Mobile Apps

Since I last posted in September my time has been taken up with a couple of things:

1. Learning about Mobile Apps. Seems that everybody now wants to be able to view everything on an I-phone. So, our webmaster, Barbara Tuck, created a mobile app for the UNF library page. Take a look: http://www.unf.edu/library/mobile/. The library also is on Facebook and Twitter!

2. Our library has been involved in the creation of a liaison program for the different departments at UNF. My departments are Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. It has been a definite learning curve. I hope to share this experience with others by publishing an article about my first year's experience as a Library Liaison. Stay tuned!! cj

NEFLIN Annual Meeting and Remembering

I have been absent for awhile due to health issues over the summer but I am back!! I attended the NEFLIN Annual Meeting yesterday. It was a great meeting with lots of good information concerning being an advocate for one's library; Web 2.0 social media and why it is so important for libraries to play a more active role; and learning about "What's cooking at NEFLIN." The keynote speaker, Andrew Huse, Special Collections Librarian, USF, was entertaining and informative as he spoke on the importance of documenting Florida's food and restaurant history. He has written a book on the history of the Columbia Restaurant coming out in October 2009. Congratulations to Brad, Patty, and Jeannie--You have taken your "muffin" budget for the coming year and made it into an "apple pie" full of course opportunities for the members in your district!!

Since it is 9/11 please note the link in rememberance to those who lost their lives that day. This video is at the Smithsonian and was made by a New Yorker who succumbed to lung damage sustained during the attack. It is long (15 minutes) but extremely powerful. You might want to copy and paste into your browser.

http://attacked911.tripod.com/

Florida Library Association Annual Conference

I attended the FLA Conference in Orlando last week. What did I learn? Among other things, Collaboration through my service at the Registration Desk on Wednesday morning. There were four to five people coordinating different facets of the check-in process that made the whole registration process more efficient. I attended a workshop on Strategic Planning which provided step-by-step instructions on how to conduct your own Strategic Planning Process. I re-connected with some friends and made new ones from the Sunshine Statewide Leadership Institute Workshop. I learned about the latest version of ALEPH v. 19 that will come online at the places I work at this summer. A great conference which inspired me to sign-up for membership as soon as I can this month.

Mindspotting!! A New Approach for Public Libraries

Just checking my blog links this week and ran across an intersting video on the LibraryBytes Blog. A public library in Denmark is using an innovative approach to attract the next generation to their library. It is called "Mindspotting" and is really interesting! Here is the link to their video if you care to see what they are doing: http://www.librarybytes.com/2009/05/mindspotting-in-aarhus.html

Thing 22. Staying Current.

Looking back at my first "Thing" it hits me how excited and enthused I was to have the opportunity to learn about 2.0 tools. I must say that excitment has been rewarded. It is hard to believe that I am nearing the end of this "class"! What a wonderful idea for NEFLIN to give to its members!! Of all the classes and things NEFLIN has offered; I have found this to be the most relevant and valuable for my day-to-day dealings with college students and library patrons.

What has NEFLIN's 23 Things done for me? Through this class I have been exposed to a variety of 2.0 web tools and introduced to an entirely new philosophy of interacting with library patrons and the world. It has taken me out of my "isolationist" librarian world and placed me right in the middle of some vibrant online communities. It has taught me that ways of interacting with people are changing due to the Web and we as librarians must change with it. My fear of new technology and experimenting with it has been greatly reduced or eliminated. This class has re-awakened my hunger to learn new concepts again. Staying current of the newest tools is an important part of our job because of the ways our patrons are communicating today. We must know how to reach them in order to help them.

I plan to maintain my blog to keep up with new tools. I want to learn to apply them, when possible, to my library. I have added 3 RSS feeds to my i-Google page: ALA Tech Source; LibraryBytes; and Web Apps on Go2Web 2.0. Even if it takes more than 15 minutes,I will definitely set aside time on Tuesdays to check these feeds, along with others, to post a weekly message on the latest 2.0 tools available, and to explain how they pertain to my work. I am also going to review each of NEFLIN's 23 Things to determine which items really work for me at my library and which ones I can utilize for personal use away from the job. I seem to learn something new everyday which is why I love being a librarian. I have really enjoyed this experience and hope that NEFLIN can offer it to others again.

Thing 21. Student Tools

You guys must have been reading my mind! I teach a course on college research and library resources as part of my job. We use Blackboard and hotlinked online readings and assignments for our class. However, trouble is on the horizon. All of our websites will be taken over by our IT Department soon which means if we need to make changes to these sites our Webmaster will have to submit the changes to IT and they may or may not be prompt in making the changes! So, I like these open source organizational tools for teaching. These tools are amazing and I would not have to wait for IT to correct or make updates for me on these tools! I had no idea something like this was available. To be able to organize a research project online throughout the semester to assist the students is great because, as we all know, sometimes students do not read their assigned readings!! These tools would really prompt them to learn by doing and working the plan. It really helps that there is a teacher's component to this so that not only are the students organized but the teachers are also.

I am also working on another course in conjunction with a professor here on campus for the Summer of 2010. If all goes as planned and the course is approved, I am going to suggest the use of these tools for our class!! Thank you for introducing these tools!

Thing 20. Books

In my library, print items are on the decrease, mainly due to our budget or lack of one. I think this trend will continue for the forseeable future. I have noticed the use by students of the Kindle. When one can download a bestseller or textbook for a fraction of the cost of a printed item, the Kindle will be the hotseller of the future! I have tried one myself and really liked it. There was honestly so much listed on this particular Thing that I had trouble choosing what to look at. I found the discussion on the lending of Kendles in the library interesting and something that my library, UNF, may look at soon. It is interesting that one of the uses for this was inter-library loan materials. I also visited the "DailyLit" site for books. This site makes it easy to download books on one's computer. I would not like to read books on my cellphone!! For someone recovering from eye surgery it would be like visiting a bad nightmare!! However, for someone young, with excellent eyesight who is able to afford a cellphone but not a Kindle, they might find this "BooksinmyPhone" 2.0 tool fits their lifestyle and wallet. There is a repository in Florida call "The Orange Grove" that may just change the future of education here. Take a look: http://www.theorangegrove.org/ It is a gathering ov best practices, resources, research, and lessons, and textbooks, for teachers to use and students to learn from. It is being created even as you read this. Will print die? Probably not, it will go the way of the radio after TV came of age. For those of us who love to sit and read an actual book we may very well see the return of small local print book shops and the death (dare I say it??!!) of the big bookstores like Barnes and Noble. You will just have to get your coffee somewhere else!

Thing 19. Other Social Networks

An inspection of Web Junction, Ning, and Gather, leads me to believe that these Social Networks offer the same things that MySpace and Facebook offer, only these three networks tend to be a little more focused primarily on professional work-related issues and less on socializing in their outlooks. The information presented in each of the three, Web Junction, Ning, and Gather, would take me at least a month each to inspect thoroughly--the information in Web Junction is library oriented but almost overwheleming in scope! Ning was the least attractive of the three. I was not impressed with their group organization. I did sign onto Gather and inspected it more thoroughly than Ning. The news and publishing aspect of Gather is definitely appealing to me and something that I might use in the future, both as a librarian and as a writer. They all offer the same things: an ability to interact with others, to post pictures, videos, and podcasts. Social networking is turning into a big business!!

Thing 18. Facebook and My Space

I love Facebook when I can actually get to it. Had a bit of a password problem this week which has finally been resolved. If you look for Cynthia Jordan in Facebook you should find me!! As you can see, I have a variety of (at least 3) friends!! I have joined the "Librarians and Facebook" Group and I have posted my first message on their wall!

The ease and flexibility of Facebook is what I like. One can post pictures, videos, and messages that can be seen by a variety of folks. Facebook may be the fastest growing social network because it attracts the younger generation--in my opinion it is much less conservative looking than MySpace.

MySpace is also nice because I like music and My Space seems to attract alot of musicians. Librarians can use this to talk with their patrons and students! The librarians are already using MySpace to link to their library catalogs through Google. So students can find the library books they are looking for without having to leave MySpace. I may create a "space" there eventually.

For now, I am content with Facebook. I hope you enjoy my site and please be my friend there!!

Thing 17. Podcasting

Of all the "things" podcasting has proved to be the most challenging. GCast looked easy enough but I couldn't get my links from other podcasting directories to work.

So, I listened to Podcasting in Plain English. I looked at three Podcasting Directories: Podcast.com; Yahoo Podcasts; and Educational Podcast Directory. I set up an account in Podcast.com after finding a podcast there that I liked. I conducted a search in Podcast.com under "Florida Library" and found a podcast under Florida Stories Podcasts--local stories of interest around Florida published through WFSU. The podcast was titled "Tipper the Reading Dog", producer Larry Ellison, published 3/6/2009. This is a cute story about a certified therapy dog, Tipper, belonging to third grade teacher Cindy Goldsworthy, that motivates children to read at a school in Land 'O Lakes. Informative and innovative teaching strategy! I placed the link to this podcast on my iGoogle page as well as an rss feed to my reader. Here is the link to the podcast.
http://podcast.com/episode/35751041/7270/?cp=1125

Not only was this an interesting podcast but I learned how to find the link to the individual podcast by clicking on the "share" button and clicking on "email." One can also forward a link to their facebook, myspace, diggit, or delicious sites.

I will work on my podcasting skills when I have more time. At least I feel more comfortable with the basics of podcasting. I will be spending more time listening to podcasts in the future. I have actually completed a podcast on one of the lessons in our Library LIS 1001 course. However, that particular course material has been updated so I will have to edit the podcast. I can see a definite role for podcasting through library instruction. I hope to incorporate an introduction course to podcasting within our library instruction course in the future!

Thing 16. You Tube

You Tube can be used for a variety of videos or streaming media. It is great for classroom use because You-Tube can be viewed on portable devices. This is one of my favorite clips and it is about--Librarians of course! It is called "The Librarian Song." The song from the Joe Uveges-When Freedom Calls concert on November 2, 2007 in Colorado Springs.

Thing 15. Rollyo

Rollyo, as I understand it is a personal search engine one creates to provide relevant results from a selected list of reliable sites. I signed up for an account and looked at some of the sites using the search term "history." I looked at three personal sites: advertising history rolled by imareader; apollo space history rolled by lyndonsharp; and civil war history rolled by Cara Orban. They were all interesting but I was confused at times as to whether I was looking at advertising on the site or a link to a "reliable" site.

While the concept is interesting, we have access to so many search engines such as Yahoo, and Google that this is just one more to add to the list. These sites might or might not be relevant for in-depth research. I would compare a Rollyo to a subject guide that a librarian would create. This might be a useful tool to replace subject guides. It would be lot easier to edit than an HTML created guide.

Thing 14. Online Productivity Tools

I actually had an "iGoogle" account partically set-up so I just completed the process today. I added the Calendar Widget and a widget for "quote of the day" for humorous quotes and the "video of the day" function. I also have links to all my favorite pages and google reader. This reminds me of Delicious. They are both excellent organizational tools to help make a librarian's job of viewing a variety of projects easier. I can definitely see the value of having everything on one page. I am working on synching the Google calendar with possibly my microsoft outlook calendar. If anyone has any suggestions of how to do this please let me know!! I have enjoyed developing my iGoogle page!

Opps! In investigating Google Calendar further and going through the tutorial I discovered how to integrate it with my Microsoft Calendar. I haven't done that yet--not sure I want to world to see everything listed on my work calendar, but at least I do know how to do this now!! Online calendars can help remind you of upcoming appointments and meetings; you can share your calendar with others as well as look at theirs; you can create multiple calendars for other areas of your life; one can customize so that their calendar is accessible from their mobile phone; as well as utilizing the color coding features to highlight different events!

Ta Da was the "to-do" list that I signed-up for. I look at this as just another tool to assist a librarian throughout a busy day. However I utilize my online calendars for most important events so "Ta-Da" is not a necessary tool for me, just creates more work.

Backpack is good for keeping a group calendar and project on-time and under budget. Small libraries with limited resources should find this tool useful.

I investigated the "Top 25 Web 2.0 Apps. to Improve a Student's or Professor's Productivity." I noted with interest that alot of the tools on this list we already use at UNF such as Google Calendar, and Meebo.

Thing 13. Library Thing

What a remarkable tool! So easy to use. I can place all my favorite books in my personal library and look at my collection at the touch of a button!! I can also look at what others are posting. I took at look at the "local library" for Jacksonville related events. Nothing showing right now. I am trying to link my page on Library Thing to my blog. I must be doing something wrong because it doesn't appear to be working. However. Here is the URL if you would like to look at my personal library collection: http://www.librarything.com/home/Cnth.jrdn
On to the next thing. . .

Thing 12 Wikis

The Wiki concept is good for "public" collaboration issues and subject guides. I can see limited uses for instructional material. The weakness of the wiki is in the editorial control and the fact that I may not want the entire web world to view every word or dicussion I have with someone else. I enjoyed browsing through some entries on the LIS Wiki--especially the "Annoyed Librarian" Blog. I am considering developing a new Wiki for Librarians titled "Between a Rock and a Hard Place--Survival of Librarians During a National Economic Downturn."

Wikipedia, by its very nature of being a publically edited entity limits its credibility for scholarly research. It falls under the old saying, "Don't believe everything you read!" There are times when you want to limit information by format so that the credibility is intact.

I edited the NEFLIN 23 Things Wiki. You can find my post under my blog name: FYI 23Things!

Thing 11. Social Media

This is the first time I have used a social media tool to recommend an article to others. I am a news addict so I signed-up for Newsvine. I found an article from the NY Times titled,"$25 Billion to Promote Electric Cars Is Untouched." I read it, "voted" in an attempt to place it higher on the reading list. Someone else had already "seeded" or recommended it to others on Newsvine. So, I added my comments to his already established trail of comments. Navigating through this site was fairly easy if one takes the time to go through the "Welcome" tour.

I view this particular tool as more of an "at home" tool rather than a work tool. I would like to view this during my spare time instead of at work. I think the tool can possibly be a productivity detractor at work, simply because it takes time to view this information and comment intelligently on the news. I do not have the time at work to utilize this tool effectively. However, when/if I retire it will be a great way to stay in contact with the outside world and write the world's next big blockbuster novel that will appear only online (of course)!

Thing 10 Tagging Delicious

Delicious is an amazing organizational tool. I can place everything I need on one site--except for my really private information. I know I can arrange certain sites so they are locked from public view, but, what good is a public site if one fills it up with private, non-viewable stuff?! It is great for storage of research also! Tagging and Delicious comes at a good time! I was going to so many 2.0 sites that I was beginning to wonder how I would keep up with it all. Creating a Delicious site makes it sooo much easier.

The potential of this tool in libraries and for librarians is simple: It keeps us organized! We handle so many jobs: research, digitizing, technology, website creation and maintenance, cataloging, circulation. It would help our patrons and the public at large to have a UNF library site on Delicious with tags for major departments and answers to questions. It is very easy to create and maintain and it can be accessed from anywhere. Here is the link to my delicious site: http://www.delicious.com/Lassie71

Thing 9. Slideshow Picture Trail

Hopefully this will work better than Flickr Badge. I have used Picture Trail to create a montage of different photos from the Bahamas and San Francisco that I have saved for awhile. I can definitely see a use for this tool in my library!! Presentations using Picture Trail can make a boring presentation visually interesting.

Thing 9. Slideshow Trying to Transport Image Onto Blog

As you can see here, my flash badge did not want to go through onto my blog so I finally settled for an html version of my photos. :( Very disappointed that the flash montage would not go through. Will speak to my technical advisor tomorrow. Would I recommend these sharing tools for photos or other creations? Not until I use them more and understand how to properly connect the code to my blog. Flickrbadge is fairly easy to navigate and understand but obviously I am missing something when the code I try to transport fails every time.

www.flickr.com cjjordan2001's San Francisco Day 1 photoset

Thing 9. Slideshow

I have been attempting to use flickrbadge to create a slideshow of my landscape photos of the San Francisco area. Unfortunately, the code does not seem to transfer to my blog. I will keep trying before I contact technical help tomorrow. I can see a definite use for this tool since I serve on a Library Committee that plans events on a monthly basis. All I have to do is figure out how to download the photos of these events into my flickr account to create the montage.