leaving in the avitars, etc. of the other users) on that page so you can choose which blogs you want to go deeper into and read.

I guess personally I would not find much use for this, basically because I don't read lots of blogs or websites in one day to the point that I would need all of them on one page in this manner. The way Bloglines is set up bothers me...it seems cluttered. I know I know...the links are in alphabetical order. But it just seems like a long slew of links and when you click on them, a whole page full of words.

I miss the graphics, the layout, the links and pics...everything that goes into building a website is missing. It's just words and yes, I love to read and words are great (hence blogging in the first place) but part of what makes using the internet appealing is design elements. I mean, I see that you can see some pictures that go along with the article...I guess I am just not into the whole parsed down look of it all. It's a yawn.

But I PERSONALLY (I'm not talking in a professional sense) only use the internet these days for quick communication and for entertainment, not homework and only for general research like recipes etc.

That said, I do however, think it would be really useful for students and teachers combing the net for information for research. I know when I was in college this would have been very helpful to me (having been a journalism major) in order to keep track of various new sources. I know this could be useful to me with my students who come to the library at South High School.

I can see that it would be useful for librarians (because information from lots of places would be available in one spot which makes for quick searches). I think we will definately be using this at OPL if not now but in the future as another way to get answers to reference questions to the public quickly.

So I guess for at home and for leisure I probably will stick to my old ways (no need for RSS) but in a work or educational environment, I think I would use this tool in the future.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

#7 Blog About Technology

This may sound silly, but I think the Internet is an amazing feat of technology.

I remember when I was in 3rd grade, they were telling us about these computers that would hook up through the telephone and allow you to talk to your friends while you were at home. We thought it sounded so cool...and so foreign. And now, it's an every day thing!

I can't believe how much the Internet has done for me personally. It has allowed me to research topics for when I was in college, for my wedding, and anything I need to know about on a daily basis I can look up online...recipes, car repair, calendar, concert dates, news, information about my bank accounts...the applications are endless.

I went ages without it, not even having a computer of my own 'til about 8 years ago, but now I can't imagine what it would be like to NOT have it.

I'd lose track of friends and family that have moved away and I would have never made some of he friends I now have without the Internet. Email has allowed me to carry out a dialogue that I didn't have before. I truly enjoy written communication sometimes (instead of using that evil telephone all the time).

Our work at the library has been improved by the use of the Internet. Information is available to us at the click of a button, and we can use both the Internet and books as sources of information TOGETHER when doing research.

Thank goodness for the Internet, I say! Who knew that the mythical computers for communication from my childhood would become such an important tool in my daily life.

#6 More Flickr Fun Part B...Library Trading Card!

This is where I will post my library trading card (once I get a chance to make it)! Stay tuned.

#6 More Flickr Fun...Take 2...Color Pikr!


Leaf, originally uploaded by A is for Angie.

This is a cool little tool to play with. My second favorite color is green, so I chose the brightest setting of green and found this really bright, beautiful, leaf.

# 6 More Flickr Fun--Montager

This tool is pretty interesting! I pulled it up (and actually didn't type anything into the search) and someone had already had the word "face" in the search window. It pulled up a very uh, revealing pic of a woman without a top on with her arms crossed in front of her, lol.

I switched the search to "kitten" and got a really cool picture of a cat. Much more my speed, lol. Montager, however, did not work with the picture. I tried various pictures but they either didn't load the entire mosaic, or the mosaic was very very dark so you could not tell what the whole picture was.

I asked our computer page, Stacy Bair, for help and she could not see why it was doing what it was. We tested to see if it depended on when the original pic was posted in Flickr, but that didn't seem to make a difference.

After trying about 5 different pictures multiple times, I gave up. I think I will try a different Flickr mashup and see if I have better results with it!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

#5 Flickr

Here is my first uploaded pic on Flickr!

I have never used Flickr before and I am really impressed. Other programs that I've used like Photobucket are not as complex as this one.

For instance, the fact that I can blog the pic directly with no fuss is great! I like the way Flickr is set up and laid out. The screens are clear and clean...everything is easy to use and the directions are easy to follow.

Very cool!

Well, this is a picture from our honeymoon. Devin and I were married May 10th and we went away for a short honeymoon in Estes Park, Colorado. The first day there it was warm and sunny. Then it got rainy and the rain turned to snow overnight.

We really wanted to go to the National Park, so we went despite the snow and it was beautiful.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Cool!

Now that this week's Flickr assingments have opened up, I wish I was at home so I could use more pictures off of my pc, lol! Alas, I am at work clerking.

But I did find a spare moment to sign up for Flickr. I am looking forward to trying this out because I have never used any other photo-host program besides Photobucket.

I just discovered that I can click on the pictures I posted here in the blog and they will get super-mega-huge! I like that since some of them were a bit small and hard to see who was in them.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Library Workers Past and Present Pic Spam!

I've worked at OPL now 10 years, and over those years I've had the pleasure of knowing some really great people (0ne of which ended up my husband, lol)!

Here are just some of the pictures I have from over the years. A lot of them are Willa Cather employees 'cause that's my home.

Spot the OPL workers, both past and present! Have fun!

(You can click on the pic to mega-enlarge it for better viewing.)























































































































































































Phlegm Is My Overlord!

I have the plague. I think it's the OPS plague, which is something I seem to get every year when school starts and I go back to the full time job at the school library.

This version of the plague comes with phlegm blockages to my nasal cavities, my brain, and possibly my larynx. I cannot hear, breathe, swallow, or taste anything. Everything tastes like paste...not that I would know what that tastes like since I was not one of the paste-eaters from kindergarten.

I feel weak and kittenish as well as a bit dopey (and no, I'm not heavily drugged).

I missed my school job and my OPL job at WC tonight. It's pretty hard working a 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. day and I knew I just couldn't do either today with the whole lack of air to my brain because of phlegm thing.

Off to go take Sudafed and watch mindless television! Huzzah!




Saturday, September 6, 2008

Week 1. Learning 2.0 & Lifelong Learning


(Out of order but still relevant!)

7 1/2 Habits Tutorial:

I find that the easiest of the habits listed for me is #7 1/2 which is "play." I have always been fairly easy going and I find work as well as learning can be more fun if you well, have some fun, lol! So this is by far the easiest thing for me to do.

I would like to continue to use my good sense of humor and willingness to make learning fun to my advantage each day.

The hardest lifelong learning habit for me is the teaching or mentoring habit. I get nervous when I am showing someone something new, and sometimes I lack the confidence in myself to show people new things. I feel like I might be telling them the wrong thing or that I sound silly when I'm showing them something.

I would like to work on this and develop this habit. I would like to be less frightened of teaching others and feel more confident in my own abilities.


#3 Get blogging in 3 steps...what lifelong learning means to me

I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma. ~Eartha Kitt


We learn every day...so why not encourage it in every aspect of our daily lives?
Part of lifelong learning involves being open to take a class and learn something new at any age!
I am hoping to learn new things about the web and what it has to offer me as well as library patrons.
I have been using the internet for years as a social networking tool, and in order to keep in touch with friends and family who live in other states and countries.
Through Library Learning 2.0, I would like to learn about other programs besides the ones I have learned to use over the years.
I look forward to exploring other blog hosting sites, as well as photo-sharing sites as well!
So far, I am finding blogger to be very easy to use! Inserting the pic above was far easier (and quicker) in blogger than it is in LiveJournal.
Cheers,
Mel

Testing...One, Two, Three...


Right then.

Here I am posting my first blog post for O! What a Geek: Library Learning 2.0 (How did they know I was such a geek, lol?)!

Let's see what this baby looks like once it's posted, shall we?