Week 10 - Wrap-up and Reflection

I've finally made it to the end - whew! When I faltered and fell behind in the middle of the semester, I was afraid I might not catch up, but I did! And I've learned some interesting things along the way.


The video clip Information R/evolution was very thought-provoking. When I was 12 in 1970, I made my career choice to be a Reference Librarian and followed the educational and career paths to make it happen. When I finally entered grad school in 1985 at the age of 26, how the library world had changed! My first class in Information Theory and its discussions of Noam Chomsky and random chaos theory made my head reel, and I was left wondering if I had made a career blunder. I survived this and other classes, slogged through Dialog database searching, and wrote all my papers on a little Mac borrowed from my husband's office (my electric typewriter was too noisy at 2 am in thin-walled apartments!) After working as a Reference Librarian for 9 years, I left to give birth literally as the Internet arrived in our library. I was a stay at home mom for the next 10 years, but we did have Internet access at home due to my husband's job as a computer analyst and programmer. (He's the techie in the family, and I will tell you that osmosis didn't work - none of his technical savvy has rubbed off on me at all.) When I re-entered reference work about a year and a half ago, I was amazed at how computers had infiltrated libraries, both as patron access stations and as critical reference tools. Now I wouldn't work without one. That video clip amazed me, I guess, because it reminded me of the path I took to get where I am today - from print books on the dusty shelves to sleek flat-screened computers. Okay, enough reminiscing...


One other side note - I read and found David Lee King's article very pertinent, but this portion disturbed me:
"You are asking them to participate: opening up the possibility to comment is a form of invitation to participate. It allows actual interaction with real, live people. it also sets up a type of digital town hall meeting where someone’s expressed opinion can be heard, discussed, debated, and distilled by others within earshot (ie., other readers)"
Now, I will admit that I am old as dirt, and that I am "connected but harrassed" as noted by that little quiz we took the first week. And I do feel that connecting with patrons by inviting them to interact using wikis, surveys, etc. and responding to them with respect is a great thing. But understand that this kind of "actual interaction" is done using the internet, not "real, live people". The anonymity of an email or the chatroom digital town hall should not be confused with talking with and looking into the eyes of a warm-blooded person. That's why it's called virtual reality. While you may be chatting in real-time with someone, you are not necessarily interacting/reacting to them the same way you would if you were talking face to face. The reason I'm making this distinction is because I have set limits on the amount of daily computer time my 11 yo son has so that he has the time and inclination to interact with real people in the real world he lives in. He needs to know that there is real life to experience and treasure, not just the virtual worlds inside the box sitting on the desk. Okay, I'm climbing off my soapbox now...

The various tools we learned about during this semester have many library applications, and I know many of these have been listed on other blogs. Suffice it to say I've learned about a variety of things I hadn't even heard of when I signed up for this course!
I think my favorite has been the blog. I've felt a sense of accomplishment as I've added features to it as a result of the various assigments we were given. I also like having the blogline account with the various rss feeds I've subscribed to. It's a handy one-stop source I can check for the things that interest me. The Flickr assigment was probably my most confusing, but I did triumph when I linked my Vulkin Kat pic! Of course, now I need to do it again so I can remember how...maybe this will be the push I need to start using my husband's digital camera and downloading pics to share! Hmm....) The LibraryThing and del.icio.us (I really hate typing that name!) assigments were also quite useful - both are things I will be using in my personal life. I'll have to see about the wikis, although I have a feeling we will be using them at work now!

I liked the way the assignments were structured. While I did appreciate some of the step-by-step directions, I can understand the reluctance to spoon feed us too much. It really is a good idea to use the tutorials and help sections of most sites, to just learn by playing with them. The little extras at the end of each week were fun, though I didn't always have time to do them all. I hope to go back and do some more of the fun things when I make more time - please don't delete any of the assignment pages from the semester 1 so we can refer back if we need to. The extra time you gave us to catch up assignments was crucial for me to finish, so I hope you'll do that during the 2nd semester, too.

If you had asked me a month ago if I was going to sign up for semester 2, I'd have said probably not. But the funny thing is, I've finally gained some confidence and interest in some of these new (to me) sites and tools, and now I'd like to learn some more! So, I've sent an email to Jean to sign me up for the 2nd part.

Finally, I'd like to thank all the people who acted as facilitators for us during the semester. I've really appreciated your comments, suggestions, and encouragement. You've made the assignments interesting, relevant, and fairly short. Plus, you've managed to nudge an old stick in the mud into reaching out of my comfort zone to learn some technical things that I could even share with my savvy son and husband, and that's a very good thing! And to my fellow students/bloggers - thanks for sharing your comments with me, too. I appreciated you taking the time to read my ramblings. I hope to explore some other student blogs between the semesters.

Week 9 - Wikis, Pt. 2

Been awhile since I've played in a sandbox (my son is 11), but I just played in the Project Play Wiki Sandbox and had some fun. I added several of my favorite movies (linked to a movie database) and several of my latest favorite quotes. It was interesting to read all the other entries - what a varied group!

Week 9 - Wikis

I liked this lesson on wikis. I didn't realize, at first, that the term was generic, that Wikipedia is a type of wiki. Learn something new everyday, hopefully! Anyway, the information about wikis vs. blogs was very interesting. I can see now how a wiki would be a very useful internal staff tool at the library, as my coworkers have already posted. It would be quite useful for group projects, or it would also be an interesting patron-access point for book/program suggestions.

I also see how I can use one personally as I'm in charge of arranging for my little quilting group's 2008 retreat. Women Who Run With Scissors retreat annually, and it's been time consuming to send coordinating emails to figure out a time/place we could all agree to. A wiki might be an excellent tool to use, if I can get the others to access one. (Some of the 7 members are even less techie oriented than me, if you can believe it!)

I looked up Vesper, WI on Wikipedia and found that there was already an entry. JoAnn, their librarian, has developed a very nice entry about Vesper and discussed it on her blog. (I finally learned how to link using a hyperlink - my techie husband just showed me as I was suffering from blog envy, after seeing other bloggers link to posts or articles! OOOOHHHH, cool!) ANYWAYS, when I checked out Vesper, I saw her article but didn't see a link to the Vesper Library. Took me a few minutes to remember they're not online, hence no link big DUH!. So I guess I'll be working on the 2nd part of the Assignment. Tune in for my next installment later.

Week 8 - simply del.icio.us!

As librarians, many of us have probably been tagging consciously or unconsciously most of our working lives (at home, too-just look at my kitchen drawers and cabinets!). Most of the time the tags (aka subject headings) I've seen and used made sense. But there are times when I just haven't appreciated the slightly arcane subjects I've run across. "Cities and towns, extinct and ruined" vs. "ghost towns" is one of my favorite examples. Now, before I'm forced to run and pull on my asbestos undies so I don't feel your flames, I have a huge respect for catalogers and cataloging. I really do! Many times, however, I've felt like a Mason revealing some long-kept secret when I've shown patrons how to find something by subject, then showed them how to use related subject headings to find other items of potential interest. I've watched a lot of "a-Ha!" moments like this when it sinks in that the patron now understands what all those extra words on that record are for, that she has all these other subjects she can look under, and that she doesn't have to ask for help again. What a surge of power, aye?! (And no, I don't feel obsolete yet.)

I like the idea of tagging and social tagging. Being able to access information using common language alongside specialized terminology makes sense to me. Anytime you can make it easier for someone to find something, that's a good thing, right? I took a look at some of the online library catalogs listed in this week's assignment. Inviting patron prticipation by allowing catalog users to input tags is an interesting idea . It allows patrons to make things more accessible and relevant to them. One question: do libraries that allow tagging moderate the patron suggestions? I'm assuming so or there might be questionable/inappropriate entries. Just wondering.

Next, I went into del.icio.us.com and explored, registered, tagged, and added lots of entries to my account, which I think can be accessed at:
http://del.icio.us/jillzinga
I really like the idea of being able to access my favorites at any computer rather than just one at home. And I like being to see other's favorites and finding new ones of interest. I think this will be one of my new favorite sites. (gee, especially since I've installed the buttons on my browser, aye?LOL!)

Finally, I went back into del.icio.us and searched for others who tagged "frugal". After scanning some the entries listed under a couple of people, I subscribed to an RSS feed from: del.icio.us/bookchiq/frugality, and I see this feed is now listed on my blogroll. Success! Plus, it looks like this person has some interesting sites for me to check out.
I enjoyed this assignment!

Week 7 - LibraryThing Asignment

Well, it was an interesting assignment. I was FINALLY able to get my books linked to my blog with those cute covers. It was not an intuitive decision where to paste the html script (the what?huh?), so I just guessed and put it in one of the blog template elements. Guess it took, as I can see a couple of the cute covers on the side of my blog. I'm also including the link to my catalog list:
www.librarything.com/catalog/jillzinga

There's no way I would put all my personal books in this catalog - there would be way too many to add, I'm a cheap woman (but I'm not easy!), and I can't think that I'd consult it enough to make the effort worthwhile. I just keep a tiny notebook in my purse with the things I'm looking for when I check out used book stores, thrifts, etc. Just so you understand: I don't use an online calendar, either. I think it's a waste of time to input all that info, when I can just make the necessary notes on my master wall calendar at home. My husband and I go back and forth on this point, so you're not alone in your arguments with me! I've been dragged into the 20th-oops-21st Century kicking and screaming, I guess. LOL!

That said, the Library Thing is a very interesting tool for me to figure out what books I might want to add to my library. When I typed in "Atlas Shrugged" in the BookSuggestor, one interesting title popped up among all the similar editions of the book: "Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged:A Philosophical and Literary Companion." I may have to look that up ILL sometime.

When I used the LibrarySuggestor, some very random titles came up, probably because I added only 6 books to my list, and the tags ran the gamut from cats, fantasy, african violets, and humor to political satire, patchwork, and art quilts. I think I just had too many random tags for the suggestor to come up with a logical list, so I ended up with a variety of political biographies, heirloom gardening guides, and John MacDonald's Dreadful Lemon Sky, and that's not a title I'm at all interested in. Pehaps one needs to have more titles cataloged so the computer can ferret out some sort of pattern. But then, I don't just buy the same books all the time! I buy books on simplicity, frugality, parenting, bible devotions, making fudge, dowsing, humor, gardening, art quilting, cats, etc. So I don't know what pattern would be made of that.

Another quibble with the BookSuggestor:I tried at least six titles in the book suggestor before I finally came up with a good list of similar things to read. The first 5 titles I plugged in came back with several titles written just by that author. My sixth title "The Simple Living Guide" by Janet Luhrs came back with a generous list of books written by other authors I'll be looking closer at. Perhaps I'm just not getting the hang of this particular tool? Or is it just too narrow in some areas? Perhaps the tagging has something to do with it? I dunno.

As for the UnSuggestor, I couldn't get it to work. I typed in at least 4 of the titles I've mentioned above, and it came up with the lists of other books written by the authors. "Unplug the Christmas Machine", for instance, came up with some leader guides to use the same book with youth or church groups. Didn't look like an opposite suggestion to me. I didn't spend too much time there - the idea of putting in titles of things I liked just to come up with titles I won't like seems silly to me. Am I missing something?

I can see where LibraryThing might be an interesting addition to our reader's advisory arsenal. At this point, I'd probably find SCLS's Novelist more useful. Just my humble opinion.

Week 4 and Week 6 - Take my Poll!

I am so tickled to have gotten Weeks 4 and 6 done today - I just had to celebrate by adding another element to my blog. So, take my Christmas Shopping Poll and make me a happy camper. Or shopper. Sure doesn't take much to make me happy, huh?

Week 6 - SUCCESS!!!

I managed to get a Flickr image linked with my blog!!!(see prior entry)
And it looks amazingly like one of my cats, plus I thought it was quite appropriate since I'm a Trekker. And the final funny thing is that this pic reminded me of similar cat pics available in a neat website:

www.icanhascheezburger.com/

(Thanks for the reminder in your comment about this one, Stef! My MIL shared it with me several months ago - what a hoot, aye?)

Week 6 - Vulkin Kat

Vulkin Kat,
originally uploaded by dyyanae (away).

I have high hopes that you all can see this lovely multi-toed feline!

Week 6-Attempt 2

Well, I found another picture that is awesome:
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=642915424&size=o

But I'm not figuring out how to get the pic to show up on my blog. I'll continue working on this...
As for how a library could use this tool - the uses are endless, I would think. Pictures promoting library services and events are a natural for both fundraising and for "warm and fuzzy" library appeal. I think the idea to post pics of unlabeled historical photos for the public to peruse and identify would be an excellent project to work in tandem with a local historical society. When I was an undergraduate during the Dark Ages, I worked with developing a college archives, and we had scads of unlabelled pics. The College Alumni Center hosted a special get-together event during Homecoming Weekends to try to get Alumni to come in and take a look at the pics to help us out. We never had that many people turn out - perhaps this would be an ideal tool to download pics for a larger group to access conveniently online as part of an alumni newsletter/ project. Just a thought...


At this early point, Flickr seems like a neat tool. I don't know what the downside or cons would be. It seems like the copyright issues have been addressed - I imagine there's always some way to misuse a tool like this, though.

Week 6 - Flickr Attempt

Well, I can see that Flickr would be a very interesting tool to play with, especially if you have a digital camera and the smarts to download pics. I lack both, so I have to rely on my dear husband to handle the family digital camera. He's saved tons of digital pics but I don't have a clue how to access them at this moment. Luddite that I am, I rely on my little Canon 35 mm camera he bought me years ago, after my Kodak Instamatic bit the dust.

ANYWAYS, I played with Flickr and found the cutest picture of a yellow tabby polydactyl kitten who looks quite similar to my 11 month old Rusty, right down to the 6 toes on each paw (the thumbs look like he has a baseball mitt on.) Here's the link to the pic:
www.flickr.com/photos/jim68000/45935110/

I will attempt to paste the pic onto this blog - tune in to see if I've been successful! (Same bat time, same bat channel...)

Week 4 - Ooh la la, cats!

After I finished the Week 4 assignment, I spent a few self-indulgent minutes with the Automatic Flatterer- almost as good as chocolate.
Then I visited the Sloganizer and decided to share the results. Here are a few of the funnier ones:
Cats nonstop. (yes, my kitten Rusty does seem to run on nuclear power)
Make the world a better place with cats. (goes without saying...)
Cats? Yes please. (I have 2 - Rusty and Polly)
Cats - spice up your life. (both of mine are polydactyl and have all their toes into everything!)
Cats. The smart choice. (again, goes without saying...)
Cats groove. (yep, they're both asleep right now - thank heavens for the peace and quiet!)
The Sloganizer is a riot!

Week 4 - Wow! Playing catch-up...

Well, I've fallen(behind) but I can get up (to speed), I hope!

I read the information on feedback thingies, and I have to agree with my colleagues that it does provide lots of options for libraries. I really like the idea of using them to solicit ideas for new programs and services, and to provide a place for folks to comment on existing ones. Yes, you may have to take the bad opinions with the good, but let's hope there's a pony under that pile, right? (See there's the joke about the kid who asked for a pony for Christmas and all he got was a pile of manure and a shovel, and well, you can guess the rest!)

I will also agree with my colleagues that it's hard to design a really good survey that gives you data you can actually use. (By the way I took a couple of my colleagues' suveys and enjoyed enjoyed them. Quick and dirty and fun!)
Back in the Dark Ages, I helped to develop a community survey for a library to figure out what folks did/didn't like and what they felt was needed. This was done pre-computer age, and while we did get back some very useful responses, the return rate on mailed surveys was minimal, and the in-house participation was not much better. Having the capability to do a snappy little survey online might help, although that still might not address the computer-illiterate users and non-library users.

So how do we reach non-library users? Some ideas:
--Acting as a library representative and talking to a wide variety of community groups about what the library has and soliciting suggestions as to what would make them come through the front doors might help.
--Targeting school groups and finding out what the kids are interested in (besides internet acess!) might work, too.
-- Writing a brief survey aimed at the local school teachers and figuring out how we could work together to provide homework resources would be useful (can you tell we've been blindsided by whole-class asignments that snap up limited materials without warning??)
--Providing some community program jointly with a local educational institute might let attendees know we're out there and what we can offer them.

I'm sure these ideas have already been used (and by my own institution, I'm sure!) - I just don't have any fresh ideas to add right now. What can you think of to add to the list of engaging non-library users and giving them a reason to visit? Hint, hint : please comment so I can get credit for completing this assignment!!LOL

Week 3 - 2nd attempt to make my bloglines public...

Okay, I'm going to see if this works so that I can share my list of rss newsfeeds :

http://www.bloglines.com/blog/elzingaj

Well, I think it works - I just used this link to get to my Bloglines, so I guess I've gone public! Does this link somehow to the blog, too, and I just don't see it?

Week 3 - Whew, I've hit the wall......

Well, I've been working on the week 3 assignment and have really enjoyed exploring the RSS newsfeeds. I had absolutely no idea what they were when I started this morning, and now I'm up to my eyeballs in news feeds I've subscribed to! I can see how addictive it can get, too. I've signed up for more than the 10 required - mainly in my personal interest areas of art and scrap quilting, cats, science, frugality and simple living, and some wordplay sites.

Problem is, I've hit the wall when it comes to understanding how to include these links in this post. I've gone to my profile and changed it to public (is that correct??) so I can share, but then I'm confused when it comes to filling out the rest of the lines. I'm a little frustrated and wondering if I'm making it harder than it really is. Perhaps my brain has hit that overload point, and I need to come back later to reread the instructions after I have a bite of lunch....More later! Wish me luck!

Week 1 - Welcome

Welcome to the first entry in Jill's Jems! I haven't a clue as to what I'll be posting about, so bear with me as I figure out what to share.

I love wordplay, so I'll post three funny signs that have been spotted at businesses:

In a Veterinarian's waiting room: "Be back in 5 minutes. Sit! Stay!"

At a Towing company: "We don't charge an arm and a leg. We want tows."

At the Electric Company: "We would be delighted if you send in your payment. However, if you don't, you will be."

And that's enough for today!