Update

I continue to use some of the things that I learned during the 23 Things on a Stick and others have gone by the wayside. Things I use:

1. RSS - I started out using this on an almost daily basis but haven't used it for a few months.
2. PHOTOS - I use this all the time for our Library blog. I put a picture on the blog and then a link to the album that I created for the activity. I use Picasa, but find that it doesn't have too many options.
3. COMMUNICATION - I do use the Facebook chatting and find it fun. I don't use this while I'm at work.
4. COLLABORATION - We are using Google Docs for our book orders, movie lists and other things that we use on both computers. We all log in with the same user name. This was very handy while at Best Buy and I wanted to see what was on our movie list.
5. PRODUCTIVITY - I use Google Calendar some, but mainly I use the calendar that I have with my email account. It is just not convenient for me to get into a lot of different accounts.
6. LIBRARYTHING - We are now adding our new adult books to this site. Since we are not paying for it we are limited to 200 books so at the end of each month I remove books from a few months back. Not sure if any patrons are looking at this or not.
7. PODCASTS & VIDEOS - I use YouTube when I want to see some music group. But sometimes I get carried away because one video leads to another and before I know it a couple of hours have gone by.
8. SOCIAL NETWORKING - I use Facebook on almost a daily basis since all of my family members have accounts. It has a lot of time wasting things on it.

I have not found much use for the other Things, but who knows.

Stick #23 Done

I just took the online evaluation and am officially finished with "23 Things On a Stick". This has been a great learning experience, albeit time consuming, and I'm sad to see it come to an end. I feel a great sense of accomplishment and pride in having finished. Ning would be a great place for all of us to tell about new "Things" that we learn.

"Thank you" to all who worked to put this together.

Stick #22 Ways to keep up

Wow! I can't believe I'm coming to the close of the 23 Things. I know that I've hardly scratched the surface of all that is out there. I plan to continue posting on this blog and hope to learn many new "Things". I will continue using my aggregator, but can't decide which is better as they both have advantages and disadvantages. I will continue to use LibraryThing on our library blog for new books. Google docs seems to work well for our book orders. I may find uses for some of the other things I've learned and many will fall by the wayside never to be thought of again. I now have about 12 new accounts!

Stick #21 Social networks

I looked at some of the other social networks, but I'm not a big fan of this sort of thing. Two years ago I joined Bebo, but promptly lost interest. I was surprised that I was able to still get into it. About a month ago I joined the 23 Things Ning, but a few days later when I tried to sign in I couldn't and ended up with a second account. I haven't been in since. I also belong to myfamily.com which I do go into more often.

Stick #20 Facebook

I just joined Facebook since some family have accounts. As soon as I finished joining there was a friend inviting me! So I had an immediate friend. I really don't see the purpose in these social networking sites and will probably lose interest in this after awhile. I just don't understand what others see in them.

Stick #19 Podcasts

Since my theme is bluegrass that is, of course, what I searched. I found a great site with half hour bluegrass shows by a family band.

http://www.banjonut.com/bluegrassblog/

I tried the different sites and found non really easier than another. Each had different strangths so it is whatever one gets used to. I did put the above on my Bloglines (didn't work on Google Reader) to listen to as time permits.

Stick #18 YouTube

I've looked around in YouTube before and it can be very addicting as you start watching all the videos. I'm putting a silly video that my son and niece did on my blog.



YouTube could be used to give a tour of the library, or show parts of a program. I don't have a video camera or I might do something.

Stick #17 Minnesota 2.0

ELM is overwhelming and I found it hard to figure it all out. There is so much information that it can be hard to figure out what to use.

#1 GALE : Tried to add an RSS feed, but my reader said there was an error.

#2 EBSCO : I did the page composer, but then couldn't figure out how to view it when I was done.

#3 PROQUEST : Quite easy to use.

#4 NETLIBRARY : I would not want to read a book off the computer. We did tell a patron about this when we did not have what they needed. They were very happy about this.

I'm common

Check the bottom of this blog to see how common I am. I tried to put this on the side, but it was too big.

Update on Sticks #3, 5, 7-2, 9 and 13

#3 RSS - Since I already have a google account I decided to try out Google Reader. I think that I may like this better than bloglines. It is a lot handier as I won't have to log into two accounts.

#5 - What happened to my jigsaw puzzle?

#7-2 IM - I have been doing this some, but it could easily become a big time waster since you feel like I need to reply right away.

#9 Documents - I have put our March book order in Google.docs so that it can easily be accessed by whoever is working on it or even at the same time. Before we got a new computer our two staff computers were networked so that we could work on things on either computer, but only one could do it at a time. Don't know if I will continue using or not.

#13 Calendar - Filled in a calendar that is part of our library email. It still seems easiest to hand write info on a physical computer.

Stick #16 Minnesota 2.0

I looked at both RPC and the Assignment Calculator. I think that some students would find this very useful while others wouldn't. Since I work at a public library we don't have a lot of students coming in because of assignments.

Stick #15 Games

I'm not a fan of online games. I did try out the Puzzle Pirates, but I did not see the purpose of it so therefore did not interact with other players. Bilging was fun, and I could get addicted to that game very fast.

Stick #14

I set up a LibraryThing for our library with the adult books received since the beginning of the year. I'm hoping to put it on our library blog. There was only one book that I had to add manually. I was able to find a picture of it on a web site so that it has a cover picture like the rest. It was very easy to use.

I don't think that I would use this personally as I don't have the internet at home. Could be fun though.

Stick #13

I had customized my yahoo page quite awhile ago, but I never look at it. I worked on my google page today. Neither seem to have what I really want. I tried adding different calendars, but they did not work correctly. Most of these productivity tools would work best if you had access to the internet at all times. For me it would take more time to log on, type in and then remember to look at it later.

Stick #12

I looked around in the four different sites and liked Digg the best. Personally this is not something that I would really use either at the library or home. I searched one of my favorite topics, Bluegrass, and there was hardly anything out there. I feel this would be a productivity detractor.

Stick #11

I had done some tagging before and have now added a few to my blog. Since most posts are of different subjects it is not too useful.

I signed up for a Del.icio.us account and thought this would be so cool. It adds buttons to your tool bar so that you can only use it on that computer unless you download them to every computer you use. I thought that this would be handy for patrons, but there would have to be the del.icio.us buttons on the computer in order to work. Do other libraries add them to the tool bars of their patron computers?

Stick #10

Wiki Wiki Wiki! I can't think of an immediate use for one at our library at this time. How much security is there in one? Can you limit changes to just who you select or is it open to everyone? I'll probably continue looking into them and maybe some day I will find a use for it. I edited the 23 Things Wiki and found it quite easy. I liked the Wikispaces best of the ones I looked at.

Stick #9

I used Google docs for this as I already have a Google account. I tried it out by making a poster with mistakes and then invited someone to correct it. I feel that this could be very useful. I already know one person who I'm going to suggest this to.

Stick #8c

The eFolio Minnesota sounds like a really neat idea. I would not need to use it, but am suggesting it to someone else that may be able to use it.

Stick #8b

I tried out Lazybase and have started creating a list of bluegrass Festivals I have been to, which will take awhile. I could not figure out how to put it on my blog though. I was very surprised that no password was required. How do you keep other people from adding things. They gave a long link through my email account to get into it. That certainly doesn't seem easy as I will have to go into my email and click on the link each time I want to get into it. Is there an easier way?

Stick #8a

I can't believe I got this to work! I did this slide show through Picasa. Picasa is a google account and when I first set it up I had a predone album of the pictures I had created for my blog!

I don't know that I would use all the fancier sites for slide shows. And besides it would be another thing to sign up for so I guess I will pass on doing a fancy slide show. But then again it looks so fun...

Stick #7 - Challenge

1. Google Groups: I would never have time to keep up with all these groups. There just seems to be such an overload of information in today's society. I remember the simpler days of growing up in the 60's and 70's. Does all this information really help us? Seems to make life more stressful and keeps us way to busy.

2. Meebo: I see no use for this as I don't use IM. Who knows? Maybe in the future. I never wanted to get a CD player and now I can't live without one. Same goes for a computer, a DVD player, Cell phone... Get the message? I tend to resist technology at first.

3. Twitter: Now this seems like a real time waster. Do I really need to know what others are doing? And do I need to waste my time to type out to someone that I am checking out books to a patron or cataloging some new books that were just received? And is it that interesting?

Stick #7 - 4

Web conferencing: I have never attended a web conferencing, but would like to some day. Like I said before, since I don't have internet at home the conference would have to be at a time when the library was closed.

Stick #7 - 3

Text messaging: I have only used this feature on my phone a few times. I don't really feel the need for it. I think that this would work a little better in our library as I wouldn't feel the need to answer immediantly if it was very busy here. I'm sure that many patrons would really like to receive hold notices via their cell phone. I find this much more exciting.

Stick #7 - 2

IM: I've probably only used this about once or twice years ago. I have not found the need personally for it especially since I don't have the internet at home.

At the library there is only one person during many of our open hours so I would not want to add IM also. There are times someone needs help with a computer, another wants help finding a book, while one or two are ready to check out and then the phone rings! Try adding an IM conversation to that. I have actually held a conversation with someone who was emailing at the same time as me.

Our two staff computers are only about twelve feet apart so no need to IM with each other. I can see where it could be very handy in a large library.

Stick #7 - 1

Email: We have offered computer classes at the library. Usually it is seniors who attend. We help them set up an email account if they want it, but find that very few continue coming to the library afterwards to keep on their new skills (probably why we have had so many repeat attenders). We use email all the time at the library. Patrons with emails have overdue and hold notices emailed to them along with other problems or information. We email other libraries. Since we are a very small library we do not have the need to email each other.

Email productivity: I like having auto-check on. When I hear the beep I don't rush to check my email unless I am actually waiting for an important reply. I check whenever is convenient or I have a little time. This can be hours some days. I usually don't try to make my messages too wordy. Wordy messages that are received tend to get put aside for "when I have time", which can be days and many times too late.

Stick #6 Image generators

Okay, now it looks like I'm going picture happy. I made my trading card and then made a license plate. Sticks 4, 5 and 6 have been rather time consuming, but fun. I can see where these things could be useful, but also a big waste of time. There is just too much out there.

Stick #5 More Flickr

I just added a slide show. Nothing fancy just a little button to click. It is not exactly what I wanted it to look like. I'll probably continue to play with it. It is on the side bar.

Stick #4 Flickr

Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys
Originally uploaded by kenf225

Setting up Flickr was easy, which seems to be the case with all I've done so far. Once setting it up I added one of my own pitures (easy), then I found some pitures. First I tried copying the URL in the add an image, but all a got was a blank square. Next I figured if I saved the picture on the computer I could upload it, but before doing that I decided to look around Flickr some more. That's when I found out that after adding your blog to the site you can just click a button to add the picture to you blog. So Tada!! Here is Ralph Stanley. I was able to see him the fall of 2005 at a Bluegrass Festival in Virginia. We camped in tents and during the night it got down to about 30 degrees. Brrrr.

After writing all of this the photo credit got so small that it can't be seen. The photo is by kenf225.

Stick #3 RSS

I had no idea what this was before I started reading about it tonight. And surprise, surprise! I had just set one up a few days ago after someone had told me about bloglines. It really is neat and I would highly encourage everyone to do it. Great for those whose only access to the internet is at the library.

Stick #2 Web 2.0

I was finally was able to watch the Stephen Abram video. I also scanned through many of the links listed and found it very overwhelming. I could spend hours reading everything and just would never have the time. I could not find a real clear meaning for Library 2.0 and agreed with what a Meredith Farkas says about trying to put it in a box. I see it as both good and bad, exciting and scary. Libraries must keep up with all the changes happening in our technical world and who knows what the future holds? Some of the new things of today I would never have dreamed of five years ago.

Avatar

Whew, I had quite a time trying to figure out how to get my Avatar on the blog. I read helps on both the Avatar and Blog sites, but neither helped. I finally saved it to my computer and uploaded it.

Stick #1 Set up Blog

There! I've set it up. I am familiar with blogging since I took over our library blog last fall, but this is the first time I have set a blog up myself. It was so simple. I'm excited to do each step. Bet you can't tell what my favorite color is!?!