WEEK 22 - THING 19: MULTIMEDIA

I'm guess YouTube can be a lot of fun, can be an educational tool and can be used in many positive ways, but for me it would mostly be a waste of work time since (once again) I do not have a home computer. I have been sent some really interesting (funny) YouTube videos, but I never go to the site just to play around. That said, the video I have chosen, "Librarians Do Goga," presented by "Librarians of the Future" is one a friend sent and is a creative, eye catching way to introduce a library staff and perhaps make the library seem less of a "stogy" place.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_uzUh1VT98

WEEK 20 - THING 18 AUDIOBOOKS

Beth Farrell's article was very informative, much of it mirrored some of the pros and cons I have heard before. I really enjoy listening to books-on-tape, especially on long trips, but the technology to support them can be daunting--nevermind the pricing. Her statements "All players and readers are different and everyone has a different problem" and "everything in the downloadable audiobook industry is subject to change, at lightning speeds" were right on the mark.

As I have embarrassingly and too often said in former blogs, I have chosen not to have a home computer until I retire (or change my mind) and the VCCS isn't licensed to install OverDrive's software on our library computers, but during a trial period, I did download a book to my MP3. Our local library has a dedicated OverDrive station which so far I haven't felt the need to use it. We have some signs around our library about the availability of OverDrive, but since it has to be used by our patrons at home, we don't always know for certain if or how often they are using it.

How wonderful that LibriVox is trying to record every public domain book though I wonder if listening to a different voice for every chapter would be a bit disconcerting. I like their tag line "Acoustical liberation of books in the public domain!" Oh how easy sharing all kinds of media used to be!!

WEEK 18 - THING SEVENTEEN

Oh dear, another site to join--but I love the idea of not only keeping track of what I read but being able to access the favorite reads of my friends. This is new to me; I've been keeping a manual alphabetic list which has grown by leaps and bounds and is defintely not very efficient. I looked briefly at LibraryThing and shelfari but decided to join goodreads simply because it is the only one I had heard anything about. Someday, when I have a home computer and lots of time (retirement??), I would love to create a list of my shelves, my favorites, etc. and share them with friends. I added some books that I have really enjoyed in the past year. It will remain my secret for now that I do enjoy books that would fall in the catagories of "guiltypleasures" and "chicklit" though I do try to have at least one "serious" book going at the same time.

http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/4211271

WEEK 17 - THING 16 E-BOOKS

I don't have a Kindle or Nook and often wondered if I would like one enough to pay the original cost as well as the cost per download. My nephew has an I-PAD with lots of titles he downloaded from Project Gutenberg for a small donation. I was impressed in that he could change font sizes and background but it obviously was too big for a pocketbook size carry around. My niece who travels a lot in her job, has a Kindle and loves it. I do think it is a wave of the future for personal use but am fearful of e-books as a replacement for paper editions in libraries for the reasons given by zenbrarian who commented on St Leo's "wired library--they are not owned so vendors can raise costs, can't ILL them, etc. The main plus is that sources like NetLibrary and Safari (both of which we have) open connections to titles we would not ordinarily order for our collection. However, our students are often disappointed when a title that seems to be just what they want comes up as an "electronic resource." I played around a bit with PsychBooks and thought it a really good source especially for an advanced student looking for more than the usual casual researcher would require.

WEEK 16 - THING 15 - CREATIVE COMMONS

The Creative Commons concept is a great idea and hopefully will allow better and easier collaborations for greater project successes. I looked up "Artistic Club" on the CC Contents site and was impressed at how the lack of copyright restrictions allowed so much creative sharing to take place. While I understand the idea behind the law that makes everything one does automatically copyrighted, it often causes problems and impedes progress in the development of ideas, etc. That said, it seems to me that the four categories necessarily allowed under CC could also have the potential to be a bit cumbersome. Flickr has helped to make that easier.

I think this is wonderful information for a library to be able to share, so I am glad to have had the opportunity to learn about CC. It seems our professors could benefit from being familiar with how to find "free" materials to present to their classes. I don't think I would hesitate to allow whatever I do to be shared. I remember presenting a program several years ago, and being asked to write it up for publishing. Because I had used material (ideas) from many sources, drawing from memories of things I had read or discussed, etc., I couldn't be sure that I had not crossed the copyright line, so I declined. The program had involved considerable work on my part, and I would have loved to have made it available for others to use. (Perhaps I'm so willing because I'm pretty sure that nothing I create has a real monetary value!!)

WEEK 16 - THING 8 SCREENCASTING

This is going to take a bit of time, so hopefully, more later!

WEEK 13 - THING 14 - ONLINE SURVEYS

Okay, I had to "mess" around a bit, but in the end this was a fun and informative project. I had a lot of trouble saving the survey to be accessible through a URL.

My survey is located at:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dEt5UmFZZEZvdmNoWlcyNUg0M09XSlE6MQ#gid=0

or better yet, the shortened form:

bit.ly/d92v9p