Reads2Kids

Vatican Library

2009-01-17T12:07:00.001-08:00

Vatican Library, originally uploaded by SM Photo.

Pretty.....

Happy New Year!

2009-01-13T09:29:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to say that....is Jan. 13th too late???

I can do anything...even all 23 Things in Learn & Play!

2008-11-23T11:49:00.000-08:00

Thing 23--My thoughts about Learn & Play

2008-11-22T12:51:00.000-08:00

Wow--Learn & Play really opened up a whole new world of information and communication for me! I am so glad I chose to stick with it, and finish all 23 things! Three aspects of the training that have impacted the way I do things since we started (was it August??), are blogging, photos/video resources and use of Web 2.0 tools.

Blogging:
I had a Xanga blog before I started L&P, but it was a short-lived hobby for me. I never really thought about how I could use it to communicate, further than showing off pictures of my cute kids w/ the few friends who subscribed to my Xanga! Since beginning L&P, I now have 3 blogs. I use my Reads2Kids blog, created for L&P for professional communication. I have another that I created for personal use, to communicate with friends & family. Instead keeping up with everyone's emails, I just post things I want to share with the group on my blog(o.k., still mostly pictures of my cute kids)and people can visit it when they have time, vs. my cluttering up their e-mail accounts with pictures of my cute kids!

Photo/Video Resources:
I know that I will be using things like Flickr, YouTube & podcasts more and more in my professional life, but for now I am completely taking advantage of these new skills in my personal life. Being an avid "arts & craftser" I just love exploring all of the fun things that can be done w/ Flicker & Photoshop. I see lots of possibilities for using these resources in children's programming--to develop props, cyber-crafting programs, etc. I also love to post pictures from my children's programs, so nice to explore some fun ways to do this!

Web 2.0 Tools
My favorites from this experience: PBWiki and GoogleDocs. I haven't used PBWiki at work yet, but already have plans for using it in my volunteer work. I actually felt confident enough in my understanding of Wiki "creation" to present the benefits of this concept at a recent volunteer leader meeting! I think GoogleDocs is fabulous and started promoting it like crazy with customers the day after I tried it on L&P. This is just a super resource for those using library computers--no worry about having a flashdrive or disk, or having your computer time run out! This is a great resource for those creating documents as a group. I am currently creating a handbook for one of the organizations I volunteer with using GoogleDocs, but I will be using it at CML as well!

Finally, I just want to say thanks to everyone involved in creating and implementing this training process at CML. In my 18 years with the Library, this is probably the most impressive training experience I have had, which is saying a lot, considering the excellent opportunities we have for professional development at CML. I was amazed at how quickly I was able to learn & understand the "things" presented, and felt encouraged to keep trying, by reading about the experiences of my fellow co-workers (all over CML!). When I started at the library, we used a typewriter and only used the PC in extreme circumstances. The Internet was barely even thought about as a resource for helping customers or doing our daily work. I feel very fortunate to still be "hanging in there" as technology changes libraries, and most of all, to still be working for an organization that supports those of us who have a desire to keep learning. Goodbye L&P friends & thanks for helping me be a life-long learner!

MOLDI Rocks!

2008-11-22T11:56:00.001-08:00

Bread Mould - V, originally uploaded by PuffinArt.

Thing 22 and gettin' MOLDI!

2008-11-22T11:46:00.000-08:00

This is so cool and easy to use! Going to be sharing this with our customers, for sure! I accessed MOLDI from the CML homepage, logged with my CML library card and started browsing. I started browsing adult audio and ebooks by subject, then thought I would check out what they had to offer in childrens--a lot! Also had a teen a catagory. I tried downloading an Amelia Bedelia book. What I really like about the process, is that there are buttons to select the way you wish to listen to the material--burn to a CD (not able to do this with most, but surprisingly you can with some), listen on a PC, iPod, etc. This would be a super thing to check out right before leaving for vacation--always like to have plenty to listen to on long car trips. Also great for homebound customers.

Libraries and Podcasts

2008-10-22T10:57:00.000-07:00

I chose to listen to some podcasts by Los Angeles Public Library. They podcast performances, book discussions, lectures, etc. from their Cental Library. I listened to "An Evening with poet Robert Hass". Actually had it playing softly while I was on the reference desk--very nice. Would be very nice to share this with customers! Yes, I think libraries could use podcasts to promote programs and offer programs to those who are unable to leave their homes to attend a library program. Lots of possibilities. Podcasts would be a great way to promote SRC/childrens/teen programs. My 7 year-old daughter loves a show on the Disney Channel called "iCarly". The whole show is about a teenage girl who podcasts her own show each week--how cool is that?

All this and a paycheck too?

2008-10-21T14:46:00.001-07:00

I love YouTube! So entertaining! The Learn & Play blog is a great example of how
on-line video and can be used for training purposes @ CML. Of course, we have all enjoyed being able to see our co-workers on the local news via YouTube as well. Could also be used for recordings of workshops, meetings, etc. I chose this video for obvious reasons. Enjoy!

Digging through the CML Toolbox...

2008-10-21T12:19:00.000-07:00

I stumbled upon Stumbleupon.com, which is a resource that makes it easier to find things that you like on the web! I searched for information on "scrapbooking" and found more than I could possibly look through on work time. A feature I like about the site is that visitors can rate the topic sites, so you have less of a chance of wasting time searching through a list of sites that aren't really that useful. I also found Stumbleupon.com just a fun & relaxing place to browse--Stumbleupon did most of the "hunting" for me, so I could just enjoy the information it found for me.

Web 2.0 Award Winner-DonorsChoose.org

2008-10-21T11:30:00.000-07:00

I checked out the short list of award winning Web 2.0 resources and tool a look under the heading "Philanthropy". This is where I found DonorsChoose.org. This is a site where teachers can request donations for student projects. Basically, teachers post a description of the project & who will benefit from it, then list the money/materials they will need to complete the project. People who visit the site can then browse the various "class projects" that they may wish to sponsor with a donation. Each of the posted projects includes a running tally of the money donated to support the project. Kind of cool to see what teachers are working on with their students and to see how much they are collecting!

Google Docs

2008-10-08T07:38:00.000-07:00

Testing out Google Docs for L&P and CML. How handy this is! Especially for customers who come to the library w/out a disk to save their work. This way, they can access & save docs without worrying about their time running out on library computers before they have found or saved material on a disk.

This is also a great tool for collaborative work with other library "authors". Would be great using Google Docs for teams who are creating training manuals, presentations, bibliographies--so many possibilities!

One frustration, the two paragraphs above were actually a document that I created on Google Docs, but I was unable to successfully post the document from the site, straight to my blog.

Any tips?

Wikis I've Visited

2008-09-27T13:19:00.000-07:00

I chose to look at the St. Joseph County Public Library's Subject Guide wiki. A very useful tool for librarians and customers. I liked that information about current research or events could be presented/edited, such as some information that I looked into on genealogy resources. It would be great to have a CML subject wikis where we could post information about our materials and the library programs that relate to them. This would be especially nice for children's programs as well. For example, we could have a wiki about new children's books where we break the books down by age group. We could have children's staff from the entire system review favorite new children's books, share related programming information related to the books per location, etc. Would also be a great way for children's librarians to brainstorm programs, program kit contents, SRC, etc.

The other wiki I looked at was a Albany County Public Library Staff wiki. I really liked this one. Information was organized by division. I chose to look at the children's department, of course, and it basically contained many of the ideas that I shared above regarding the possibilities of how wikis could be used by children's services librarians.

I created an account with PBwiki, and plan to try it out soon!

Away from Icebergs/ Libraries in Another Place & Time

2008-09-18T11:58:00.000-07:00

The two articles that I chose to read regarding Library 2.0 and Web 2.0 were Avoiding Icebergs and To a Temporary Place and Time.

In the "Icebergs article, the "just in case collection" and "come to us"expectation were two points that really jumped out at me. Although I consider myself a ruthless weeder, I admit that I am still of the generation that feels the books must be sitting on the shelves for those "what if & just in case" moments. Although I rarely, if ever, have complaints when I need to provide customers with information from the Internet, since there are no books available on their topic on the shelves, I still feel the need to have them there. Reality is, most customers are just happy to get some help getting the information they need ASAP. I also really feel that we have to make our libraries what our customers want, rather than what we think they need or should want. This is especially important in a public library setting. Yes, let our customer sip a coffee, plug in their laptop and THEN checkout some of our great materials! Let's have the teens in for gaming, so they know that the library is about them too. Lots of possibilities here--we just need to jump out of our library boxes a bit.

The article about libraries past and present really helped put things into the proper perspective for me as well. I am very quick to defend the sensory experience that is so much a part of reading--leafing through a magazine or opening a newspaper...opening the crisp pages of a brand new book. But, these ARE just the experiences of the era that I live in. Do I long to read news are stories from pictures painted on a cave wall? No way! I love the idea of libraries as being our "mind gyms and knowledge spas" in the future! I hope I am around to see some of it!

Feeling Powerful!

2008-09-18T11:31:00.001-07:00

Funky Lightbulbs, originally uploaded by TRIPWOLF.

Our electricity came back on at around 8:00 last night--hooray! So nice not to have to get ready for work by lanterns anymore! Hope the rest of you without power are feeling powerful soon too!

Oh what a beautiful library!

2008-09-17T09:01:00.001-07:00

UnReal 005, originally uploaded by mr.thingy.

I love this picture of our marvelous Main Library! I have to say, after three days of no power at home, getting to spend the day in this wonderful building, with lights, lots of great books, and a hot chai tea, is truly a beautiful thing!

Del.icio.us!

2008-09-17T08:56:00.000-07:00

I see lots of potential with Del.icio.us--could have bookmarks for useful tags on staff computers for frequently asked topics or photographs. I looked at the CML account for L&P and checked out all of the Reader's Advisory tools bookmarked by HFAR. This made me think about how useful this could be between all of the Main divisions. If I know that HFAR has bookmarked tags for great grown-up reads, I can access this if parents should need help finding these materials, while in the CFD with their children. I created an account on del.icio.us , but haven't actually bookmarked anything yet. So far, it seems pretty simple to use, so looking forward to trying it!

Not so sure about Twitter....

2008-09-13T11:47:00.000-07:00

I found it confusing. Found followers under Learn&Play and decided to follow 4 staff persons that I recognized...I feel like such a stalker! How would I use it @ the library?? Good question. Could make a fun teen activity or program. Could include clues in the messages or something. Not sure--I found this activity a bit confusing. I'd really like to stick w/ looking for pretty pictures!

Check Out my "LibraryThing" Library!

2008-09-10T11:35:00.000-07:00

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/ConnieKlever

This was fun and way cool!

Fairies are Fabulous!

2008-09-10T11:02:00.000-07:00

This poster was made with a photo from our Fabulous Fairy Tea Party at the Center for Discovery during the first week of SRC. Isn't she precious??? I used the photo generator "FD Toys"to create this poster!

Newsfeed Finder Ramblings

2008-09-04T09:51:00.000-07:00

Well, I am still a bit confused about newsfeeds. I did take a look at topix.net, technorati & syndic8, but was too confused to form much of an opinion on which one I felt was easiest to use. If I had to pick, I would probably choose topix, because it seemed to be organized in a way that made some sense to me. I didn't subscribe to any library related newsfeeds this way, since I aready found quite a few that I subscribed to during Thing #8. Anyway,can't we just go back to looking for fun pictures using Flickr????

RSS/Newsfeeds Exercise

2008-09-04T08:58:00.000-07:00

http://www.bloglines.com/public/Reads2Kids

Wow-this was really tricky for me. I think I might have figured it out. If you check out my newsfeeds & wonder why I subscribed to what I did, please don't judge me! I had no idea what I was doing through most of it! I do see the benefits of subscribing to some of these newsfeeds for reference purposes. Daily local news & weather, and local events for kids would all be really helpful for me. I am still not sure how this all works, however, so may take me a while before I use the blogline acct. on a regular basis!

Photography Technology Ramblings

2008-08-30T14:59:00.000-07:00

I really enjoyed trying the various picture services available on Flickr site. Creating interesting adaptations of my own photos and those found on the web was really fun this week! I am sure I will use this often, both when blogging professionally and personally. Sharing blogs about particular library programs with fellow children's services staff or even setting up blogs to share with customers who may wish to see pictures from programs this way.

Ready to Read Corner

2008-08-30T11:46:00.001-07:00

Ready to Read Corner, originally uploaded by connieklever.

Pooh and his friends are waiting to read with you in the Center for Discovery, Ready to Read Center! I uploaded this picture to my Flickr account, and just look how nice this cozy reading spot looks on my blog...makes you want to jump right into the picture!

bloom at night...

2008-08-30T11:21:00.001-07:00

bloom at night..., originally uploaded by Hadíe.

I used Flickr Color Pickr for this pretty pink picture--ta da!!!

What not to do with your library books...

2008-08-30T10:42:00.001-07:00

, originally uploaded by suzi lykke.

A very colorful picture, but please do not try this in your library!

7.5 Habits--My Thoughts

2008-08-27T10:28:00.000-07:00

Looks like I made it in here o.k.--whew!! Here are my thoughts on my learning habits:

The easiest for me are "accepting responsibility for my own learning" & "viewing problems as challenges". How can you work in a library and not accept the fact that you have to learn new procedures & technology....and know you will face challenges in the process?? If I hadn't adopted the above habits, I still be stamping books and using a typewriter! Ouch!

The most difficult habit for me will be "using technology to my advantage". I feel very "dated" when it comes to some aspects of technology. I miss actually speaking with friends/co-workers (at times) vs. emails, blogs, instant messaging, etc. My love of books also holds me back a bit. Even though I frequently use on-line resources for professional and personal reference needs, I just find books so comforting. Sniff, sniff...

O.K., I feel better now, do a get a prize yet????