The end? I don't think so

This program has been a great opportunity to explore a number of communication and multimedia tools available on the net. The nature of communication adn entertainment is changing rapidly and unless we want to be left behind, libraries have to change their thoughts on this technology as well.

Adding podcasts, YouTube presentations to library websites make them more interactive and a bit more human than to those trying work out how to use catalogues and online databases without someone there to guide them. Wikis provide an opportunity to add booklists that are capable of easy change, as well as provide an interactve community noticeboard to users. At the moment, my mind is fairly spinning with ideas and possible applications for a lot of what this training course has shown me. Meaning that"Learn Thru Play" has been a very successful experience for me, and I do mean to explore any opportunity to use what I have learnt over the last few weeks.

I love Audiobooks!

I've always liked audiobooks. They're great when I'm doing something mundane like the housework or any dull, repetitive project as they provide a little welcome distraction. I'm currently listening to "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" (and it's a hard hearted person who says they don't like this story). Netlibrary and Overdrive are fabulous ideas. Having a subscription to and audio service would certainly boost any library's audiobook collection.

Podcasts are cool!

I like podcasts, but like everyone else got them confused with mp3 file and music streaming. I did play around, somethings I could play - others I could not because my computer didn't have the right software. In the end I ended up adding the Triple J New Music podcast to my Bloglines accountas my partner is always accusing me of only ever wanting to listen to the same music, the same band yada yada yada....so I'm going to expand my knowledge of the new music scene.

Happy...............

I did want to post "Q Magazine's" list of memorable YouTube moments, but thought that Whitney Houston's encounter with Serge Gainsborough on a French chat show may not be deemed appropriate!

This "The Happy Song" by The Aliens. This band is made up of some members of the Beta Band, who used to be a it of a favourite with me. I just like it because these are 3 guys who certainly don't look like musos and are definitely having some fun.

It wasn't hard to find this clip, nor to attach it to my blog.

I guess the best use YouTube would have for libraries is for presenting training videos. Some of the YouTube presentations in this training course have been excellent.

Web 2.0 Award Winners

There's a lot! I guess I liked playing around with YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/) and Last.fm (http://www.last.fm/) being a bit of a media and music fan. YouTube's great for a bit of fun and could possibly be put to some professional use in terms of "How to" presentations for library users and training videos for librarians.

Last.fm is really a bit of fun. I guess it could be best described as a reader development guide for music fans in that you can type in what you're listening to at the moment and it makes suggestions about other bands you may enjoy listening to as well. It then provides podcasts of the bands music to listen to.

Zoho Writer

Well, that was a headache and make no mistake. Did anyone know that Zoho doesn't like commas in blog titles? For half an hour I was puzzling over why zoho kept saying my blog was unavailable. Because it kept presenting it as two seperate blogs, I finally hit upon the idea that the comma might be he problem. Go into blogger - remove comma and voila! no more annoying little message saying "blog unavailable"! Anyway the "Dragons Booklist" below is part of a fantasy series I've been working on. I like the idea of being able to work on any document anywhere without being tied to the one computer. It means I don't need to run to my computer when inspiration hits for some project I'm working on.

Dragons booklist

Title:    Here there be Dragons…………………

 

The Hobbit

 

Bilbo Baggins enjoys a quiet life, with no desire to travel far from the comforts of home. Then one day, the wizard Gandalf and a band of dwarves arrive and enlist his services on a dangerous expedition to raid the treasure-hoard of Smaug the dragon. Bilbo's life is never to be the same again.

 

The Discovery of Dragons

 

Was Bjorn of Bromme one of the greatest explorers of the Viking Age or just a simple-minded, lice-infested Barbarian with a passion for beach volleyball? Could Soong Mei Ying really have discovered every Asiatic Dragon known to Serpentology, or was she just a thirteenth-century teenage who wanted to travel and meet people? Did Dr E. F. Liebermann perish after discovering the Common Green Draak, also known as the 'Awful Gurgler', or was he suffering from a severe bout of jungle madness? The answers to these questions and more will not be found within the pages of this book - but a lot of great big Dragons will .

 

Dragon’s Blood

 

Training a dragon to be a fighting champion is the only way to freedom for fifteen-year-old Jakkin……….

 

Secret Country Trilogy

(Book 1 The Secret Country)

 

Ben has been saving for weeks to buy the Mongolian fighting fish he's seen in the local pet shop. But on entering Mr Dodds' Pet Emporium, a small cat hooks his claws into Ben's jumper and begs to be bought. The cat tells Ben that Mr Dodds is importing rare magical beasts into this world and he needs his help to save them

 

Merlin Dreams

 

Stories of blood, magic, and fabulous creatures told in a series of dreams coming to the enchanted wizard Merlin as he lies imprisoned under a great stone.

 

 

 

The Dragon’s Hoard

 

"Wake up, Sir Knight! Wake up!" My eyes snapped open, and I sprang to my feet, drawing my sword as I did so. There was the merchant, the whites of his terrified eyes glinting in the firelight. He was raving. "It's out there!" he cried. "It's out there!" "What's out there?" I asked, placing a hand on his shoulder to steady him. The merchant gripped my arm with both hands and drew his face close to mine. His forehead was drenched with sweat, his eyes were wide, his voice a little more than a whisper. "The dragon, of course," he croaked….

 

Dragon’s Nest

 

The evil Shadow Lord has been banished but famine still stalks Deltora and only monsters thrive. Four vile sisters of sorcery are hidden in the land, slowly killing it while the Shadow Lord gloats, awaiting his triumphant return. Leif, Barda and Jasmine have one clue in their quest - the fragment of the ancient map. ………

 

The Enchanted Forest Chronicles

(Book 1: Dealing with Dragons)

 

Cimorene is everything a princess is not supposed to be: headstrong, tomboyish, smart. . . . and bored. So bored that she runs away to live with a dragon and finds the family and excitement she's been looking for.

 

Something missed!!

I missed adding my RSS feed to my blog! Better late than never.

Simplicity

I'm an idiot. Adding my blog to the Learning 2.0 Favourites page was soo deceptively simple, I tricked myself into think that it was a little more complicated than what it was - I kept looking for a button or something to add my blog's url to the page. It was like typing in a web address in Word, the link just appeared! I got there in the end. I even added something to the favourite books page, so I guess this technology is not totally beyond me...........

I like wikis........................

I keep a series of folders containing booklists of Popular and Recommended Reading for Children and Teenagers. These resources were first established to provide Information Desk staff with a guide to help them find titles suitable for children or teenagers upon request if the Youth Services Librarian was not available. These files are kept on the book shelf at the Information desk and are available to both staff and patrons.

The file is divided into sections, each dealing with a particular issue, popular series or simply titles recommended by Youth Services staff for different age groups. In order to help the Information Desk staff feel confident in assisting parents look for possible items, each section consists of a series of booklists that not only supply the title and author, but also a short synopsis so that parents, children and young adults are able to make informed decisions before borrowing or making a reservation. Each title has been crosschecked with the catalogue to ensure that the item is held by WMRLC. The file is active, in that it is regularly checked in order to have new titles added or old ones removed.

As you may imagine - this is a labour intensive task. Also, sometimes thankless as some staff and parents are not always aware of the folders when looking for suitable books. These two points may change with the possible introduction of wikis.

If wiki software is introduced to the library service’s website, the Popular and Recommended Booklists would be readily available to all staff and families. Links to this information would be provided on the Parents, Children’s and Teenage web pages. The task of maintaining this resource would be easier as, instead of one member of staff adding and editing this information in a hard copy format, each Youth Services Librarian would be able to contribute to an electronic document. In turn, everybody would be able to benefit from this shared knowledge.

Technorati

I can see this as having 2 applications - one as a professional communication network discussing upcoming events, ideas and developments - the other as just out and out fun! Like YouTube it's a great repository of popular culture.

Del.icio.us

I'm not much good at learning new technology unless I play around with it a bit. So I signed up for a free del.icio.us account and I've got to say that I'm really impressed. It highlights a lot of what is wrong with Microsoft because Apple pcs allow you to create files and tags to organise bookmarked sites, although you can only access these lists from your PC. Web based bookmarks are an excellent resource sharing idea, I like the idea that I can create tags to describe and organise bookmarked websites as well as look at what websites are useful to colleagues. I guess the only weakness is that different people will inevitably different terms to describe the same thing.......................

Rollyo

Well, I must say, I had a bit of fun with Rollyo. I'm a bit of a passionate armchair traveller and love my food, especially food from around the world., so I put together a little list of what interests me in this area and the result is in the top left hand corner. Have fun with it.

LibraryThing

This is a little rushed as I'm about to go on Desk in a few moments. This looks to be an interesting tool - it would be good if libraries could take this idea and produce something similar, and little more personal for their borrowers.a

Me as a Potter Doll!

I think I liked the Harry Potter Doll generator best (http://elouai.com/chibi/harrypotter/icons.php) , now I can see what I'd look like as a little dolly.

Flickr

Well, I've finally done it! I've got a photo for flickr! It's not much, just a shot of the laneways around Little Flinders Street. I've got to say uploading this image on both flickr and blooger were much easier than I thought - the software is pretty intuitive. The biggest stress I had was finding an image.

RSS news feeds - like falling off a log

Wow, two blogs in one day! I am turning a new leaf! Well, I've signed up for the news feeds, which like I've said is like falling off a log. Hopefully, I should get some useful info for professional uses as well as be better able to keep up with current events.

I'm just not a bloggy sort of person

Apologies, I've never been a diary person and it seems that I'm just as bad when it comes to posting blogs, I just can't seem to get round to it. One of my colleagues has suggested that I post something I've been working on for the Information Services Librarians - an annotated bookist of suggested picturebooks on different topics for parents and children. So here we go with the first part.


Babies


Does a kangaroo have a mother too?
Eric Carle
Do animals have mothers too? Of course they do — just like me and you! Meet the little joey whose Kangaroo mother carries him in her pouch, and the cygnet who rides on the back of the mother swan, just two members of Eric Carle’s animal family. Animal babies with their caring and affectionate mothers come to life in Carle’s vibrant collage. The playful question and answer text invites children and adults to read aloud together. Repetition of key phrases helps preschoolers take the first step towards reading readiness. The gamelike format makes it easy to discover more about the world of nature and to learn the common names of some familiar — and not–so–familiar — animals. At the back of the book there is a special page listing the correct, but sometimes surprising names of animal babies, their parents and groups. Ages

Little Wallaby’s big adventure
By Michele Coxon


Daisy and the Beastie
By Jane Simmons
Daisy takes baby brother Pip on a Beastie hunt during which they meet all the animals on the farm.*

McDuff and the Baby
By Rosemary Wells
When Fred and Lucy bring home a baby, McDuff is worried! Ever since McDuff moved in, it's been just the three of them. Is there really room for one more in their family? This title presents the story of McDuff and his family for the very young children.

Little Bat
By Tania Cox
Little Bat is reassured by other rainforest animals and, although very nervous, finds that she can fly.

The world is full of babies
By Mick Manning
This book looks at different types of babies - including polar bear cubs, baby bats, piglets, and humans - and how they grow and develop.

Just a little something to help parents explain the arrival of new babies to the family.

Cheers and hopefully soon I have a photo for Flickr.

It's sooo easy to get behind

What a week! Despite valiant efforts not to be, I've been ill. Thank goodness I can go back and get this blogspot registered and get on to the next lot of training - photo sharing, which raises the next stress of deciding what photos to share..............

Well, I've started....

Patience, this is my first attempt. So far, I've gotta say it's been fairly painless - now for the rest of the training