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!