Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Thing #19 -- Web 2.0 Awards -- additional info

Besides using Yahoo.Local I would also use Yelp, because it gives reviews of restaurants with "stars" rating. It particularly recommended Christiana Campbell's Tavern which I will eat at next week when I take a break from the Web challenge and visit historic Williamsburg, VA.

Thing #19 -- Web 2.0 Awards

Through Web 2.0 Awards I found YahooLocal. I'm sure others are very familiar with this website, but I was not. I put in Williamsburg, VA since my husband and I are going there on vacation next week, and clicked on restaurants. I noticed a category that said Australian Restaurants and thought, oh, an Australian Restaurant, I wonder what they serve? I clicked on the link and came up with ... YOU GUESSED IT

Outback Steakhouse!

Oh well. We have a gift card for Olive Garden so that will be our "franchise restaurant dining out" for next week rather than "g'day, man."

Mimi Koerner

Thing #18 -- Web Apps

I enjoyed learning about Google Docs and Zoho. Here at Jackson it could be used in making up the Word Document to be submitted for the monthly brochure. Three documents (one for adults, teens, and children's) have to be written up each month and then put together into one document to sent to Printing & Graphics. It would be easy to put the three together, and anyone on the Jackson Programming team, which includes Adult, Children's, and Circulation staff, and of course the Branch Manager, could easily make changes as needed. This would especially be useful when information, such as getting a "call back" from a presenter, comes in at the last minute.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Thing #17 Play in the Sandbox

I found it very easy to add my name to the OCL list and write my comment (I'm the one who LOVES Bing Cherries.) The link to my blog worked successfully.

Wikis are easy to understand and use. I could use them to reasearch library topics (thing #16), which is work related, but I see Wikis more as a "social networking" experience, and I prefer to communicate in other ways (verbally) as compared to using a computer. My quiet personality is not all than interested in social networking, but I appreciate its important for those who are of a more outgoing personality than myself. This shows that I appreciate the diverity of the personalities of others, and also am open to new ideas -- which is in my opinion is a type of diversity just as important as diversity of race, national origin, or diversability.


Mimi Koerner

Thing #16 -- Wiki

I looked at the Library Success Wiki, and was especially interested in the Services to specific groups. I was interested in the fact that there was an article on Services to First Time Students (college freshmen) because one of my nieces is a freshman in college, and one of my nephews and another niece will be starting college next year. I hope they find their college libraries useful.

The most interesting fact I found on the Ocean County Library Wiki that I didn't know was that part of the Amityville Horror movie had been filmed in the Bishop Building!

Wikis are interesting and easy to use. I still wonder about the accuracy of some articles on Wikipedia, especially for pop culture subjects. I liked the accuracy of the Ocean County Library article, and the way you could like to various subjects within Wikipedia such as Model T and James Brolin.

Mimi Koerner

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Thing #15 -- web challenge -- Library 2.0 and Web 2.0

I looked at the Wikipedia article on Library 2.0 and also Away from the "Icebergs by Rick Anderson, University of Nevada, Reno Libraries, and Into a New World of Librarianship b y Michael Stephens. I realize that as one who graduated from library school 30 years ago, life (and libraries) have totally changed. There's a saying, "the only thing permanent is change." Web 2.0 is a good change because it reflects today's (at least in affluent countries) today's highly web based and technology based culture and on-line social networking which is so embraced in particular by those who are of generations younger than myself. I want to reach out to others, and if learning about Web 2.0 is the way to do this -- it's okay with me. I am willing to embrace change, even when the change doesn't interest me all that much. I have six nephews and three nieces and I want to understand their world.

Mimi Koerner
mkoerner@theoceancountylibrary.org

Thing #14 -- Technorati

I looked at Technorati and looked at a link called Boing Boing and one called Making Money (the first two I could click on), and did not find anything that particularly interested or surprised. It seemed to me to be mostly people who had a strong need to chat and express themselves to anyone and everyone. As I have said on my previous blogs more than once, that is not a way I choose to express myself or spend my time. Call me unfriendly if you wish, but I am not all that interested in other's business unless they are someone I personally know. I know I can be considered "old fashioned", and make no apologies for it. I appreciate, as I said before that this is the way society is today, and want to learn enough to help those for whom all the "social technology" is important.

Mimi Koerner@theoceancountylibrary.org

OCL Web Challenge Thing #13 -- de.licio.us

First of all, the Web Challenge is a MAJOR chore, NOT FUN, for someone like myself, who is hearing impaired, when we have to listen to a podcast. The volume on our computers at the library is not loud enough to hear the podcasts clearly, and, as one of my staff pointed out, you can't listen in a public area and are forced to do this on your time off the desk (which for many of us is very limited.)

I looked at the Stafford de.licio.us web site. I could see where it makes often asked for information (such as tax forms) easy to find, to be honest, I don't think it makes it any faster, and I'm not all that interested, to be honest, to read everyone else's comments. It's fine for those who are "social butterflies" who consider it extremely important that everyone pays attention to them, but I'm not that type of person -- and am proud of it! I respect the fact, however, that I am in the minority -- and appreciate the fact that there is something like de.licio.us for those who have a strong need to be chatty.

Mimi Koerner
mkoerner@oceancountylibrary.org

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Thing #12 -- WorldCat

I found WorldCat very easy to use. I searched under my favorite author, Max Lucado, and found titles with which I was not familiar. I liked the way it linked our customers to our catalog and the way they could find the book in nearby libraries -- even listing how many miles it would take to get there. It would be useful for filling out the ILL form for less familiar items that are not on Amazon.

The advanced search on WorldCat was easy to use as well. It was cool that you could read the table of contents.

Thing #12 -- NetLibrary

I signed up for an account with NetLibrary, and searched under authors and did not find anything. When I searched under the category CHRISTIAN LIFE, I found a book The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee and started to look at it. I did not find NetLibrary all that easy in terms of finding books I would be interested. I find it easier, also, to read books from print rather than from a computer screen. I would not especially recommend NetLibrary, and would not especially wish to help customers with using it.

LibraryThing --Thing #11 on OCL Web Challenge

I looked at LibraryThing, created an account, and added five books to my list by my favorite author, Max Lucado, a dynamic Christian inspirational author. You can find my LibraryThing account at http://www.librarything.com/catalog/mimikoerner. Library
Thing seems very easy to use -- the entire process took me less than ten minutes. There are no reviews of my books.

I do not know that I will ever use LibraryThing, as chatting on the computer is not my priority in life, but it is interesting. I think it can be useful for cataloging a personal collection or for very small libraries.

Monday, April 7, 2008

Thing #10 -- Technology -- Completion of Task

I read the article 20 Things to Watch by Stephen Abram. To be honest, I do not use technology much outside work and completing these assignments, and I do not think I particularly ever will -- except for the basics of e-mail and possibly getting a GPS. I prefer to deal with people in person than through a machine. I do enjoy using a computer to play games, however. My life is so full with work, spending time with my husband, involvement in my church and communicating with God through Bible study and prayer, that I don't really have the time to use technology to its fullest advantage -- actually to be honest the interest either. I do enjoy learning about it however.

I posted a comment on a blog called Favorite Things about a picture of Yosetime. I said I would like to go there sometime.

mkoerner@theoceancountylibrary.org