Friday, August 1, 2008

Thing #23

It's the end of the trail and oh my gosh now I need to start at the beginning again to remind me of where Ive been and where I'm going.
The unexpected outcome is that I was able to grasp at least 90% of the concepts and that certainly counts toward my lifelong learning goal of being willing to try new things in the technology arena no matter how daunting they seem at the time. It is easy to convince yourself to maintain the status quo. It's human nature. This program pushes the envelope and even if you are not a guru at the end the exposure has stirred up a few brain cells.
Yes, I would take further training.
"And there ain't no tellin' how tomorrow's gonna be" Iris Dement so take the plunge today and learn something to improve yourself and your situation.

Thing #22

The Best Book You Read all Year? on the Teacher Librarian Ning was awesome. As someone who is always looking for books that will "hook" readers I think this is a gold mine of suggestions. We all have too many books so little time to read. Actually a friend of mine fell off a ladder and broke her pelvic bone and had a couple of months to read non-stop. She decided mobility was more important than the luxury of having time to read every book you ever wanted to but couldn't in every day life. That's why this opportunity to share information is so liberating!

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Thing #21

Here's a Photostory of Santa Fe, New Mexico and surrounding country like Abiqui and Chaco Canyon. I visited here this past June with my sisters and my Mom to help her celebrate her 85th birthday. You'll recognize some scenes from Georgia O'Keefe's paintings.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Thing #20

This was very entertaining. Looking at hundreds of You tubes and Teacher Tubes. Creativity is everywhere. Who knows better how to use the library than Mr. Bean?

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Thing #19

The kids should love Writeboard and the accompanying product Backpack when they are doing projects. It seemed easier to use than a Wiki even though it is the same basic idea. I am definitely going to suggest this to my students who come in the library. They all need a place to keep their information organized. This would even appeal to some of the slugs who don't so their fair share on assignments.

Thing #18

Both Open Office and Google Docs offer lots of options to the usual programs that come with computers like Microsoft Office. I really like the templates on Google Docs. "Miss Manners" would be proud of the letter formats. No questions about how to write a resume. The idea that you can have your documents available by just signing into Google is very enticing. No problem trying to remember where pictures and documents are located no matter where you are in the whole wide world.

Thing #17 Rollyo

I have been looking forward to using Rollyo since one of the parents at my school showed me how he uses it in his classes at University of Houston. I made my art teacher a list of art sites around the world but it didn't come up again when I searched it. Maybe I needed to sign in or something. I'll go back and take another look.

Thing #16 Wiki's

Wiki's are amazing. The examples for libraries are interestinga but obviously they have a multitude of uses. I am going to figure out how I can use it for a blues group I belong to in Houston. We are in email overload when issues come up for the board to decide.
This is not something you can figure in just a few minutes. You have to get the other members you want to use it on board as well.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Thing #15

Library 2.0 is going to keep all of us on our toes. Getting a plan and implementing the technology will require collaboration with teachers, administrators and tech people in your districts. If you are small and stand alone you are lucky when it is time for change. Less hassle and fewer firewalls. There are going to be big decisions for all libraries to decide which road to take and how to get everyone involved to maximize these services. Many recent college graduates do not know how to access databases and use them in their curriculum effectively and that's pretty basic.
I think the article by George Bishop pretty much sums up the process it is going to take even if we only use some of his ideas. It depends on your situation how you implement new technology.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Thing #14

Technorati is a conundrum. What is it exactly? I tried to search a few things and did not get specific blogs for my query. Maybe one then the rest were pretty much unrelated. Apparently they need a librarian to help them index this site a little bit better.
When I put in the word cinnamon it gave me a blog about a guy's wife making delicious cinnamon roles on the fourth of July.

Thing #13

How delicious. I truly plan to use this to keep track of all my recipes I find on the web and should not be printing out and trying to store in my overflowing recipe box, notebook, etc. in my house.This is an amazingly simple way to organize your stuff if you are a teenager or an adult. Tags of how you remember things. How many of us think like the Library of Congress?

Thing #12

Let's face it who wants to read a boring blog?! Add little known facts, figures and other interesting minutiae to your blog to attract visitors. Be creative. I personally like humor and a feeling that I am connecting to that person. Write like you are talking to someone.
Some of the participants are not that enthusiastic about doing this tutorial. It shows in their blogs.
Some of us are very set in our ways it appears. Change is hard and daunting. "What About Bob?" Baby steps, baby steps.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Thing #11

This Library Thing concept is quite an idea. The different groups will give me ideas for ordering books for my own library as I build my collection. So many books , so little time.With a resource such as this it will be easier to get opinions on titles that will be useful.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Thing #10




The possibilities with these online generators are endless. I used Custom Sign Generator to make a new sign discouraging bringing food into the library.

Thing #9

I thought it was harder to slog through this info than to set up the RSS feeds in #8. So much of this information seems to be snippets. So many blogs so little time. Slogging through the blogs is time consuming. It is like learning how to refine a search in a database and use the right subject headings. I thought Topix.net was the most productive for me.

Thing #8

RSS is a new world. It will be hard not to have too many sites on my reader. That could cut down on the efficiency of the site. As a librarian I am always looking for news articles to pass on to my faculty. This would enable me to have diversity and peruse more subjects quickly. The teachers can set up their own Google readers for their specific subjects.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Thing #7

These google tools will certainly open up new horizons. I liked the google notebook. I can see using it to make a site for museum collections for the art teacher.
The Google earth will be very helpful to the freshmen in their very difficult geography class. I'm going to put a picture of our school in the yearbook next year. You can tell we need a new roof.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Thing #6

The possibilities of Mappr and Mosaic Maker would be endless in the 9th grade geography class. Any sort of project( English and History) would be fun and improved using these tools. I will definitely show these tools to my library orientation classes in the fall.

Thing #5


The pictures on Flickr are amazing. What a sea of humanity. Some are relevant and some aren't depending on what you are looking for but all are a statement about something. Nature speaks to everyone.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Thing #3

Ryan who is working here at the HCC Library with me says this is a pretty good representation of how I look even though avatars don't exactlylook like most people. It was fun choosing the items for the page from the hundreds available.
I feel like I am in a graphic novel.

Thing #2

The hardest thing is to take the plunge with new technology. Most of the time I learn by doing and not really thinking about the "what if's" of the situation. My best habit is waking up every morning and thinking, "How am I going to have fun today?"