Post-23 things

I have decided to continue my blog even after 23things to write about library-related stuff. Though I have no definite plans for what will go here, I'll include fun stories, book reviews, pictures and if I have any super awesome storytime or programming ideas.

One of the biggest things that has touched my heart since I started as the Children's LA was when I went to JoyLou daycare two weeks ago. I have only read to these little ones twice before and we sing the same goodbye song every time that has sign language. When we got ready to sing two weeks ago, almost all of them remembered what every sign in our song meant. That really warmed my heart and made me realize that I'm making an impact on these little ones. :) I think outreaches to the daycares and schools are definitely my favorite aspect of the job thus far.

That's all for now...hopefully I'll be able to continue maintaining this.

Last Thing!

• What were your favorite discoveries or activities over the past ten weeks?

I absolutely love Google reader! I am definitely addicted. I also have enjoyed getting to know more about Podcasts and Twitter as well as utilizing the LFPL Databases.

• Do you feel more confidence with these resources now? Was it time well-spent?

I was very comfortable with some resources (Google, Facebook, YouTube), but am more confident with Flickr, Wikis, and Online Reader Tools. I think for the majority of it, it was time well-spent and I think it was beneficial.

• If a similar learning program is offered in the future, are there other resources and technologies you would like to see covered? Any suggestions for how we might run the program differently?

I actually can't think of other resources and technologies off the top of my head. However, for future endeavors such as this, doing a survey to determine the content might be better so that way you would have a better idea of the audience that you're catering too. Or maybe have introductory, intermediate, and advanced versions of the different tasks for the different technological levels that people are on.

• Do you think our patrons would benefit from a similar program?

Though I think many of our patrons COULD benefit from it, I think only a select few WOULD pursue and benefit from a self-guided program. Maybe if they could just do the subjects that they were interested in it could be successful.

Louisville Free Public Library - Book Sizzle

Louisville Free Public Library - Book Sizzle This is one of the book letters that I subscribed to. I like to know what books have been talked about, that way when people come in asking for it but don't remember the name or author, then I will have som idea what they're talking about and can help them find it. I also subscribed to Books on the Air, Children's Chapter Books, Children's Picture Books, and Teen Scene. :)

Online Reader Tools

I've been sort of familiar with Online Reader Tools, especially Novelist (it's the best!). I had never been on GoodReads before and really enjoyed exploring the site. The book that I recommended to Joe Patron was The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan. I don't really know what prompted me to recommend that particular one, but it is my favorite of the books that he's written so far. BookLetters is a handy tool that I would have known nothing about before 23things. I subscribed to Book Sizzle and Books on the Air (see previous post) because it's nice to know what books have been talked about in order to help patrons when they can't remember the name or author. It used to happen to me at Border's all the time, so I know it will be helpful here too. I also subscribed to Children's Chapter Books, Children's Picture Books, and Teen Scene in order to stay up-to-date on the books for the patrons I serve the most...the kids! As I've said before, I love Novelist. I did a search for Twilight to see what would be recommended for the TwiHards. The results weren't surprising, as they were all romancy, vampirey, werewolvey type books. I decided to do something a bit less "cliche" and searched for a book called Wish that I've read and enjoyed recently. and it brought up some interesting recommendations. Some I've heard of, while others I hadn't. I think all three of the online Reader Tools will come in very handy, both for myself personally, but also for helping patrons. I don't have any other Reader Tools that I would recommend, but will definitely keep my eye out for some!

Wiki, wiki, what?

I'd had experience working on a wiki before with one of my previous jobs and it was great for everyone being able to share ideas and collaborate. It was a one-stop-shop for various resources and to run ideas by each other.

I didn't realize how many wikis are out there. I went to a few of the Library Wikis along with some of the "fun" ones. My favorite was the Muppet Wiki because I love the muppets! There was so much information on there and I loved the "Random Muppet" page that you could click on. I definitely know where to go if there's anything I need to look up that's muppet related!

The LFPL Wiki was also fun to be able to get on and edit the various places. I contributed to the Favorite Restaurant and Favorite Vacation Spot sections. It's fun to log on and see what people throughout the system have put down!

Using a wiki could help the library carry out its mission because it would be a means for all people in all branches and offices to express their ideas (anonymously if they wanted) and for all ideas to be considered. I definitely see the personal benefits of using a wiki, especially to work on a project or collaborate on a trip. I don't necessarily foresee patrons asking a lot of questions about it, but it will be great to have the knowledge to inform them about Wikis, should the question ever come up!

Videos, Podcasts, and NetLibrary, Oh My!

I've had experience with YouTube, both watching videos (usually ones recommended by my husband) and uploading them. This video is by far my favorite on YouTube, as it is my wedding video. :) (We eloped and knew our families would kill us if we didn't video it. His family is spread out all over the US and many of them couldn't come to the reception we threw a few months after we got married, so we figured YouTube was the best way for them to see it).



This is another of my absolute favorites. I'll be sitting there and the song randomly pops into my head.



Here's another favorite...it just makes me laugh, as do many cat/dog/cute fluffy animal videos. :)



I could share numerous videos from YouTube, but I'll keep it to these three. :)

I was surprised at how many podcasts are out there. I ultimately settled for subscribing to 5, I figure that's a reasonable number. I subscribed to Car Talk and Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me from NPR (both are weekend shows that I love, but don't always get a chance to listen to). I also subscribed to Radio Lab and BBC News Hour, other NPR shows that I don't get a chance to always listen to because they're on at odd times. The last podcast I subscribed to is WFPL's Homegrown for the same reason...I like it, but hardly get a chance to listen to it. They are all added to my RSS feed so I'll be able to know when new episodes are out. :)

I didn't find NetLibrary to be insanely useful. It was nice to know where to find the public domain ebooks for people to download...I like that most of the "classics" are now public domain and can be downloaded for free. I found a book that sounded interesting called Curing the Blues with a New Pair of Shoes, that was 7 hours and 20 minutes long.

I hopped on the podiobooks website and browsed it a bit. I sampled a few of the interesting-sounding titles, but didn't like how they were read. I finally found a series called Heaven that is pretty good and I can stand the sound of the reader's voice, so I'll probably listen to all those books, or maybe try to find them in the library to read them. I've never really listened to audiobooks, but from the experience I've had with them, I'm not a huge fan. I'd rather read the book myself and have my own voice in my head than someone elses.

This week's 23things was fun and it will definitely come in handy for helping patrons as well! I really look forward to seeing what videos others have posted. :)

New Addiction

RSS Feeds were one of the 23things that I was most excited to learn about. I had heard of them (mainly from the LFPL Library Catalog) but I honestly had no idea what they were or how to use them.

I subscribed to the LFPL New Audio and New Books feeds first and I really like it. I was checking out what new things we had about once or twice a week, but always forgot where I'd left off on my browsing. Now with the RSS Feed I can immediately see what's new without having to worry about where I left off, which is very exciting. I mean, I have to know when we get the new JB cd so I can reserve it! :)

From there I subscribed to Digg (it's a site I visit frequently) and People.com for my celebrity gossip and random news. ESPN was also a must for sports news.

I was surprised that the main sites that I subscribed to were local. I can now get news on Cardinal Sports, UofL Alumni News, WFPK and WFPL, and a few other Louisville sites like Louisville Groupon, Consuming Louisville, Louisville CSA, and Actors' Theater. I also have some Kentucky Outdoors feeds. I really like getting my local news and knowing what's going on around town from just going to one site.

I subscribed to NPR because, though that's the only thing I listen to on the radio, I'm only in my car for less than an hour a day. Now I can read the top stories at my leisure without having to listen to them.

I have a few fun things that I've subscribed to including Vintage Photographs, Apple Trailers (again, another one I would browse frequently), and Frommer's Travel.

When I first started exploring the RSS feeds, I subscribed to the Google Staff Picks because I figured they'd know about some neat feeds that I was unaware of. I'm considering dropping that bundle, or at least drop some of the feeds that I'm not interested in (for example Rock, Paper, Shotgun...a video game feed). I really love that I can see the posts of blogs that I follow as they're posted instead of feeling like a stalker checking the blog every now and then.

I now am quite addicted to checking Google Reader, especially with the app on my phone. I love that I can just skim the headlines and put a star next to the posts that I want to fully read when I have the time (though finding time to read my starred posts is another issue!). I also like that I can share things with my husband, especially if it's an event around town, or something that he'd definitely be interested in. This way, I don't have to make a mental note to tell him about it and risk forgetting about it. Now I can just share it with him.

After subscribing to some of the feeds, I have been able to purge some of who/what I follow on Twitter because some of them are overlapping. I think that following the NPR or YALSA RSS feeds are better than following them on Twitter because I can read the full article without having to click additional things or wait for it to load on my phone.

To conclude, I definitely will continue using Google Reader and RSS Feeds, mainly to get my news, local happenings, and celebrity gossip. It has become one of my favorite tools. I just have to watch the number of feeds that I subscribe to because it's easy to subscribe to a huge number of feeds and get overwhelmed with the number of posts to read or catch up on!