(Thing #23) Grand Finale

I made it! It took a bit of extra time and work, but I'm glad I participated, regardless of the prize. I learned a lot; I became familiar with several programs I'd heard about but hadn't delved into 'til this project. So, even though I won't necessarily continue to use all the programs myself, I'm glad I had a chance to familiarize myself with what's out there.



One thing I realize, after looking back through my life-long learning goals from the first couple of blogs is that I'm better at jumping in and trying something new. I think, over time, I've gotten more comfortable about using my 'tool box' consisting of friends, co-workers, reading the directions, etc. When I know that what I need to learn will help me to be more helpful to other people, it motivates me to dig in and figure it out. I've noticed this when using NCLive- I really want people to use it, which makes me want to know how to explain it better.

I think Goodreads has made a fun, helpful connection between a number of us- it's turned into a good way to keep in touch with staff from the other libraries. On that subject, I still think some sort of inter-library communication devise- wiki or otherwise- would be very beneficial.

To answer the last question, yes, I'd do this again! There's always more to learn, and more to teach.

(Thing #22) NetLibrary

It took me a minute to find where I could browse our collection of eAudiobooks- which is embarassing because you'd think I would have looked into this a little more closely already.


I liked being able to hear a sample of the story, especially since some books don't have descriptions included in their Details section.


I think it will be good if we all take a closer look at how to download eAudiobooks so we're able to give patrons a little run-down on how it works- what devices it works with- renewal issues, etc. We have such a wealth of resources available that their, and our, tax dollars are helping pay for, so I really want to do a better job of letting everyone know what's here for their education and entertainment. One important question- will the MP3 players we requested be compatible with NetLibrary books? That would definitely be an incentive to do some detailed searching!

(I'm posting this ahead of Thing 21 since I'm still working on figuring out podcasts... BUT, I've figured out how to change the order of my posts in case I want to them to be in order later.)

(Thing #21) Pod People

I guess I'm not a pod person... not yet at least. All the download options intimidated me, and so I decided to wait and try it at home with a podcast from someone I know. I realize there's so much out there that I'd like to listen to... all the 'This American Life' episodes that I miss now that I work on Thursday nights.

I went back to Sarah's post and found links to some new podcast sites. I went to PodcastPickle and was a little overwhelmed by what I could find. It was easy to use, but I felt like I was randomly browsing for something that caught my attention. I looked at the Top 100 podcasts, and came across Grammar Girl's Quick & Dirty Tips to Better Writing. I learned that when writing something that's to be read aloud, you can use the 'k' sound in order to add more humor. Don't know why, but she talked about research using variations of a similar joke, where the variation with more 'k' sounds got the most laughs. Go figure. (Oh, and let me know if you want to hear the joke!)

Realizing how easy it is to listen to a podcast from the computer, I decided to check out This American Life. It was nice to look for something to listen to through a familiar space, rather than on a general podcast search site. I was able to listen to any episode for free, but if I'd wanted to download something from the archives- anything but the most recent show, it would cost ninety-five cents. Since I don't have an MP3 player yet I haven't tried downloading, but I can imagine using that later.

(Thing #20) You Can Learn Anything on YouTube

I signed in to YouTube through my gmail account and registered this blog- that made it easy to add a video to my site. In fact, it showed up as a blog post before I even had a chance to write about it! I decided to look for salsa dance instructions. There are dozens. I liked that I could narrow my options to 'couple' instructions. I watched parts of a few videos, and chose this one... The extra comments he's posted cracked me up before I even got to listen to explanations (yes I'm editing this from the reference desk) so I figured the real instruction would be good but humorous at the same time- the way a dance instructor should be, in my opinion!
I found it very easy to use YouTube. I've learned from experience (not having actual television) that it can be addicting since one video will lead you to dozens of related videos. The challenge is figuring out how to use it at the library. So many patrons already know about it, and I don't see any of our MCPL staff jumping into creating a video for the library, but maybe I'm wrong- it's an interesting idea!
I never was able to upload the video while working in Blogger; I went back to YouTube, where I'd registered my blog, and added it from there. So, there it is.

Sexy Salsa Dancing : Complex Salsa Dance Move

I'm thinking it might be easier to add from YouTube, rather than add it from BlogSpot...

Slight Delay...

Argh. I am having trouble getting the YouTube video I chose to show up on my blog. It's there; I edit text; it disappears... It seemed so simple at first!

I'll check with some of my resident experts when we're all here tomorrow.

(Thing #19) Web 2.0 Award Winners

I jumped into the 'Fun' sites, and discovered One Sentence. Submit a story in one concise sentence, and realize how much can be told in just a few words. It reminds me of Frank Warren's book 'Post Secret' and as I read through the One Sentence blog, I found out that they're in the process of publishing a book as well. I'll have to add it to the collection when it comes out.



I also checked out the Education sites, and I can't wait to try out SpanishPod, Mango, and LiveMocha for their language lessons. (I can't exactly do that at the reference desk!) I poked around in all of them though; I was excited to see that the first language on Mango is Brazilian Portuguese. I want to learn more of that. I'll definitely check that out, and hopefully I'll be able to recommend these sites as complements to our books and audios on language learning.

I'm wondering what the rest of you have to recommend as far as music sites. I've never used an MP3 player before, so I'm curious... let me know what you've used! Thanks!