Making Noise In The Library

Bonus Round: My 11 Random Things

2008-12-02T16:15:00.000-05:00

I've lived in 5 States (Minnesota, Wisconsin, California, Maryland, Ohio). I get extremely confused when people ask me where I am from. Do you mean where I was I born? Do you mean where does my family live? Do you mean where have I lived the longest? Do you mean where did I live last?
I can't stand orange squishy vegetables (sweet potatoes, squash, yams, pumpkin). Don't ever try to convince me differently because I will argue with you for hours.
I should be able to speak and understand Spanish much better than I actually can. I spent one month in Barcelona, Spain attempting to learn Spanish. A few years later I lived in Antigua, Guatemala for 3 months attempting to learn Spanish again. They called me Miguelito.
My Grandfather died on September 11, 2001. Everyone immediately assumes he died during the attacks but instead it was from complications of heart surgery. My grandmother died a year and one day later (for some morbid reason she wanted to pass on the same day as my Grandfather but she lived about an hour too long). Needless to say, I can be quite a moody person mid-September.
CML is the first place where I have worked for more than two and a half years.
My favorite car was my 1987 Red Toyota pickup. I would still be driving it today if the rust hadn't taken it over.
The only states I have never been to are Oklahoma, Alaska, Vermont, Rhode Island. Kansas is questionable---I've been to Kansas City, Missouri but I'm not sure if I ever crossed the border into the Kansas side of the city.
I was a paperboy for the Waukesha Freeman. My toes still have the residual frostbite effects, my leg has the dog bite scar, and I still despise Saturday mornings.
I was a radio DJ during college for KUMM. I am not making the call letters up, and yes there were plenty of offensive slogans to go along with the call letters.
When my wife and I decided we wanted to leave Maryland we made a list of states where we would absolutely refuse to live. Near the top of that list was OHIO. Does that mean we should reconsider living in Oklahoma, Nebraska, Alabama, and Mississippi as well?
My family had a beagle when I was growing up. I named him Opus (from the comic strip) when my family wouldn't let me name him Mr. T (even though his fur was marked with a white T shape).

Thing 23 - The End Of The Beginning or Where's My Laptop?

2008-12-02T15:40:00.000-05:00

Intro to Web 2.0 has come to an end. Here is an answer to some Learn & Play questions that were posted:

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey? I've become a Twitter addict and I'm starting to catalog my books at home with Library Thing. In the long run learning more about wikis will probably benefit me the most.

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals? Most of these "things" were only an introduction to the tool. I know I am going to be putting in more time learning about wikis so we can develop one for the STEM project.

Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you? I'm jealous of the writing ability of a lot of CML staff. I need to start working on improving my writing ability and fluency again. The writing that this project was very different than most writing that we typically do at CML---for Learn & Play it was much more thoughtful writing compared to our typical emails. Maybe it should have been called Learn & Play & Think.

It has opened up communications with people outside of our branch and even outside of the public services department. That has to be a good thing.

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept? Maybe it would help if there were fewer tasks over a shorter time period. I know some colleagues stopped participating when they got to the point where they thought they couldn't finish. Some of the benefits of the program are lost if fewer staff participate.

There should be some sort of encouragement for people to continue their Web 2.0 discoveries to maximize what has been started.

There should be some effort to apply some of these tools to actual CML issues----both to make the learning more complete and to get the full benefit out of the time that each of us spent.

And, last but not least… If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you again chose to participate?
Most definitely.

THE END...........or is it the beginning?

Thing #22 - Digital Media - MOLDI - Why are checked out titles unavailable?

2008-12-02T13:28:00.000-05:00

The idea of checked out digital titles being unavailable seems absolutely ridiculous. Just because I downloaded Audio Book A---doesn't mean the file is unavailable---it just means the organization refusing to share it again. What if the entire web worked the way MOLDI did? Only one person could look at the news on CNN at a time? Silly right? If a digital library is going to be done right, every title should always be available. I understand payments to publishers will have to be reworked, but shouldn't we be able to provide much better customer service with a digital collection?

Even though most of these Web 2.0 tools are great additions they all seem to be far from perfect. My biggest complaint tends to be the search features (and I know others have made the complaint also)---but the Browse Teens link is absolutely worthless--it leads to minimal titles and very few of which are actually teen titles (because the teen titles are actually found under Children's).

I've been using downloading books from MOLDI for quite a while ---I find lots of interesting titles but they seem to be more accidental findings than things I have found that I was looking for on purpose. These are some features I wish MOLDI had:

Some sort of notice of when new titles are available---Instead of having to search on a daily basis for things from the last 30 days.
That audio files were broken into chapters instead of longer chunks. I only have time to listen to a chapter or two at a time, and since the files aren't in audible format my MP3 player doesn't know to save my place (especially since I go back and forth between music and books constantly).
A more comprehensive collection. There is only one of John Green's books available (and its not his Printz winning book).
A wider music selection.

22 things down and 1 to go.....

Thing #21 - Podcasts --Any better podcast directories out there?

2008-12-02T03:24:00.000-05:00

What a mess trying to find a podcast? Did anyone else find podfeed and podcastalley a mess to search through?

Podfeed was too gunked up with advertising all over the page to clearly be able to find what you needed, the search engine brought back too many unrelated results, and even when using the category search it seemed to lead me to too many podcasts that weren't related to the category.

Podcast Alley was slightly better---a little less (but still too much advertising), the search engine brought back more relevant results as long as I only searched for a single word, and the categories seemed to be set up better. Previously I had used Podcast Alley for my own searches and I usually stuck to just using their Top lists---that way I knew things were of slightly better quality. Another thing I have usually done is get my podcasts directly from web pages that I am already familiar with in other ways (I'm a big fan of the This American Life podcast since WCBE no longer carries the show locally).

I did see another Learn & Play participant recommend Podcast Pickle so I also played with some searches on that. I still wasn't crazy about its search capabilities---but I did end up finding a good children's book review podcast, Just One More Book.

I will have to continue searching for a better podcast directory, because I do like watching and listening to podcasts.

Silly Time Wasters - #36742 - The Warning Label Generator

2008-12-01T23:39:00.000-05:00

From today's silly waste of time--- The Warning Label Generator.

Thing #20 - You Tube-- Please Do It With Me, Please Do It With Me, Please Do It With Me

2008-12-01T22:50:00.000-05:00

I started out looking for some YouTube videos of teens and libraries. Unfortunately YouTube was in partial maintenance mode and not everything was loading properly. I do want to go back and take a look later because I found a couple of libraries that are sponsoring Teen Film Festivals.

Instead I accidentally stumbled upon this video of finger plays using American Sign Language (ASL) to promote Summer Reading Clubs:

Sometimes I struggle with finger plays...sure you can see diagrams in books of how to perform them---but a diagram never truly captures the rhythm and movement of a fingerplay. During Youth Services Orientation I got to observe lots of great fingerplay performers, but what if I could watch these CML "stars" on demand show their fingerplays (or some of Ann's great string stories)? It would be great for all of us out in branch-land (and beyond CML as well).

I bet CML staff could make more friendly videos than the example I embedded (perhaps fewer "Please Do It With Me" commands). Was anyone else afraid about what would happen if they didn't follow along as they watched the video? Was she a drill sergeant in a previous life?

I also liked the fact that the fingerplay used actual ASL signs, so that in addition to helping toddlers getting ready to read it can also help us reach out to one of our underserved populations. But it helped me learn some new signs so I can attempt to catch up with my 22 month old daughter who (like her mother) signs much more proficiently than I do.

Thing #19 - Exploring CML's Toolbox of Web 2.0 tools

2008-12-01T02:03:00.000-05:00

I've had the CML tool bar for quite a while ---which I typically use for one of 3 reasons.

To get to the CML web page fast
To look at my account
To get to MOLDI (because there never seemed to be an easy way to the site)

I don't know if something changed recently, but the new items button seems to work much better than it did previously. I actually found new stuff that I wasn't aware of----new additions to the Rockabye Baby Lullaby series. I just reserved the recently ordered Pixies, Nirvana, Bob Marley and Led Zepplin CDs from the series---it is truly trippy stuff. I can't wait to hear the Pixies This Monkey's Gone to Heaven done on the glockenspiel. My wife and I always enjoyed it more than L did.

I'm not a big fan of the search box on the CML toolbar....way too many sponsored results before I get to what I am looking for. But I am glad to have the Firefox CML search tool. Why does that work much better than the one on the toolbar? Anyone?

Thing #18 - Discovering Web 2.0 Tools -Im Cooked

2008-12-01T00:54:00.000-05:00

I really had trouble deciding which tool I wanted to explore and review. I have just a slight decision making problem (just ask my wife)----when there are 41 categories to choose from the decision making part was close to paralyzing. I really wanted to pick something that hopefully not many other people picked....so I picked a cooking video site, Im Cooked.

Cool Things About I'm Cooked
1. I found multiple recipes to use up my leftover turkey---but I'm probably going with the Turkey Chili.
2. There are some professional made videos, but lots of amateur ones as well. It's definitely not Martha Stewart or Rachel Ray.
3. Anyone can make a video.
4. Definitely for visual learners.

Not So Cool Thing About Im Cooked
1. No written recipes (or at least I didn't find them)

Who would I recommend this to at the library? The usual people who are looking for recipes at the library----probably more of those who are looking for technique or something strange to watch. In reality probably not one I will use at the library often, but at least I found a new turkey chili recipe.

Less than 48 hours to go and I have 5 Things left....I think I can....I think I can.

Thing #17 - Playing with Google Docs

2008-11-30T01:46:00.001-05:00

A Few Thoughts About Google Docs

So I've spent the last hour playing around with Google Docs, and yes I should be sleeping instead. I had a lot of fun collaborating with myself on a silly project. I loved the way that document stayed updated constantly as myself as 3 different users made more and more ridiculous changes.

One thing that I found that made absolutely no sense to me while creating a spreadsheet and a chart. Did you realize you can't adjust the colors of charts manually? It seems like such a basic thing that the user should have control over. I even went into the help files thinking that I was missing a control---but I found out all the colors are chosen automatically. When is this problem being fixed?

I did discover a forms feature on here which looks like it might be an easy way to create some online questionnaires...so I will be playing with that feature soon.

Thing #16 - Playing around with Wikis

2008-11-28T15:47:00.000-05:00

I added several links to the favorite blogs and favorite children's book pages. I even added a new page of favorite games, which was extremely easy to do. Will anyone share their favorites?

Things went smoothly making the adds. I do wonder if there is a way to make hyperlinks look a little better. It sort of relates to the one criticism that I have about wikis they tend to look so so ugly. Any examples of a non-ugly Wiki?

Thing #15 ---Wikis---Something New, Something Useful

2008-11-28T11:02:00.000-05:00

I've been really curious about Things 15 and 16 because other than looking at Wikipedia I really haven't had much experience with wikis. Looking at some of the examples I was really impressed by some of the community Wikis (I got distracted by exploring the wiki for Davis, California---one of my previous homes from my younger days---reading about my old haunts, new controversies, and some of the general strangeness of Davis).

I'm really interested in learning about Wikis because I have also agreed to set one up for the STEM pilot project that is taking place between the Karl Road, Linden, and South High branches (along with Columbus City Schools and Battelle). We figured it would be a great tool for all of us to communicate about what is working with the pilot and what isn't. Personally, I figured if I truly wanted to learn Wikis I needed a meaningful project to apply my knowledge. I also found this Wiki Matrix which will help you pick which Wiki software to use when you are first starting a Wiki project. Wish me luck.

Thing #14 - Library 2.0 & Web 2.0 -----What happens to Customers 1.0 in a 2.0 world?

2008-11-28T00:23:00.000-05:00

I get technology. I love gadgets. I've been messing with computers for 26 years (I learned how to program on a VIC-20). I'm a computer and a web junkie. But a lot of the customers I deal with on a daily basis fear computers and the web and don't understand even the basics (and those are the customers that are brave enough to enter our doors). We have spent the last three months about learning about Web 2.0 technology---but how does this help our customers who don't even get what each of us consider pre-1.0 (using the mouse, opening a program, typing).

Rick Anderson in his article talks about the "iceberg" of the reliance on user education. He states that we need to eliminate the barriers between patrons and information that they need. I think that is partially missing the point, many of our customers aren't coming into the branch to get information---they are coming to get jobs, they are coming to get financial assistance, they are coming in to communicate with their families. Our computers are much more of a link to services than they are a link to information. How do we eliminate barriers caused by poorly designed web pages that belong to third parties, I can't change OSU Hospitals career search page (especially not in the time span that customer 1.0 wants it changed to make sense)? If anything I think user education is even more important unless we are forgetting about our customers most in need.

Then again maybe it is all about Better Library Services for More People. Let's not forget those that are still trying to figure out Web 1.0.

How I Found a Fat Hoochie Prom Queen (Thing #13-Tagging, etc.)

2008-11-26T11:57:00.000-05:00

He didn't really just say "Fat Hoochie Prom Queen" did he?? Yes I did---and it really does related back to Learn & Play. Has anyone else from CML used the phrase Fat Hoochie Prom Queen in their blog? So how does it relate? Let me tell you. I've been using delicious for a long time for personal use (check it out I'm at http://delicious.com/hurrycane ---I warn you its overloaded with music and blogging sites). So I was thinking this would be a thing that I could speed through fast.

I get to Discovery Exercise #4 -Look at how some of our own CML Divisions are using del.icio.us! And I find this excellent list of Reader's Advisory tools that have been gathered by the folks at Humanities and Fine Arts. I find they have two options listed under StreetLit -which I get lots of requests for at the branch. I click on the first bookmark which brings me to the most fabulous resource, which I notice even contains a PDF of a VOYA article from a couple of years ago that I share frequently with the branch's most avid teen street lit readers. I notice that it has some other Street Lit links just for teens, including a list by Edith Campbell of Indianapolis----which leads off with Fat Hoochie Prom Queen by Nico Medina. I have already reserved a copy to share with the teens here at the branch.

A big thank you to the folks at Humanities and Fine Arts----I know I will be making plenty of use of your delicious links now that I know that they are out there. Are there any other divisions or branches that are starting to make their own delicious accounts?? We had tried at Linden a couple of years ago----but it didn't seem to go anywhere. Maybe with more people having gotten a flavor it through Learn & Play we can give it another try.

Thing #12 - Twitter -----Twittering my time away

2008-11-25T18:32:00.000-05:00

I'm still not sure what I am doing with Twitter, but I can see why it could be so addictive. I've been tweeting away sharing way too much information about my sinuses and my use of Kleenex---riveting stuff!! But check me out my twitter handle (name, link, keyword, ???) is otherlibraryguy.

While searching for Camper Van Beethoven (one of my favorite bands of all time)....I did find one tweet that I am going to keep an eye on thesonginmyhead ---what happens if he is having the same song in his head that I am having in my head. I think I will keep the songs in my head to myself for a little bit.

Even though it has been fun to play with twitter I am not convinced that it is going to do anything to help my work life. Please tell me or show me I am wrong.....anyone?

Thing #11 - Library Thing - Random Books

2008-11-24T23:35:00.000-05:00

I am running out of time to complete Learn & Play very quickly so I am trying to move through things a little quicker. I'm sure my blog postings aren't that great but look at all the neat new tools I am learning about. Today, I started playing with Library Thing and hopefully I am entering my book information the most random order possible just to keep people guessing about me and my catalog. I did manage to enter one book that not a single other Library Thing user had listed (and it wasn't even a self-published book)----it seems like I should get a special prize for doing that.

Does anyone have any hints for entering older books---- pre-ISBN??

Thing #10 Image Generators - My "Read" Poster

2008-11-24T15:15:00.000-05:00

Here is my READ poster. I think I am going to try and make some read posters with my Teen Book Club this week----hopefully they will think it is cool also. If you want to try making one of your own go to: http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/hqops/publishing/graphics/READ_Mini_Posters.cfm

Thing #9 - Going back in time (Library Blogs & RSS feeds)

2008-11-22T11:47:00.000-05:00

So we were supposed to find some new RSS feeds about libraries this week. I already was subscribed to over 25 of them. Do I really need more----probably not but like I said I'm a sucker for information overload so I have added another five (probably more later).

The Information Literacy Land of Confusion - I just loved the title and it looked like he is discussing some interesting topics.

LIS News - It looked like it might be a good broad overview of LIS stuff.

Duck Duck Book - Can the blog live up to its fantastic title?

Worthingteens - What are our partners to the north up to? Let's find out.

Alice Baker Blog - I can bet there is no one else at CML who has added this library blog to their blogroll. I lived in Minnesota until I was 10 years old, and where my family and I were regular users of the Rockford Road Branch of the excellent Hennepin County Library. When I was 10 years old my family moved to the tiny village of Eagle, Wisconsin (750 people and the closest stop light was 10 miles away, and yes there were lots of cows) where I became a regular user of the Alice Baker Memorial Library. The word library was a big stretch----it was an unused room at the local Methodist Church that was open for 2 hours on 2 nights a week. It didn't have a kid's area it had a kid's shelf. I moved to adult books pretty quickly because I ran out of things to read. But I was a reader at this point so I read anything the librarians (who were actually just local volunteers)--but they were my experts and were always ready to help me find something to keep me reading. Well the Alice Baker Memorial Library has moved out of the church room and there is now an actual building that was built specifically for the library. They are doing lots of cool things with a small staff. This is their blog. What is your childhood library up to these days?

Information Overload ---- Learn & Play #8 Using RSS Feeds

2008-11-14T11:53:00.000-05:00

I'm a big fan of Bloglines---I can't even remember when I first started using it, probably 3 or 4 years ago. Here is my problem, I can't stop subscribing to feeds. I'm currently at 120 feeds. My current weaknesses for feed categories:

12 Technology Blogs

7 Music Blogs (I've narrowed this category from about 20 at one time)

19 Library Blogs

10 Parenting Blogs

8 Wii blogs

I could probably spend a full day reading through my feeds and still not be caught up. Yes the RSS feeders make keeping up with web pages more efficient---but it seems like I lose all that efficiency by monitoring an ever increasing number of blogs.

Here is my question to everyone reading out there----How many feeds do you track? How do you decide which blogs are worth your time?

Dying Technology or My Future Kinko's Career - Learn & Play #7

2008-11-11T12:23:00.000-05:00

It will be interesting to see who is following along because I feel like ranting today (and probably ruffling a few feathers along the way). Our branch just got finished with an all staff meeting and we were going over the tactical plan for 2009. We were discussing tactics for the upcoming year and there it was Item 16 - Offer Fax Services at All Locations.

Yes, this would have been a great service for the library to offer 15 or 20 years ago. But according to my calendar it is 2008.Maybe we should discuss carrying Eight-Tracks Tapes or Betamax Video Tapes. I understand that there are customers that request this service, but are we really doing anyone favors by teaching them to use this dying technology (not to mention the money for the machines, wiring, set-up, and staff training). I can't even remember the last time I sent a fax to someone. I know the plan is to have the machines be self-service----but the same thing was said about our copiers as well. Some days I spend so much time helping customers with the copy machine that I might have a good shot at a management position at Kinko's down the street (plus than I would get to wear one of those cool blue aprons).

Two cool links to follow this week---especially for those of you not getting to try enough new Web 2.0 tools with Learn & Play:

PC World's annual list of 100 useful and interesting web sites

PC Magazine's annual Top 100 list of undiscovered web sites

Baby Badge

2008-11-08T13:02:00.001-05:00

Baby badge, originally uploaded by CML Library Guy.

How's that for a serious looking face? She is usually is quite the happy girl---but I love all the faces she makes for me, even the grumpy ones.

The badge maker program was a fun one to play with. I think I might try using it during my teen book group. We could make funny badges which they could keep as a bookmark.

I love searching through the various mapping mash-ups especially finding pictures of favorite places I've been or things I want to see in the future.

Making Some Noise

2008-10-16T15:48:00.001-04:00

standing on furniture and booktalking, originally uploaded by CML Library Guy.

This is one of my favorite times where I had a customer ask me to be quiet in the library. I was promoting our new Teen Book Club by reading the first chapter of our discussion book while standing on one of the tables in the teen area. I think the staff member took the picture because they wanted to capture it on film when I crushed the table----luckily the table and myself both survived. The book club has been running smoothly now for over a year. Yesterday seven of us continued reading All Of The Above by Shelly Pearsall.

This was my first time playing with flickr and it went much more smoothly than I thought it would. The Blog This tool worked so easily----much more easily than I remember from any of my previous uses of Blogger. So plan on seeing many more photos as I continue my Learn & Play adventure.

Learning & Playing In the Library

2008-09-27T16:53:00.000-04:00

So I am finally getting around to working on my blog for http://columbusmetropolitanlibrary.wordpress.com/. As much as I am a fan of learning and playing (especially on work time) I have found it difficult to get started on this project. I suppose that is the first thing---I am referring to playing as a project. The second thing--and this sort of comes out of the 7.5 Habits of Effective Learners---I have difficulty coming up with an "end in mind for my learning". I've played around with some of these "things" before.....but maybe I will get some ideas of how to use them in a practical way with my co-workers.

Hopefully, my next post will be a little more coherent (but at least I have gotten started finally)!