Final - Thing 23

Even though SAPL's 23 Things debuted in last fall I was very late to the party, for a number of reasons.

About a year or so ago I looked at a 23 Things program offered by another library system. The organizers posted it to a listserv. As I mentioned in a previous post one of the things was exploring Second Life ... not my cup of tea. I was glad to see that wasn't one of SAPL's 23 things, but still, RSS and Tecnorati and such sounded like too much strain on my brain. Then there's the whole issue of blogging. About a zillion people have blogs, and many of them are the virtual equivalent of telling a total stranger standing in the grocery store line some of the most intimate and personal details of life. Way, way TMI.

When Didi sent out a reminder and notice of the extension I thought I'd at least give it a try because I like Didi and I want to be supportive on her project. It didn't take long until I was totally and completely hooked on maintaining my blog, playing around with my photos, ready to use Google Docs, checking out the new stuff on other people's blogs. I gotta have gadgets and I need more widgets.

This whole 23 Things process has been a total blast! Part of the reason for my reluctant to join early was that I wasn't sure I had enough time and attention to learn that many new things. Maybe I was a little intimidated even. I'm fairly techno savvy, but still ... After 23 Things, I still don't have an expert's grasp of a few of the subjects I at least now have a working knowledge of them - enough to be able to better my skills with practice. I even added NPR's podcast to my Blackberry!

The experience has been enjoyable and very benefical on both professional and personal levels.

Would I attempt a similar program again? Yes, and I wouldn't wait so long to jump onboard.

Thanks!

Useful Sites - Thing 9

I didn't blog per say about the useful RSS sites I discovered, but I do have them posted to this left. Daily I can glance at them and see the new items added.

Podcasts - Thing 21

When I first got iTunes several years ago I explored podcasts, but never really did much with them. Finding out I can add NPR podcasts to my blog was really neat because now I don't have to keep going from program to program ... it's all right here.

I gotta get a picture of the Nancy Pearl action figure to go with her book review podcasts.

Today I had one of those duh moments until I finally had an aha moment. I searched and searched the net for a way to add a podcast device to my blog. Finally I looked in Blogger gadgets and there it was.

It will be fun to keep up the book reviews on a daily basis.

You Tube - Thing 20

One of my favorite things to do every summer is attend the Drum Corps International Southwestern competition at the Alamodome. There are a lot of DCI videos on You Tube and I enjoyed watching those. Maybe you will, too.

I've used You Tube videos to learn how to do various things, most recently how to make duct tape wallets, which was the subject of a teen craft program. I had only one participant for this program, but I showed him the video and he followed along. The video was a lot better at teaching the craft than I am.

The Salvador Dali art gadget on my blog came from watching a You Tube video the other day.

Since I was sick and couldn't attend Staff Development Day it was nice to watch bits and pieces of it You Tube.

It would be nice to see snippet some of our programs - Eva Longoria Parker's reception, The Big Read jury - on You Tube.

Scratching Around in the Sandbox - Thing 17

It took a bit of time to get the hang of getting the blog posted the way I wanted it and where I wanted it. I realized I didn't have to put it on the very bottom and that I could place it under the SAPL banner.

Oh, Those Wacky Wikis - Thing 16

A lot of the library wikis were appealing for one or more reasons. The St. Joseph County Public Library system wiki reminded me of an interactive bulletin board, and I appreciate the fact the featured books are linked directly to the catalog. The ALA website looks just like Wikipedia, but it's easy to use and had lots of good info. Love Princeton's reviews from various sources. Librarianchick's was pretty boring appearancewise, which made me not want to surf around.

By allowing patrons an opportunity to post things, such as book reviews would give them a great sense of ownership.

One of the things mention was finding a link to a Little League game, thus making the library more of a community center. Hmmm, do we want to go that far? Something to mull over for the future.