Mary's Spot

How Time Flys

2010-06-21T11:29:00.000-07:00

I had good intentions but the year flew by. Sound familiar? The hard part of blogging is taking the time to post and making the commitment to post on a regular basis. Once people are accustom reading your blog and depending on your blog for information you have trust and responsibility issues.

2009-08-12T07:32:00.000-07:00

This is for the birds.

Thing 46 WebJunction Minnesota

2009-06-16T13:30:00.000-07:00

Webjunction is a great resource. I was pleased with the classes offered and that they were self paced. I plan to complete the class Reaching Relunctant Readers soon. The class is appropriate for my needs and the price is right.

Thing 45 Cloud Computing

2009-06-13T11:23:00.000-07:00

I think Cloud computer is the answer to many common data management problems. I have often had to try to retrieve lost information after computers have crashed. I encourage teachers and students to make back ups (not just save) when ever they have more data entered than what they want to reenter. In other words, stuff happens. Online back ups answers the broken, lost or stolen hardware problem.
I teach my student about googledocs. It works great for assignments that they want to work on both at home and school. So many times I have compatibility problems when the student bring in work from their home computer software.
I do have reservations about Web OS, space can be limited and what if the server decides to charge after all of your documents are online. I hate to sound paranoid but all of my family pictures could be held hostage:)

Thing 44 - The Economy

2009-06-10T09:56:00.000-07:00

I learned quite a bit on this "thing". I was very interested to learn the explanations of why we are in this mess. I tried many tools. Several such as GasBuddy and Feed the Pig were interesting but really didn't pertain to me. I was excited to explore Graigslist. I had heard so much about it. I know people addicted to checking the lists daily. My son-in-law sold a wooden fence that he was going to have to pay to have torn down to someone through Graigslist. Very impressive. I am sure I have something to sell, perhaps men's golf clubs?

Thing 43- Online TV and Video

2009-05-14T08:03:00.000-07:00

This is one web 2.0 tool that I am not excited about. I checked out both Hulu and Joost. I thought Hulu was easier to navigate, but I really did not find any programs that I was eager to watch.
I did watch an episode of SNL and it was funny. But, only if I had nothing else at all to do, would I bother to sit down and watch Hulu. I do not watch a lot of TV and the shows I do enjoy are on PBS or cable.
At first, I thought this would put cable out of business but I did not find many movies either. I watched Snow Walker and was not engaged in the movie. I think I need an easy chair and a bowl of popcorn to enjoy a movie.

Thing 42 - Music 2.0

2009-05-13T07:15:00.000-07:00

I really enjoyed this web 2.0 activity. I had never tried internet radio. I found several stations on live365 and enjoyed trying out different music genres. It is an easy way to find stations and music to listen to.
I also created an account in Pandora. It was easy but I had a difficult time stopping. I kept wanting to see what was the next song and group. I found I enjoyed almost all of the music selected and actually was surprised at some of the groups I did enjoy.

Thing 41- Mashup Your Life

2009-05-12T07:29:00.000-07:00

I have to admit I have had trouble staying connected with all of my accounts and Web 2.0 associations. I love my igoogle home page because at least several of my identities are easily accessed there.
I joined friendfeed. I am following President Obama. I invited a couple of friends to follow. I added my flickr and blog and twitter to my services.
I will try this for awhile but this stream of information is overwhelming. I think I need to retire to keep track of all of my social connections. This is why people can spend so much "screen time".

Thing 40 -Mashup the Web

2009-05-11T07:38:00.002-07:00

It is amazing what people have thought to do with their time. I checked out the author BookTour mashup. I like to keep the families aware of opportunities to meet authors so I can see the value of the tool.
Lazy Library produced so many books for my subject that it did not seem helpful.

I created a fun concentration game with my family photos and emailed it to my daughter at Flickr Memari-Create.

I think I will use Wheel of Fun in the future, my family always has a hard time deciding where to eat. All of the above tool were very easy to use.

Thing 39 Digital Storytelling

2009-05-11T07:38:00.001-07:00

I postponed this thing because I have no interest in scrapbooking. The few times I have been dragged into a venture I have hated it. But perhaps, because it involved flowers and words I had fun using Scrapblog. It was very easy. I just uploaded pictures, used the free backgrounds and stickers and created a scrapbook. I plan to have student use this next year as a simple way to organize photos of school activities.

Thing 38- Screencasting

2009-05-05T05:23:00.000-07:00

I looked at screen-cast-o-matic and screentoaster, but decided to use Jing. It was very easy. I had to redo my screencast a few times to get it right but the tool was very easy. It was easier than I expected. I will use this screencast in the school library and I can think of many other subjects to screencast.

Jing

2009-05-05T05:13:00.000-07:00

Thing 37 - Photo Tales

2009-05-02T11:53:00.000-07:00

At first, I did not want to display personal photos, so I spent a lot of time finding Jane Austen photos on FlickrrCC. I made a collage on collgr of Jane Austen action figurines. That was fun. But in the end. I wanted to show off my granddaughter. So I returned to Flickr and uploaded new pictures and created a slide show. Just watching the show puts a smile on my face.

Thing 36 - Comic Relief

2009-04-30T07:07:00.000-07:00

I have used many of these generators before: Image Chef, Big Huge Labs, Easybib and Timeline Creator. Easybib is my favorite and often used by the students. I tried Read Posters and Dictionary Entry. ToonDoo was fun (see below). I use ComicLife with my students and that is very easy. I found the Convert Your Name to a Dewey Number very interesting and a bit scary.
I can't remember where I learned about WigFlip, you can make fun signs, graphics, scrolling text, or sticky notes for your webpage.

Thing 36- ToonDoo

2009-04-29T12:57:00.000-07:00

Thing 36- Comic Relief

2009-04-29T09:30:00.000-07:00

Mary Keifenheim's Dewey Decimal Section:

006 Special computer methods

Class:
000 Computer Science, Information & General Works

Contains:
Encyclopedias, magazines, journals and books with quotations.

What it says about you:
You are very informative and up to date. You're working on living in the here and now, not the past. You go through a lot of changes. When you make a decision you can be very sure of yourself, maybe even stubborn, but your friends appreciate your honesty and resolve.

Find your Dewey Decimal Section at Spacefem.com

Thing 35 - Books 2.0

2009-04-29T07:42:00.000-07:00

I have faith in the future of the printed book. I have no quarrel with ebooks etc., and I think the new media has advantages. But there are enough people who love the feel, the freedom, and the convenience of a printed book in the hand that there will be a need for books in the future. In the school library, reading is still strong. I give credit to Harry Potter.
I loved many of the Book 2.0 sites. I think discussing with, reading and interacting with other readers, is a positive for the future of reading and books. I use Shelfari for my books list for the students. I also linked Shelfari to my facebook page. Parents have commented that they checked my Shelfari often during the summer for suggested good reads. I had fun with BookStumpers, I enjoyed reading the solved mysteries. "What's Next" did not work for me, I entered the Ranger's Apprentice series and the Percy Jackson series - no information. BookGutton is great, I plan to visit it more in the summer. I also, have resolved to release at least two books on vacation. For a book lover, Book 2.0 is fantastic. I hope to explore more this summer.

Thing 34- Online Answer Sites

2009-04-26T11:11:00.000-07:00

I had never used or visited an online answer site before now. I found them fascinating. Many of the questions were straight forward technical or information questions. All of these requests were questions a reference librarian could easily answer. The personal questions were, of course, more interesting. The attraction of using an online service is that no one knows who is asking about their own "misleading facial expressions". I suspect that people often use the online answering sites because they are comfortable with the technology and it is anonymous i.e. how do you unlock an iphone. I am not worried about the role of the library or the reference librarian, I think the variety of sources makes it harder for many people to navigate and evaluate information. When I teach researching to my elementary students, I often require two sources and many times the two sources disagree. My students often look at me with trust in their eyes and ask me which one is correct:) I am needed.

Thing 33- Travel 2.0

2009-04-24T12:46:00.000-07:00

This was fun. I did get the travel bug after checking out some of the sites. Many of them would have made our trip to Europe years ago easier. I forwarded several links to my daughter and son-in-law , they are traveling to Scotland and Ireland this summer. I enjoyed My Kugelhopf, the photos of the food were fantastic. Notes from the Road was also interesting with great photos.
I thought Igougo and Boo both would helpful when planning a trip. Hotspotr and Wines and Times were fun to visit. I don't need to visit Fastfoodmaps.

Thing 32- Google Maps

2009-04-23T09:43:00.000-07:00

Google Maps and some of the mash-ups can be very useful. I enjoyed touring Jane Austen land and making a map.

I also enjoyed digging a hole (its not the first time).
I forwarded the bike path mash up to my daughter for her bike trip - very useful.
I had fun with the UFO sighting maps.

What I want to do is create a google map tracing the path of a character in a book for the students. Perhaps, Stringbean's Trip tom the Shining Sea or Elijah of Buxton or a non- fiction book about the underground railroad.

Thing 31 - More Twitter

2009-04-22T10:21:00.000-07:00

More Twitter is right! I spent a lot of time on twitter, not in twittering but reading and exploring extras. I tried to join the Librarians Directory, but it took forever to log on, but it is worth the effort. I think its popularity is bogging down the system. I am trying to twitter more often, but I would rather read than enter. I do though enjoy following some of the other tweets (CNN, Mr. Twitter, School Library Journal, and most importantly, my daughter). I enjoyed some of the extras ( I am a question mark and get along well with commas). So far I am not using it as a communication tool, it is just is another way to find out about books. At this point I have a "presence" I am a baby tweet.

Thing 30

2009-04-10T11:17:00.000-07:00

I use RSS, in fact it is very helpful in many cases. I found that if I didn't attend to it I could become overwhelmed. I had to learn to ignore a lot. I think that filtering is the answer. I reduced and organized the feeds and so far the information is more pertinent and I am not wasting time on articles not related to my needs.
I also had used Delicious, but after upgrading my computer I lost the site off my tool bar. I intended to add it again but never did. I finally added it back to my browser and I love it because I work from different computers. I also had resorted back to printing articles that I wanted, what a waste of paper. I love saving to delicious and then just rereading the information when I need it.

Thing 29 Google Tools

2009-04-02T15:00:00.000-07:00

Back to Google. How do they think of all of it? I set up Google alert. I choose it because it seemed easy and I have a semi-rapport with Google. At first, I was certain that I did not want to be alerted to anything. I already am overwhelmed with information. But it was very easy and I have found the alert is helpful. I set the alert to report software update issues daily to my email. The first time I looked at the alert I found a very timely warning. I rarely find time to search for the information on the internet, so I am pleased with the results.
With a more positive mind set, I set up Google calendar. I need a calendar to keep track of my grandmother babysitting duties. The schedule changes often and it is easy to forget the details. It will be convenient to share the calendar with my family so we all can keep track of our schedules. I embeded the calendar on my igoogle home page. I am not sure how to use the calendar for library events

Thing 28 Custom Home Pages

2009-03-21T19:51:00.000-07:00

I had created a google home page previously, but only visited it when I wanted to read my RSS ( google reader). I am determined to make it my home page on my work computer this time and really utilize the widgets. Please do not tell my principal because it has a time absorbing game on it. Which was one of the reasons I avoided igoogle before. I like igoogle, I looked at Netvibes and Pageflakes (my favorite name), but I stayed with igoogle because better the devil you know. It is very easy to add widgets and easy to move them around. I added google maps because I often use it and I added a widget that shows all the places in the world I need to visit. I would have added a few more but I was busy playing my game. I recommend colorjunction if you have nothing but time.

Thing 27 Twitter

2009-03-19T18:51:00.000-07:00

I had heard about Twitter before this, but I had no idea of the number and variety of people who tweet. I watched all of the videos and read the materials, but what struck me was the man who said he spent three hours a day on Twitter. WHAT? I prefer to twitter probably to blogging. I like that it is short, you just need to get the message across and do not need to say anything all that profound. Having stated that, I find do enjoy reading blogs especially on literature. So in tweet language - like to write tweet and read blog. I would love to twitter for my students "maimek - great new mystery London Eye Mystery, but must return over due book if you want to check it out:)" I am afraid if I twittered my children they would end up blocking me. This was a great learning experience.

Thing 26 - Ning

2009-03-18T09:04:00.000-07:00

I joined Ning in round 1 and frankly, never revisited or even really remembered much about it:(
After looking at it again, I thought it was another "facebook" time consumer. But I visited another librarian's place and realized what good connections for a librarian. I am a private elementary school librarian and there are not too many of us left. A group would be useful. I also enjoyed reading the Anokaberry group postings. I am always interested in book reviews of children's books.

Thing 25

2009-03-05T07:54:00.000-08:00

I have started this blog at least three times and had to quit before I was finished. I love some of the widgets especially the children's picture book art gadget. But, I had to delete it because it did not not work. I took Mick's advice and tried Odiogo and she was right! It was easy. I was not that interested in adding voice to my blog because I do not think that many people read it. If I had a well-known blog, a voice component would be helpful. I also did the quick poll - Glowday. It was very simple, perhaps my poll was not judicious but I am interested in the results. I also added my favorite blog on Jane Austen to my sidebar. Very easy, and I am sure that many people are also interested Jane Austen. There were too many options in Thing 25. I wanted to check out all of the gadgets before I decided, but I just did not have the time. Again, I plan to revisit and play with the tools some day.

Thing 24

2009-02-08T14:03:00.000-08:00

I changed the layout. But it looks very similar to the old layout. I wanted it to be colorful and dynamic and by the time I was finished, it looked quiet and sedate. The same thing happens when I design a web page. I guess I can't fight it. I am searching for a new avatar, but I was very fond of the old one. I use it on facebook and my former students think that it is funny and accurate.

I had planned to keep blogging, but I found that I needed an audience to motivate me to blog. I was shy about sharing my blog site with others, so I am happy for this opportunity to restart. I do enjoy other blogs, but I rarely comment ( I know there is a term for that ).

I'm Back

2008-08-20T12:16:00.000-07:00

I had planned to blog during vacation. Guess that didn't happen. I found that I was forgetting some of the great tools that I struggled to learn. So I am going to review 23 Things... and vow to utilize all that I can.
Two great juvenile books that I read this summer were The Klipfish Code by Mary Casanova, and Fearless by Elvira Woodruff. I did read a multitude of average books.

Thing 23. Final Thoughts

2008-04-12T13:46:00.000-07:00

My first thought is that I had no idea of all the tools and resources in Web 2.0. While I had heard of many of the "Things" such as MySpace and Flickr, there was so much more to these sites that I realized. I also am very excited to share some of these resources with the students. Google Doc and PBwiki to mention two. I am also interested in continuing the blog, although I am not sure it is of any interest to anyone. I might focus my blog on book reviews for the students and parents of my school.

This was great, it was fun and a super learning experience. Sign me up for the next one. I am so appreciative. Thanks to all who sponsored and all the blog readers.
Mary

Thing 22. What Did I Learn Today?

2008-04-12T13:28:00.000-07:00

I learned way to much to process right away. While I don't agree that it won't really take too much time, I do think it is well worth the time. Maybe I am a slow learner but I always have to completely understand before I am satisfied. I have spent many many hours on the 23 Things.
I am grateful because I will be more confident next time I come across a new "Thing" but I know it will take more time.
I added ALA TechSource and Web2 to my RSS, I know that both will be helpful in keeping current. I also enrolled at WebJunction- Minnesota, while I knew about it I never got around to checking it out and I am impressed with what it has to offer.

Thing 21. Beyond MySpace: Other Social Networks

2008-04-12T12:35:00.000-07:00

I joined 23 Things on a Stick Ning. I uploaded my avatar ( I prefer my creation over reality). I added the badge to my blog and explored some of the groups. I found the Teacher Librarian Ning to be immediately useful. I had forgotten about Poem in a Pocket Day so I was thrilled to see it mentioned so I still have time to participate. I looked at the book groups and really liked Shelfari. I had viewed someone's Shelfari somewhere in my explorations and was impressed and noted it so I could look into it later. I was pleased then to find it. Added it to my summer list. I am on Thing 21 and I now have more than 21 things to investigate on my summer list.

Thing 20. Facebook

2008-04-12T12:18:00.000-07:00

I have been joking about joining Facebook ever since I saw it listed in 23 Things on a Stick.
It seems rather like a mid- life crisis activity than a tool of an old librarian. And it is true that I found no one I knew from my class in high school. I joined the Librarians and Facebook and the Jane Austen Fan Club. I resisted the temptation to join some of the more colorful groups. Perhaps I will this summer. I joined Facebook because my advisory committee (my children) assured me that Facebook has more to offer an old librarian. I can see the need for adults working with students to understand these social networks. At this point, I don't think it will become a routine tool for me. Glad to experience it though.

Thing 19. Podcasts

2008-03-28T09:40:00.000-07:00

I have been intrigued by podcasts for awhile. Up until now I have not taken the time to research for podcasts of interest to me. I have listened to a few that have come my way but not really utilized this tool. I listened to a few from St. Cloud State and then I used Podcast.com to search for gardening podcasts. I was pleased with the number available. Then I googled for children's book review podcasts and hit pay dirt. I read many book reviews now I can listen to reviews while doing other library tasks. I added probably too many to my Google Reader. I was excited to discover childrenbookradio.com. It has an archive of interviews with children's book authors. Making my own podcast with students will be the next step. I added "Just One More Book" podcast feed to the sidebar on my blog.

Thing 18. YouTube & Other Online Video

2008-03-26T14:44:00.000-07:00

I am in awe of the creativity of the YouTube contributors. Who could have thought that two of my favorite books could be combined? This is by far the most seductive and time absorbing activity. Gaming was not interesting to me, but I found so many very funny and clever videos to watch. I am not surprised this site is banned at some schools.

Thing 17. ELM Productivity Tools

2008-03-26T14:02:00.001-07:00

Well, blow me over! I have been using ELM databases with the students for years and I had no idea of the amazing tools that it has to offer. It is my fault for not attending a workshop. I will now. I am sure I will be receiving more information than I need about youth smoking in my Google Reader, but I am excited to use the RSS feed for other subjects. The web page with EBSCO took me quite awhile to complete, but I liked it so much I made two for student research projects that we will be starting soon. I had not used ProQuest before. I found it easy to create a "web page" and I can see how it would be useful for the teachers for their own research. NetLibrary was fun and very simple. We are very lucky to have this resource. This will be one of the most productive Things for me.

Thing 16. Student Tools

2008-03-26T08:03:00.000-07:00

I was very impressed with the U of M's Assignment Calculator. I wish there had been a tool like that when I was there ( Google would have been nice also). The RPC is too advanced for the elementary students at my school, but I can see using elements of the RPC for some research projects. I really liked the "No Time" version and plan to use parts of it to help our students with projects. It is a great template for any teacher planning a research project.

Thing 15 Online Games

2008-03-25T10:34:00.000-07:00

I am very glad that I was able to explore gaming. Since I have no experience and my children are older it is truly a foreign land. Second Life reminds me of Sim City although much more sophisticated. I think it is wise for libraries to be in the "virtual worlds" and I am intrigued by the meshing of real and virtual. I tried Pirate Puzzle. It was fun. I am very good at bilging but not so skilled at carpentry. Good to know. I was poor at communication. I did not remember to read the text. Several other pirates were friendly but I unintentionally snubbed them. I guess I was concerned about the water level:).

Thing 14 Library Thing

2008-03-25T08:52:00.000-07:00

I love this tool. I preview many children's books and I have found that I no longer remember each book as well as I should. So I keep a notebook. I have four notebooks and I am always thumbing through them trying to find a certain book. I can use this tool to list the books and refer for my own use, but even better I can read other reviews and compare and reassess right at the same time. Often parents and students ask for recommendations, now I can refer them to my LibraryThing list. I plan to add a widget to my library web page. I am wondering if I should create another account for my personal use. I do occasionally read adult books.

Thing 13 Online Productivity Tools

2008-03-16T19:55:00.000-07:00

This was very fun and interesting and extremely unproductive for me. I can see the value of the calendars, home pages etc. but to really utilize these tools I would have to have the home page and calendars right in front of me during the day. I am not at the computer all day. I created a Google home page because I had already so many accounts with Google. I added the RSS and my Google Docs right on the page. BUT, then I played tetris, checked the weather, read the news, watched the latest at Youtube, and added a few other time wasting but oh so fun gadgets. I made lists of lists and made everyone I know read them. I looked at Backpack but I think that while I am interested I will have to do it this summer. The clock is ticking. This Thing is very seductive. I plan to explore the idea of the students creating Google home pages with information and gadgets that would be useful to them (word of the day or calendar) I would have to monitor it carefully. Experience has taught me that Tetris is the black hole of time.

Thing 12. Do You Digg?

2008-03-15T12:18:00.000-07:00

There is a world of news out there. I enjoyed learning about all four sites. I also looked into StumbleUpon. I can see the value for a library to keep current the latest news on popular subjects. Again, to read all the stories on the web and mainstream media would take forever so I can see that it would be beneficial to be able to sort and collect pertinent news. I could see an individual using one of these sites to keep current on quickly changing news i.e. technology. I set up a homepage for myself on Mixx for just that reason. I am hoping I can cut out some of the many technology periodicals I read. One drawback for me was that I started reading a news story that normally I would not find in my newspaper. In fact, I read quite a bit of interesting but definitely not important news.

Thing 11 Tagging and Del.icio.us

2008-03-11T16:44:00.000-07:00

Another account! After exploring this tool, I can see a multitude of uses. At first, I was just interested in the ability to access my bookmarks from any computer, but as I explored the tags I found a wealth of information. I followed the tags to a number of discussions about the use of Wikipedia. While I still have concerns about the use by elementary students who are conditioned to accept print material as "gospel", I do see the value of open and current information. I would like to explore Pagekeeper when I have more time.

Thing 10 - Wikis

2008-03-06T09:19:00.000-08:00

I have been stalled at this Thing. I understand wikis but could not think how to utilize one until today. I did edit the list of classics. I changed Diary of an Artist as a Young Teacher to Librarian, and added Pride and Prejudice to the list. But I wanted to create a wiki for a reason. Today I used PBwiki to create a wiki to plan retirement parties for our principal. Some people not on our faculty will be able to keep current and have input. I think it will be a great tool for us.
I am one of the librarians who discourages using Wikipedia. I do allow students to read the pages because the explanations are often very clear and easy to understand, but I always require another source. I guess, I do not trust that everything is accurate and balanced.

Thing- I just Can't Help It - This is Funny

2008-02-28T14:27:00.001-08:00

Thing 9

2008-02-28T13:26:00.000-08:00

I love the idea of Google Docs. I plan to utilize them with the upper grades. The format is simple and straight forward. Teachers and students could collaborate from home on projects. At first, I thought that Zoho was easier to use and seem to have more features but I kept getting error messages. Must be an ID ten T problem. I went back to Google Doc and I think that is the one I will use with students.

: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfrmx8rb_8dvq92gfb

Thing 8 Shared Slide Show

2008-02-25T18:28:00.000-08:00

I can see the benefits of having access to a presentation tool on the internet. The Zoho was easy to use but a bit limiting as far as features. I would like to explore the other tools, but this took a lot of time and I have to catch up with the over-achievers. I plan on revisiting many of the tools that I have looked at this summer when I have more time to explore. I had trouble placing the slide show on my blog, it didn't seem to fit well. It is on the very bottom of the blog, oh well. I would recommend Zoho for web sites and blogs. I plan to embed the slide show on the media center web site.

Thing 7 Communication Tools

2008-02-19T18:12:00.000-08:00

It seems to me that many of these tools i.e. email can be a blessing and a curse. I started email 12 years ago to keep in contact with my daughter in college. Now I use it to communicate with colleagues, parents and the outside world several times a day. I do not sit at my computer for any length of time so IM is less handy. In fact, I had to ask my daughter to join so I would have a partner. We used it once to test it and I have not used it since. I am intrigued with the idea of IM reference desk and I could see it would be great with tech support. I viewed a webinar on creating a customized google search engine. And I was excited to learn how to make one and I plan to use the tool with the sixth grade. It was through MINITEX. I have viewed webinars before and I think they are great since I live in a small town. Of course, all of these require more than just a few moments on the computer.

Thing 6- More fun

2008-02-11T13:46:00.001-08:00

Thing 6 - Image Generator

2008-02-11T13:37:00.001-08:00

My creation
Originally uploaded by mkeifenheim

I used Big Huge Labs for this trading card. This was fun. I should have thought more about what pictures to use first. I can see using this often. I just created some bookmarks for I Love to Read Month in the old fashion way. This is easier and more fun. I will use this. I am going to explore Image Chef also. Can it be that I love this because I have a picture of my granddaughter?

Thing 5 More Fun?

2008-02-10T13:27:00.000-08:00

Spell with Flickr Created by kastner (Erik Kastner) with PHP and javascript

I did enjoy playing with the mashups, although the purpose for some of them eluded me. I can think of some fun activities for the students. Family photos illustrating ABC books or number books. Posters and puzzles showing the Dewey Decimal System. I worry about the pictures online. The ability to make some photos private and some public even in the same grouping is a great advantage.

Thing 4 -Continues

2008-02-10T12:47:00.001-08:00

IMG_1401
Originally uploaded by mkeifenheim

Uploading pictures to Flickr was very easy. I can see using this in the computer lab to organize photos for the students to use in their projects. I have not been able to use Picnik. It failed to open, maybe I did not wait long enough.

Thing 4 - Flickr

2008-02-10T11:57:00.001-08:00

Uploaded on December 28, 2007
by suprdaveg

suprdaveg's photostream

It is a cold day, a perfect time to spend an afternoon inside working on 23 Things on a Stick. I like the idea of Flickr. Again, I could see spending a lot of time searching for and viewing photos. Just the few tags that I explored led to hundreds of photos. I can see the value personally, to share photos of family online instead of emailing new pictures again and again.

Thing 3- RSS

2008-02-06T09:16:00.000-08:00

I found RSS easy to set up and it was easy to add blogs. I am not sure how useful this will be but I am glad to learn about it. I do search online for reviews of books and there are reviewers that I return to often, but I do not spend a lot of time on the web. When I returned to the Google Reader I was surprised at the number of posts. This definitely takes more than fifteen minutes a day.

Library 2.0

2008-01-29T07:47:00.000-08:00

I was very interested in the debate about Library 2.0. I agree with those who feel that libraries have to conform to the needs of the patrons. I live in a town where the public library is closed at 2:00 on Saturday and closed on Sunday. This schedule is more about the staff than the patrons. Libraries need to change from repositories of print to centers of information. It seems to me, that it would require more staff to help access information and fewer to zap and shelve the books.
Libraries will have to change because service industries always (except airlines) end up responding to the client's demands. I think the next generation will expect IM answers to reference questions. They will want to go to the library and pick up the materials that they have ordered online from a drive-up window.

Thing 1

2008-01-28T17:11:00.000-08:00

Today one of my co-workers ask just what was a blog and what was the purpose. She could not really see any usefulness. I think it might be a generation gap. I enjoyed setting up the blog, it was pretty easy. The avatar took more time because there were so many choices. I felt like my students with KidPix, I just wanted to play around.

Children's Books

2008-01-25T05:55:00.000-08:00

I read children's books. No surprise, I am a librarian in a elementary school. I need to read the books, especially fiction before I purchase them. The deep secret is that I almost prefer children's books. It might be that I am out of the loop of adult fiction, but I find more good books in the children's section. I once read that a author (no citation available) said that she found it harder to write for children because they needed to be pulled into the story immediately. The author also stated that she had to edit more and rewrite more, in order to keep the integrity of the story consistent with the pages allowed by the publisher. I guess Rowlings changed that.

Not Easy

2008-01-24T09:46:00.000-08:00

It is one thing to be interested in learning new skills and another to apply the skills. I am not sure I have anything to say that is of any interest to anyone.