Is It Over Already? Finished! Done! The End! .....To Be Continued!

This was a great experience. Its great to see all the free tools available for personal use and for the library to use as well. These things could greatly improve the libraries presence in the online community. Flickr, MySpace, IM, and Podcasting could get us noticed by millions of people and not just our community. It was great to see other staff members take part in the process and also help them in their quest to finish the project. I have learned about so many things that I can see all of this stuff being put to use by the library. Library Elf was very useful and since we do not off email notification at this moment this could be mentioned to patrons to try so they could grow with us in our 2.0 movement. well it was fun while it lasted, but I will try to go back and use some of the things I just touched on. As we saw in lesson #13 there are more Web 2.0 sites to explore.

WHOO

What's Up Google Docs?

Google Docs is a great way to use online productivity tools, like Word, Powerpoint, and Excel, if you do not own these items on your computer. It is also a great way to be able to get to your documents online with having to save them to your hard drive. I am sending the document to Karen to publish on our YCReads website and will put the links to those in my blog. Enjoy.

Soon I Will Be Invincible: A ...

http://yclibrary.wordpress.com/

IM get the message instantly

Instant messaging is a great way to get info from people who are online at the same moment you are. It can be a great tool for the library to serve the public with a chatting back and forth with a patron online to get them some answers or steer them in the right direction. Staff will have the opportunity to see how different and quick the IM language has become. Now if you will excuse me I will now be AFK ( Away from Keyboard )

Here is the message I got from the Reference IM:
troyslibrary (05:41:05 pm): Hello York County Library. You are receiving a message from me requesting to become a buddy.
(05:41:05 pm)yclanswers is no longer signed on.

Come On Over To MySpace!!!

Myspace is a great tool to get the word about yourself, your hobby, or organization. Millions, if not billions, of people use myspace each day. It neat how you can add videos, music, and photos to your page to customize it the way you want it. It also neat that you have to send and email to become someones friend to be viewed on your page. Here is the link to my myspace page: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=251207508

The libraries site needs some photos and videos to spice up the page a little bit. I know we are just starting with this thing, but now that we see how to work Myspace we all could help keep it running safely and keep it current. Its a great start and we know where it can go from here.

Library Elf to the rescue!!!!

Library Elf is a great way for patrons to receive email notification of overdues and holds until we get our email system set up. I have had patrons ask to be emailed when a book comes in. This would or could be a way for that to happen now for them. It pretty much shows you what the circulation staff sees when they are aked by patrons about things on hold or checked out. This will also help patrons remember the titles they have checked out and can check against it before they turn the books in. They can also keep up with their holds through this site and feel more in control of the items they have out. I like it and will continue to use it because I check my email before going to the libraries website to check my account. It just seems natural. This will also keep the patrons from asking questions about their items, because no they will know more.

Podcasting and learning with pictures Inpictures.

Podcasts can be used by the library to put their summer reading programs and any other program on the Internet for the general public to see. If they see the videos of the things done then they will come in to some things to be apart of it. These can also be used as training for staff that can be viewed multiple times so the staff member can refresh their memory if needed. I have seen a podcast that taught explained what Library 2.0 was and how it as going to change libraries for the better. I also looked at Inpictures that can be used to let staff and patrons learn to do word, excel, access, and other applications at their on paste. Here is the link to the inpictures site for application tutorials.

http://www.inpics.net/

The core competencies ebinar was also great to see what staff should be competent about.
http://www.webjunction.org/do/DisplayContent?id=17556

8hands.com on deck!!!

The site is www.8hands.com. This site is a desktop application that can bring all of your social networking sites to your computer at this one location. You do IM, Myspace, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, and more all from here. You can also share this info with a drop and drag procedure. This site keeps you from visiting all of your social networking sites individually. If the library gets all of the Web 2.0 social sites going this can be used to sign in and look at all of those things from one central location. Check it out. I am posting a link to a television show that I watch that demonstrated the site just in case no one wanted to download the software to see how it works. The show is called "Attack of the Show". A great show to keep me current i gaming and techology.

G4TV sprinkled 8hands with love!
G4TV is not just one of the biggest tech broadcast networks, it's also one of our favorite places to visit when we are thirsty for some geeky television time.

PBWiki-Wiki-Wiki

I created a wiki for the sign in procedure for the Internet computers. This will show people how involved it can get with registering people for a computer. As for as comparing a wiki to a blog I think I like the blog better because of ease of use to me. Maybe its because I opened a blog before a wiki so I have had more experience with it by now. Well enough of that here is my wiki.

http://troyslibrary20.pbwiki.com/New-Internet-Policy-Sign-In-Procedure

That's my NetLibrary

NetLibrary is a very interesting tool. This a place to listen to books while you run, work, play, or drive. This comes in handy when your eyes are needed for something else. The titles ranged from nonfiction to fiction, Some titles that caught my eye were "Tinkie Deconstructed" and "Darwin Awards 4". I found a title "Gullible's Travels" that the library doesn't have that a patron could checkout online to listen to. To troubleshoot the site always have patrons always type in our web address and not bookmark the site, and if they can't get in the first time try to clear your cookies, history files, and cache. Then have them shutdown all internet sites and relaunch their browser. This is usually the fix that gets people back in. Also remind them they need to create a free account before downloading any audiobooks.

Google Base of Operations!!!

I have created my on item for posting. I will post a link at the end of my rant. The post I created was an announcement about the technology center new additions that I think everyone should know about. I hope you enjoy. http://base.google.com/base/a/troyslibrary2.0

That was Del.icio.us!!!!

Del.icio.us was a very interesting web tool. It could come in handy because you are able to log in to it from anyhere. If doing research it can be used to keep track of your websites you would use for your paper. Its also a great place to keep up with sites you bookmark and a great way to keep an eye on friends and their websites. Its also a great place to find new things being used or found on the internet.
http://del.icio.us/troyslibrary2.0

Generate Your Image with an Image Generator

Image generators are fun to use. You can take famous people, cartoons, toys, and other things to have them say something you want them to say. The library can use this for displays in the library. When doing horror find a horror author and have them say something hilarious or scary. This ca be done with almost any dewey number or famous person in the news. Image generators are only limited to your imagination. Jump in and enjoy. Here is a link to the website I used and below is image I created. http://www.comicstripgenerator.com/

You and YouTube

YouTube is a great place to videos that may be hard to find elsewhere. These are user posted videos of all sorts of things. From people making fools of themselves to parodies of just about anything. I like searching YouTube for videogames and movie trailers. It was nice to see trailers of games and movies that have not yet been released. Most gaming and movie sites release small amounts of trailers, but YouTube is a place where you can find leaked videos of movies, games, music, and much more. The movie I have linked to is for the much anticipated ending to the Halo trilogy.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH7MesYgcHY

The library could use YouTube to give an online tour of the library, post videos of programs, and other new things the library may want the public to see as well as read about. We could also upload how to use our databases, Live Homework Help, Downloadable Audiobooks, and MyLibraryDV. This gives the library endless possibilities in reaching the general public.

Flickr - Carded Sign

This is a funny sign. We may have to use this for our registration kickoff.

We could use Flickr to post pictures on our website of programs and events that we have. We could do photos of our computer classes, book sales, teen events, book clubs, some of our technolgy in use, and children's programs. This will give the people who just go to our website and not check out books an idea of other things that go on in our library. If its a public event we could get the permission of the people in the picture before we use them like the newspaper usually does.

RSS FEED ME!!!!!!!

I have signed up to receive RSS feeds from the following websites because this will allow me to better serve the library in my line of work.

1. NY Times Book Review
This feed will allow me to receive the latest book reviews and items that make it on the bestseller list. I know we get the hardcopy, but getting it online can help me if I do my book order from home. Also I can use the list to get an idea of upcoming titles.

2. Librarian's Internet Index
Librarian's Internet Index has a collection websites carefully selected by Librarians that range in topics of holidays and seasons, tools for information users, human interest, and currents events and more. This can be used to help patrons get librarian recommended info instead of always using Gooogle to try and find things.

3. MTV News
MTV news will keep me in the know on celebrities, music, movies, videos, and television. As we know if you don't keep up with the times you will get left behind. Also it lets me know what the younger crowd will be talking about.

4. Engadget
Engadet will help me keep an eye on the latest technology that is out there. They can range from laptops, computers, cameras, cell phones, robots, television, and just about an other electronic advances in the works.

5. Joystiq
Joystiq is a website that deals with a hobby of mine.........VIDEOGAMES. I love videogames. Joystiq gives me the latest updates on upcoming videogames. This gives me an idea of what and what not to buy. They give previews of games for every gaming system. They also make announcements about games in the news and legislation that is happening to protect children.

Taking part in Library 2.0

I have decides to take on the challenge of learning this because with working in the Technology Center people may have questions about some of the things we will be covering. This will give me a leg up on social software that teens have been using for quite some time now. It will also benefit me as a person to always want to learn new things. I can not wait to see where this journey will take my thinking process.