The Countdown is Underway

Again, a grand Happy New Year to everyone out there in the blogosphere. It's been quite a year this 2007. But this is the time we're supposed to look forward, instead of dwelling on the past, right? That's where my problem is - I'm a Libra so I see both sides of the story. But we must forge on and look to a new year, new beginnings and try to remember what it is that really makes up happy. That's what we need to pursue and improve in our lives. It's not always a skinnier waistline, a new car or a promotion (although, those certainly help!). Those are tangible things. I think the real happiness in life comes from within. It sounds oh - so corny, but we must learn to like ourselves first. We must be happy with the person we are before we can bring happiness to others. So for the coming year - take time for yourself. Read a good book, get a massage and pedicure, or take a family member to lunch on Sunday. Not only will you make someones day, you will make your own day a little better and brighter too.
Health and Happiness in the New Year. Namaste.

Pods and Vods

I've just taken a tour of one of the Discovery Resources for Thing 25. I chose to visit the Sheridan Libraries at John Hopkins University as they had a link called Ask a Librarian. How very convenient...our library has a link very similar to this as well - Ask The Library. When you access their podcast - two librarians discuss the services available to a customer when they walk in and visit the Information Desk. Actually, a pretty cool concept if you think about it. What if each of our links for services and programs had a brief podcast explaining exactly what that service was - such as Ready to Learn, Local History and Online Reference Sources. This would save our customers having to phone in and possibly be put on hold to get basic information they need.

On the flip side it seems to be a labor intensive to produce all of these podcasts and their subsequent maintenance. And on a personal level, I prefer to "watch" something versus just listening to it - maybe it's just a "visual thing" but I learn more that way.

You Tube - Cat Lovers Will Appreciate This One

I have visited the You Tube sight many times in the past - both by choice and not. Sometimes when I get emails from friends and family, the link is directly to a YT video. So far, I haven't had any real issues realted to using You Tube, however, I myself have not posted a video. I am trying to understand how libraries can use You Tube - maybe (with permission) posting short snippets of programming events, teen activities, etc. There are other issues involved with confidentiality and protection of privacy, so these would have to be worked out too.

I like this cat video because the personality reminds me so much of my own little fur bag.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

Another new year is rapidly approaching and once again we stop and ask ourselves - where did the time go? I truly believe what my elders told me years ago - that the older you get, the faster time slips away. With that in mind, I have to take a minute and say that I hope each and every one of you finds time to breathe a little and that you find that special "thing" that makes you happy in 2008. Whether it be spending more time with family, spending more time with friends, taking up a new hobby or learning something completely new.

I hate NY resolutions because they just don't work. But for the coming year, I have made a pact with myself to relax a little (ok - a lot), get my paint brushes out again (great therapy working with paints and a canvas) and put an honest effort into my genealogy work (I'm a rookie at it, but very intrigued). With that being said, I wish nothing but joy and happiness for my family and friends - which includes you if you're reading this. Just don't put unrealistic limits on yourself with new year's resolutions - just be good to yourself. If you do that, you will in turn be good to others. Happy New Year. Breathe.

Mash Up - Mash Potatoes

I have again visited Flickr and poked around the toys and tools they have available that can help you integrate a lot of neat stuff into what you do. You can add photos to a map - picture a map of Africa for a safari you went on - you can link photos of your trip to different cities on the map you visited. Seems like the gadgets and bells and whistles are endless as to what you can do with a web site anymore. I have just one question: where do they come up with these names, anyway? Am I showing my age?

Tag You're It - Again

Just a quick note with my thoughts on tagging. When I set up my Flickr account and uploaded photos, I entered tags - or labels - for the photos. This will allow others (and me) to search my account for key words. Everyone should know how we enjoy going to Cape Hatteras and I always take a ton of photos. I could tag these photos and group them into sections and it makes them easier to find. I think tagging is a service you provide to your users/customers to assist them with viewing your site. Libraries could use tags for their special interest groups and events such as Teen Groups, with permission, of course. What a quick and easy way to get publicity on the programs your library is hosting.

Flickr-ing Around

Well, I managed to get my new Flickr account established and upload a few photos. It looks like a pretty cool site and I think I could waste away hours on end looking at the millions of photos "out there." But for now, I'll stick to just a few. I uploaded this photo to my account and like instructed, titled it VBPL_L2. I found that uploading photos and tagging them to be very easy and user friendly on this site. I have even invited two friends to join me in my journey of learning. They have unending patience with my learning curve.

A New Year Approaches

It's December 26th, the presents have all been opened (and maybe put away?) and all we're left with is another plate of turkey, ham and pie to eat. Oh well....it's a rough job, but someone's got to do it! Hope you had a safe and happy Christmas. Now get to work on that list of New Year's Resolutions!

I'm playing catch up at work with Learning 2.0 and the latest "thing" I've finished is #19 wherein we were to visit a site selected from the Web 2.0 Award List, do a little discovery exercise - explore the site and post our thoughts. I chose to visit Flickr, one of the photo warehouses on the web. At first I was a bit skeptical thinking, why can't I just email photos to someone or put them on this blog? Then I took the tour of Flickr and see where it can do a whole lot more than just send photos to people. I would consider Flickr to be a personal catalog, if you will, of photos you can share with anyone (or everyone) you choose. You can select who has permission to view your stuff - pretty much like My Space and you can add friends too - pretty much like My Space. It looks like it is user friendly and has a lot of options - so I might give it a try. It would be a good way to share photos with my Dad on the west coast and my friends all over the country.

Merry Christmas

Christmas Day is here and I want to say to everyone out there in blog land to have a Very Merry, Happy, Safe Holiday. We tend to get too caught up in the ya-ya surrounding the holidays and forget that we need to just slow down, be patient, and make sure we tell our loved ones how much they mean to us. Because after the glittering decorations are put away, the ham is all gone and the football games are over with, we are left with those loved ones. Your family is the only one you get - so don't let them slip away. Hold them close, tell them you love them, and don't worry so much about what the rest of the world is doing. Just be happy.

Mele Kalikimaka me ka Hau'oli Makahiki Hou - Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Technorati

Gosh, maybe it's because I'm tired but this site, Technorati, was a tad bit of information overload. I found the site very cluttered and hard to follow on the tutorial YouTube video. At first I didn't this was any different than a "reader" but the more I watched, the more I learned how much more in-depth and up to the minute information you can get on your favorite blogs. They use tagging of blogs and blogs about blogs and the list is endless. Point being, this is another way to monitor and utilize those sites/blogs that are of most interest to you.

Tag - Your'e It!

Well, not exactly. But that's one the new Learning 2.0 "things" we did this week - Tagging. It's really a great tool if you ask me - oh yeh, they did ask me! Anyway, I checked out the discovery resources and proceeded to set up my own Del.icio.us account. I hit a little snag with getting the "buttons" to appear but with the help of dear friend, I was able to accomplish the task. I can see where this is a great tool that can be used amongst friends, colleagues, etc., to share what you've discovered and learned out there in cyberspace.

Think of a group that has a common interest - what a great way for person 1 to share what they've discovered with person 2. I like the tool but have to admit I was a little intimidated at first...but I got over it quickly. I'm not sure I quite understand how tagging can work with reference, but I'll figure it out. As I said earlier, I'm coming off of a viral infection and I think all the Nyquil has finally worn off. Next, we tackle how tagging works with blog posts.

If you would have asked me a year ago if I would be blogging and tagging, I would have thought you were nuts! But I'm learning a lot and anxious to learn more.

Getting Caught Up

I've been out of commission for several days with a viral infection in my throat...no fun at all. I hope to get back into my blog game this weekend before the big day on Tuesday.

There's a lot going on with Learning 2.0 and I've a lot of work to do.

Be safe out there shopping - be kind and most of all, be patient with one another.

A Christmas Card for You.

My Space

Thing 16 - I'm all for all of the Learning 2.0 tools and collaboration with our customers. But as far as creating my own My Space account - I'm not so sure. I am one of those who tends to be a little guarded about putting too much personal information out there. I have a good friend who has a My Space account so I'll discuss it with her further (in addition to all the discovery sites I read) and maybe I'll take the plunge in the future. But for now, I'm having a hard enough time keeping up with the blog and keeping it interesting and current.

As mentioned in my previous post - ask the special groups in our libraries if they want to use this tool as another means of connecting to the library. I can see where libraries might benefit from having special groups post My Space accounts such as teens and maybe mystery novel readers. But the maintenance of such an account to keep up with friends and the many other features concerns me. Who would actually own the My Space account - the library or the group? Who's responsible for the content? Who will monitor it? And does monitoring defeat the purpose for those who value privacy and freedom? I think there are many unanswered questions surrounding the proper utilization of My Space by a library, however, that shouldn't stop us from moving forward if it's what our customers want and demand.

"Thing" 15

Sounds like something out of an Addams Family episode, doesn't it? Our new "thing" on Library Learning 2.0 this week is all about Social Networking. You know what I'm talking about - My Space, Facebook and all the others out there. There is so much controversy surrounding these social networking accounts with predators, impostors, and just plain mean and down-right stupid people. The big question this week is whether or not our library system should use one of the social networking sites to connect with teens. You know what I say - ask the teens themselves. We have many teen groups already in our library system so why not just ask them if they would use it, be offended by it, or wouldn't participate in it. It's time we stopped wondering what others may think of us or what other libraries are doing. We need to talk to our own - our customers and our teens - to find out what they want, how they want to communicate with us and and how they want to learn from us and grow from us. Then we succeed.

Happy Holidays to All

Well, it's now December 8th and Christmas Day will be here before we know it. Whether we're ready or not. It just seems like every year it gets harder and harder to get things done on time, get all the gifts bought and wrapped, go to all of the parties, exchange cookies, and somehow not get stressed about it all. Yeh, right, like that's going to happen! But we plug on, and somehow seem to make it all work, don't we? We always find a way. I hope this finds you ahead of your gift list and wrapping and all those cookies have been baked. Do try to remember the real importance of the day beyond that lies ahead in spite of the insanity, fighting over parking spaces, very short tempers and "the sale of the year."

Readers Advisory

The next lesson this week for Learning 2.0 is on using a wiki and posting a comment to one. We were asked to view and participate in the VBPL Readers Advisory Wiki. I found the site very clean and user friendly. I enjoy using wikis and believe that they are becoming an integral part of how we do business.

Wikis Everywhere

Learning 2.0 this week focuses on wikis and the many different ways they can be utilized in the course of business (and fun for that matter!). Of course, everyone should be familiar with Wikipedia - the grandaddy of them all. This is a site that allows users to add and edit content on subject areas of interest to them. Wikis can also be used as a collaboration tool such as a forum for a team project. Instead of shooting emails and attachments back and forth among many people, all of the work can be compiled into one central place - a wiki - that each team member has access to. This can save time when you're working on a deadline. I am on a team at the library that utilizes a Wiki and I find it very useful and it provides for real time work because as soon as a page is edited by someone, an email is genereated to those team members advising them so.

However, Libraries need to look beyond a "team" or "employee" aspect and start to realize the potential benefits of using wikis as a means of communication with our customers. How about a wiki where customers can add their favorite book? Or a wiki with pages for customer suggestions on collections, or services they'd like to see offered. A wiki would also be a good place to have forms that customers need - such as a library card application. They could have it printed and ready when they come into the agency and they would save valuable time.

All you need is imagination.

December Already?

Where has this year gone? Wow, I can't believe it's December already. It's true what my parents said a long time ago - the older you get, the faster time goes by. So make the most of every minute! Now I guess I have to get out there in this busy cruel world and do some shopping. Maybe I can do most of it during the week to avoid the weekend warriors at the mall. Yeh, right - wishful thinking.

I took the picture on the right of a hosta in my backyard because the color was just so beautiful. I have this hosta in a big flower pot on my lower deck and love the large leaves and how big and bold it is each year.

We still haven't figured out the pond issue. Since we put too much milk in it last time, we decided to drain it completely - which we did last night. Then we'll let it dry out so we can remove all the leaves, etc., then we'll refill it and start over. My neighbor says the fish are doing just fine in his pond so some of the pressure is off. But I'd like to get it up and running again before it gets too terribly cold outside. And having the waterfall running keeps the water from freezing on top of just sounding nice when you walk out back.

Schatze and Zippy have been on good behavior. We got new carpet in the den yesterday and with no furniture in the room, Zip was a tad concerned as to what was going on. After all, we moved HIS sofa! He's getting a new sofa today (and love seat, and tables, etc) so he should be a happy camper. Schatze is holding her own but starting to have strange episodes in the middle of the night where she'll just jump up and run back and forth down the hallway - which you can't avoid hearing due to her nails on the wood floor - clickity clickity click. I think she has demons or hears an orchestra in her head. They say animals can get dementia just like humans so I wonder....

OK...I should get up from here and get something done while I'm waiting on the delivery guys. Have a good weekend - I'm sure I'll post some new things on Monday with our Learning 2.0 program. This coming week we talk wikis.

Back to Business

Learning 2.0 plugs along in library land. This week's learning lesson was focused on Instant Messaging. I'll probably give away my age here, but I never could see the reasoning behind IMing - especially on a cell phone. Why not just dial the number and talk to the person? But I guess there's some degree of mystery to it all. "Talking" without really "talking." Is that like "sort of" being pregnant?

But I've also come to learn, through the library, that IM can take on different life forms. Of course, for our younger generation - it's all cell phone use. But the library department has a new IM information resource for our customers. During set times during the week, customers can IM library staff for real-time, live assistance. I decided to check it out today and found it most interesting. When I signed on, the reference staff member immediately asked "I thought I lost you - glad you're back" but she was referring to another customer who she thought she lost contact with. We had a nice chat and I learned that even though IM can work at lightening speed, she said that customers still want their info instantaneously - in other words - NOW! I can't help but wonder how much faster folks expect IM reference work to be....I imagine they feel that way because the reference staff may have to leave the desk for a minute or two to go retrieve the info the customer wants. But still, how much better is that than having to drive to the library yourself?

I agree with a library co-worker who states that IM is the "ready reference" desk of our future. Technology is changing so fast that it can make your head spin. It wasn't that long ago that I had my first pc with a whole 20 MB of hard drive space - and that was over the top at the time! But if we stay on top of, or at least even with, that technology, we'll be able to deliver the quality service that our customers demand - and deserve.

Milk Dud

All of the wonderful internet suggestions on finding a pond leak with milk neglected one detail - how much to put in! Don't laugh too hard, ok? Thank heavens we took the fish out already or they would all be suffering from calcium overdoses. But we won't be defeated! We plug on (again, no pun intended) in search of the mystery leak. Your free entertainment for the day.

Getting Caught Up

The holiday is behind us (and what a good one it was!) and it's time to focus on the deed at hand. Actually, I have 2 deeds at hand. One is this week's Learning 2.0 assignment and the other is a pond update.

Let's start with the pond. We're still troubleshooting the leak. We tried a method we found online to put milk in the pond as it would seek the leak....so far we haven't found the leak. But we're not giving up. We had a lot of rain today and we'll keep plugging (no pun intended) until we find the culprit.

Next, Learning 2.0. Our lesson this week is on Instant Messaging - or IM as it is better known. Actually, it's the main avenue for today's Gen X...they're not so much into email but give them a cell with texting and they're off and running like the day is long. I can see the benefits of IM - although I don't use it personally. It's probably the closest thing to "real time" communication that you'll find. How much quicker can technology get for us? And how cool is it for Libraries to use IM to communicate with their customers? I think IM in Libraries is a wonderful thing. I think the demographics of those using IM to communicate with Libraries it probably tilted toward the younger side, but I'm sure there is a good share of baby boomers who are in on the action as well. How great is for something to sit at the pc at home, pull up the Library IM site and talk, real time, with someone who can answer their question? I think IM is the tip of the iceberg and can't wait to see the next wave of technology coming our way to help us provide information to our customers.

Turkey Time Out

It's been a whirlwind of a couple of days with the huge feast, family coming over and friends visiting from out of town. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with plenty of food and most of all, we enjoyed the family spirit throughout the entire day. And all turkey fryer disasters were averted! Whew.

All of the fish have survived so far in my neighbor's pond. We are still trouble shooting the leak but hope to have in pin-pointed sometime this week. It would be nice to have another couple of warmer days to complete the work. But we'll work with Mother Nature and do what we can. I think the fish will stay across the street until spring so we don't traumatize them any further.

Well, now that the big turkey day is behind us, I suppose it's time to focus on the next upcoming holiday, Christmas. Seems we barely have time to recover from one before we go to the next. But it keeps us on our toes. I'm not a Black Friday shopping kind of person, I preferred to stay in the comfort of my den with a hot cup of coffee, the fire place and a couple of old movies.

I'm anxious to see what the next Library Learning 2.0 program is this coming week. I'll be sure to post our latest learning exercise and all the other fun stuff that goes along with it.

Thanks To All

As we approach the holiday, we are suppose to reflect on what we're thankful for and pray that we have the same things next year that we can brag about. I wanted to post in this space a Thanksgiving "blessing" if you will, that I wrote from my heart probably 10 years ago expressing my thanks for everthing in my life that I'm so very thankful for. But I cannot locate the paper copy. So I'll try to recall some of it from memory. I read this "blessing" as everyone was standing around the dining room table, hands joined, and mouths watering for the feast presented before us. I can remember my brothers, who are two of the most sensitive, grown men I know, sniffling and trying not to let anyone hear them. I recall saying that I was thankful and grateful for my extended family as we never turn anyone away when it comes to family fun and traditions. I had a fairly new sister in law at the time who has grown to become the true big sister I never had. And while my parents had been long divorced with Dad on the "left" coast, we never really lost touch of what family really means. It means accepting our loved ones despite their shortcomings, their faults and their bad habits - because we have them too. It means opening your heart and your home to those less fortunate - because we've had to do without at some point in our lives. It means accepting people for who they are - because you can't, or shouldn't, try to change anyone. Family to me is a feeling that no one else can take away. And for that - my family and my friends, I am forever grateful. Have a wonderful, safe holiday.

What's The Buzz

The Library's Learning 2.0 is in full swing. Yesterday, in addition to learning about and using RSS feeds, we were instructed to create an account (Bloglines or Google Reader)and explore/subscribe to several news feeds. I already have an account with Google and personally find it much easier to use (I've tried Bloglines too) as you don't have to cut and paste the url into the reader window - it's done automatically for you. I searched several of the discovery exercise sites - Feedster and Technorati but found myself in information overload. Entirely too much stuff to sort through. I felt like the alter ego to #5 Alive (from the 1986 movie Short Circuit) who was always stating "need more input." But I'll give it another chance when I have more time. I did, however, subscribe to the library department blog VBPL Talks as well as a couple of new local news feeds.

2.0 Happenings Today

Today in our Library Learning 2.0 ventures, we learned about setting us RSS feeds and how to subscribe to them. Having already completed setting up a Google Reader account months ago, this was familiar territory. But I went through the steps on the Learning 2.0 blog and found it very useful and user friendly. I think the main benefit to using an RSS feed is that the news links (or whatever you've subscribed to) go directly to a "reader" account. They don't clog up your email in box and in turn, you don't get nasty grams from your IT department. It makes the news you want available when you want it - you go to your reader and follow the news feeds as you see fit or as the subjects interest you. And you don't have to read each and every one of them either. It is a good way to get a quick look at the news you have interest in. You could use a RSS feed to stay in touch with professional organizations you belong to, newspapers from far away cities (maybe you have interest in a place you used to live)and of course, other blogs! I use my RSS feed to subscribe to several of my friend's blogs so when I open my reader, I know immediately if they've posted something new.

A Fish Story

The fish survived their first night in my neighbor's pond. No "floaters" so that's a good sign. The water level continued to decrease, however, not near as much. As of 6:30 tonight, we think the leak has stopped. So now it's detective time to find the hole and repair it. I may still leave my fish across the street - I don't want to stress them too much by moving them back. We'll see how it goes this week.

Getting ready for Thanksgiving. I have 2 birds thawing in my frig - I'm going to oven bake one overnight and then fry the other one. And we have a ham and all the fixins....should be quite a feast. Have a safe holiday.

Went Fishing

I think I have jinxed myself as far as my pond is concerned. We've been having issues lately with a leak - whereabouts unknown. This morning I went outside and the water level was down below the pump - not a good thing. All my fish were huddled in the very bottom just wondering what was going on - and where all the water went! Thank heavens for my neighbors and their huge pond. I rounded them up and took them over to his pond so we could let the water continue to leak so we could therefore find the menacing hole. Like trying to find a needle in a haystack. At least we got the fish out before the thing drained completely and they all suffocated. That would have broken my heart. It's almost too cold to be moving the fish around, so I might leave them in my neighbors pond and either retrieve them next spring or buy new ones.

TGIF

What a week this has been. After a year of serving in a position at work in an acting (interim) capacity, I was offered the position. After a long and grueling interview, of course. Not any fun at all, but I'm glad it worked out the way it did.

The weekend will go by entirely too fast as I'm sure we all have a gazillion things to do getting ready for the big feast next week. Shopping, house cleaning, linens, sweeping up cat hair, sweeping up dog hair, getting the fryer out of the attic, more shopping as we always forget something at the last minute, and maybe if we're lucky, we'll find a few minutes to sit back (maybe by the pond if it's not too cold), take a breather (or maybe a power nap) and relax....now that sounds like the right way to spend a weekend, doesn't it?

P.S. Zippy is feeling oh - so pretty today. He survived the trauma of the grooming and is a happy little camper again. He knows who feeds him.

Zippy's Day With The Groomer

Zippy had his regular 6-week check with up with Ms. Donna - better known as his groomer. She is wonderful - she has a mobile panel truck, comes to the house, takes him outside to groom and we don't have to go through all the usual stress and anxiety of putting him in a crate to go to a remote location...he loves it! She said he was an angel (as usual) but didn't want to be blow dried in the end (literally - he gets a bath and she blow dries him as long as he'll tolerate it). But he got his little Thanksgiving scarf and is set until January. See the new pick taken just a little while ago.

Let's see - a dear friend and co-worker wanted me to talk more about the relaxation of the pond. You'd have to see my entire backyard to get the real feel for it, but my pond is at the base of the regular deck off the back of the house. Go down several steps and into the corner of the yard and we've put another low-rising deck complete with a swing (built for 2), lots of pretty potted plans and a chimenea. There is nothing like a hard week at work - coming home on a Friday night, pouring a nice glass of your favorite beverage, putting a couple of small logs in the chimenea and just letting all your worries melt away as you gently swing back and forth, listening to the sounds of nature - including the waterfall. Gosh, it's only Thursday - I sure hope tomorrow is a nice night so I can live some of that once again.

Pets and Ponds

I posted pictures of my two four-legged children. My dog Schatze, is the love of my life (next to the spousal unit, of course). We got her when she was just 10 weeks old and she will be 14 in January...if she makes it that long. We found out in August that she has a very invasive, aggressive cancer so we don't know how long she'll decide to stay with us. And we won't be the kind of people that keep her around for our sake. That's just not the right thing to do. But for now, she's eating well and still running around the yard and patiently waiting for "momma" to get home each night and give her a cookie (or as thinks they are - the meaning of life).

My little fur-ball cat Zippy is, well, just a cat. But a beautiful one at that. He's a pure bred Maine Coon, weighs almost 20 pounds, is about 8 years old and probably the most interesting, personable and entertaining cat I've ever known. We inherited him 2 years ago due to a death in the family and he has grown accustomed to us - and the dog. Actually, they always gotten along great. He loves to be pampered and I have a groomer come to the house every 6 weeks or so to keep all that long hair trimmed. His latest quirk is to get in the bathtub (right after someone has showered) and lay down for one of his eighteen naps of the day. We haven't quite figured that one out yet.

My pond is my little corner of the world in the back yard. We had this terrible flower bed at the corner of the deck and the sidewalk that I could never get anything to grow in. So we gave up and filled it with marble chips and said "oh well." Then a neighbor two doors down put in a small pond in her back yard and after watching and helping her - we decided to put on in that "dead" spot in my backyard. I dug the entire thing by shovel in two days then the next weekend, we put the liner down, built the waterfall and added water. This was constructed in October so it was too late to put new fish in the pond. The following spring I bought several gold fish (comets) and two small koi. Well, the "small" koi have grown to be almost too large for the pond. And unfortunately, one of them died this past spring. He was beautiful - yellow and black. He looked like a weird shark swimming around so I had named him Jaws. The other koi was a Jerusalem Carp - solid black. At first I named her Molly but then, as she grew bigger and bigger, we nicknamed her "Red" for Red October. My husband said she looked like a huge Russian sub slowing rising up from the bottom. But Red soon became too large for our pond so she has moved across the street to yet another neighbor's pond (much bigger and can accommodate bigger fish). The latest venture with the pond is a slow leak that we haven't been able to put our finger on yet. If the weather holds, we're going to move the rest of the fish to my neighbor's big pond, let our pond drain and try to figure out where the problem is. Will keep you posted.

Learning 2.0 - Thing 5

Library 2.0 to me is another stepping stone in how we deliver (and participate) in the library services we offer. We started as a four-walled building with nothing but print collections, moved into online resources and reference information, and now we have “IM your librarian.” Wow - real-live, real-time help from a librarian! This real-time aspect of what we do in the world we live in today merely scratches the surface of what we may see tomorrow. How far are we from face-to-face chats on the computer via video feeds? How cool to not only IM your librarian, but see her smiling face too – from the comfort of your own home?

To continue to be a leader in delivering quality services and information to our customers, libraries must stay on the cutting edge of technology as it evolves. We can’t be afraid to try something new just because we aren’t sure it will work or not – because guess what? The library in the neighboring city may already be doing it – and taking our customers. We have to be open to new discoveries, learn what our customers want and be ready to deliver it to them. We must forge on and continue to turn libraries into something more than a place to find information and wait for the masses to come to us – we have to become a participant in today’s world – in their world.

Learning 2.0 - Just How Easy Is It?

The library department I work for is sponsoring a Learning 2.0 initiative. One of the first things we learned was 7 1/2 Habits. The seven are:
begin with the end in mind - determine your goal
accept responsibility for your own learning
view problems as challenges and learn from them
have confidence in yourself as a learner
create your own learning toolbox
use technology to your advantage
teach and mentor others
(the 1/2) Play!

The easiest of these 7 habits for me is to accept responsibility for my own learning. I've never been one to sit idly around and wait for someone to tell me what to learn. I've always been curious to learn more and technology has always peaked my interest. The hardest for me is to mentor others. I wasn't born a natural trainer, but I do get satisfaction out of helping others - so it's something I will work on.

My next post will probably be 2.0 related as well....then I'll add some fun pics of my pets and my pond....