Week 8 - Thing 18 postscript

It worked.

Thing 18

Either I am complacent using Microsoft Office on both work and home computers or I am not angry enough at Bill Gates & Company, because I had not explored any free online applications and tools until the Library 2.0 experience. It has shown me that there is a world of free web-based applications for users to create documents and to share in the process of creating them.

I am currently writing this document via my Zoho.com account. I have explored this website and am quite surprised at what is available. There is even a template library with 50 templates for usage. Now this neophyte Zoho account holder is going to try to publish the document in her blog from Zoho.com. Stay tuned.

Week 7 Thing 17

Played in the PBwiki Learning 2.0 sandbox. I added my blog and added a current favorite book. On to online applications and tools.

Week 7 Thing 16

When I read, "Wikis aren't for everyone! If control is really important to you, then a wiki probably isn't the right tool.", on Meredith Farkas's (Norwich University) presentation, my initial reaction was that she certainly was reading my mind. Since the Library 2.0 experience is about exploring and learning and changing, I have to report......mission accomplished. My views on wikis certainly have changed. I visited many of the wikis suggested by the exercise, and I came away impressed. I was especially impressed with the Princeton Public Library's wiki and the wiki created by Chad Boeninger, the business librarian at Ohio University. Seeing them gave me a comfort level about wikis and their possibilities in the library world..

Week 6 - Things 13, 14, 15

We've all seen the t-shirt that tells us, Too many books. Too little time. With regard to blogs, it is too many to the 10th power. I do from time to time visit blogs attached to favorite websites or blogs of a special interest. For so many blogs, though, it is too much self-aggrandizing and self-promoting. (Well, now, and who has her very own blog? ....and promoting a favorite museum on it?) I did explore and search Technorati, and it did not change my mind about blogs. I'll continue to visit blogs of specific interest, adding to my list from time to time. I found del.icio.us to be a useful resource. Its icons now reside on my computer's browser, and I am in the process of adding/tagging websites. I will enjoy its portability, of course, and I see it as an easy resource for maintaining and categorizing websites of interest. Reading the Library 2.0 articles led me to my own odyssey as a librarian. I began my work at the Library in 1987. It had a card catalog at the time and well into my early years here. Technology impacted with the catalog's demise, and I have been present at its impact at all levels in our system. Working at Main Library as a reference librarian has meant absorbing these changes quickly and having these changes define my work as a librarian on a daily basis. The Library has become a place without walls. Library 2.0 will promote broadening what a library is with further interactivity a key. (As Dr. Wendy Schulz states, "Libraries are not merely in communities, they are communities." ) I can see in the near future RSS feeds and blogs for many aspects of our Library's work. More to absorb; more exciting work ahead.

Week 5....a postscript

Thanks to our blogmasters I was finally able to capture the widget for my virtual library shelf at LibraryThing.

Week 5 - Things 10, 11, & 12

Show and tell for Week 5. After investigating several image generator websites I created a stamp (you'll need an additional 2 cent stamp for postage) and a motivational poster. After creating my online catalog at LibraryThing, I discovered that, yes, there were others who enjoyed the three Brit authors that I have included on my virtual shelf....and each one probably has an AARP card. I also created a LibraryThing widget for this blog and joined a group. On to Rollyo where I have listed several websites that provide business data from national to local data. The following is the link to these websites: http://rollyo.com/kemplermoses/business_statistics.