The End

Well here I am at the end of my 23 Things!!! I had every intention of doing a thing or two each week, but the reality was quite different as I have crammed most of them into the last couple of weeks.

This has been a really, really good experience for me. I'm not sure exactly when it was, but at some point in the last year I had the feeling that I wasn't quite keeping up with technology. Not a good feeling for a librarian! This was the very first time I had ever felt that way -- and my library 'career' goes back to grade two at my Catholic elementary school helping the nuns with library chores and the juniorhigh boys (swoon) with research. Coupled with an overwhelming lack of time, I wasn't sure exactly how to catch up. I kept thinking that it was just a matter of finding the time. Of course, 'finding' more time is just wishful thinking. I needed to make it a priority, and doing this program made it happen. (Okay, Kathleen's strong-arm tactics provided some not-so-gentle guidance as well.)

I know there are plenty of 'things' I will go back to, and others that I just won't. Of course we have to pick and choose. To me, Library 2.0 is all about the themes of sharing, collaboration, and fluidity.

And yes, I would absolutely do another program like this!

Web 2.0 Awards

I checked out a bunch of the award winners. I was smitten with Backpack under the organization category. I am forever trying to get organized, setting and re-setting priorities. I have even tried to ban list-making, but in reality we all make lists, and this site pulls it all together. It's really easy to organize with it and it's totally portable. I just might continue to use it. Too bad you only get the calender if you pay.

Productivity Tools

I checked out Zoho Writer and it would definitely be very useful for collaborating. I guess I don't often run into problems of software versions, but I can see that for students especially -- and the dreaded group projects -- it would really help. Once again, it all comes down to 'share, share, share'.

Beta is forever

I read a bunch of the articles and my favorite line is 'Beta is forever' referring to the state of constant change. I think libraries ARE responsive, and have always tried to be responsive to their users. Library 2.0 just means that we must be UBER-responsive. And it's good to question why things have been done a certain way. A clear example of Library 2.0 changes around here would include Reference, where we have let go of at least half the collection, yet provide the same or better service. Reference has just changed so much. Could we provide reference without Google? Well yes, but it is so much faster. The library's website is the next big thing to go 2.0. I am looking forward to how different it will be.

Technorati

Ok, at this point my head is starting to hurt from 23 things. I can see using Technorati to find blogs and posts on certain topics, but I don't think it's something I would use very often. When I find a blog (usually by just stumbling across it) that I like or that is useful, I tend to check it regularly. If it stops being useful or I tire of it, I wean myself off it or ditch it entirely. Perhaps I would use Technorati for seeing what's being said about very new things.

Del.icio.us

I can see that del.icio.us would be very, very useful. At the same time it's hard to get away from the whole heirarchical bookmark thing! When I look at the bookmarks we provide for the public, you often have to know the heirarchy in order to find the bookmark you need. For example, if you want the links for local weather forecasts, you have to know to first choose 'reference online', then choose 'fact finders' to get to the weather links. With more and more bookmarks, we get really bogged down with all these steps. And it's not intuitive -- unless you're a librarian!

Rollyo

At first I didn't think Rollyo would be too useful, but after looking at the examples I can see that it would be a good tool for reference to set up for the public. People would probably get better results than a 'whole' internet search if the search were limited to our hand-picked sites.

LibraryThing

I love this! LibraryThing is so simple, ridiculously simple. A great tool for keeping track of what we've read and why we liked or didn't like it. I also like the idea of gathering in one spot all those books you want to read but haven't got around to. I have a feeling that the suggestions generated from LibraryThing would be a lot more useful than Novelist (sorry Novelist).

Image Generators

I've been playing around with image generators, from making snowflakes and magazine covers to translating my name into Tibetan. All very interesting and loads of fun.

RSS feeds

I can be a bit of a news junkie, so RSS feeds are ideal for me! I like the idea of bringing together those sites that you might check every day. Defintely a time saver. Reference could use bloglines to bring together current books/libraries/technology news all in one spot.

Hmmm...

I am struck by two things while doing these 23 things; first, it's just all so neat and fun, and then second, I could spend all my time at work exploring all these neat things. Problem is, the other parts of my job would still be waiting for me. I can certainly see how it could be useful and woven into so many areas of life, but right now it seems to come down to time (or a lack of it). Then again, I don't think I know anyone who isn't feeling that same way. So while the technology makes so many things easier, we don't seem to be be leaving the old stuff or the old ways behind. That's just how I feel about it today. Then again, my teenager just came in and said "No way... mom's got a blog!"

Flickr Fun

I love fd's flickr toys. You could come up with some great personalized gifts.

Flickr

I needed a little break from the wintery whiteout so I checked out the Fetes des Lumieres photos on Flickr.

Netlibrary Audio Books

I'm going to come back and do this one later...

Well it's definitely later, and I've had more time to play with Netlibrary. This is a tough one for me because while I think it's a great service and people will love it, I am just not someone who listens to books. I guess I am normally fielding Griffin's bombardment of questions. Minus the lightbulb in the face, it is a never-ending interrogation. His nana recently pointed out how "That kid sure doesn't like dead air!" But I will try a few titles and see if I can actually focus on listening to a good story. And it's nice to know that I can get my non-fiction fix with Netlibrary as well.

Podcasts

Definitely lots of interesting stuff here. I took the Xpress tour of the Glasgow University Library! Reminds me of my kids and how different their learning styles are. The trick is to find the way to engage them. Podcasting just provides a different way of getting the information to our users. Let 'em listen.