WEEK 16: Final Posting

I have reached the finish line!  It's been great fun, challenging to find the time but well worth the effort.  I have learned that the "23 things" are not so intimidating when we have good instruction and take a little time.  The online weekly  format and due date allowed for enough flexibility that those of us with tight schedules and little off desk time could participate.   I was able to learn and play with many tools I have wondered about, namely screencasting, shelfari, google reader and feedmyinbox.  Many of the tools are applicable to the workplace and I am already incorporating some of them.

Thank you to all of the mentors for making this possible.

Week 15: Wikis

I really don't feel qualified to edit a Wiki.  I did, however,  explore some of the examples you provided.  I thought the Oregon State Library's was especially easy to navigate and well organized into "spaces".
We tried using a wiki in our branch as a communication tool but it fell by the wayside.  I'm not sure why,  but I suspect it was just one more password to remember among the many we already have and a reluctance to use the technology.

Thanks to all of the mentors for making 23 Things Kansas available.  It was a great experience for me.

Week 14: Library Thing

I like Librarything. I like the format,t he many options if offers me and the fact that I have used it for long enough that I have a nice bank of info to pull from when I need it. I also like Goodreads because that is where my friends are, but I am not as fond of the format for use as a toll at work.

This week I tried some of the features on Librarything that I had never spent much time on. I peeked in on some Talk Forums and Author Chats. They were interesting but much like what I see on listservs and Twitter. Now that I am so "connected" I see common themes in all of the chatter.
It's kind of fun to be aware of it all now.

Week 12: Screencasting

I chose to demonstrate how to access one of our databases from our Website,
LearningExpress Library. It has multiple practice tests for elementary through college exams, workplace and citizenship practice exams. This will be a nice tool to use for training and staff meetings if I ever should need it. This project was much easier to do than I thought it would be.

My screencast can be found at:
http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/watch/c6hYDeiQf

Week 12: Screencasting-Cats Sleeping

I had fun with this project but I'm not sure when I would use it in my job, other than when a patron had a question on something they were working on. I can see using it for making videos for personal use for parties, slides of vacation pictures etc. It will be fun to experiment with it more at home.

Cats Sleeping
Cats Sleeping

Week 10: Video on the Web

Balloon artists John & Johnna Perry of "Up, Up & Away!" donated their time and 3,000 balloons to create this dragon!

Week 9: Instant Messaging

I have been using IM at home on face book for some time now to chat with friends and family all over the country but I do not use it at work.  We do have a program set up which specified librarians use IM for public service. Our desks are really way too busy in the branches to use IM at the desk, but I can see the possibility of it being a useful tool in the right setting.

Week 8: Cloud Computing

I will certainly use this tool again for personal us.  I especially like the idea of spreadsheets I can use with my husband. We can both manipulate a particular document with figures and information, then finalize it when necessary.  A calendar would work well too, not to mention Susan's great idea about travel documents. 
We use Google docs in our YS department to schedule early literacy kits for various branches.  While it is a new tool being put to use system wide, I think it will eventually work well.  Not only is it a way to reserve the material you need, but a way in which to communicate with others where the material is and when it will be available.   

Week 7: Microblogging

I chose Twitter because I had used it before just a bit and it is widely used by my friends and colleagues. I found it easy to find people to follow by clicking on the tiles of friends of friends. I followed some of my colleagues, some authors and the 6 by 6 program at my library to keep current. It has the great potential for sharing information and ideas, but we are so busy in my suburban library that I have very limited time at work for doing this kind of thing. Any work I do with it will have to be done at home right now. It's a great tool and I am grateful to have been given time at work to learn to use it. My twitter account is assenmacherd.

Week 4: Stanley our mascot

Stanley our mascot
Originally uploaded by dlashots

Stanley's name tag mysteriously disppears on a semi-regular basis. We can't imagine what the appeal is. We are sure this is a stunt among some of our older youth. Stanley, however is very popular among all age groups.
This exercise was fun. I am looking forward to exploring it more as time allows. I would also like to use it with my personal photos.

Week 6: Tagging and Social Bookmarking

I had a little bit of difficulty with this assignment at first, but quickly figured it out. Initially I was not going to set up my own account but decided that I can see the advantages to having my own account as opposed to using the system wide account.  It will definitely help me organize the many sites I come across and would like to keep in my radar for future reference without cluttering up the account we all use.  The bookmarks make it especially useful, much like library thing or good reads.  It will make it easy to bundle the sites I use for personal tasks vs those I would use on a regular basis at work.  I see Delicious as a great organizing tool and I'm all for anything that will help me be better organized!

Week 5: Rss and Feed Readers

I chose the "Feed My Inbox"  because it best suited my habits.  I am not one to go out and search many different blogs at this point, but I due access my e-mail several times a day when I have a minute or two.  I liked the idea that I can have the blogs i am interested in and that are related to my job fed to my e-mail. 

I signed up for:

YALSA  update
Words on Words Maggie Stiefvater, author of Shiver 
PlanetEsme~Best New Children's Books 

Week 3: Online Meetings #2

I can see the value of online meetings in terms of saving time and money in terms of travel expense etc. I am sure they will continue to become more and more popular as budgets become tighter next year.  Better and less expensive technology will also make webinars more accessible for all of us. 

Our library tried to use these among the YS group a couple of years ago but we had so many technical difficulties that we all kind of gave up on it.  I am not sure if it was internal or external, but I am so glad to have been challenged to try again and have had success.   And, while I would agree that the online meetings can and will enhance training, I would hate to see them replace valuable live training experiences. 

I plan to enhance my own training by visiting more of these webinars on my own.  

Week 3: Online Meetings

I tuned into Revitalizing Your Library Experience! hosted by Joan Frye Williams and George Needham. They challenge those of us in the library world to stop giving lip service to great customer service and to re-examine what we do as a library. Their claim is that 90 % of what we do is all about us and focused on what we do rather than respecting what the customers want. We need to focus on the other end of the equation.

Joan and George suggest that we layer our customer service to speak to the customer's situation and to make the most of "now". For example, time is valued more perhaps than anything today. So they suggest that we provide information that customers are able to digest it in small peices now when they are less busy, in larger pieces when they have a little more time, and in great detail when they need that information and have the time to read it. Service can be layered by time, place, hospitality (treat them like a welcome guest, not a walking work load), the discovery process and relationships (customers want familiar faces, want to be remembered, want to be treated as people we want to return).

Joan and George contend that the challenging environment we are operating in today is exactly the time when we should be focusing on these equations. I found much of what they were saying to be counter to what we seem to be doing as a system right now. This is paticularly true in terms of the relationship piece and respecting what the customers want. We decide what we will market to the public and to the schools and the customers should be quiet and gladly take what we decide to offer them. After all, we know exactly what they want and what is best for them right? This is based on whose opinions? I was, however, very glad to see our director hold public focus group opportunities to discuss prioritizing service if and when service will be cut. This is a step in the right direction in my humble opinion.

Week 2: Online Communities

Week two was a breeze with a little help from the tutorials and my friends......
I now have a profile photo, and I join joined my College Graduating Class network. I added a page and linked to 23 Things Kansas Facebook. I also added some highly respected colleagues to my friends list.

I accomplished all of this with extremely slow internet service at the desk. My self-confidence in on-line tools in improving quickly.

My observation was that the networks that Facebook offers are limited to certain demogaphics. I was interested in a network of College Moms, Overland Park Business Women and American Association of University Women, non of which came up. I would find in most beneficial to find a broader spectum of networks.

On to week 3.

Week 1: Blogging

My name is Dorian and I am a Youth Services Information Specialist with the Johnson County Library. I am participating in 23 Things Kansas to stay current in technological tools used in our field today. I am really looking forward to this and thank those of you behind it for the opportunity.

I'm getting a late start on this project due to a vacation but was glad that the first week was blogging. I have a personal blog and feel comfortable using it for basic blogging, so week one I am feeling pretty good about my ability to succeed with this online training.

I've had a problem being able to use some of the tutorials at the library and, since I am not supposed to technically work from home, this will present a problem for me. The computers in the branches are unable to run Flash and other such programs. Maybe there is a work-around. Anybody know?

Now on to weeks two and three so that I am up to date with the rest of you.