Thanks for a fun 23Things Experience

I had a great time learning new stuff. Maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks!

I did the survey as requested.

I think I see my car in the parking lot!

I finally got my Google Map to display correctly! You can view my satellite image of the library on my previous entry entitled, "Google Map", or save yourself the trouble and just check it out here:

View Frisco Library in a larger map

23 Things: Postmortem

Wow! What a great experience! Thanks to all involved!

Now to answer the parting questions:

Do I think social media has a future in libraries? Well, yah! It better. If it doesn't, that says more about the future of libraires than the future of social media. If you get my drift.... If libraries are to remain vital segments of society we must keep up with society. We must remain relevant. If we retreat to "tried and true" means of communication and forsake the new and untested, we start down a sad path to unsustainability.

What do I wish FPL was or wasn't doing? Well, I wish we had a few specialty blogs. Maybe genealogy, for instance.

Have I learned anything from the program? To quote Sarah Palin (or was it Tina Fey?), "You bet'cha!"

If so, what? To again quote Sarah Palin, "Oh, lots of stuff." Seriously, what I most enjoy is actually blogging. I never thought I would have my own blog, even if it was work-related.

What could we do better? I can't think of anything offhand. The program was well-thought-out and purposeful. The Things were succinct enough for us to do given our restricted schedules. Bravo!

Perhaps the only thing I can think of doing differently is taking a break about three-quarters of the way through and asking each of us what we enjoyed doing and what we want to continue doing. Then, it would be up to the library admininstration and employees to work out a way to continue using our skills. The most unfortunate outcome of the FPL 23Things program would be to learn new skills but not apply them.

RSS and Google Reader Revisited

Time to look back at a Web 2.0 social media of my choice: and I choose co-winners, RSS and Google Reader. I use these more often than any of the other items, so they were a natural choice. I love RSS because the info comes to me... it's pushed ... and I can access it in a timely manner. What do I access? Well, I get stuff from ESPN (They have a big site and they push lots of stuff!) Using Google Reader, I follow Un-Shushed. I was fascinated by Edward the Emu's story. Poor critter doesn't want to be an emu anymore. Can you blame him? Oops, I digress.... I get stuff from 23Things. (My favorite, of course!) I subscribe to stuff about museums. I follow a couple of bloggers that I met at a state museum gathering earlier this year. Library organizations send me info. ALA sends stuff my way, too. Because one of my responsibilities at the Library is to apply for grants, I subscribed to a couple of grant sites. It's a good way to keep on top of different grantmakers and their deadlines.

Wikis - Thing 21

I like using Wikipedia, so I am familiar with the concept. It is interesting that Wikipedia is as accurate as it appears to be. Users seem to do a good job of policing the site and making sure it remains credible. Speaking of credible, I added a bit of info on our Wiki. I added content about Firehouse Subs. Briefly, it is good but somewhat overpriced deli food. I much prefer Subway for value.

Podcasting About the Web

I enjoyed this thing and learned quite a bit, too. I have used podcasts before and have subscribed to one or two, but podcasts are not among my more widely used online tools. Like most things it comes down to subject matter: find something you like and chances are, you'll stick with it, otherwise,you're gone!

Initially, I used the libsuccess.org site to select a podcast from the Denver Public Library. Randomly I selected the first item on the list: The Pig Who Went Home on Sunday :An Appalachian Folktale by Donald Davis. It was a reading of a children's book. The narrator did a good job, but sadly I can not tell you how the story ended. I can tell you that it was a take-off of the "Three Little Pigs" saga and that the sly fox had dinner with the first pig. Menu was pork. Oh well, kids will love it.

My second selection from the libsuccess.org list was a podcast from the Lincoln (Nebraska) City Library. Sound quality was excellent... for the introduction. The intro consisted of a lovely classical music piece followed by an announcer that came direct from WRR radio. His tone was deliberate and pretentious. His words were hushed; he quietly mouthed the announcement as though he were in a library, or perhaps at a golf tournament. With great expectations the program began. What a letdown! The sound quality was lousy. It sounded like somebody put a mike in the back of an auditorium and taped a lecture. Life is too short for bad microphone placement.

I searched for other podcasts and found a series on disaster preparedness by the Texas Historical Commission's Museum Services' folks. The first podcast was audio only. It described the purpose of the series. The remaining podcasts were video podcasts with a conservator from Amigos Library Services demonstrating how to respond to water-damaged books, papers, textiles and objects. The sound quality was good. The camerawork was poor in the first video but got better in subsequent broadcasts.

A Brave Hulu World

OK, so now we have Hulu (and other similar products). What impact will that have on my life, on the library, on our patron's lives? The short answer is not a whole lot. At least not right now. You see, these technologies are evolutionary, not revolutionary. People, myself included (yes, I am a people)are already catching on to this latest time-saver. I see people on the library computers with headphones on intently enjoying the latest episode of The Family Guy all the time. I started watching last Monday's episode of 24 (which I have saved on our home DVR). Other than an old-fashioned dedication to working at work, I could have watched the whole show, but I didn't. Hey, I can watch it on HD on a big screen at home. On Hulu the presentation is fine, just small. I like the options: read comments about what others think of the show. This show rocks! This show stinks! I guess you can't please everyone.

Bottom line, expect more of this sort of thing. As long as advertisers will go along with it, it will be free, otherwise it will become a subscription thing.