Thing 34: Are reference desks obsolete?

Need For Speed (UNDERCOVER), originally uploaded by B A R A N.


HaHaHaHa. Our library is so small, we only have one desk. It is the jack-of-all-trades desk. Reference, yep. Technology questions answered, yep. Book recommendations, yep. Local gossip, yep. Reference desk, schmeference desk. Sure; we don't get kids in asking for books on leaves, cells, and the like for their projects, but we do get kids in looking for information on those same topics online. Our job has changed from knowing what books to get on those subjects to knowing what online sites to use for those same projects.


I tried Yahoo!Answers, Mahalo, and WikiAnswers. They all seemed a bit silly to me. Mainly the sites consisted of a lot of people asking questions that a lot of people had already asked (okay, so mainly I checked the book categories, where a lot of people were asking what to read, and others were answering Twilight.) I think it would just be easier to do a direct search for your answer. But, I guess in the case of, "What should I read?" the best answer would be to talk to a librarian; and if you've got a question about certain products or how-to's, answer sites would be a great way to get your answers. How nice to have people willing to answer your questions about Windows Vista! Snappyfingers worked much as a regular search engine, with you putting in some key words, but the results were different. It gave you a series of questions to pick from, and the beginings of the answers, with the website the answer was found at. I thought this one might be the most helpful when it comes to a question with a more solid answer. It wouldn't work as well for those, "What should I read?"-type questions.

Why do people use these sites instead of "googling" things and/or checking with their local libraries? It seems like it may be stemming from a need to communicate more with others. It's more like these Q&A sites are more social than anything else. Where else to hang out with a bunch of people discussing the starter problem on your '96 Grand Am--and all these people actually know about or own Grand Ams. How cool is that? You can't get it with a regular search engine, and I find it pretty hard to believe anyone could find that in their neighborhood.

Libraries often give off a feeling of being "old school", slow and steady, much like a turtle. But pop the shell, and look at the technology and speed under there!

Thing 33: Travel 2.0--around the globe, one website at a time

Brooklyn, originally uploaded by Farl.

This was a very timely Thing to be doing right now. Our trip to NYC is nearing, and we're looking at all the things there are to do that we haven't yet done, and all the things we'd like to do again. I like the "new" way of doing things, letting users/travelers review and recommend various travel options.

Travel blogs: I checked out some blogs at Travelblog.com and found some blogs by and for people with kids. As an added bonus, some of those bloggers seem to be professionals (unlike the lowly amateur you're reading now,) with easy to find listings of places they've been with kids.

Review sites: I've been a long-time user of TripAdvisor.com -- it's good to get people's opinions on various things, so you know how good or bad a place can be. Igougo.com seemed like a good site to use to get reviews on places/things to see. I didn't look at it long, but I can see myself spending some time seeing what there is to offer for travelers.

Travel Journal Sites: I could create my own travel blog, but I won't. I did find some good information on VCarious.com.

Travel Mash-ups: Fastfoodmaps.com gives listings for some popular fast food joints. I do wish they had more than just the standard places. (Sonic, anyone?) I like the quick link to caffeinemaps.com--handy if your preference is Starbucks. Not so handy if you'd like Caribou instead.

Other: I found TripIt.com somewhere in my ride through Travel 2.0. I'm surprised my sister-in-law; "The Scheduler", hasn't found this and filled in all time slots available during our week in NYC. I sent it to her; with my one plan marked on the calendar along with time, location, and address, and gave her collaboration powers so that she can put in everything else (haha). Travelwithyourkids.com offered some good reading as well. Ideas for how to keep the kids entertained en-route to your final destination, what to pack, and destinations among other useful information can be found here.

Looks like I'm all set to start delving further into things to do in New York City--granted, while I was perusing all the sections of this Thing I read a lot, and added quite a few bookmarks to my delicious account.

Thing 32: Maps-- beyond, "How do I fold this thing??"

How cool that there are so many maps out there! I had no idea that there was more than just Google Map and MapQuest. My personal favorite is Nextstop.com. I like the user recommendations for things I may miss. Too bad there wasn't anything in out-state Minnesota, but now there is, because I added a couple. I will be using this on our next trip out to NYC!

Here is my attempt to make a map from the Marble Public Library to the Calumet Public Library. It may not be completely accurate (I think the Marble Library may be a block off.) It certainly was easier to create the map in theory than it was in real life, but maybe with more practice I can do better. Is it easier than the origami-cal feats needed to fold a map back up? Perhaps. You be the judge.



View Library to library in a larger map

Thing 31: Tweeting--more than just duck calls

Holy, canolli! There certainly was a lot of stuff to read with this Thing. It was really too nice of a day out to open each link and read all. So, I didn't. I read a lot, and I learned a lot, and then I think my brain over-loaded. I had no idea there were so many gadgets and tools to help a person navigate, use, and keep up with Twitter. "Everyone" uses Twitter, heck I saw Oprah open up her Twitter account a few weeks ago (and now I follow her, just like hundreds-of-thousands of other viewers that day.)

I'm proud to say that I rank 511,489 out of 2,170,054 with a grade of 71/100. That's a C-. I was surprised that I ranked so well. I used Tweetdeck for a day, but found it made my computer DRAG, so I uninstalled it. It was pretty nifty to get the updates as they happened. I was able to link it into my Facebook account, so those popped up when any one of my friends updated their statuses. Right now; I'm still pretty new to Twitter, and none of my real world friends are big Twitter users, so I'm in the Presence stage of using it. I'm there, I'm following a few things (hello, Rep. Oberstar, Darth Vader, my sister-in-law, and Linda Wadman, among others.) I still don't completely understand all the hype though. Maybe if I can get more of my real world friends to sign up (like I did with Facebook, and now they can't live without it either) then I would be more inclined to check it everyday.

I signed myself up on the Tweeter directory. Now, I don't know how exactly to find the Tweeter directory. Do I really need to come back to this Thing in order to get the link for it? It shouldn't be this elusive. I saw that you can post from your email, Gmail, phone, etc. I have no use for that at this time. Remember, my stage in the Twitter game is Presence. At this time, it works best for me to just log onto my Twitter account and change my status. I added my Twitter address to my list of websites on my Facebook account, we'll see if anyone notices and joins because of me--I've got one particular status-junkie friend who I think would love Twitter.

We'll see as time goes on how much I will really use Twitter. I like to think of myself as on the cutting edge--at least as far as conservative Northern Minnesota goes. I'm ahead of the pack, let's just see if the pack follows.

bubblefriends on twitter, originally uploaded by bubblefriends.

Thing 30: This RSS feed is Delicious!

Google Reader is what I use to keep up with some of the blogs and such that I'm following. I haven't used it much since the first set of 23 Things, but now that I've added it to my iGoogle page, I'll be sure to use it more. I've got all the 23 Thingers blogs in one folder, but that's the only folder I've got. It's pretty much all book and library stuff saving using this feed. I don't feel the need to open up another RSS feed, I barely remember to use the feed I've got.

Delicious is another story. I use my account all the time! What craft to make in storyhour this week? Check delicious and see what sites I've got saved for finding out. What is the theme for the week for Toddler Time? Check delicious and see what preschool sites I've got saved. Now I've got some other crafters added to my network so that I can see the sites they use. Maybe I'll find some new and interesting things to do with the kids! (They'd be so excited to not do a painting project every other week.) I've been mainly using just 4-7 websites for the past few years, it will be interesting to see what other sites are out there without having to do a search and scrolling through a list of 1000's for a site that's actually usable. I got into the Inbox, and that looks to be promising as well. It's almost like an RSS feed for your tag words. Nice! I forsee myself using delicious even more than I already do after this Thing!

Thing 29: Polly Wolly Google all the day.

Ai, yi, yi. You certainly could Google all day, and all night for weeks with all the tools and gadgets Google has to offer. So, what did I tinker with? After looking at my options here's my synopsis of them:

Search Tools:
Alerts: I don't need more emails, especially ones I won't read about breaking news, even if it is something I'm trying to keep tabs on.
Google News: Okay, I've already got this going on my iGoogle page. I've got the news I want to kind of be aware of (scan the headlines of) at the top of the page where I can quickly look at them when I'm using my iGoogle.
SearchWiki: I didn't understand the point of this one. I suppose if you don't have a delicious account to save your favorites to it would be useful. Now I know what it is, and it's there should I ever want it--but I don't think I will use it much. I don't need to see other's comments on websites, it seems to waste more time than free time up.
Web History: No, No, No I don't need a gadget to remember all the sites I've visited. It may be handy to have more personalized results for stuff, but what happens when I want to go beyond where I've been?

Productivity Tools:

Sites: This the the thing in this Thing that I'm excited about. It seems like an easy way to get a library web site up and running for our very small library. Link it to our to-be-created Facebook account, and maybe we'd get some traffic with it! Baby steps first and here's what it looks like so far: GREAT! Okay, so it's not really great yet--but I only spent a short time on it, I'm sure it will improve over the course of the next month or two.

Google 411: How great to have information available for free! 1-800-GOOG-411 has been added to my cell phone contact list!

Thing 28: My Own Personal Page--iGoogle vs. My Yahoo!

Google vs Yahoo badminton tournament at GGBC, originally uploaded by tonster t.

Before starting this Thing, I already had My Yahoo! I didn't have any fancy gadgets, just the weather, emails, and news headlines. I have since added movie show-times (if I don't see it in the theater, I won't see it!) I saw the spot where I could add my RSS Feeds to the page, but haven't delved into that. Once I figure it out, that would make it super handy for me.

Since I already had My Yahoo! I figured it would be like cheating to just blog about that, so I got signed on for iGoogle. I already had signed on for the Google Reader and Google Docs, so it was no big deal to make a page for myself with those things added to it. Also included on my page are the current moon phase, weather, hangman, Google Translate and movie show times.

Which will I use more? My Yahoo! Since I have Yahoo as my home page, that would make sense. Although I did find it easier to add stuff to the iGoogle page. Maybe I should just switch my homepage over to that!

Thing 27: Amo, Amas, Amat; Tweet, Twitter, Twat

Twitter, yet another social networking site. A short message about what you're doing and all your followers see it. You see all their short messages about what they're doing. Basically a longer version of the Facebook status. And that's all there is to it. Yes, there are bagillions of people, businesses and organizations on there as well. No, they aren't necessarily easy to find. I suppose they are if you know who or what you're looking for, but I didn't.

Love it or hate it? I don't know (although; if you know Latin, you may have thought I loved it with the title of this posting). I don't love it, but I don't hate it either. I did find 31 Twitterers to follow. And as of now, I have 12 followers. Ai, yi, yi. Only one of which do I know personally, so that makes me feel some pressure to be witty, sharp, and all around not-boring so that they will continue to follow me.

This would be a great thing for our library, and easy way to let our patrons know what is going on at the library. However, I don't know that our patrons know anything about Twitter. It's a handy dandy tool for people who are a bit more up on their Web 2.o than our community seems to be. Guess we need to gently push them into all these "new" sites!

Thing 26: The NING THING

Ning: a social networking site. There are different groups sharing different interests. What did I do on the 23 Things On A Stick Ning? I posted a video (the same Monty Python one I posted here some time ago,) I commented on a discussion or two, and it seems like I joined a group or two.

I joined Ning with Thing 22; and although I checked on it and commented a couple times over the summer, there wasn't a whole lot of activity going on so eventually it got put by the wayside. I would hope that others joining the ning would continue to use it. The more people commenting and sharing their ideas, the more it would prompt me to comment and share. The Ning is only as strong as it's weakest link.

Thing 25: Widgets, Gadgets, and Tools, Oh My!

it's like a zoo!, originally uploaded by jek in the box.

Lots of widgets and gadgets to peruse in this thing! Of course, I already had a pile of them on here from Round 1 of 23 Things on a Stick. The earlier additions include: a monkey counter, a map, and the fun colors game! I moved them around a bit (you may not have seen the name the colors game, as it had been hiding at the bottom of this blog.) I didn't feel the need to add too much more, but I've got a clock added here so that you can see how much time you spend on here. I also added Site Meter, so that I can see how much time you've spent on here. You may notice the new opportunity to rate my postings, along with that came the suggestions for other readings. Those suggestions are NOT MINE! The rating system and suggestion box comes from outbrain.

There was a lot of stuff to look through on this Thing. What I added is just the tip of the iceberg of widgets and gadgets that can be added to a blog. I didn't see a need add voice-overs to mine, nor a need for me to post to my blog via email (or other devices which I don't have). I looked at Apture, but didn't see how I would use it. It looked pretty interesting, but I didn't want to spend the time digging deeper into it. As far as how much time I spent on this, probably 2-3 hours. Of course, I did squeeze in a couple rounds of Scramble on Facebook during that time too--but that counts for less than half an hour of the time I've been sitting here.

Thing 24: addendum II

No, seriously. I had quit looking for a new template. I was closing each of the many tabs I had opened in my search for something different; when lo and behold, I saw this one that you're looking at right now! A couple hours later, and here's the final result. It only took about an hours worth of tinkering to change the font colors from readable on dark pages to readable on light pages, to get all my widgets lined up and ready to go; and another hour to figure out exactly how to get this template to work. Now here's a change I can believe in. Good-bye dark dots, hello big monster!!

Thing 24: addendum

Okay; I got done with the posting, and then realized I should have made some more obvious changes to this blog. Thus decided, I spent the next several hours looking for a new template. Since I'm a children's librarier I was looking for something whimsically literate. This took a lot of time! I finally found one that would work for me, and then had trouble using it. I found another that might work for me, got this blog switched over; and didn't like it after all--too whimsical. After a couple of days of putzing with this here and there, I am finally waving my white flag in defeat. I like this template, and refuse to easily change it to another that I don't like. Pllbbbttttt. (That's me blowing a raspberry.) Now that I've surrendered, I can move on to the next Thing.

Thing 24: Or, Thing 1 revisited

Here we go again. Good thing, since I haven't blogged since our last Thing on a Stick. No excuses, just spending too much time messing around on the internet. I don't know that I've learned anything in that time worth mentioning here though. Or, at least that's what I'm thinking now. Perhaps I have learned some worth-while stuff, and I'm just not aware of it!

I thought blogging was pretty fun the last go around with it, and I'm looking forward to doing more. Too bad I haven't felt I had anything worth blogging about in the past few months, or I'd have done more. Now there is another set of things to blog about, so off we go.

There is only one blog that I check occasionally: Imagine Knit. I check it because it's my friend Senja's blog, and I'm always impressed by what she's got going on. I don't post anything to her very often, maybe I should though. I did also check out One Dollar Diet Project, simply because I saw them on some show (Oprah? Good Morning America? I don't remember.) It was an interesting read over the course of a few days, but not something I've really check back on (until now.) My favorite 23 things blog was D-Block, the humor was great and something I looked forward to reading as he progressed through each Thing. Here's hoping he works on the next 23 Things! I will now be checking my director's blog as well: The German Experience. She's already done Things 24 and 25! I'm impressed, seeing as how we both have become Facebook addicts.