Just A Book

What Library 2.0 meant to me….well I have to say my expectations were met.  When I signed up for this class I was hoping the class would stretch my knowledge of the options, services and social networking options on the web.  I was also hoping to understand them better and see how they could be used in both a library setting and in my ‘every day’ life since I’m not currently in a library.  I was not disappointed.  I have heard of many of the sites we looked at but had not had time to play with them or understand them. 

I really appreciated hearing Michael’s presentation on sites and what was happening in the Library world in relation to the participatory web.  I was a bit nervous when we then got a chance to play on the sites but soon warmed up to it.  I liked the safe environment that our class had and the willingness of others to also train and assist with questions and tutorials.  I found it really helpful to have time to poke around sites such as Twitter and Netvibes.  I’m not sure if I will be able to keep up regularly on Twitter but it is kinda fun.  I have found Netvibes very useful!  It is really handy to have all the blogs I follow in one place and a quick view to see if people have updated them.

Blogging – never thought I would do it.  I was a bit hesitant when we set up these blogs for class.  I wasn’t sure how it would go.  I have found that I like it.  I like having a place to talk about articles or things related to libraries.  I suppose part of this is because I don’t have another outlet for that since I am not working in a library.  I think I’d like to keep that going.  I’m not certain how regular it will be but having an outlet and hopefully an audience of my classmates appeals to me.

Thank you to everyone in the class and Michael who brought their point of view and experience in these technologies and sites.  I feel like that made the class rich with real content and not just theoretics.

A few of you were talking and asking questions about the International Librarianship class I took in Summer 2008.  It was fantastic!  I highly recommend checking out the class.  Usually it is offered every other year but I just read about an informational meeting on November 17th.  Here is the link.

Our post this week is to be about our paper…

This is pretty short but here goes – I have been working to turn my context book report on The Cult of the Amateur by Andrew Keen into a 10ish page paper.  I am expanding my overview of the book, talking through the determination of truth/authoritative sources, intellectual property rights/stolen ideas, and if the content is worth reading/watching.  For each of these ideas I have other research and thoughts incorporated and then my conclusions.  This is a fascinating topic for me.  It has helped me to expand my thoughts about Web 2.0.

Love this post from Beth about Marilyn Cathcart quotes.  I’ve had 4 of my 12 classes with her and really appreciate the experience she brings to her classes.  My favorite quote from her is “It’s not always going to be beer and skittles.”

RE: Groups should use social software applications to collaborate on project development and document in a brief blog post how social software contributed to (or hindered) project success.

Well, like Lindsay also said, I really liked using a wiki to collaborate on our project.  I think all of us have multiple classes so time was a factor and certainly distance was an issue also.  It was very effective to use the wiki to discuss ideas, share information, create an outline, and document our findings.  We listed all our contributions too so it was easier to see at the end how we were each involved instead of trying to remember back. 

We did find it a bit more challenging to use GoogleDocs for the powerpoint presentation.  While it seemed like a great idea to reduce multiple versions of the presentation – I was blocked from usage of GoogleDocs because of our firewall at work.  My other group members were able to assist and we had to resort to good old-fashioned email for me to make some suggestions and additions.  It was a good reminder that the best laid plans can still have problems.   We just had to find a solution and work through it.  In this case it was pretty easy but certainly there are challenges groups might have when working with social software.  Yippy for a pretty seamless group project!!

My contributions:

On Thursday, December 11, 2008, the St. Kate’s Special Library Association Student Group will be hosting a Silent Auction fundraiser at the Holiday Party event sponsored by MALL, SCIP, and SLA at J. J. Hill Library in St. Paul to raise funds for a scholarship.  This scholarship will help send a St. Kate’s MLIS student to the SLA Annual Conference being held in Washington D.C. in June 2009.

We would love your help with donations!

Do you have a friend or relative with a creative flare, or deep pockets who would like to contribute something?

Donations may be dropped off at St. Kate’s in a box in the MLIS office near the reception desk. If you would like to schedule a pickup or have questions, please contact us at:

StKateSLA@gmail.com

Please submit donations by Wednesday, December 3^rd. 

Don’t forget, your donations are tax-deductible and greatly appreciated by the St. Kate’s SLA student group and

the MLIS students at St. Kate’s. 

Well, Lindsay’s post about Kindles got me thinking about them and more aware of articles about them.  I found this article about a library in new Jersey buying two Kindles and lending them.  This began in December 2007.  The article talks specifically about how the library director wants to be on the leading edge of technology.  This is a refreshing change.  How many of you are still trying to convince someone, anyone that change is okay and technology can be used for good?  And why is change hard for people.  For me, I’m not sure a Kindle is in my future but I’m interested to hear how Lindsay likes it.

I would say I’m probably not on the leading edge of technology – in fact I know I’m not.  That is one of the reasons I took this class – to better understand what is out there from an online perspective and get a glimpse of the related technology.  I have not been disappointed.

In more Kindle news – I found that the divine Ms. O (as I think I’ve heard Oprah called) loves Kindle and if you enter her promo code (OPRAHWINFREY) before November 1st, meaning TODAY, you save $50.  And who wouldn’t want to save $50 on a $359 item.  Are you still on the fence?  Check out a review of the Kindle at CNET Reviews.

Along the lines of my recent Netvibes post, I’ve continued thinking about some of the sites and social networking that we’ve looked at in class.   One that I’ve been embracing over the last several weeks is Delicious.  Initially I wasn’t sure how useful it would be.  I really appreciated getting the time to “play” in class.  I just don’t know how much I would have been able to explore otherwise.  This playing helped me to understand better how to get the full benefit of the site. 

In general, I am not interested in knowing if many/other people bookmarked the article I’m interested in.   However, I’ve determined that Delicious is very useful for my class assignments.  Both of my classes this term have papers.  When I’m reading online in newspapers, newsletters or websites, I have found articles that are applicable to these term papers.  Because I’m not interested in copying and emailing myself the link or printing out the information right then, I’ve found it immensely helpful to add them to Delicious.  I also like that I can tag the articles with the class number.  That will help me when I’m ready to I go back to either print or read the article while working on my papers.  

In doing this, I’ve determined I’m less interested in the social aspect of the site but I like the tool.

Thought this article was interesting about a woman who killed her online ex-husband because he divorced her.  She used his password and killed him off.  Whew!  Be careful who you marry online.  ;o)

Loved this article encouraging the library to be seen as a bookstore.  Especially in this economy – it helps you save money.