Things fun to share

Flickr

2010-01-16T08:33:00.001-05:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Mockingbird

2008-09-25T15:19:00.009-04:00

There's a national program to get as many libraries & their patrons, to get as many citizens of the country reading. Not only reading, but thinking about what they've read. The idea is that they/we should share some common books and then discuss them with each other.

Our library has decided to share Harper Lee's TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD with the community. We've got teen art contests and reading groups, a parade float and large displays, crafts and contests and ads. Our whole system is involved with this and some of what has been offered has been spectacular indeed. We've even got a letterbox hunt in several libraries, a scavenger hunt and some mockingbird coloring pages to involve even our smallest patrons.

I read the book for the second time in my life last month. What an incredible creation. In high school I'd hated every word of the story and dragged through it. THIS time I hated every interruption that dragged me away. I saw it as a wonderful story of growing and learning and maturing. Yes, there are some very ugly parts to the story. But in seeing the world through Scout's eyes I learned a lot. I re-thought a lot about things I'd taken for granted. After reading the book I went to the internet and spent hours researching what had been written about Scout, about the book and about Harper Lee. THAT was a very enjoyable time and was what led to the creation of the scavenger hunt. I watched the To Kill A Mockingbird film and that turned out to be incredible too. (But then I'm a huge Gregory Peck fan anyway.) And the additional disk with the long feature "Fearful Symmetry" is well worth watching. That feature talks about not only making the movie & its cast, but about the book and Nelle Harper Lee herself. It's fascinating. I wish I could find the words to describe how both the book & film have enriched my life.

(while looking up the book I also looked for the book covers. And film covers. And play jackets. I found more than a hundred! Of all sizes & descriptions. The covers alone create wonderful art!)

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD: the Scavenger Hunt

Where would you find To Kill A Mockingbird in Spanish?

What town was To Kill A Mockingbird set in, and what real town was it based on

Where would you find non-fiction books about trials like the one that Atticus Finch defended?

What other books has Harper Lee written?

What treasures did Jem & Scout find in the live oak’s knot hole?
Extra credit: What was in the children’s cigar box in the TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD movie?

Is there anything in the Virtual Library about “racial prejudice” or “racism”?

What actual trial was very like that of Tom Robinson’s?

What famous author was Harper Lee’s childhood playmate?

When was Harper Lee’s novel published and what award did it win a year later?

Why is it a sin to kill a mockingbird?

USEFUL WEBSITES:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Kill_a_Mockingbird Wikipedia – To Kill A Mockingbird

http://www.lausd.k12.ca.us/Belmont_HS/tkm/ The Student Survival Guide – TKAM

http://www.neabigread.org/books/mockingbird/ The Big Read – To Kill A Mockingbird

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VB0sjVN2Pic UTube –To Kill A Mockingbird title sequence

http://www.tokillamockingbird.com/ Monroe Co., AL Heritage Museum

http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/resources/lessonplans/amlit_lp_lee1.htm History of Jim Crow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfSVkDjnsnU UTube – To Kill A Mockingbird (extended trailer)

http://library.thinkquest.org/12111/SG/SG5.html Historical Background To Kill A Mockingbird

http://google.com/ Google search “To Kill A Mockingbird” or “Harper Lee”

Paper Airplanes!

2008-09-25T15:07:00.005-04:00

What could be more fun?!

I made up planes for the littlest folk to fly and found several directions for the older kids (and young at heart).

After only a very few minutes our meetingroom was a dangerous place to hold one's head up. (And the little flyers didn't make the lowest 3 feet of space any too safe either!)

It was a grand time. Parents helped their younger kids to fold their own planes. And several adults even thumbed through our books and then created their own aircraft to fly the library skies. It was a good and colorful time. I'd like to do this program again and again!

Folding paper flyers

2008-09-25T14:24:00.015-04:00

I enjoyed learning to make the peace cranes and thought to explore origami a bit. In June and July I offered programs to teach bug-folding (Bug-A-Gami, that was called)and how to fold birds. They were fun to teach and well attended for the time:

The following are some of my bugs & birds. Hope you enjoy them too!

A Long Hot Adult Summer Reading Program

2008-09-22T18:39:00.007-04:00

A long hot summer.
Even grownups need something to read.
And who doesn't like prizes!

We offered book lists and raffle tickets in exchange for short reviews of what people had read. They could even count reading to their children for an entry. Or hearing an audio book. Or blogging about something they'd read... We had about a dozen nice prize baskets that were raffled off. And we posted all of the reviews for other people in the library to explore. It was fun!

Here are the book lists we offered:

2008 Summer Reading List
Long Times Comin’

FICTION
A Long Day for Dying Patrick A Davis
A Long Fatal Love Chase
Louisa May Alcott
A Long Way Down: a novel Nick Hornby
A long way from home: growing up in the
American heartland Tom Brokaw
A Very Long Engagement Sébastien Japrisot
All Night Long Jayne Ann Krentz
An Evening of Long Goodbyes Paul Murray
Daughter of Time Josephine Tey
Epiphany of the Long Sun Gene Wolfe
Everything I Long For Melody Carlson
Long Distance Lover Donna Hill
Long for this World Michael Byers
Long Lost David Morrell
Long Ride Home Louis L”Amour
Long Road Turning Ilene Bennett Brown
Long Spoon Lane Anne Perry
Long Tall Texan legacy Diana Palmer
Long Time Coming Sandra Brown
Long Time Down Judith A Jance
Long Time Gone Judith A Jance
Long Time No See Susan Isaacs
On A Long Ago Night Susan Sizemore
Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone
James Baldwin
The Girl with the Long Green Heart
Lawrence Block
The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
Douglas Adams
The Long Journey Home Don Colesmith
The Long Lost Ramsey Campbell
The Long Night of Winchell Dear
Robert James Waller
The Long Remember Mackinlay Kantor
The Long Road Home: a story of War
and Family Martha Raddatz
The Long Shot Paul Monette
The Long Trail Home Stephen A Bly
Time Enough for Long: Lazarus Long
Robert Heinlein
To Cut a Long Story Short Jeffrey Archer
Too Long a Stranger Janette Oke

YOUNG ADULT
A Long Way From Chicago Richard Peck
A Time to Die Lurlene McDaniel
A Time to Keep Silent Gloria Whelan
All Night Long Kate William
An Acceptable time Madeleine L'Engle
Beyond the Burning Time Kathryn Lasky

2008 Summer Reading List
Movie Night

2001, a Space Odyssey Arthur C. Clarke
A Day with Wilbur Robinson (Meet the
Robinsons) William Joyce
All the King's Men Robert Penn Warren
Along Came A Spider James Patterson
Amistad Alexs D Pate
Awakenings Oliver Sachs
Beaches Iris Rainer Dart
Because of Winn-Dixie Kate DiCamillo
Beowulf (poem) Anonymous
Bridget Jone's Diary Helen Fielding
Brokeback Mountain Annie Proulx
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
Dee Alexander Brown
Carrie Stephen King
Casino Royale Ian Fleming
Charlie Wilson’s War George Crile
Chocolat Joanne Harris
Circle of Friends Maeve Binchy
Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess
Cold Mountain Charles Frazier
Contact Carl Sagan
Corelli's Mandolin Louis DeBernieres
Cranford Elisabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
Crazy in Alabama Mark Childress
Dead Man Walking Helen Prejean
Devil in a Blue Dress Walter Mosley
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
Rebecca Wells
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
(Blade Runner) Philip K. Dick
Dracula Bram Stoker
Dune Frank Herbert
Ella Enchanted Gail Carson Levine
Evil Under the Sun Agatha Christie
Exodus Leon Uris
Eye of the Needle Ken Follet
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Hunter S. Thompson
Fight Club Chuck Palahniuk
First Deadly Sin Lawrence Sanders
Flags of our Fathers James Bradley
Flowers for Algernon Daniel Keyes
Frankenstein Mary Shelley
Fried Green Tomatoes Fannie Flagg
Get Shorty Elmore Leonard
Girl, Interrupted Susanna Kaysen
Gone, Baby, Gone Dennis Lehane
Gorky Park Martin Cruz Smith
Hotel New Hampshire John Irving
How Stella Got Her Groove Back Terry McMillan
How the West Was Won Louis L’Amour
Howl’s Moving Castle Diana Wynn Jones
I Am Legend Richard Matheson

2008 Summer Reading List
Hot Summer Daze

FICTION
4th of July James Patterson
A Hot And Sultry Night For Crime
Jeffrey Deaver
A Summer Affair Susan Wiggs
Alternate Generals Harry Turtledove
An Ornament to His Profession
Charles L. Harness
Any Way You Want It Kathy Love
At Your Command Julie Miller
Bad Boys Next Exit Shannon McKenna
Barefoot: a novel Elin Hilderbrand
Belle Ruin Martha Grimes
Blood Noir Laurell K. Hamilton
Club Fantasy Joan Elizabeth Lloyd
Cooking Up a Storm by Emma Holly
Dark Prince Christine Feehan
Dead Days of Summer Carolyn G. Hart
Deadly Indian Summer Leonard Shonberg
Death in Summer William Trevor
Delighted Bertrice Small
Desert Rain Elizabeth Lowell
Driving Blind Ray Bradbury
Fantasy Lover Sherrilyn Kenyon
Farewell Summer Ray Bradbury
Forbidden Pleasure Lora Leigh
Guinevere: Queen of the Summer Country
Rosalind Miles
Hard to Handle Lori Foster
High Country Fall Margaret Maron
Hot Night Shannon McKenna
If You Dare Kresley Cole
Lake Wobegon Summer 1956 Garrison Keillor
Lights Out Tonight Mary Jane Behrens Clark
Louisiana Breakdown Lucius Shepard
Nervous Zane
Never Better Garrison Keillor
Once Upon A Summer Day Dennis McKiernan
One More Time Celia May Hart
Park City: New and Selected Stories Ann Beattie
Perfect Kisses Susan Johnson
Prodigal Summer Barbara Kingsolver
Romance at the Edge: In Other Worlds
MaryJanice Davidson,
Run Before The Wind Stuart Woods
Secret Fantasy Cheryl Holt
Slave to Sensation Nalini Singh
Still Summer Jacquelyn Mitchard
Summer in Tuscany Elizabeth Adler
Summer Knight Jim Butcher
Summer Magic Rochelle Alers
Summer of the Red Wolf Morris West
Summer Storm Catherine Hart
Summerblood: a tale of Eron Tom Dietz

2008 Summer Reading List
The South

FICTION
A Purple Place for Dying John D. MacDonald
Ain't She Sweet? Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Atomic Lobster Tim Dorsey
Blood Memory Greg Iles
Bulls Island Dorothea Benton Frank
Can't Wait to Get to Heaven : a novel Fannie Flagg
Cape Refuge Terri Blackstock
Chiefs Stuart Woods
Chill Factor Sandra Brown
Close Enough to Kill Beverly Barton
Cold Sassy Tree Olive Ann Burns
Crossed Bones Carolyn Haines
Dearly Devoted Dexter Jeff Lindsay
Divine Evil Nora Roberts
Endless Chain Emilie Richards
Faithless Karin Slaughter
Gone too Far Suzanne Brockmann
Gone with the Wind Margaret Mitchell
Hell's Bay James W. Hall
Hog Wild Cathy Pickens
Holy Ghost Corner: a novel
Michele Andrea Bowen
Hurricane Karen Harper
I'm No Angel Patti Berg
Jamie Lori Foster
Kentucky Rich Fern Michaels
Kill Me Twice Roxanne St. Claire
Mama Rocks the Empty Cradle Nora DeLoach
Mermaids in the Basement Michael Lee West
Metro Girl (Alexandra Barnaby Series #1)
Janet Evanovich
Mitford Series Jan Karon
Nature Girl Carl Hiaasen
Paradise County Karen Robards
Pleasure Eric Jerome Dickey
Real murders: an Aurora Teagarden mystery
Charlaine Harris
Sanibel Flats (Doc Ford Series)
Randy Wayne White
Savannah Blues Mary Kay Andrews
She Walks These Hills Sharyn McCrumb
Suitable for Framing Edna Buchanan
Sunset Limited James Lee Burke
The Art of Keeping Secrets Patti Callahan Henry
The Awakening Kate Chopin
The Darkest Child: A Novel Delores Phillips
The Elusive Flame Kathleen E. Woodiwiss
The General's Daughter Nelson DeMille
The Healer Sharon Sala
The King of Lies John Hart
The Known World Edward P. Jones
The Merlot Murders : a wine country mystery
Ellen Crosby

2008 Summer Reading List
A Graphic Summer

FICTION
30 Days of Night Volume 1 Steve Niles
100 Bullets Volume 1: First Shot, Last Call
Brian Azzarello
300 Alan Moore
Abandon the Old in Tokyo Yoshihiro Tatsumi
Alice in Sunderland Bryan Talbot
American Splendor: Unsung Hero Harvey Pekar
Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Volume 1:
Guilty Pleasures Laurell K. Hamilton
Aya Marguerite Abouet
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Frank Miller
Capote in Kansas: A Drawn Novel Ande Parks
Charley’s War: 2 June 1916 – 1 August 1916
Pat Mills
CSI New York: Bloody Murder
Max Allan Collins
Dark Wraith of Shannara Terry Brooks
Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall Bill Willingham
Ghost World Daniel Clowes
God Save the Queen Mike Carey
The Gunslinger Born Peter David
Heroes Volume 1 Aron Eli Coleite
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the
Crystal Skull George Lucas
Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 David Petersen
Owly: The Way Home & the Bittersweet
Summer Andy Runton
Paul has a Summer Job Michel Rabagilati
Penny Arcade Volume 1: Attack of the
Bacon Robots! Jerry Holkins
Pride of Baghdad Brian K. Vaughan
The Professor’s Daughter Joann Sfar
The Road to Perdition Max Allan Collins
The Sandman Neil Gaiman
Serenity Volume 1: Those Left Behind
Josh Whedon
Shooting War Anthony Lappe
Sloth Gilbert Hernandez
Stop Forgetting to Remember: The Autobiography
of Walter Kurtz Peter Kuper
Superman/Batman: Enemies Among Us
Mark Verheiden
Tales of the Vampires Josh Whedon
Watchmen Alan Moore
Yossel, April 19, 1943: A Story of the Warsaw
Ghetto Uprising Joe Kubert

Young Adult
American Born Chinese Gene Luen Yang
Artemis Foul: The Graphic Novel Eoin Colfer
Blindspot Kevin C. Pyle

2008 Summer Reading List
The Long Hot Sounds
of Summer (Audiobooks)

Fiction
A Long Time Dead Peter Chambers
A Long Way Down: A Novel Nick Hornby
A Long Way from Home Connie Briscoe
A Miracle of Catfish Larry Brown
A Song for Summer Eva Ibboston
All Night Long Jayne Ann Krentz
Between Georgia Joshilyn Jackson
Cypress Grove James Sallis
Dead Days of Summer Carolyn G. Hart
Farewell Summer: A Novel Ray Bradbury
Firefly Cloak Sheri Reynolds
Hot & Bothered Susan Anderson
Hot Shot Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Hot Springs Stephen Hunter
Hot Stuff Janet Evanovich
Hour Game David Baldacci
Intruder in the Dust William Faulkner
Juneteenth Ralph Ellison
Last Lessons of Summer Margaret Maron
Long Spoon Lane Anne Perry
Long Time Coming Sandra Brown
Long Time Gone Judith A. Jance
Long Time no See Susan Isaacs
Long Way Home Janis Reams Hudson
Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Daniel Wallace
Once Upon a Summer Janette Oke
One Mississippi Mark Childress
One Summer Karen Robards
Plum Wine Angela Davis-Gardner
Prodigal Summer Barbara Kingsolver
Queen of Broken Hearts Cassandra King
Remember Summer Elizabeth Lowell
Sense of Evil Kay Hooper
St.Dale Sharyn McCrumb
Summer at the Lake Andrew M. Greeley
Summer in Eclipse Bay Jayne Ann Krentz
Summer of Light Dale W. Cramer
Summer of Roses Luanne Rice
Summer of the Dragon Elizabeth Peters
Summer Sisters Judy Blume
Summer Karen Kingbury
That Camden Summer LaVyrle Spencer
The Darkest Evening of the Year Dean R Koontz
The Girl with the Long Green Heart
Lawrence Block
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter Carson McCullers
The Hornet’s Nest Jimmy Carter
The Hot Flash Club Chills Out Nancy Thayer
The Hot Kid Elmore Leonard
The Last Girls Lee Smith
The Long Night of Winchell Dear
Robert James Waller
Breaking Up Aimee Friedman
Clubbing Andi Watson

In the Gardens

2008-09-22T18:24:00.009-04:00

In June I thought it'd be cool to share some flower fotos:

All of the pictures were from my own garden. The ones below are similar:

Making Shamrocks

2008-02-04T17:59:00.000-05:00

Would you like to make one??? I've found a cute pattern for one that will stand on its own:

http://www.thebestkidsbooksite.com/printcraft.cfm?CraftID=1596

St. Patrick's Day is coming and shamrocks are lucky.

Here's the luck of the Irish to you!

Sadako and the 1000 Cranes

2008-01-26T11:01:00.000-05:00

I'm doing a program for DIOS (a Mexican holiday celebrating The Day of the Book & The Day of the Children) which falls on April 30. It seemed an appropriate time to celebrate the book SADAKO and the 1000 PAPER CRANES by Eleanor Coerr. I'd seen the play written from the book and read the book with my Girl Scouts years ago when my daughter was in middle school. We learned at that time to make cranes. The girls loved the whole thing and I thought that it'd be fun to do with the library.

Sadako lived in Hiroshima in 1945. She was affected by radiation sickness that manifested when she was about 12. As she grew sicker her best friend told her of the old Japanese sacred crane legend - if one folds a thousand cranes in honor of the bird then a wish will be granted. Sadako, of course, wished to be healthy again. She folded cranes and more cranes as she lay ill in the hospital. Some days it took all of her strength just to fold a few of them. Sadly, she was only able to fold 644 before she died peacefully in her sleep. Her friends finished the project for her and buried the 1000 cranes with Sadako in her coffin. They then erected a monument to her in Hiroshima's peace park. Eleanor Coerr saw the monument and wrote the story of Sadako & the Cranes. People/children from around the world heard of Sadako's story and began folding cranes which they sent to her monument by the thousands. The park keepers began displaying those cranes. Now anyone who sends 1000 cranes can have theirs displayed in support of world peace and in support of the cure for childhood leukemia.

So I'm going to be going to schools to discuss the book with classes. I'm going to discuss the book here in the library with middle-school kids. I'm going to offer recycled paper and folding directions to any of our patrons who want to make cranes. And I'm going to teach anyone who'll sit long enough how to fold an origami crane. I've been folding them myself - anytime I'm working the public service desks and have free hands. Anytime I can find a free scrap of paper at work. So far I've got about 800 cranes. I aim to make 1000. I hope our patrons will make 1000. I'd like to be able to send their work to Hiroshima to join all of the other cranes there.

Would you like to fold some? Here're directions!

Feel free to fold your own to keep or add to our collection! Not only are the lucky, they're pretty!

2008-01-26T10:54:00.000-05:00

I was browsing through the Smithsonian photo website http://http://www.flickr.com/commons/

They've posted 3000 photos for us all to see & tag. INTERESTING.

I found one that was very library-ish: The opening of the New York Public Library during the 1910s. I've been in that library. The lions outside are cool.

Alive!

2008-01-21T10:36:00.001-05:00

A cute video I found while browsing for NYC.

The Beginning...

2008-01-17T09:29:00.000-05:00

What a great program and such fun. I've learned so much! How to play with photos & videos, how to create a "family" search engine and how to blog about it - a great way to do genealogy research!

And I've learned so many useful things: how to create a genearal search engine for reference works, how to get a lot out of Google and it's family, how to tag for fun and profit. I can wiki now - a great way to keep patrons abreast of what we're doing in the library. I can even create a podcast - how about a mini-documentary about origami crane folding! I know where to look for help in doing fascinating things with graphics for program publicity and general programming... so many things! I had not expected to enjoy the training as much as I did. I've already begun to use what I've learned, both at work and at home. I've been sharing my new knowledge with anyone who'll listen. I've published on the www, become more of a public person and it's cool! Who knows, I might even set up a facebook or myspace account as a library lady - share my books and enthusiasms not only on shelfari or librarything, but to a wider world. Anything to get more people reading and thinking!

If a discovery program like this were offered again??? I'd be one of the first to sign up. I've learned a lot from this one and what I've learned will continue to be of value both here at work and at home.

Be A Clown - A Tribute

2008-01-17T09:26:00.001-05:00

One of my favorites!

Too Many to choose from!

2008-01-14T15:35:00.000-05:00

How can I choose just one thing that was a favorite! I've discovered igoogle and how useful that it as a work-tool. I've put so many great gadgets on my home page like a search of world cat, and a customized search of google/yahoo/ask. And the web 2.0 awards offered so much that was interesting & fun & useful.
I've discovered Flickr & Picassa - one I'm now using to share family photos. One I'm using to start publishing my genealogy research. I've a found a lot of pictures of ancestors. Now they're posted to share. Maybe others who share the same ancestors will contact me and we can share info!
The rss readers are great! I love them. And google's features. And tagging! Delicious has so many uses. And I like the fact that FURL will cache pages - so helpful in genealogy research where web sites can (and do) drop out of site after you've found them. So easy to lose information.
My sister manages the web site for her department. I've shown her what I've learned about wikis. She's interested and intrigued.
In fact, I've found this whole training so cool that I've shared the info with my best friends and family. Several of them are playing with it all too.

My own search engine swicki

2008-01-10T08:42:00.000-05:00

Just to see if I could, I created a family-search search engine to search the message boards on genealogy.com and ancestry.com. I used about a dozen of the family surnames on both boards and, voila! it came together. Very cool. See it on the right - "Family Search" and the surnames I've used.
This could also be a very useful tool for library work, searching various catalogs & book sites all at once. Definitely worth putting together another search engine.

Sharing your/my catalog in the library thingee

2008-01-07T13:39:00.000-05:00

Library Thing - a useful concept. Both for helping to remember just what you've read and for finding more books by the same author. It's tempting to add most of the books I've read!

http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=fcaldwell&shelf=shelf

Creating/Manipulating images

2008-01-07T12:57:00.001-05:00

Any image, pulled, pushed, mangled, transformed - in just about any way. How cool.

Found a fractal earth program that was fun to play with:

http://direpress.bin.sh/tools/world.cgi

This is the image I came up with, tho many more were possible.

I also generated my name in Elvish - you never know when that will be necessary. And also in hieroglyph. Cool.

POD & VID casts! Worth a cheer!

2008-01-03T08:58:00.000-05:00

The more that I've seen of these casts the more I appreciate them for libraries and thing that VBPL could find great use for them. I've seen BOOK TALKS which I imagaine is people taking about the books they've read. I've seen "EXCERPTS FROM AUDIOBOOKS". This is a great idea - one can not only get a taste of the book but, just as importantly, one can get a taste of the reader and how does he/she sound. I've seen STORYTIMES - VBPL does some of these and could do more. What a great way to bring kids to the web site!. We could also make casts of the various speakers we have for events. If the speakers didn't want to have their program broadcast then we could do an interview with that person - also very interesting. We could air the events at each library - I mean, we could do like sportscasts, with play-by-plays & participant, spectator interviews, & descriptions! We could do videos of the CL art shows & the "pimp your bookcart" contests & the "read to learn" decorating contests. We could show off the Pungo scarecrows they do in the spring. All of these would show so many more people what great places VBPL are and maybe draw even more people here. How about "how to" videos for the internet or our various Virtual library sources? A lot of places to use these casts!

Pod Casts - radio broadcasts at your own time?

2007-12-31T14:41:00.000-05:00

I looked through the one podcast search tool that was available - yahoo podcasts (the others were blocked by web sense) Most of the search terms I put in led to web sites where I could pay to download something. Some of the terms led to news radio stations where I could (and did) copy links into my Google Reader. I now have links to my favorite shows "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" and "Car Talk" that I don't often get to hear on Sat. mornings.

For the most part, tho, these pod casts didn't seem to be of a lot of use, unless one is looking to buy and download music. Music seems to be plentiful and not overly expensive. We could create pod casts to add to our library web page, but I don't think it would be frequently accessed. I do think that the idea of video casts - like the story times we've already videoed - are a great idea and a good reason to pull patrons into exploring our web site.

1987 - Betty Glover Library Workout Tape Ad

2007-12-31T12:21:00.001-05:00

Videos - U Tube, etc.

2007-12-31T09:51:00.000-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k8BKX2eQ0Q
This is a clever library work-out video. It's so easy to be sedentary in the library.

I thought U-Tube a fun and intesting site. I saw videos on Mentos + Diet Coke experiments, the Trans Siberian Orchestra, my nephew's band. I learned how to marshall jets. I played with the search engines somewhat, but also looked at the videos currently in view. Interesting. And several clever LIBRARY videos too. The web site has so many interesting videos - the variety is almost intimidating. And I think it's not a good thing that people can so easily steal copywrite material to post it - material that will only be taken down if & when the copywrite holder discovers the theft.

U-tube could be useful for the library, tho. We could post videos of our events - show patrons how much fun it can be to come to the library. We could post promotionary videos. We could also post reference videos of things, sort of like a FAQ video or most asked reference questions.
Or a clever video of our locations, hours & phone numbers.

So Many Flickring Tools!

2007-12-29T09:06:00.001-05:00

There are so many Flickr tools and so many look cool or useful - teaching spelling, a letter at a time, creating letters from pictures, streaming pictures, uploading pictures from your cameraphone, finding people, places, colors. I found the color pickr was a lot of fun to play with. I think the mappr might be quite quite useful for research and school projects. My mom keeps sending me photos from her phone - she'd find it useful to send them to a Flickr group!. I liked the utilities that would allow me to download original-sized photos - some are quite spectacular. I like the FlickrFox - that looks like fun.
Several of these tools I'll take home and put onto my computer/Flickr account. Others I'll access from work for homework help. The list of tools is a page to tag for useful reference.

Tagging brings the community together

2007-12-26T20:22:00.000-05:00

Tagging is important because it allows users to identify the photos they're sharing, indentify them in ways that others can more easily find them. Tagging helps place photos on the web so that anyone searching for "nurse, st_mary's, 1914" or any other can find just what they're looking for. And items tagged are further identified by new tags placed by the people who find them. So a "st_mary's" is further defined by "new york" or "black & white" or "hospital" or whatever, defining an item from general to specific. And the more people who tag an item, a photo, the more people who can then find that item. Tagging creates communities of like-thinking individuals who discover each other by learning how the individuals in the group further define tagged items.

Nurse Archer (center) at work

2007-12-26T20:09:00.001-05:00

Nurse Archer (center) at work, originally uploaded by Fran/Scatterd.

My grandmother in 1914. A newly trained nurse working at St. Mary's Settlement hospital in New York City. I'm thrilled to be able to share this with all the rest of my family.
Flickr is a fun tool!

Flickr

2007-12-26T19:52:00.001-05:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

The joy of web awards!

2007-12-20T10:25:00.000-05:00

This is a fantastic site - a lot of interesting web links and just a fun place to play. I looked at the mapping awards and chose Google maps. I found a satellite map of my house! This could be useful for library patrons, not only looking for directions, but for those looking for information on a place they're moving to, on a place they're researching, for people who want to see what other parts of the world look like. I found the google maps easy to use and extremely versitile.

In fact, I looked through the lists of tools on a lot of the award categories. I've played with Flickr - how fun. And Picassa looks useful. Under "Books" I found a searchengine for out of print books. Useful. Music, games, desktops, bookmarking (I was interested to note that delicious was not one of the top 4, but Furl, the one I will use, is. Also ma.gnola.), visual arts. All of these could be useful to our patrons as they come to the library to work on projects and do research. Will tag THIS page as IMPORTANT RESEARCH TOOL.

technorati, the search

2007-12-20T09:28:00.001-05:00

This is a useful tool for searching the multitudes of blogs out in the world today. I notice that in the advanced search, if I typed in learning 2.0 under the tags I got a different list of blogs than when I typed the same under the blog directory search. That's useful to remember when doing research. This technorati, then, is another very very useful research tool. And Icerocket is as well. I noticed that I got even more hits typing in vbpl 2.0 under icerocket than I did in technorati. Interesting.

delicious - how useful!

2007-12-20T08:24:00.000-05:00

I can see where this is an excellent research tool - it allows you to search & search the web, tagging as you go. You can then come back to the tags and sort through what you've found. You can easily share what you've tagged, you can find more info by following tags that others have made. You can further tag to redefine what you need. Useful indeed for research.
And useful for work - allows you to tag sites as very very useful for work. Then these sites are available no matter which computer you're using.
This delicious is handy indeed. And furl looks to be wonderfully fabulous for genealogical research where I've found that web sites tend to vanish over time. Furl, with it's cache capacity, can save info for me so I don't need to make hard-copies any longer. A nice tool.

MySpace - to be there or not to be

2007-12-15T08:44:00.000-05:00

Everything I've seen of MySpace looks to be fun and interesting. There seems such potential for communicating with others, for reaching others, for showing off what an who one is. It looks very easy to use. In fact, it looks easy to not only use the basics, but to make one's space look very special indeed. It almost looks like fun. I can see that it's popular because of all the interesting people and organizations that have a page there: libraries, artists (I've run across tom hanks & jimmy buffet & know there are more), bands (my nephew's band) all sorts of weird and interesting people. I don't feel the need to publicize my self by putting out a page, but it's been intersting to find others there. I can see even more value in our library putting up a MySpace page, if we can make it interesting & exciting - a place people'd like to visit. We could maybe stream videos of some of our programs, add web links to book lists & shelfari-sort of places, have various blogs from our staff and connect to our "Ask the Library". It could be quite cool and would be fun to help design.

Social Networking and knowledge portals

2007-12-10T15:25:00.000-05:00

VBPL should create a place on MySpace to bring more teens to the library. If they make the site active and vibrant, with lots of photos (especially of teen events) and add easily accessed links to places important and/or useful to teens (i.e. the Virtual Library) then it should be attractive to the young. Another useful and fun link for the teens is our "Ask the Library" feature. It's under-utilized as it is, but if people can find a way to reach it through a social networking site them might be a lot more likely to make use of it.

Reader's Advisory - Dick Francis

2007-12-05T19:55:00.001-05:00

My favorite author! It was very easy to edit the Staff Picks page of the Reader's advisory. And the books he writes are so great - more people should read him. The toughest part of adding to this wiki was in deciding which of his books was my favorite!

Francis, Dick. Break In: The book begins with an exciting, extremely challenging horse race which jockey Kit Fielding finally manages to win. After the race Kit gets caught up in a family feud, adventure, mayhem and murder. An all-together gripping story, one of the best written by a very prolific and hugely enjoyable author. Tags: Murder, Adventure, English Horse Racing, Family Feuds.

Wikis - could be interesting.

2007-12-05T19:33:00.000-05:00

Wikis here could be useful indeed. What a great place to post not only reader's advisories, but also our patron's own ideas about what books/dvds/cds are great. Seeing what our public is willing to write about may even help us to keep our collection active.

We could also have a place for patrons to comment on and/or suggest policy. A lot of that might be negative, but in working the check-out desks here & there I've also heard a lot of good suggestions that people might actually be willing to write for us.

Ask the Library

2007-11-28T19:12:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago staff at my library offered a short course in the "Ask the library" program. It covered both how a patron would use the program and how the staff would handle their end of the IM. It seems very easy to use, for people at both ends, even those without a lot of IM experience (as I am).
Our instructor did say that a lot of the questions were about hours and other all-too-easy things, but that some of the questions asked involved definite research. He said that staffing the program was interesting for the most part. I think that I would enjoy doing this at some point in time.

Instant information exchange

2007-11-26T12:24:00.000-05:00

I've actually used several libraries' IM feature "Ask a librarian". It was so cool both times. I was, as usual, researching my ancestors and frustrated by a lack of information. I queried a librarian in Oak Park and she actually found my great grandmother's obituary and said she'd mail me a copy. She also gave me several links to follow for more information. How cool!

It's so much easier to be able to ask a live person when you're looking for info and frustrated. The librarian can help you more clearly define just what you're looking for and, wow, can help to find it.

My experience was good & positive. I'd enjoy getting onto the VBPL IM team and helping others to have the same positive experience I had.

Adding headlines

2007-11-26T12:19:00.000-05:00

Using the search engines to find RSS feeds was fascinating. Not only did I find the sorts of news I'm looking to follow, I also stumbled on several other related web sites that, even if I didn't necessarily tag them for the feeds, were still quite interesting to read. I love serching for things on the internet. I always end up in such interesting places!

Fun with RSS

2007-11-24T08:37:00.000-05:00

This is going to be very useful indeed. I've set up a reader with my regular email account and can now scan both the library headlines that are so interesting, but the headlines in various genealogy publications as well. I've run into so many genealogy headaches, being able to scan these headlines for help is wonderful.
And I love the fact that I can sort my feeds into groups and folders. Helps so much. I'm going to really like this new tool!

A Challenge???

2007-11-14T19:34:00.000-05:00

Library 2.0 seems like a wonderful challenge. I'm looking forward to exploring and learning more! Working with Flickr & the idea of RSS and the Second Life sound fascinating.
But when we talk, some of the folks I've talked to are a bit concerned about all the lack of privacy on this new web. I personally don't have a lot to actually blog about - keeping a record of this training course, of course, but in the normal course of things... what I'm doing and/or thinking are not really for sharing. It's even a bit scary that all this public life seems to be the way of the future for everyone. My daughter, who knows a lot about all of this new Web 2.0, accepts it all as run-of-the-mill.
We'll have to see how this all plays out.

The first time

2007-11-14T19:27:00.000-05:00

The 7 1/2 Lifelong learning habits were interesting. Most seemed self-evident. Easiest for me was taking responsibility for my own learning. If I'm not self-motivated then I'm not going to get anywhere. Problems are definitely challenges - usually interesting ones. Running into stumbling blocks, especially when I'm researching history, leads to fascinating discoveries.
The hardest part of those 7 1/2 Habits was the part about setting up a Learning Contract. That seems too much like work. If I'm going to study something I make the decisions about the parameters of the study and then go at it. Codifing it is too tedious.