23 things over and out!

YaY! Finished before the deadline. What an achievement.

To help with work the concept of writing a blog helped. Photo sharing could be useful for both work and home. RSS feeds have helped with current awareness. Face book has helped with social and work networks.

The library could use lots of these technologies for a better service. We could set up a library blog...but who would read it? We could set up a library flickr...as long as the pictures were authorized and agreed to by those in the pictures. We could have Google maps on the library web page for location. That could be interesting. We could share our delicious links, but just get more overwhelmed with information. We could create our own YouTube videos. Could be helpful with remote presentation and/or for 24/7 demos of how to do things at point of need.

23 things could be improved by allowing more parameters for participants. For example one person who tried to put a full effort into it, got frustrated, and didn't get into it. Another who because of work time restraints and lack of enthusiasm has not participated. It is a hard call and there are so many of us at various points but it might have been good to run more group sessions earlier on maybe. For those of us in the outer campuses it has been harder to get the peer support that has occurred in some of the larger campuses I believe.

I think I will keep blogging. I started out thinking that I was meant to use it as a traditional blog and started telling my RTW (Return To Work) story but quickly got waylaid to just finish the 23 things and not think about myself. It was good therapy to start off with :-) I will continue to use many of the tools and toys learnt through this process. On Face Book I now have a communication tool with some of my relatives and friends that I did not have before. I have also connected with some friends from my deep dark past! I will want a permanent record of some of the instructions, as some were just dashed through to finish the 23 things without much thought of how to go back and actually do them with knowledge and/or how I might be able to instruct someone else to do it.

The 23 things team deserve full marks for a job well done! It has certainly been an excellent talking point around the library traps to ask how you are going, and what you have been learning as well as an excellent learning exercise.

Web Based Communication

I've used various instant messaging before. Yahoo, chat rooms, etc. Had a quick look at Google contact, but didn't want to stuff around with trying to get a colleague to chat with me.

I'm very interested in Skype, and have seen Jane demo it a couple of times. My brother in law recently worked in China and used Skype to call us on our land line. I, like another library blogger, don't have broadband at home, so don't think I could implement at home, but might give it a go in future.

There was a concept to use Skype for a Staff Development Committee meeting. It might happen in my life time?

I have seen instant messaging used in libraries as an alternative to InfoQuest. It requires someone to be ready and available at the point when client wants you though. I think I still like to use the phone. Maybe I'm just a bit of a luddite.

PodCast

I love the Life Matters program on Radio National, and the Conversation Hour on 774, so have subscribed and podcast them to my Google Reader. It took a bit of back tracking to week 9 to recall how to get into my Google Reader and subscribe.

Got excited with Video PodCasting and tried to relive some of the Tour De France highlights from SBS, but the downloads took a long time, and eventually was just an mp3 of the audio. Might have a look at the Australians. And with the ABC I love Enough Rope. Tried to download an episode but at 11.8 MB seems a BIG download for the University to be paying for just for my entertainment!

YouTube

I'm quite familiar with YouTube and have used it for some time. It can be a good time waster. The copyright though is a bit suss!

YouTube Monty Python - Gorilla Librarian interview

A colleague put me onto this. Very funny.

You Tube Mr. Bean in the Library

You would hate to have to police a patron like this!

Pet/s on Wiki

Added pictures of my 2 cats onto Library Pet Wiki. Seemed okay. It is easy when you are following directions!

Library 2 Experiences

I have had a wide range of Library 2 experiences. It will be interesting as Encore is rolled out how the more traditional student and older generation folk will handle it. I personally find some library 2 tools a bit confusing and scattered. For example a very generic interface like Ebsco 2 I get annoyed at as I might want to search specifically for a journal title and/or an author and year but the generic interface won't allow for such "advanced search functions".

When using such tools as Amazon I don't like the prompt of what else I might want to buy. Feels like going to McDonalds and getting asked if I want fries with that. If I want fries I will ask for them!