The 23rd Thing

Well, here we are at the end of 23 Things. The time has really flown by, and as I look back over my blog posts I am amazed at how much we covered (and discovered). To keep this one simple and organized, I am going to use libraryjoy’s prompts:

1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?

• RSS (once I got the hang of it)
• Google docs – I am using these like crazy now
• CML’s Power Tools
• Twitter (a surprise favorite – I didn’t think I’d be interested in it at all!)

2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?

• The program has served to remind me that exploring new technologies and trends is, in fact, work-related and is certainly a large part of the daily on-the-job learning I do. It has also made me realize that lifelong goals can be quite small and simple (ie. exploring twitter or leaving a post or comment on a blog). I think the exercises in this program have also enabled me to see learning/discovery opportunities more readily and encouraged me to apply these to what we at the library do or to what I myself do in my daily work.

3. Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?

• Yes – that I actually like blogging! Before beginning Learn & Play I had never considered that I might have anything to post on a blog. But, it’s amazing all the things you come up with once you get started.
• I also feel I’ve gotten to know some of CML’s staff better (through blogging and twitter).

4. What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?

• Hmmm, it was really done quite well! The Learn & Play team listened to staff when we said we needed more time. The right balance was struck in offering staff encouragement/reminders/updates without overkill or making us feel bombarded.
• Maybe next time there could be more “featured participants”. This seems to have become a trend over the last week or two, and I really like it. In the future, maybe that can be incorporated throughout the entire program. The videos that the Learn & Play team have done with various participants have enabled me to check out some of the many staff blogs with the bonus of being able to put a face to the post.

5. If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you participate?

• Yes, I would definitely participate in something like this again.

Power Tools

I was scrolling through the Power Tools page looking for something to blog about for Thing #19, and I noticed that OCLC’s World Cat is promoted here. Good! World Cat makes such great information available and I think it’s an often-overlooked resource.

A couple of posts back I wrote about the new ways that OCLC plans on incorporating Web 2.0 technologies into their database. Things like tagging, reviews, list creation and list sharing to name a few. These are definitely “power tools” because they are giving over some of the power to the user, and with that power the user is able to put these web sites to work for himself.

I’d like to see CML apply some of these power tools and widgets in the near future. Customers (and staff) would certainly make use of tagging, reviews, and lists. Having a “currently checked-out” widget would be fun as well as useful–sort of an extra reminder of what materials you have checked out!

Anyway, since World Cat wasn’t a new discovery for me, I am exploring TechCrunch for Thing #19. Wow, there are blog posts about a ton of tech things that I am not familiar with! But, I think I will start subscribing to its blog feeds. I could learn more about Web 2.0, and I like the humor within the posts. Like this one, about the top Google searches during the Presidential Debates. Or, this one, which uses twitter feeds to illustrate the destruction of Bloglines!

tweet, tweet

I created a twitter account, and posted a couple tweets for this Learn and Play exercise. I guess I have mixed feelings about it. I like the idea that I could go down to Barnes & Noble or something to hang out, tweet about it, and then possibly find out a friend was somewhere nearby and we could “randomly” get together. That said, though, it seems like people spend a lot of time tweeting back and forth about what they are doing instead of actually doing it. And, sometimes all these blogs and tweets and IMs and texts just make people seem self-absorbed.

On the contrary, though, I do think it’s cool that libraries are using twitter the same way they are using flickr, facebook, and myspace: as a way to connect with people that is very easy, free, and “pushes” the library out into the face of potential library users who may not come to us. Since Columbus is a large and very diverse city, I think it makes perfect sense to create a twitter page to promote some of our programs or resources. Or, if we followed discussions on twitter about, say wi-fi, CML would be able to inform/remind people that we have free, unlimited access. It would also be an additional venue to post news or updates about power outages, closings, website problems or special events.