Thing 7

I could use this image in place of my own picture on our library website.

Thing 6

Here is my Flickr mash up spelling for Bartram Trail.



This would be fun for headlines on our library's website.

Thing 5 - Flickr

Created a Flickr account and uploaded pictures of my daughter's cats. Here's one of Lana:


Lana's favorite book is Caterbury Tales.

How I would use Flickr in the library: to post pictures of displays, of kids having fun at our programs, of favorite books, etc...

Thing 4

RSS - really was really simple. Added several RSS feeds to my favorites and so now can see what is happening in town and in the nation at a glance. Except that I really don't enjoy the news much at all these days. There was a bright spot on jacksonville.com today about libraries and how the economy is helping people realize what a great deal the library is! More folks are coming in than ever before...for books, movies and computer access.

I had never bothered using RSS before but I can see what a time-saver it is for those who visit the same sites day after day.

Thing 3

I read through the information on Technorati...feel like I am having to learn a new language. I used it to search for storytimes...limited to English and to any authority...but I don't exactly what the authority is based on. I got 605 hits but as I tried to read through them they were not what I had hoped for...not relevent to what I do in my job. Then I used the Google Blog Search and got many many more hits and liked the format better...perhaps because I am used to way Google displays results. I limited my search to Hedgehog storytimes for both blog search engines and still preferred the Google blog search over Technorati. On Technorati I got 6 hits and didn't like any of them...somehow the word hedgehog was mentioned but not in relation to storytime or books! The Google search gave me 1,220 hits and although I didn't go past the second page the results seemed to be much better...actual storytimes using hedgehog books, puppets, the real thing, etc...which is what I wanted.
Twice while searching I got the Operation Aborted and had to go back in.
I find that whenever I am online searching sites there is invariably so much information that I get lost going from link to link and when I try to return later on I can't remember which way I had wandered!
I did ask my storytime moms this morning if any of them blogged and 2 out of 10 said they did. One mom who did not blog expressed concern about maybe being left behind in the world of technology. But she also said that TV, movies, computers, etc...are not are big part of their lives...she has a one year old and a four year old.
I tend to agree with that when it comes to the little kids.

Thing 2

It's taken more time than I'd like to read through Thing 2 and come up with what I hope will be a decent post...
I am going to paste some stuff that I liked from the article "The ongoing Web revolution.(Chapter 1)." and make a few comments...

Communicate the mission, vision, and purpose of the library's social participation and then trust the staff to go forth and blog, build wikis, or interact with library users in other ways via other tools.
My comment: some staff will have more to say than others and that's ok. I think that children's librarians or teen librarians can make excellent use of blogs and wikis that will be for the common good. (we actually already do this but maybe not to it's potential yet)
Participation is the element that "scales up" Library 2.0 in Fichter's definition. It has three important aspects:
* Participation by library staff-We need to understand the tools, use them, and recognize their significance to library services. A well-trained staff is the key to utilizing social technologies.
My comment: My spirit is willing...trying to find the time is another thing...this is very time-consuming. But I'm getting there.
* Participation by library users--We need to offer online spaces for our users to do what they have come to expect on the World Wide Web--participate, create, play--and give them reasons to do 50.
My comment: a place for favorite reads? a place for students to collaborate on projects?
* Participation within our systems--We need to create systems and spaces for library users and library staff to interact. Content might be created here. Connections will be made. Stories will be told and kept. We also need to explore systems already in place where the library might have presence.
My comments: requests or comments on children's books or storytime themes or special programs for children? I'd be interested in stuff like that. And I'd be ok with parents sharing stories but kids & teens may not always use the best judgement when posting comments...remember Art Linkletter's show Kids Say the Darndest Things?!! And look at the stuff that gets in the news about My Space or places like that...that worries me. Who would be responsible for monitoring the site and removing 'offensive' material? and who would say what is offensive? yikes...the more I think about this one the more nervous it makes me.

I may come back and post more but out of time for now!

Thanks, Martha!

My second post! Getting lots of help from my friends to get myself around this blogging thing. (Better stock up on chocolate! Predict will need lots of it.)