Final thoughts...?

This has been a good learning experience for me. I have wanted to "play" with many of these tools but just never seemed to make the time - but Play To Learn encouraged me to do so!
I have always kept journals so blogging is something I really like - although I would not reveal as much in my blog as some people on the Web do.
There is so much more I want to explore as a result of this program. I have not yet put my pop up book collection in Library Thing - but I really need to do that. I want to explore Squidoo more thoroughly. There are so many great blogs and podcasts out there - I don't even know where to begin...
I realize that everyone was very limited in the time they felt they could devote to the program, but I felt 10 weeks were needed to cover everything. I would suggest that the 1st week could have had more activity involved - the enthusiasm was high at the start and more could have been tackled initially.
I would definitely participate in similar training in the future. I like being challenged to complete assignments and kept on a time schedule.
I wonder how many staff members will keep these blogs going? I plan on continuing both my work and personal blogs for as long as I can keep them viable...
Thanks for bringing this opportunity to us and providing the impetus to keep learning!

Crossing the Finish Line - week 10!

Here it is - the last week of "Play To Learn" ... it's been a very busy week, so Sunday is the day to complete my assignment. I view videos on YouTube regularly...I especially like the animal ones - although there are so many (and so many that are alike) that it can get tiring after awhile. But I often see one that "strikes my fancy" - see "Cat Talking" below!

I went to PodCast Alley and found Manager Tools. It is described as: a weekly podcast focused on helping you become a more effective manager and leader. Each week we'll be talking about new tools and easy techniques you can use to help achieve your management and career objectives. If you're tired of a lot of management theory and would rather learn SPECIFIC actions you can take TODAY to improve your management performance, you'll enjoy the manager tools podcast.

I played with the library system's Download Depot when we first added it. I am not a regular user however because I have never been a patient "audio listener/learner"! Maybe it is because I have a hard time just sitting and listening - and like to listen to music when I am engaged in other activities - like exercise, cleaning, driving, traveling, etc. I do share the information about the Download Depot with potential users every chance I get. I carry a supply of the small business cards with the information about the service and hand them out at many gatherings and events I attend. People are very surprised and delighted to hear about this service!

Cat Talking

Squidoo - Web 2.0 award winner

Squidoo is a good tool for creating a quick one page "lens" on a topic of interest. Your lens can show people the way, share your expertise, teach people about a concept, point people to opportunities, highlight an event, raise funds and a myriad of other possibilities. There are currently over 250,000+ lenses that have been created at Squidoo.

I searched for "libraries" in Squidoo and saw a real mix of pages - everything from School Library resources to technology training for seniors to "top ten things you didn't know you copuld do at your library" to OPAC comparisons, etc. I could see it being used to promote library events and activities - for library advocacy efforts - and for sharing tips on using the library and library resources.

Squidoo has developed a community of users representing a broad range of interests. I liked the varety of pages and topics represented and it appears to be very easy to create a lens (I didn't have time to actually do that - but may try at a later date.) You can also add your lens to established groups or create a new group. I can't really say there is anything I dislike - but as with most places on the Web you need time to really explore and can easily lose track of the amount of time you spend there because it is so interesting!

Posting from Zoho

Week 9 - in the home stretch for Play To Learn!

I am using ZohoWriter to create this posting. I'm not sure how often I would use these applications, but am giving it a try. I found some templates that I liked in the library and added them to my account. Then I created a business trip itinerary from the template, printed it and also saved a copy for myself. This would be useful for sharing the details of a trip with others.

Not that I didn't already know...but...

Yesterday I posted comments on the front page of the Sheldon's Play House wiki. Today when I went to see what others had added ...I discovered the entire front page was gone! This is one of the problems with wikis - anyone can add/delete anything...
I could have created a new page, which is what I see some other people did, but then you have to create a catchy subject line to make people want to click to that page!

Wiki World!

Wikis are great for collaboration! I like the idea of multiple people being able to add comments and add information on a topic. As with everything on the web, however - depending on how much moderation is provided for the wiki - it is important to remember the source of the information being provided. Certainly wikis can be less reliable in some cases than a site created by an authority on the topic. But when you are just looking for a variety of views a wiki may be the way to go.
Wikis could be used by libraries in many ways - I especially like the idea of using a wiki for staff members to edit a document or hold a discussion about a document's content. (This would have worked great when we were working on the Strategic Plan...) I could also see it being used for on-going projects - reporting on status to a group and asking for input. Allowing public input for book reviews or programming ideas would also be a good use for wikis.
I looked at the wiki that Meredith Farkus created: http://www.libsuccess.org/. It has some great information and allows library staff members to share ideas on a wide range of topics - definitely a site I will be back to.

A lot to digest this week!

Wow - this was one of the more intense weeks for me. I especialy enjoyed reading (and re-reading) the Web 2.0/Library 2.0 articles.
I already have a del.icio.us account. It is great to be able to access the sites I have used at work at home or on any other computer. I can also integrate the links I use had bookmarked for personal use with my wor-oriented ones. Everything is in one place. I like the new option for listing reference sources in a group del.icio.us list that Keith has set up. It reminds me of the librarian's Ready Reference files that I have used in the past at libraries. Anyone could create an index card with citations, sources or information tips and add it to the Rolodex/file for everyone to use when working the Reference Desk and/or Telephone Reference. This is so much easier to use and can be shared by many...
Technorati held my interest for quite a while - I searched a variety of topics and found some great new blogs in areas I like to follow. When I put in LCLS, David Lee King's blog showed up with a post about the presentation he gave at our Staff Day event. (He also posted a nice photo taken on the beach at Sanibel while he was here!) One other thing I found in a blog (can't remember whose) was a comment about Flickr's "Map Views" feature. You can select a place (by name) and all the photos in Flickr that are tagged with that place name will be displayed...
Now, on to the articles:
Michael Stephens is always good to read - and I do so regularly. I like all his comments about Librarian 2.0, but in particular his ideas about controlling techno-lust. We shouldn't add a technology for the sake of adding it - but really need to consider what value it adds to what we are offering our users.
I liked John Riemer's comments about bibliographic relevance ranking. The idea that relevance should go beyond keywords and also look at circulations, sales, clicks, etc. should also be part of the equation. This would be great in our library catalogs.
Much of what Rick Anderson said resonated with me as relating to our strategic planning and connecting with people. I was also intrigued by his comments about library collections and am wondering what others thought about that topic?
Fianlly, Dr Schultz's progression from Library 1.0 to the future Library 4.0 was interesting. I'm not sure however what happens to the slow adopters and/or the have nots in this progression. Will libraries evolve as places for the masses or will it move them into a place for an elite group? Are we cycling backward to a time when libraries were guarded/guided by select groups? I love the notion of the library as a place for thinkers and dreamers and innovators - but I would hope to be a part of that group. I see a real role for librarians to ensure that everyone continues to feel welcome and comfortable in libraries.

Half way point already!

I can't believe we are already at the half-way point in the training...and the glitch I encountered in adding images within posts has finally been resolved!

I have been to MySpace many times and always enjoy looking at profiles, comments and attachments.

Found Tom Anderson - who is a Libra - with his over 205 million friends! I also viewed his video interview. Of course once I was in the MySpace Video area I had to look at a few more videos...that is what always happens to me - I go to look at one thing and end up looking at many! I think MySpace, if and when used correctly, by libraries can be a good thing. Your presence however needs to serve a purpose - not just be randomly thrown out there without any thought of why you are there. I'm sure many people, as is the case with me, will not return to a space if it is poorly crafted or seems pointless.

I play many online games of varying types - ranging from picture puzzles, to brain development (memory, etc), to sports, to mystery solving, to adventures, etc., etc. etc. . I have not played this particular billiards game before - but found it similar in functionality to a miniature golf game I have played. Anyway , I was able to beat the computer in Straight Pool ...8 to 6!

Success!

I decided to give posting a few images a try today - and this time it worked...go figure!
I still can't post images within a post however (I still get the error code and the message that they are aware of the problem and are working to fix it) - but if you scroll down you can see my images!

Keeping myself motivated...

I'm moving ahead with the activities despite the inability to post any images in this blog...

I've looked at Library Thing several times (before Play To Learn) and plan to use it for my pop-up book collection (over 100 items.) I will need to do the entry at home however since all the books are there!

I created a search engine on Rollyo just to see how it works. I have to admit I was skeptical about how useful it would be... So, I created a search engine with the web links that I go to most frequently for leadership information. I now can easily do a single search within all those sites for specific topics - like a federated search! For example, if I type in "motivation" it pulls all the related pages from each of the sites I included in my leadership search engine. I really like this - and can see many uses...!!!

Week 5 - Frustration today!

Frustration is setting in today. I played with a variety of image generators and saved a few altered images in My Pictures file. When I am working on my Play To Learn blog - Add a page element - add a picture -- it won't display the image - goes to done but nothing shows...but if I follow the same steps in the second (personal) blog I created it works perfectly!!!

S o I looked at some of the other Play To Learn blogs and noticed that many of the altered image elements were added within the posts. I thought I'd give that a try - when I do, I get an error message stating "Unable to upload image We are aware of this problem and are currently working on a fix!" So I won't be able to share any images until the fix is in!

Week 4 - Where Did The Week Go?

Ok, so here it is Sunday afternoon and I'm in the office finishing the copies of the keynote speaker's presentation for Staff Day tomorrow. The whole week has flown by so today is the first chance I've had to set up my Blogline account. ..fortunately the e-mail verification came through instantly so I'm all set to go. I am regular viewer of many blogs so, this will streamline the process for me -- once I get it all completed. For now I've selected a few of the suggested sites and have begun creating folders.

I can see libraries setting up RSS feeds to be able to update users on library information. Of course the users need to be taught/given instructions on how to use RSS (if they don't know how.) Orange County Library Sysetm (Orlando) provides RSS feeds - I added their technology feed to my Bloglines account!

Flickr

I've looked at many Flickr photos but had never thought about using it myself...until it was suggested as an activity for this week. I gave it a try - it took a little time to get it all set up, but I was successful! The hard part for me was finding photo subjects that I thought other people might want to see. (Looking at the site however, it appears that many people using Flickr really don't have that concern!)

I enjoyed viewing the mashups and other third party sites. I had seen trading cards developed for library staff members , but wasn't sure how they were done.

Applying the learning

I was so pleased with how easy it was to create this blog, that I created a "personal - by invitation only' blog this weekend. It is intended as a way to communicate with friends and family - and allow them to respond so everyone else can read as well as me. (It won't eliminate the telephone calls and e-mails, but hopefully if will help to avoid those lengthy e-mails and back and forth exchanges.)

E-Learning audio conference

On Wednesday, I listened to an audio conference sponsored by the Urban Libraries Council. The topic was - "E-Learning: Train Your Staff the Newfangled Way." The speakers were: Marilyn Mason (WebJunction), Helene Blowers (creator of Learning 2.0 - The Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County), and Thomas Simpson (Orange County Library System - Orlando.) I attended the program anticipating all kinds of great new ideas and insights into using e-learning at LCLS. To my surprise, with the implementation of "Play to Learn", we are already beyond much of what was being discussed!

How exciting to know that we have already begun the process of incorporating e-learning at our library system - something that many libraries are still struggling with figuring out how to do it. It truly makes one appreciate our library system staff who are continually looking for ways to keep LCLS in the running as an earlier adopter of new technology initiatives.

For anyone that would like to hear a basic introduction to e-learning, we will be receiving a CD of the ULC audio conference in about a month. It will be cataloged and added to our Professional Collection when we receive it.

BTW, did you know that we have copies of ALL of the ULC audio conferences we have participated in as part of our Professional Collection?

Comments on the "7 & 1/2 Habits to Life Long Learning"

I have always been a successful independent learner who likes to share my experience/skills with others, so 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7 ("beginning with the end in mind", "accepting responsibility for my own learning" , "viewing problems as challenges", " being confident in myself as a competent effective learner" and " teaching/mentoring others") are definitely my strongest habits.

I don't consider myself a techno-geek, but I have developed a strong interest in technology, both in my work and personal life, and feel I do use it to my advantage (habit 6) in most cases. I am currently without a stable technology environment in my home and it really frustrates me...especially because I would like to enhance this learning opportunity by spending time away from work exploring even more!

As an independent learner I tend to create my own learning toolbox (habit 5) - but most of my tools tend to be from sources and resources removed from my worklife. So one thing that I hope to take away from this experience is an opportunity to connect with others in the LCLS community!

Ok, so what about habit 7 1/2? It may come as a surprise to some people, but I do like to play! Perhaps I will share more about that in a later post...