The End!

To be honest, I'm really glad it's over. At times it had been extremely frustrating and time consuming (especially any exercise that used RSS feeds) but I had a lot of help from trusted staff (that's the only way I was able to finish some of the assignments). But now that it's all behind me, I can safely look back and say that it was a very good experience.

I can now interact with younger friends, family, colleagues and customers and kinda, sorta, maybe know what they're talking about. In fact, all during the Presidental campaign and especially election night, I heard words thrown about that we had learned through "Learn & Play" (blogs, podcasts, tweets, etc.). I want to give a big THANK YOU to CML for encouraging me to join the 21 century and for making it fun!

MOLDI Mold

I reaaaaaaaaly wish they would change the name MOLDI to something else!!!
That said, I bought an MP3 player just so I could download titles from MOLDI (and soon it's going to be compatible with iPods). It's really easy to use and I now have quick access to many audiobooks (fiction and non-fiction) that I can listen to while I'm walking.

PodCasts

I had no difficulty finding an interesting podcast. I choose one on stress because I was so stressed out trying to add the RSS feed to my bloglines, but with the help of my trusted colleague, I finally was successful.

L'Appuntamento by Ornela Vanoni

Actually, it's not the video I love so much as the accompanying song. A few weeks ago I was searching for L'Appuntamento by Ornela Vanoni (theme song to the movie Ocean's 12) and happened to find it playing on YouTube. So now whenever I want to listen to the song, I just pull it up on YouTube (and I get to watch a great video).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BW-lKSD8t8E

Bookburroinnnnng

Bookburro is really neat. I love the fact that it opens up a list of libraries, book stores and online services, and gives information about pricing and availability about any book without leaving the webpage. Now, how cool is that!

Go2Web20

I went straight to the Travel category and to Farecast, the winner in that category. Since I was just in Madrid this summer, I played around with flights to Spain. It combined many of the popular and not-so-popular travel sites and really did offer lowest pricing. I especially liked that they explain why these are great airfare deals based on science, not marketing, and give you an idea when would be the best time to buy your ticket.
Again, I'm going to check this site for my personal use, but other than showing patrons how to access the site, I don't think I'll be using it much in the library.

Dr. Google

I think Google Docs would be really great for my own personal use. I love being able to access a word-type document from anywhere and not have to use a flash/disk/CD and, yes, I can see Google Docs seriously hurting (maybe not killing) Microsoft Office. But, I honestly can't see how we would use it in the library except to help patrons.

Sandy, sandy, sandbox

I really did have fun with this activity - it's great finding things in common with your co-workers. As usual, there was a small hurdle to get over, but as soon as a colleague explained one part to me, I was able to do the rest myself.

To wiki or not to wiki

I especially love the idea of using a wiki for a library's catalog. Not only will customers be able to find the exact book they want, a book synopsis, cover art, and reviews from people who have already read the book, they would be able to add their own review or synopses. Now that's cool.

Oh, what the future holds!

I thought I was finally coming into the 21st century, technically speaking that is, until I read the article on Library 3.0 and Library 4.0. And here I thought I was so cool finally getting the gist of Library 2.0 - of course, with a lot of help from my co-workers. The potential is limitless.
Dr. Wendy Schultz said that libraries of the past were: "A symbol of a society that cared about its attainments, that treasured ideas, that looked ahead multiple generations. Librarians were stewards, trainers, intimate with the knowledge base and the minds who produced it." Now, I have to ask: "Won't libraries/librarians of the future do the exact same things?"

4 days and counting...

Today is Thursday, Sept. 18 and this makes 4 days without power. I'm a very optimistic kind of gal but I feel very different today than I did just yesterday. Why you ask? When I got off work last night at 9:00, I was very pleasantly surprised to find that the traffic signals near my home were working. That was a good sign. I live in a condo and I saw the lights on one side of my complex. That was another good sign. Then I saw that the lights were on another side and yet another side. Those were all good signs. But when I got to my unit...no lights were on. My courtyard was the only area in the whole complex to not yet receive power. Why???? Was I not grateful enough, did I not payoff the gods above for all my good fortune, should I have paid more?
I'm still an optimistic kind of gal and I believe it will finally come on today.

yummy and del.icio.us

I work in a division that has been using del.icio.us for a while now and yes, it is great. I use the Reader's Advisory bookmarks all the time to find that "difficult" book for a patron. I also added ESOL websites to our bookmark saved in del.icio.us.

Twittering, twittering, twittering

Twittering is sooooooo easy and definitely better than having to send an e-mail to all your friends/family. Check out my tweets - bookwormohio.

LibraryThingamajig

Here is a very, very, very, short list of my favorite books.
http://www.librarything.com/profile/Bookwormoh

My hometown in Italy

I was born in Matrice, Italy and I created this poster of my hometown to show you how beautiful it is. Matrice is situated in the Apennine Mountains (down the backbone of Italia) between Rome and Naples.
This exercise was very easy. This is the image generator I used: http://www.ala.org/ala/productsandpublications/READ_Mini_Posters.cfm

Adventure in Spain

In July, I spent one week in Spain conversing in English with Spaniards. The program was sponsored by Vaughan Systems in Madrid and to participate you only had to be a native speaker of English and be willing to talk, and talk, and talk, and talk. Check out my blog (http://bookwormoh.blogspot.com) and read all about my great adventure in Spain!

FSS feeds

I found the exercise on RSS feeds to be very difficult and frustrating ... until a co-worker explained to me that Bloglines has NOTHING to do with my blog. I was trying to connect the two and was totally confused. I still found it frustrating to add news feeds but at least I now am able to do it!

Halle, the cat

Halle is my cat. This isn't an actual photo of her, but this is what she looks like. Halle is a true book lover - she even has her own Staff Picks bookmark at Main.

MP3 Player

I bought an MP3 player a few weeks ago and I was so excited to finally be able to listen to music and audio books while walking. I ripped music/audio book from CDs onto my computer and all went well...initially. Now, it's all a jumbo mess. It starts off with Chapter 3, then a song, then Chapter 1, 2, 5, then another song. Help, what am I doing wrong?

Learn & Play

I first started blogging this summer and I really jumped in with both feet. I now have 2 blogs and a Facebook account. The biggest obstacle for me was finding the time to learn how to blog, but now that I can "play" on company time, that hurdle is gone! Thank you CML for doing Learn & Play.