Reflections

Wow! What a trip. I'm so glad I participated and actually finished, with a few minutes to spare. There were some things that I was already familiar with, but on the whole, I learned so much that it's hard to put into words.

I have a blog for my Middletown Genies group, but I think I understand more now about how to use it, and I've had training on Overdrive and NetLibrary.

I really liked The LibraryThing, the fdtoys and the GoogleDocs. I think I'd definitely use them in the future (for my lifelong learning).

I was surprised that I liked YouTube and Podcasts, since I thought they were mostly for "younger" people. I feel younger already.

Since I found it more difficult to participate in the summer because of the Summer Reading Program and all its activities, I would have liked it better maybe during the winter, when things at Middletown are a little slower paced. But that would be my only suggestion. Lesa and James were excellent leaders.

I would definitely participate again. It just goes to show you, you can teach "old dogs" new tricks. If I didn't work for the library, I probably would not be as techie-smart as I am. Now to figure out how to send my Tracking Log to James.

Thanks for the ride!

Week 9 - You Tube, Podcasts, etc...

Well, when I saw that there was an American Bandstand 50th Anniversary on You Tube, I just had to check it out. Very cool! I watched Bandstand every day after school as a kid and longed to be on with all the cool dancers (I even knew all their names). But, I was too young, and it seemed like forever until I would turn 14.

I think maybe we could use this for sharing storytimes, training or maybe even author visits and interviews. I liked that there are so many choices, but that makes it even harder to navigate (for me, at least).

On Yahoo Podcasts, I was intrigued by the Irish and Celtic Music that I could sign up to receive. I added an RSS feed of this to my bloglines account. I also looked at Storynory, audio storied for kids.

I have had training on Overdrive and NetLibrary and created account then. I chose a new title by James Patterson, The Quickie.

Week 8 - Tools

I chose Google Docs and made a test document. This is way cool!

I noticed many of the things we've already explored are on the Awards list - like Library Thing (which I love), Technorati and GoogleDocs. I think GoogleDocs can be very useful to staff, especially if we're working on committees or projects. Of course, Library Thing is one of my favorite finds. I'm still investigating Technorati.

Week 7 - Wikis & SandBox

Well, this is something I already know! My sons introduced me to Wikipedia and they keep tabs on Penn State football players and do additions and corrections to posts.

I looked at The Book Lovers and the Bull Run Library Wikis. I think we could use one for Reader's Advisory at the branches and I would try one for my Middletown Genies group. Members could share information and everyone would have access.

I created an account and added my blog to the Frederick County list. WooHoo!

Week 6 - Techie stuff

Well, I checked out del.icio.us and yes I can see a potential use (if I can remember how to use it....).

Technorati was very interesting. When I searched Library 2.0, only the first item was related to us.

I chose Lifehacker from the top favorite blogs, since I thought it might be useful, Music from the top searches (which didn't appeal to me), and Gizmo from the top blogs. since I'm still learning to be a techie person, I'll have to go back and learn more about these when I have more time.

I do plan to try some of the optional things later also.

I read Away from the Iceberg and To a Temporary Place in Time. Both were very thought provoking. As FCPL staff are given the opportunity to become more technology oriented, I look forward to participating, even though I'm a bit of a fossil.

Week 5 - Having Fun

I really love the fd toys. There are so many cool things you can do, but I have to wait til I get on at home to use some of my favorite photos and try this. Woo Hoo!

Cool - I think I did it! The Nittany Lion should be on a trading card now.

http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/deck.php

I love My Library Thing, too, and I intend to enter even more of my personal collection of books. Check it out at http://www.librarything.com/catalog/sdonahue

I created an account in Rollyo and made a search tool for my Pennsylvania Dutch Genealogy. Since I'm an avid family history researcher, I use the sites I listed quite often. I changed the address to http://www.rollyo.com/editroll.html?sid=307960. Hope that works better.