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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....