Life in the Best Little Library

SUE'S SITES FOR STUDENTS

2008-01-25T12:29:00.000-08:00

I loved this week's work. Sites for Students could truly be a godsend.

I toured 4 of the sites as I just couldn't get enough of them and wanted to see as much as time would allow. I loved Zoho Writer and Backpack and signed up for both of them. It seemed to me that Zoho Writer was so intuitive and could be a great help to anyone with a computer but not able to afford purchasing Word. It was so simple and fun to use! I am hoping that I will be able to spend some more time on Backpack. I am a person who loves to make "To Do" lists, so this is right up my alley. The other 2 sites I visited were OpenOffice and Stikkit. Neither of these appealed to me very much. OpenOffice might be nice, but it just seemed way more difficult than Zoho Writer.

I think that both Zoho Writer and Backpack would be useful to almost anyone--students on up to anyone still able to use a computer. I know that I will recommend them to my patrons.

I FEEL LIKE A TWITTERING OLD FOOL

2008-01-23T16:09:00.000-08:00

I think I had the most trouble with this one. I did the assignment, but so much of it is still unclear to me. I guess I just have to remember that these lessons are just introductions to the various forms of social networking and not expect to be proficient.

I must admit though that I do like the short and sweet messages and not having to write long essays.

I found Annabelle at unionforge and also others in the generic kitsaplibrary account. It sounds like TS is quite busy changing the itypes on all of the large print books!

I am not sure how Twitter could help us here at KRL.

TO FACEBOOK OR NOT TO FACEBOOK

2008-01-23T14:39:00.000-08:00

After taking the Facebook tour and reading the article by Meredith Farkas, I am still not so sure if I like the idea of this particular site's place in the library. I have always been a rather cautious person and the whole idea sounds a bit scary to me. The other social networking sites didn't have this effect on me. In fact, I readily signed up for most of them. I did not sign up for Facebook.

So, I guess I would have to say that at this point I would want to wait as I am just not so sure about it.

WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL WIKIS

2008-01-23T10:38:00.000-08:00

Today I added 2 sections to our branch wiki. Time permitting, I will enjoy finessing this a little at a time. So far, I have worked alone with the additions, but I would like to have all of my staff have input, especially concerning their skills and hobbies.

I am enjoying the whole krl2.0 curriculum although at this point I am a few weeks behind. There is just not enough time for everything and sometimes this gets shoved to the back burner.

I would really like to see all of the branches have info about their branches in their wikis. This is what I miss the most about our website. Years ago when we first had a KRL website, there was a little section of history, etc. on each branch. Since that part is now gone, maybe the wikis could be an alternate way of having a little branch history, etc.

Little Boston Library's Wiki

2007-12-26T15:32:00.000-08:00

So far, I have only had a chance to edit our wiki. I wrote up a short history of the branch. I am sure I forgot much, but will keep working on it as a work in progress. One of our staff members (Claudia) will maybe work on this tomorrow and get some photos posted. I would like this to be a joint venture including all of our staff.

I would like to see all of the departments and branches tell us a little about themselves with history and other interesting tidbits.

I think that I would rather have these wikis be internal only--just for KRL staff. I already shared in my earlier blogpost how KRL as a whole could have a Readers' Favorites wiki. This one could have input from both staff and patrons.

Kitsap Readers' Favorites

2007-12-26T13:31:00.000-08:00

I really liked the Stevens County wiki. It looks like they thought of almost everything.

I thought about what KRL could offer on our wiki and the idea came to me that we could have a similar one to Stevens County, but we could call it "Kitsap Readers' Favorites." We could ask for input from all of our staff and patrons and have a website of lists of favorites, including: Books, Restaurants, Galleries, Movies, Schools, Parks, Neighborhoods, Recipes, Churches, Outdoor Activities, Indoor Activities and any other lists of favorites that we could think of.

Sometimes I find that I would just like some new ideas and would love to see lists from others in our area. Guidebooks are usually written by someone off in New York or wherever and I would just like something written by our neighbors right here in Kitsap County.

The value that I see in wikis and especially in one using my idea is that it would be continually in a state of change, with favorites being added often.

YouTube is Probably for You but Maybe Not For Me

2007-12-13T10:58:00.000-08:00

YouTube really is an exciting way for anyone to share their videos with the world. I enjoyed picking some of my favorite subjects and viewing what was offered.

I did have a major problem with it though on some of the videos I attempted to watch. My vision is not the best and I found that I had a hard time focusing my eyes before the videos moved along to the next scenes. I know that it is just a problem with my vision that I have had for years, but it did frustrate me.

I didn't have a problem with all of them though. I particularly enjoyed the 2 KRL videos I watched--the one featuring Dottie Mae and also the one about the notorious and smelly salmon. They seemed to be a bit better quality and my eyes didn't have a problem with them.

To sum it up, I probably will not use this very often, but it is nice to know it is there and available.

Booklady's Bunch of Books

2007-11-14T12:40:00.001-08:00

Library Thing is a wonderful tool to use for readers' advisory. I am sure I will use this often when asked for a good Christian fiction book or author.

I love books and I love to make lists, so this is right up my alley. This is by far my favorite new technology. I think it could almost become addictive for me if I am not careful. I began by adding books by 3 of my favorite authors. I added 29 of my favorites and found I was having way too much fun, so had to quit for now.

FANTASTIC FUN WITH FLICKR

2007-11-13T16:53:00.000-08:00

It is almost time to head on home for the day, but I decided to work on this week's activity before I left. I wasn't too excited about it--just thought I should get it done. WOW! Was I in for a treat! I think I could get addicted with this if I wasn't careful.

I decided since time is of a premium for me that I would choose to do Option 1. I decided that I would do searches on some of my favorite Southern Gospel groups and then my favorite artists.

I found a few hits on my favorite groups: Legacy Five and Greater Vision, but what really wowed me was seeing so many photos of my favorite artists and their works. I started out with Susan Point. I have 2 of her limited edition prints in my home. The pictures were fantastic. Then I moved on to Charles Wysocki. I love his work and have lots of it in my home. Last of all, I searched for deGrazia. He is famous for his pictures of small Indian children of the Southwest. I have many of his works in my home, including some hand-cast (is there such a word?) bronze miniature figures made from his pictures. These are limited editions and have not been available on the retail market for several years. My pride and joy of his work though is a book written about him. The book contains prints of hundreds of his most famous pictures. The icing on the cake is that the book was purchased by a friend of mine at the Kingston Friends of the Library Booksale for $1. It is signed by the artist and by the author. What a treasure! One of my goals is to someday go to Tucson Arizona and visit his museum: Gallery of the Sun.

I wish there were more hours in the day. I would love to be able to spend more time on Flickr. I can think of so many photos I would love to add.

Frustrated With a Capital "F"

2007-11-07T16:58:00.000-08:00

I am completing my RSS assignment and feel total frustration. The ideas are so great, but it really seems like one week for each assignment is way too short. If we ever do this type of training again, I would like to see each section given at least 2 weeks or even a month so that we could really learn the material. I feel like I am just getting a bite of each and then have to move on to the next course. Maybe some of the staff only needs 30 minutes to do the assignments, but most I have spoken to are really struggling to get everything done. As i think about the whole idea of "RSS", I feel badly because even though it is a wonderful tool, I am afraid I will never have enough time to be able to read everything that comes my way. Maybe if I were about 45 years younger, this would all come easier for me. As it is, I know all of this is good for me and so I will just keep plodding on and try to throw my frustrations in the back seat.

Master Carver 1 and Booklady!

2007-11-06T13:48:00.000-08:00

Fort Worden State Park, August 2007. We had just finished a huge scrumptious feast of Vietnamese roasted pig with all the trimmings at a wedding rehearsal dinner.

My Impressions of Social Bookmarking (so far)

2007-10-30T10:27:00.000-07:00

I am only beginning to feel comfortable using this new tool, so I can't think of too many ways yet that I will be able to use it in my work.

The sites that I have tagged are: geocaching.com, amazon.com, legacyfive.com, christmemorial.net, seattle.mariners.mlb.com and krl2pt.0.

Two things have come to mind so far. The first is that I plan to make a list of my favorite books. Our branch has a display of staff picks for our patrons to check out. Many times it would be easier for me if I also had a list to give them. Along this same line, I would like to make a list of popular Christian fiction authors and their series. This genre is so popular and sometimes it is hard to think of them in a moment's time when asked by patrons. If I had a list of the best series, I could just easily share it when asked.

2007-10-16T15:34:00.000-07:00

I read 3 articles, but the one that really made me start thinking was: "43 things I might want to do this year." I think I want to be challenged to try to do as many of these 43 that I can. I may only accomplish a few of them, but anything I can learn will be a step in the right direction. Now, if I just had more time...

2007-10-16T15:23:00.000-07:00

Reading the articles for my first assignment made me realize how little I know in regards to emerging technologies and how much I need to learn. I went home last night feeling a bit overwhelmed, but today I decided to just buckle down and work at it. I will not be the fastest and I may need lots of help, but I will do my best.

Life in the Best Little Library

2007-10-16T10:23:00.000-07:00

I want to start out by saying that our claim to fame was just for a year. In 1999 our little library received the Award for Excellence in a Small and/or Rural Public Library. This award is given once per year by the Public Library Association, so even though we received the award back then, I am sure there are about 8 libraries around that are just as proud as us. I am just a wee bit proud at the moment though, because about 6 weeks ago we moved into a beautiful new library which is part of the House of Knowledge complex on the Port Gamble S'Klallam Indian Reservation near Kingston, Washington.