#27 - This Is The End, Sort Of

It is difficult to suggest "what is next" as the current 27 Things are being digested and put into practice.

The natural development of the Internet and its capabiltities may determine what is next. I am sure that if we wait just a little bit some new options will appear on the horizon.
Also, it might be nice to take a topic an expand on the possibilities.

Nonetheless, thanx for the wonderful experience.

#26 - No, Seriously, Tell Us What You Think

Oh my,...where to begin?

Keeping up with the changes in Library Servics has always been one of my goals. Although I have felt left behind as the new technology grows and expands, I have never held back in learning new "stuff." Patrons have always received the best service from the staff in our cluster, and these services will continue to grow. This exercise has helped me most of all in continuing to be a "lifelong learner" by helping me to keep up the Internet. This process has given me a shot in the arm and the confidence that our patrons will continue to receive the best service in the future. So, instead of merely hearing about "blogging", this exercise has really helped me to "know" about blogging. That also applies to My Space, You Tube, Bloglines and the other factors that we looked at through this exercise.

My favorite discoveries are Blogging, Bloglines, You Tube, and the online software. There are so many options. The best part of the exercise has been the discovery new, at least to me, information resources on the internet. Podcasts have openned a whole new light of keeping up with the changes in the world. Being able to carry books, movies, news events around in your pocket is really amazing. Now if I only had an iPOD. hahahha

Yes, the help was enough. It often challenged me to stretch my capabilties and to reach beyond my limits. Most of all, I want to thank Valarie Kitiona, Helen Ferluga, Toni Botello, and many others for their assistance and patience with my ignorance. Sometimes my questions were endless in my attempt to understand the newest "Thing." Most of all the importance of computers in libraries is only limited by the lack of space that we can provide for these tools. Our libraries need more computers to facilitate the access to information and knowledge. In addtion, libraries also need to make room for the phyical resources to support the limitless Internet Resources. These materials will enhance our credibility most importantly with our patrons as well as with the library field, and other librarians. After all, this balance of resources has been the hallmark of library service for generations. Hence, my future goal is to master our patron's accessibilty to the internet, and to have enough computers to meet the needs of our patrons. Hmmm perhaps an impossible dream, but I hope not.

Thinking of ways to improve the process is difficult for me. Many of these tasks are new and they are still being digested by myself. The important outcome is my eagerness to use these Internet tools which helps me to continue to learn more.

Similar training in the future would be great. Having the deadline was especially helpful because without it the exercise would have been lost. The dealine help me to keep going and not to let it rest too long.

I am very glad to have participated in the program and I will do so again.

thanx to everyone for all of the work that went into its preparation.

Greg

#25 - Something To Do With That MP3 Player

This option is wonderful. There are numerous titles that would work well on my MP3 Player. Thatis, if I had an MP3 Player. A title of interest is "The Woman in Green" is a Sherlock Holmes mystery. Other titles of interest are "Surely you are joking! Mr. Feynman" and War in Peace.
There are so many opportunities to listen to these items without having to carry a book, especially a book as heavy as War and Peace. Also, it is just a little embarrassing to be caught reading such a book in public. If an MP3 Player was available for my use, this title, War and Peace, would be available to me while riding the bus or sitting in the park. Not to fool myself; that is, once a nerd always a nerd. hahhaha ...but true.

Actually, with summer approaching reading the classics is a perfect option.
After all, it is the one time of the year when you have ooodles of time while sitting on the beach, or resting after a hike in the forest, or merely sitting on your adirondack chair in the backyard. Nothing to do with plenty of time to do it.
These sunny moments are the perfect time to read a "GREAT" classic.

#24 - Podcast, Podcasts

The Theatre of the Mind was the most helpful to me as a librarian.
We often have patrons come into the library and ask for these materials. Since KCLS cannot house every item in the world, this gives us the opportuntiy to show patrons where they can find these items on the Internet, and listen to them through various Podcasts. I have also found the Podcasts from news agencies like the BBC to be helpful too. If you choose a story of interest then you can do an RSS feed to the story. Whenever the BBC updates the story, then you will be notified at Bloglines. This connection makes it much easier to keep track of current events and their development.

#23 - Video In The Post-Betamax World

WOW

This exercise is way cool, like there are oodles of hours of YOuTube time to be wasted....at home of course.
So, the following films have been embedded into the side elements of my blog:

I love Sky
Ice Climbing
Running Machine
Lion Sleeps Tonight

#22 - Choose Your Own Adventure

Well, the Choose your own Adventure is not very adventurous.
In fact it is rather boring. Knowing what other people are doing in real time is of no interest to me. Especially when their activities are rather uneventful to say the least. Others are good for finding tickets, and planning trips, but Travelocity is good enough for me. Some of these sites would be great for networking for people with nothing to do. Many of these items are not as helpful for the average librarian because they are well organized. But, that's OK.

#21 - The labs of Google

Labs of Google seems to be the next best feature of this process of 27 Things.
Besides, our cluster is having Learning 2.0 "IN" thing for the staff at 8am, and I snarfing a bagel and downing a few orange juices to help pass the time.

I chose the FUN and the Geeky bundles because this exercise is too much fun and personality is becoming too Geeky for most of my friends, and otherwise fun group.

Goodle trends may prove to be very interesting, but it is hard to tell before exploring these trends more.

Although I have been using Google for a long time, there are many features for me to learn about. Having fun in Burien.

#20 - Online Software

This new online software is really cool. the idea that I can create any document anywhere in the country is wonderful. creating these documents while traveling is great. After returning home the dcument can be copied into my computer and developed later.

Afer trying our both Google and Zoho the latter had the most attractive features. The many more features of Zoho had its greatest appeal to me. Having the option of sharing docuemnts with others presents a great deal of really cool options. If our libraries become more familiar with these options, it will provide our patrons of creating documents and saving them longer than Saturday night. And, they should really like the idea of accessing them here, there and everywhere.

#19 - Library 2.0

Libraries on the Web have a fantastic future.
Stopping to recall all of the wonderful resources on the Internet has been a wonderful experience. Materials are avalable that never would have come to light on my own.
Whole books are now available for people to read such as Inglorious Columbus by Vining and Revolt of the Masses by Jose Oretega y Gassett. The entire Summa Theologica can be easily researched as well as T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets.
But more important are the wonderful networking that I have found through this extercise to contact others on a variety of research topics.
There really is a Library Community, but perhaps it is best to think of it as a Research Community too.

Although we do not need to keep the "Just-in-Case" collection, librarians need to be more knowledgeable about their field to keep what will be most useful to our public.
Libraries may not have a monopoly on the resources of the world, but we have the opportunity to help our patrons to find materials that would not otherwise be readily available.

The above is the new world of librarianship. Librarians are here to assist our patrons in finding materials and learning how to utilize the resources on the Internet. Still, it remains the patron's responsibility to put these resource to work for them. Hence, the doors of creativity and knowledge of the world continues to expand. Libraries, and the Librarians that help them, are becoming the great equalizing force for the common man by making the world's resources and communities available to even the humblest person.

#18 - Search What You Like

Rollyo vs Google


Rollyo was very likeable and the descriptions of website searches seems to be clearer.
Nonetheless, I prefer the overall page of Google.
Google's main page remains the best organized after an internet search. Most importantly, it is easy for me to understand. If it is too sophisticated it looses me. Webpages need to be both function and appealing to the eye.

My igoogle page has been established with lots of interesting stuff.
May animated heading has a little fox, (i think) that goes through a daily routine. He (i think) leaves his house and paddles across the pond to pick some apples (i think). All the while, the sun drifts across the sky above Mt Rainier. Then, the little fox feeds his ducks, does some fishing, drinks tea, and heads home for a good night's sleep.

And, it is all set for the correct time zone.

On the main page:

Weather for my home
Flickr Photos (changes daily)
This Day in History (from the History Channel)
How to of the Day
ESPN
Movies
Top Stories

On my Fun Stuff Tab:

Pac Man 2.4
Current Moon Phase (and other heavenly topics)
Joke of the Day (hmmm, a little racey at times, but funny)
Wikipedia search box
and Dictionary.com


But I am biased in this regard, as I have had Google for several years now.

#17 - Play, then catch up or take a break

These Generator Blog LIst can be lots of fun.
Actually, my favorite is the Burma-Shave Haiku Generator.
As a kid, these signs were along Hwy 20 from Illinois to Iowa.
I always enjoyed them while on our weekend vacations.
OUr family had also seen them in Wisconsin, So. Illinois and Michigan.
Lots of fun.

The Maze Generator was also an entertaining site.

And my South Park Character looks like a Pirate.
Mr. Pirate can be found in the middle of this blog.

#16 - Join the Wiki collective

Well, the task is done.
Geoduck should be listd there with the other outstanding "best blogs ever."

#15 - Wikis you'll know and love

The Wikis encyclopedia has always been appealing to me.
One of my hopes for the internet was to see such an encylopedia.
Although occasional errors are found, the mistakes are not a real problem.
The website is adequately refereed to keep its data reliable.
Regardless of the source of informaiton, it still remains the responsibility of the researcher to verify the information through other supporting primary and secondary resources. After all, any book published has at least a handful of errors in them.
Yet, we do not stop using the "hardcopy" reference materials. Another great online encyclopedia is the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy at...

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/maritain/

This resource is absolutely fabulous and contains informtion on most any person or topic related to philosophy. In addition, the articles are by individuals of note in this field of study. For example, the article about Jacque Maritain, an famous thomist of the 20th Century, was composed by Ralph McInerny. He is the Dean of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame and the author of the Father Dowling Mysteries.


The SJCPL Subject Guides were interesting, but most likely not appealing to the general public. The RSS Feed was there, and that would be helpful to librarians and researchers.

I also thought the Book Lovers Wiki at the Princeton Public Library was excellent for the general public. Still, Librarians need to learn how to be a little more jazzy in the presentation of the materials and web-based information in order to appeal to the younger general public.