Thing 17: LibWorm

I like the idea of not having to open accounts. So far I have so many (I can't use the same user name on all of them--it beats me!!!) that even though I wrote almost all the user names and passwords I still have some problems! I totally forgot the password for my e-mail account and had to change it. Now I have it on paper. I guess I can't rely on my memory anymore!

Using the name of my library I found many entries... the last one from April 29 of this year but many are very old.

It also has older job postings for positions that have been already fulfilled and since we are on a freeze hiring I don't think we will be seeing anymore of those postings (at least for the time being...hopefully!).

I tried the Feed Categories... have you read the Art Librarian? All I can say is that I don't find it "interesting" but "boring". Please go and read it and tell me what you think. This is similar to Twitter but with more words.

By Subject Categories is more interesting since you can choose which subject you are interested in and read the latest news. Other thing I like is that you can save some articles to read them later, if you happen to find the time to do it, and save your own comments too!

By Tags is even better. I found an article about Texas Librarians raising money for damaged libraries by showing off their tattoos in a calendar! The comments are fun to read.

Could it be useful at our libraries?... perhaps, but in these times when libraries are short of staff and overloaded with work one has to ponder: Does librarians have enough time for all these Things?

Thing 16: LibraryThing

How to start explaining my tribulations? I thought I was doing fairly well, with some ups and downs, but I never thought LibraryThing would be the one to break me.

I have been very, very frustrated because I simply haven't been able to find the ThingLang, or MarcThing or ISBN check. I have tried looking on "search" with obviously no results.

On the positive side I was able to start cataloguing some of my favorite books but the process is slow since it doesn't recognize my lists: I for sure never wrote the ISBN numbers or saved an image of the cover and therefore I have to be doing it one by one (searching by author and selecting the books I have read from them). I would like to know if is possible to select several book to be added with just one key stroke. I haven't been able to find that either.

I also like the book recommendations and the possibility to write a review for new books.

I quit writing my advance on the 23 Things because of my frustration... now I am just going to continue with the next one hoping it won't be as frustrating as this one.

Thing 15: Digg

I went to Digg and digged and after lots of browsing came to the conclusion that it is not useful for me personally. For that case a prefer to read the online newspapers instead of relying on other peoples idea of which type of information is more viewed.

As for the use of this Thing at my library... perhaps patrons can rate the quality of the workshops or events they attend at their libraries?

I need to kepp asking my eternal question: Who has the time to keep up with so many Things and still be able to work and have a personal life?

Thing 14: Delicious

This Delicious site is really delicious! I like the idea of having all my bookmarks accessible from one site instead of trying to copy or add bookmarks to all the PCs I use at work. I just added 4 bookmarks but I will adding and organizing the tons of sites I have added as favorites in several years. I imagine that during the process I will be able to delete some and find better tags to locate others.

The video was very informative and after a little glitch on trying to remember my password (I have so many different log-ins and passwords that I will need to carry a bracelet with all of them or tattoo them on my arm!) I was able to start saving bookmarks.

You can see my four bookmarks here.

Thing 13: Tagging

Tagging... my stuff, what I love, 23 Library Things, North Texas 23, by date, by year, by name or nickname, you name it! You can tagg it anyway you want. Will I be able to remember how I tagged it? THAT is the question.

I think it would be great to look up for books by tagging! The way it is now is hard for our patrons to browse on our catalogue so if our system can support tagging, let's do it! But I have no idea how hard that would be to add this option.

In Flickr and Blogspot is very easy to add tags and since you can use more than one...chances are you might remember at least one of them and plus you give other people more chances to find your information (if that is what you want).

Thing 12: Twitter

It is sooooo good that by signing for the 23 Things I am being forced to try lots of new things, including Twitter because otherwise I would have never made up time to sign into it. Now that I am in... my user name is MiniMati... I don't think I will be using it a lot. The more I am into these Things the more I am convinced that in order to keep up with them is by not working and being devoted to the hand held device to answer or post comments.

Not for me! As for the Library... I am not so sure either. The idea would be to Twitter patrons about the library's activities? What books or movies are new? or perhaps to let them know their books, CDs or movies are waiting for them? I don't think the majority of our patrons taking out books has a twitter account yet and as for the new generation... they are not checking out books. Uhh ho, I forgot, they are checking movies and we can notify them by twitter!

Every time I watch the news on TV they mention twitter, and of course I can't forget that Ashton and Demi twitter a lot and everyone follows them (well not me!).

Thing 4...More Flickr

After visiting several library websites that are using Flickr I can see it could be fun and informative for the patrons to see which activities had been "posted" by the library and look for their photos or the different events and see how many attended or which programs were on. But... I think it will take a lot of time and dedication to keep the library's page updated and I am not sure who will be assigned that task or if any staff member can post their own programs and images. Does the library will require permission from patrons to post their photographs?

Also, I have to admit that I have tried several of the "image generators" with very frustrating results. Some image generators are hard to figure out, at least for me, and many of our staff computers do not have some of the programs required (Java, Flash 8, etc.), therefore I am unable to finish some projects. I am stressing out a lot with this assignment. I feel that it should be easier for me to figure it out but... no! that is not true in my case.

About North Texas 23... Thing 2

Well... this will be my second post.

As all the Fort Worth Library staff received an e-mail encouraging us to explore the Web 2.0 tools and participate in the North Texas 23 things while we work on them... I am here doing my little bit.

Before I read the suggested articles on the Thing 2 : Learning about Learning 2.0 I knew about Web 2.0 but never had enough time to follow up with the program. This time I will try harder although time is always an issue at my Unit (and I imagine at everyone's workplace too)

Since it is becoming more relevant and urgent to know about new technologies, hoping to attract new and younger patrons --or not so younger but technology savvy--, we also must be able to answer their questions. Would that mean we need to be experts on every new technology? It seems daunting to me. At the library I work at, the majority of patrons using computers fall in two categories (more or less): the ones that know how to use the PCs, including My Space, Twitter, etc., and the ones that have no idea how to send an e-mail, get confused with web addresses and e-mail accounts and need lots of one-on-one help that we, frankly, can't give them since there is not enough staff to help the rest of the patrons.

...will be continued at a later time