Teen catchup

Long time, no blog. Summer ended, then we got right back into the whirl and swirl of the school year. We ended our teen summer programs with Anime Fest, a day-long mini-mini anime convention. 50 teens attended and everyone seemed to have a blast. As always we are so lucky to have the Friends of the Palm Beach County Library system who are willing to foot the bill for pizza, Ramune (Japanese soda) and Pocky (Japanese snack food) for 50 hungry teens!

October is going to be another busy month with Teen Read Week smack in the middle of it. We are participating in the Pimp My Bookcart (otherwise known here as the "Trick my Book Truck") contest for the second year in a row. Wish us luck, our Teen Advisory Group has submitted some bang-up ideas so far. The Teen Read Week theme is "Books with Bite" so we're hosting a Twilight trivia contest. And we're ending the month with a Japanese Storytelling session hosted by *gulp* me. (I learned to love storytelling when I took a class in it from Dr. Henrietta Smith, one of the best courses I've ever taken, hands-down.) We're also hosting our standard monthly favorites: creative writing, Teen Advisory Group meeting, Pizza and Pages book discussion, Anime Grab Bag, Game Night and Movie Night.

It makes me sad to see blog use tapering off now that 23 Things has come to a close. Hello? Anybody else out there?

We are gearing up for Anime Fest here at Wellington. Anime Fest is an all-day celebration of all things anime, kind of like a mini-mini con. It's difficult to find time to work on it in between story times and special programs and typical summer reading program craziness, but we've been planning it since January so we're good to go.

Summary

#23 Is this really the end? Or just the beginning...

The best thing about the 23 Things exercise was discovering that PBCLS admin is embracing Library 2.0. I look forward to using myspace, flickr, blogs, wikis, etc. to connect with patrons, with fellow PBCLS staff and with librarians outside the system for a multitude of reasons. In the past I would have assumed my proposals to use web 2.0 technology/methodology would have been shot down. Only time will tell if PBCLS is ready to embrace the philosophy, not just the technology, behind Web 2.0.

Yes, if another exercise like this was made available I would definitely love to participate.

Overdrive

One of the best uses for downloadable audiobooks is learning languages, in my opinion. In the past I have downloaded audiobooks from our library to learn the basics of new languages and brush up on the ones I already know. Unlike the CDs you can check them out over and over (whereas if there are holds on your CDs you must return them).

Podcasts

I went to the NPR directory of podcasts and found some about poetry, religion and other topics of interest. When I listen to podcasts at home I find them via itunes. I have never put a podcast on my ipod, however--I am too much of a music fan. I have friends who religiously listen to podcasts and learn a lot about new technology that way.

Youtube

Here is a video I made of my dog. She is obsessed with apples! She doesn't act this way with stuff like cheese or meat, but if you eat an apple she is your best friend.



I chose this video because, uh, I made it.

My favorite youtube video of all time is the sneezing panda!



Uses for youtube embedded videos on the library page . . . hmm. Maybe commercials? I would be hesitant to post videos of people at programs because of the whole privacy thing but if we got permission forms, that could be a good way to market programs and services.

Powerpoint is your friend

Annmarie and I have had great luck using Powerpoint presentations to jazz up our teen programs. We have done several movies a la Rocky Horror, using powerpoint to indicate when attendees should do something (wave a prop, sing something, make a gesture, etc.). We also discovered last night that teens love trivia games! We created a game based on the Worst-Case Scenario books and had them work in teams of four to come up with a multiple-choice answer as a group. We had 32 total and the room was buzzing with discussion during the game. We will definitely use this format again for other trivia games.

Web 2.0 winners

First, I was sad that Goodreads didn't win for books. I love Goodreads!

I tried Mango Languages. I love learning languages and plan to learn Japanese on my own since taking an actual course and working the schedule I have will probably never happen. I liked that you could see the text and the pronunciation and everything had a little key if you moused over it. A lot of people come to the library to learn languages so this would definitely be a useful tool. It would probably be most useful if we had a "language lab" or something where people could speak the answers aloud. But it would also be good as a useful weblink so people could access it from home.

Zoho

I wanted something like this a long time ago. This is helpful as a writer since you can access all your documents from any computer. I think a backup is also useful. This is also obviously good for collaborative works. I have attended one workshop where the presenters created a suite of Google docs for attendees to read after the discussion. This was useful.

I already use google docs so I won't use this Zoho account any more.

PBCLS Wiki

I added my blog and mentioned a couple of my favorite books.

This is a good practice wiki but a real one would be much more organized and would have a specific purpose in mind.

My favorite wiki that is not wikipedia is Lostpedia. Even though the bloom is gone from the rose as far as I'm concerned. I used to refer to it all the time, however.

Wikis

The best part of wikis is the collaborative element and the ability to make changes on the fly.

I think libraries could use wikis behind the scenes to coordinate efforts. This would come in handy and require fewer meetings when planning large system-wide events such as the library's 35th anniversary celebration or a library grand opening or re-opening. It would be handy to keep track of the expansion projects as well.

Web 2.0 perspectives

I find it depressing and hilarious that the Library 2.0 wikipedia page has been marked as lacking sources. This actually fits the textbook definition of irony!

To me, Library 2.0 is more about perspective and communication than it is about technology. The technology is an important part of it but it should be a given at this point. You can learn about web 2.0 tools until the cows come home but until you're ready to actually implement them in your real day-to-day practices they don't mean a lot. We are all playing with these tools now but what are we going to do with them after this project is done? Will we still receive support from administration encouraging us to explore and use these ideas and tools or will it once more become "goofing off on the internet"? Will we be allowed to use creative ideas such as blogs, wikis and del.icio.us links to benefit our patrons or will our proposals be shot down because we are not trusted to be self-directed, and our patrons are not trusted to have so much unfettered input into library processes and practices? Only time will tell if this exercise was meant to be theoretical or practical.

Technorati

Evidently the Mousing Around tutorial is very popular nationwide, not just with PBCLS patrons! Cool to see that one of us created such an obviously useful tool.

Web 2.0 tags--I like the little graph that shows you how many times web 2.0 has been mentioned over the last month. Looks like the buzz has died down recently, maybe because bloggers would rather write about upcoming vacations than about web 2.0?

Del.ico.us

I have never used del.ico.us before but I have friends who use it religiously. I do love the portability aspect of this sort of thing, and tagging is definitely a good way to remember stuff for later. Imho the internet is already full of time-wasters and creating/using a del.ico.us account would just add to my tendencies to waste time instead of writing or doing homework.

This site is a great way for librarians to create a master list of good websites to recommend to patrons. Our old "useful weblinks" page is pretty static and many old links are no longer valid. A del.ico.us page could be updated easily by multiple people on an ongoing basis.

RSS

EDIT:

http://www.bloglines.com/public/amandawel

I already use the RSS function of my personal blog as a feedreader. I like getting everything in one click rather than having to visit a bunch of different websites to see if anybody's updated since I last checked.

I use RSS feeds mostly for fun, to keep up with webcomics and news sites I'm interested in. I could use it as a professional tool but I know from experience that I have friends who are completely overwhelmed by the number of feeds they subscribe to. I think it's smarter to keep the number of professional feeds you read small and really keep on top with them, rather than feeling like you have to read everything.

If libraries had blogs with RSS capability this could be helpful to patrons. I think this feature would be used much more in academic and special libraries, however. I can see students wanting to get updated when new databases were available, etc.

I added a feed from slowwave.com--it's a site where an artist turns people's dreams into comic strips. He has done three of mine over the years:

Everlost

Back in December, our teen advisory group picked Neal Shusterman's "Everlost" as our book discussion book. What we didn't know was that the author's uncle lives in the area, had seen the publicity for the program in the paper, and called him to tell him so. To our surprise, Neal called during our discussion and answered questions about the book and its upcoming sequels!

Just the other day Neal emailed me to let me know he had put the discussion questions Mimi and I had created on his website. Here they are if anybody's curious:

http://storyman.com/guides/EVERLOST.pdf

He is also sending us signed copies of his books to say thank you! I love my job.

Technology

The new technology which interests me the most is nanotechnology. When I first read Neal Stephenson's "The Diamond Age" years ago I became fascinated. I think the medical aspect of nanotech fascinates me the most--the idea that microscopic machines could be created to, say, be released in the body and destroy cancer cells. Of course there is a huge margin of error and potential for problems but if the technology can be perfected, it could be revolutionary.

Flickr

I created a flickr account (username: amandaatwel) and uploaded two photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26693888@N04/2502235704/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26693888@N04/2501407683/

Goodreads

Goodreads is one of the best book-related web 2.0 sites I have found. I started using it in early 2007 to keep track of the books I read. I read so much that I forget what I've read and don't usually hold on to important plot points, like the endings of books! Through the magic of Goodreads I was able to track all the books I read in 2007 alone (70) and pick my favorites and least favorites of the year.

I even had a brush with stardom through Goodreads! Diana Tixier Herald read a blog entry I wrote about Cory Doctorow's new book "Little Brother," browsed my profile and added me as a friend in Goodreads. She commented that we have very similar taste in books! (Diana Tixier Herald is the author of books such as "Genreflecting" and "Teen Genreflecting.") When I got her message and friend request you could have knocked me over with a feather.

Anyway, here is my Goodreads page:

http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/32652

Here today . . .

It has been fun poking around and finding various coworkers' blogs . . . which may or may not disappear and then be reinstated.

This is the last week of story times, then we get a break until the second week of June. Over the past 8 years I have gotten used to the rhythm of story times and the craziness that is summer. I always actively look forward to and actively dread summer at the same time. This will be the first year I only look forward to summer. If Spring Break was any indication, summer will be busy but pleasant. During the school year we play host to about 15-20 4th and 5th graders who come here after school every day from about 2:10 p.m. to 5 or onward. Dealing with these kids every day is hands-down the most draining, punishing part of my job. Even if summer completely slams us, the reward of not having to deal with these unsupervised troublemakers every day will seem blissful in comparison!

Butterfly gardening

I had 57 at my butterfly gardening program this afternoon. I love it when everything comes together. I caught the butterfly gardening bug from a co-worker a few years ago and have had great success with it at home. I made a powerpoint presentation showing photos of butterflies at all stages, from egg to adult. I bought a few plants to show the kids and was happy to find three monarch butterfly eggs on the leaves of the milkweed plant I bought. I took the plant around and made sure every child in the room saw the tiny eggs.

A few weeks ago I saw two co-workers do a presentation on what they learned at PLA. One of them stressed how important it is to do science programming at the library. The children today seemed so excited to learn about caterpillars and butterflies. Several parents said they would definitely be interested in creating butterfly gardens at home after learning about them today.

Blogs in libraries

For your second post share your ideas on how blogging can be used in libraries.

I already talked about this a little bit in my first post. I use my own blog to keep track of programs I've done, recording my impressions. I've referred to old entries several times when planning new programs. I also like the "portability" of a blog--it's a good place to "store" impressions, facts, and photos if I need to move them around or share them with people, rather than having them stuck on my home or work computer.

Public blogs for libraries can be used either as a staff communication/development tool, or as a way to keep the public abreast of happenings. I like to read the blogs of other librarians for program ideas and perspective on my own job. I don't think the public cares about library staff's personal feelings and observations, but they would like to subscribe to blogs that let them track, say, the children's programs at RPB or the adult programs at SWC, and maybe a general branch blog that would post alerts about holiday closings, schedules for tax help or early voting, and so on.

7 1/2 Habits

Whoops, I didn't read the directions before I wrote my first post.

Your first post should be on how you feel about the Seven and 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners from week 1; discuss what you feel will be the most difficult part for you and why?

I don't think I have a problem embracing lifelong learning. I'm still in school and I already spend a lot of my free time learning stuff on my own. What will be the most difficult part? I don't know. I guess time will tell as we are encouraged to set goals? Doing a podcast might be a bit difficult if that is one of the 23 things we will be doing.

Me and the internets, the internets and me

Pretty neat that the library is actively embracing 2.0. I have the library to thank for my initial internet exposure: SEFLIN actually enabled me to get my first taste when I was still in high school. I used the SEFLIN Freenet to get online, email and participate in local and worldwide forums. I also used it for IRC (internet relay chat, the precursor to instant messaging). I started my first blog in 2001 and haven't stopped. I use my personal blogs to record details about my life, keep in touch with friends who are far away, network with other children's library folk, network with aspiring and published authors, and more. I also write private entries where I record details of teen programs I have presented so I can keep track of what worked, what didn't, etc. I have them all categorized together so it's easy for me to see at a glance all the programs we've done since WEL re-opened last summer. Personal enjoyment aside, blogging has been a great organizational tool for me.

My fellow teen program coordinator and I know that web 2.0 tools are not merely important or innovative or exciting for the teens we work with, they simply are. Communicating online in a multitude of ways is second nature to them. We are hoping with the system-wide excitement of 2.0 we will be allowed to start a Wellington Teen myspace page so we can publicize our programs and send myspace email reminders to our attendees.