Thing #17 - Google Docs

Roses are red,
Violets are blue.
I love Google Docs,
And so should you!

Aren't I just the poet? I published that straight from Google Docs, which I (surprisingly) had never done before. It was just as easy as I expected it to be!

Now for some history. You see, Google Docs and I have been friends for a while now. In fact, before it became known as Google Docs, the word processing part of it was known as Writely. I actually became a beta tester for Writely back in 2005, and used it in library school to collaborate more easily on group projects. I still have some of those projects saved, too! I was super excited when Google bought Writely, and I love that they keep expanding it and making it better.

Yes, Google does own my life. And I think that's okay.

Autumn excitement

I have been MIA for awhile - not really sure why, but I've felt very uninspired to write anything lately. But I thought I'd break the silence and list some things I'm excited about right now:

1. Going to the Circleville Pumpkin Show tonight. I've never been to it, even though I've lived in Columbus for 3ish years now.

2. Halloween! Jared and I are having our party again this year, and I'm hoping it will be even better than previous years. Please come if you are free the night of November 1st, and don't forget to dress up!

3. Making costumes for the aforementioned Halloween Party. I ventured into the realm of costume making last year with this Princess Peach costume for Erica M., and I'm hoping that the costumes I'm making this year turn out just as good or even better! (Also, I hope I have time to finish them before the party!)

4. Being crafty. I haven't just been in a blogging rut lately, I've also been in a crafting rut! But I found some fabulous fabric at Joann's the other day, and I'm hoping to make something fun with it. I probably won't get to it until after Halloween, but I'm still excited that I'm actually inspired to make something. It's been a while.

5. Cooking! Yes, I've actually been cooking more lately, and I'm enjoying it. I always love to bake, but cooking has never been my strong point. It still isn't, but I think I'm improving. Practice makes perfect, right?

What are you excited about right now?

Thing #14 - Library 2.0

So I'm finally getting around to posting about Library 2.0. I've been putting it off for a while now - I wasn't sure what I really wanted to add to the conversation. But I've been thinking about it more lately, so here are my thoughts on the subject.

The idea of Library 2.0 has been around for quite a while now. In fact, the articles we read for this "thing" were all from 2006 - that should tell you something right there. Of course, a lot of people think we've been 2.0 all along, and that's somewhat true. But the thing that sticks out for me is the customizable part of Library 2.0, and that's where I think our challenge lies.

Now, when I say customizable, I'm not talking purely about using technology. Sure, web 2.0 tools will make it easier to customize the user experience. For instance, our users could have their own customized library web page - when they log in, all of the resources they like best would be on the front page. Maybe it could also save their reserve settings, knowing automatically which location they prefer to have items sent to. Those would be really cool, customizable things. But our non-web services should be that way, too. If someone wants to just come in, pick up their reserve, check it out themselves, and go - they can do that. But what if someone wants to come in and talk to a staff person about what they are reading that week? What if they would really prefer having a live person check their items out for them? Personally, I don't see anything wrong with that. I think we should make sure that we are still giving our customers options on what kind of experience they can have when they are in our buildings, even if the option they want is the "old fashioned" way. That doesn't mean reverting back to a card catalog - it just means making sure our customers feel like they are being taken care of when they are here. Does that make sense? For the record, I think we do a pretty good job of this already. I just don't want those that aren't ready for web 2.0 to lose out on all the wonderful things that Library 2.0 can provide.

There are plenty of other examples of ways to customize the "library experience" that I can't think of right now. Thoughts?

Things #15 & 16 - Wikis!

As you may or may not have noticed, I've skipped Thing #14. I feel like I have a lot to say about Library 2.0, but for some reason a post is just not coming to me right now. All I can think about are wikis - so that's what I'm going to talk about now. I'll get back to Library 2.0 stuff later.

I really enjoyed the wiki common craft video, and looked at some of the library wikis that are already out there. Overall, I liked what I saw, but I have to say that I'm a firm believer that wikis are not the way to go for everyone. For some reason, when people learn about them, they are like OMG BEST THING EVER and decide that they *have* to start one. In general, I think you should use what works for you - know about the rest, but don't feel like you have to use a certain tool just because it is there.

That being said, I think iwannaprize has a great idea for using wikis as subject resource pages for the public. I also think we could utilize a wiki internally to help us keep better track of resources to use for different kinds of questions, and it would be easy and quick to access when we need it. I'm remembering a question I got not long ago about bonds - we don't get these questions very often, and they are very difficult to answer. If we had a wiki set up, I could add a page about bonds and list the resources I used to find the answer. And other librarians could update it with other resources I didn't know about and/or couldn't find!

I played in the Learn & Play wiki sandbox, and had fun adding my favorite restaurants and movie. However, I found myself wanting to fix everyone's mistakes. I really must learn to control my anal-retentive perfectionist side. :)

Thing #13 - Del.icio.us

As with many of the "things" we've been doing, I've already had a del.icio.us account for a while now. And yeah, I know that I don't need to put the dots in it anymore... but I like it better that way. :)

I don't put all of my bookmarks in delicious though - I just put stuff on there that I think is cool, or funny, or worth sharing with other people. For example, I wouldn't put big sites like Flickr or Gmail on delicious. But maybe I would share a really awesome picture on Flickr or a certain YouTube video that I liked. It's stuff that I might go back sometime and look at again, but not stuff that I go to everyday. I try to make sure that the things I bookmark on delicious are different than the things I share on Google Reader. (An example: Recently, a blog post I read on Google Reader pointed me toward a fun quiz on another site. Instead of sharing the blog post, I bookmarked the quiz in delicious. Had the blog post itself been particularly noteworthy, I would have just shared it in Google Reader. Does that make sense?)

If you're interested, here's my delicious page. Enjoy!

*edit* I forgot to mention how I think delicious can be used in the library! Doh! Actually, what I wanted to say is how great it is that my division is using delicious! See our page here. I would love to see us add to this page and include other websites that we use frequently with our customers.

Just for fun

Disclaimer: I have no desire to start up any political conversations here - but this was too funny not to post, especially after playing around with image and word generators last week.

We all know by now that Sarah Palin has named her kids some very unique names. Well, now you can find out what she would have named you! My name would have been Krinkle Bearcat Palin. I have to say, having the middle name "Bearcat" would be pretty frickin' sweet. If you try it out, let me know what your new name is!

Things #11 & 12 - LibraryThing and Twitter

So I found out after my last post that the stats feature on Flickr has not only been around a while (aka, not new at all), but is only available to people with pro accounts. So... yeah. Sorry about that. But if you have a pro account and haven't seen your stats, you should really get on that.

Anyhow, THIS post is all about LibraryThing and Twitter! I'm combining them into one since I already have accounts with both services. I joined Twitter earlier this year after I finally caught up with the rest of the world and got a texting plan, but I've been on LibraryThing since 2006! In fact, I even got to meet Tim Spalding, creator of LibraryThing, at the 2007 OLC Convention & Expo. Here's my catalog on LibraryThing, and my Twitter page. Feel free to friend me/follow me on either service!

One of the features on LibraryThing that I haven't explored much (but really should!) is LibraryThing Local. What a great opportunity for libraries to advertise our events to the kinds of people that would want to come to them! Also, I just wanted to mention how I love the fact that the largest group on the site is "Librarians Who LibraryThing," with just over 5000 members! Although really, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that the kinds of people who want to catalog their own books would also be the kinds of people who become librarians.

Twitter is pretty new to me still but I'm really enjoying it. I like being able to record the random thoughts I have during the day, and read all about what my friends and colleagues are doing. However, when I try to explain how it works to people that don't know anything about it, I usually get blank stares. Maybe it isn't for everyone. But I can definitely see where libraries could use this to easily post quick updates on their website, or maybe just to connect to our customers and let them know what's going on that day at the library.

Flickr stats

Has everyone tried out the new Flickr homepage yet? I love it. If you haven't, login to Flickr and look at the bottom of the page. You should find a link to try out the new homepage. Click on it, enjoy the music (totally serious), and explore the new page.

One of the best new things I found was an option to turn on statistics about my photos. I'm such a numbers geek, so I had to do this. It told me it might take a while to compile all of the numbers, but I checked back in a few minutes and it was ready. What I found was shocking!

I should give some back story here. When Jared and I were first looking for a place here in Columbus, I took this picture of my foot on the dashboard of my car (I like taking pictures of my feet, apparently). It's really not that exciting of a picture, but somehow it was getting way more views than my other pictures. So about a year ago, I decided to try to take a picture that would surely get more views than any of my other pictures. The result was this picture (safe for work, I promise), which I strategically named "Foot Fetish." Sure enough, it has gathered just over 2,000 views to date, and 7 people call it a favorite. But to my surprise, that is not my highest viewed picture. What picture could possibly get more views than that?

This one, apparently:

Yes, somehow a cart full of Wii gear is way more exciting than a bunch of feet - this picture has gotten over 7,000 views to date! That's a whole hell of a lot more than the foot fetish one. Nobody calls this photo a favorite though, and that doesn't really surprise me. My guess is that the majority of the views came right after this photo was taken, when a lot of people couldn't find a Wii in the stores and were looking around online for photos of one - although the stats don't seem to go back far enough for me to confirm that.

The foot fetish photo is still racking up views, but it will be a long time before it ever surpasses the cart o' Wii goodness. If you want, check out the rest of my stats here.

I'm a star!

Check out this video on Gerald 2.0 - my coworker Jim and I got to talk to Gerald about the fun we've been having with Learn & Play @CML. Surprisingly, we did the whole thing in just one take! I feel kinda famous now. And no, the glasses aren't permanent - they're the ones I wore for my Professor Trelawney costume. I also wore my now infamous green shoes (Jim's request) but we didn't get them in the video. Oh well. If you are reading this from my site and not in a feed reader, you can enjoy the picture of my shoes in the upper left of the page. :)

In other news, I had a fantastic dinner tonight at Tip Top Kitchen with Jennifer. We love our Tuesday night outings! Now it's time for some work, and as of tomorrow I'm off until next Tuesday. What will I do with all my free time, you ask? As little as possible, of course! Haha. Actually, I'm looking forward to catching up on some crafting, movie watching, and a video game I've been neglecting. Should be fun!

Thing #10 - Image Generators!

Oh man, I love these things. Here is one of my arch nemesis, Clippy:


Almost everything else I thought of him saying was completely inappropriate - be glad I spared you, haha. Seriously though... I hate Clippy so very, very much.

Next I decided to do one of something I really, really love - so check out my very own personalized My Little Pony:

Isn't she adorable?! The winged unicorns were always my favorite.

There are lots of really fun image & text generators out there. The other ones I liked were the Motivational Poster and the Alanis Morissette Random Lyric generators. I could probably play around with these all day!

Thing #9 - Finding blogs and feeds

I have to say, I don't really use any blog search websites on a regular basis. Most of the blogs I read I found because another blog that I like linked to them, so I checked them out. I'm trying to think back to when I started reading blogs, and I really can't remember how I found the first ones.

Anyhow - here are my thoughts on the search tools I looked at:

Bloglines Search Tool: If I had a Bloglines account, I might actually use this. But since I don't... well, probably not so much. It works pretty well, although I wish the blog results were right on top instead of the post results.

Topix: Looks like a decent enough news site, and I like the local content. Not sure that I would use this to find feeds though. I would just see what the top stories are, and move on.

Syndic8.com: "Hi - 1998 called, and it wants its HTML code back." Fine if you're into the stripped down IRC look - although this is probably the easiest for newbies to use.

Technorati: Other than the occasional crazy flashing ads, this is a pretty good website. It's the only one where I really get a feel for what is "happening" in the blogosphere (I kinda hate that term though).

Although this wasn't in the list, I noticed that Google Reader has a "discover" feature where it recommends feeds based on the ones you are already subscribed to. Not surprisingly, mine was filled with more library blogs... go figure! This probably wouldn't be very helpful if you are just starting out, but if you are already subscribed to a few blogs you like, this would be a great way to discover more.

Thing #8 - RSS feeds

I am a huge fan of RSS feeds - I have a Google Reader account (because, well, Google owns my life... haha) and I am currently subscribed to 100+ feeds! Some are library blogs (LibraryBytes, Tame The Web, Librarian In Black, Ohio Library News - just to name a few), some are craft/baking related (Sprite Stitch, Cake Wrecks, The Domestic Scientist, Made in a Treehouse), and some are just plain geeky and fun (BoingBoing, Bad Astronomy, TechCrunch, Neatorama). I also have plenty of friends and CML coworkers blogs on there, as well as some podcasts (This American Life, WebbAlert, Thinking Out Loud). Although Google Reader doesn't allow you to publicly share your entire reading list, I do have a link to my publicly shared items. When I find a post that I like, I can share it so others can read it too. My friends that also have a Google Reader account get these shared items sent to them automatically, and I get theirs as well. It's a great way to share interesting posts with other people and discover blogs that you didn't know about!

I have also added a widget to this blog that shows my most recently shared items from Google Reader. How fun is that? I also forgot to mention that I also subscribe to a few web comics as well, and of course Unshelved is on the list. No librarian can resist Dewey and his antics!

Thing #7 - Technology

Every time I hear the word "technology," I think of the song from the end of Napoleon Dynamite:

"I love technology, but not as much as you, you see... but I still love technology, always and forever."

Ah, technology. I almost feel like writing a totally cliche post about how technology moves so fast, and how hard it is to catch up, and how I can't believe kids these days are doing this thing instead of that thing, and how they have NO IDEA how hard it was for me when I was their age, blah blah blah. But (thankfully, for you) I'm not going to do that. Instead, I'm going to list some cool things I'm excited about:

Google Chrome. I haven't downloaded it yet, but I will soon. I read the comic that they put out to promote it, and it sounds really awesome. I don't know that this will replace Firefox for me, but it should be fun to play around with.

The iPhone. I think I've decided that I'm going to get one, but I'm not sure when. I just think it is so cool that there is a phone that does practically anything you could want it to do. I don't really need it, but who cares? Nobody NEEDS an iPhone. I just want one! :)

Picnik. This is a site where you can edit images for free, and it's super easy to use. I don't have Photoshop or any other photo editing software, but I wanted to take a picture I had and make it into a logo for my blog. I found Picnik (which I had heard of before, but never used), and within minutes I was able to do exactly what I wanted with my photo. Sure, it's not as sophisticated as Photoshop - but it was fast, easy, and did just what I needed it to do. Sometimes I'm amazed at how much you can do online for free!

What cool things are you excited about?

Thing #6 - Playing with Flickr tools

Well, I played around with some of the mashups, tools, and third-party sites suggested - my favorites were the trading card maker and FlickrSLiDR. Here are my creations:

My librarian trading card!

I love that photo - I was dressed up as Madame Trelawney from Harry Potter for the 7th book release party at Barnes & Noble. Can you see the resemblance?

A slideshow of my photos tagged "library":


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Thing #5 - Fun with Flickr!

Columbus Metropolitan Library,
originally uploaded by silver marquis.

I have to admit, I'm cheating a bit here - I took this photo over a year ago! But it's one of my favorites, so I wanted to use it for this post. Flickr is about the best thing ever, and I'm glad to see all of my coworkers discovering how wonderful it is and having fun with it. I have a pro account, and it's the only online service I actually pay money for. I've always loved to take pictures and share them with friends, but it wasn't always so easy getting someone to sit down and look through a photo album with you. Now my friends can enjoy my pictures at their leisure! Also, it's really exciting when someone you don't know finds a picture you took and either comments on it, marks it as a favorite, or uses it on their website or blog. This blog used my photo, and so did this article. Very cool!

So that's Thing #5, and now I'm moving on to Thing #6 - playing with Flickr mashups!

Fabulous finds

Recently I helped my mother sort through my grandmother's things. She passed away about a year and a half ago, and we are just now going through everything in her bedroom, deciding what to keep, what to donate to Hospice, and what to pitch. It's a difficult and emotional process, but also exciting - my mother and I came across some really cool stuff (click on the photos to enlarge):


I found this "recipe card," written by my grandfather, tucked away in a side pocket of one of my grandmother's old purses. It's so cute and romantic! The best part is the last line - "Bake the hell out of it!" My grandpa's a funny guy.



These little cards are so adorable! I found these in my grandmother's dresser, wrapped up in tissue paper for safekeeping. My mother said that grandma wasn't sure what she wanted to do with them, only that she really liked them and wanted to keep them nice. I haven't decided what to do with them yet, either - maybe a craft project? We'll see.

My grandmother had so many purses, most of which we decided to give to Hospice. But this particular purse caught my eye. It's a faux leather clutch, and I fell in love with it! Check out the awesome lining fabric - it really makes it stand out. It even has this cute mirror attachment on the inside. Unfortunately, the outside of the purse is starting to flake, so I have to be careful with it. I'm probably only going to use it for special occasions. Still, an awesome find!

There's more pictures on my Flickr page, including one of some "interesting" turtles my grandfather gave me...

Thanks for the laugh

Fun story: Today I went to Wendy's for lunch. I pulled up to the window to pay and gave the guy my debit card. He looked at me sorta funny, ran the card, then said, "I'm sorry, your card was denied." What?! I looked at him in disbelief - there's no WAY my card should have been denied! Then he started laughing, and said, "Nah, just kidding!" I could have been mad, I guess, but instead I cracked up. He said, "See? I made you smile." You sure did, random Wendy's employee. You sure did.

And, for your amusement, here's what I would look like if I had been in high school in the 60's, courtesy of Yearbookyourself.com:

Now that's one sexy lady, am I right? :D

Things #3 and #4, and more

Things 3 and 4 were pretty easy to accomplish - start a blog and record it in the tracking log. Done and done. I'm not sure that I really even need to post about it, but I am anyway for consistency. So... yeah. There you go.

Just so this post doesn't feel like a complete waste, here is a list of some blogs/websites/comics that you all need to check out right now:

Cake Wrecks. Just do it - you'll thank me later.

The Domestic Scientist. Renee is talented & funny - check out all of her awesome creations!

The Martha Blog. Yes, that Martha. Yes, I'm serious.

Indexed. Most of you probably read this already, but did you know that Jessica Hagy is from Columbus? Well, now you do.

Xkcd. The ultimate geek web comic. If you don't read this, there is something wrong with you, and we can no longer be friends.

Lifelong Learning - Thing #2

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am participating in Learn & Play @ CML. As I go, I will be posting about each of the 23 "things" that we do, in hopes of getting cool prizes at the end. This is my first official post about one of the things - namely, Thing #2. Thing #1 was simply familiarizing myself with the program, so I didn't really need to post about that. (Hmm, this is starting to sound like a Dr. Seuss book - Thing #1 and Thing #2.) I hope even my non-library staff readers will find my posts about the "things" somewhat interesting, even if you already know all this stuff.

Anyhow, I just watched an online tutorial about lifelong learning. Ironically, I had already watched it before on my own when I first learned about the Learning 2.0 program. But I watched it again, and it got me thinking about people I help everyday at work. So many of them have just given up on learning, especially when it comes to computers. Most of the time it's people who need jobs, and employers expect them to be able to fill out a job application online even though they've never touched a computer before. Some of these people just want you to do everything for them, which can be really frustrating. How do you convince someone to learn when they don't want to? How do you make it exciting for them?

But not everyone is that way! We have so many customers that come to our technology training classes - they want to learn, and even if it's difficult for them, they are making progress. It's extremely rewarding to see people take charge of their lives and better themselves - and know that you played a small part in the process.

As for me, there are a lot of things I want to learn. Right now, I need to learn more about investing. Not only for my own financial gains, but because I deal with investment and business questions on a daily basis - I certainly don't want to be stumped when someone asks me to look up the price of a bond! Also, one of the 23 things is learning about wikis, and although I already know what a wiki IS, I am definitely curious about why and how libraries are using them.

Now for the assignment part of the project: what is easiest and hardest for me to do? Out of the 7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners, I think it's easiest for me to teach and mentor others. I love sharing what I know with other people! On the other hand, it's hardest for me to have confidence in myself as an effective learner. I can get easily frustrated if I don't "get" something right away. That's definitely something I need to work on!

So, dear readers - what are you learning about right now, or what do you want to learn more about? Do you consider yourself a lifelong learner?

Work + Play makes Erica a happy girl

My library is finally starting Helene Blowers' Learning 2.0 program - only we're re-branding it (as we are so good at doing) to "Learn & Play @ CML" - woohoo! I've been hoping we'd do this program since before we even hired Helene, so I'm pretty excited. Of course, it won't really be hard for me to participate... I've pretty much done all of the 23 things already. But it will be really neat to see my coworkers use some of these services for the first time. I *heart* the interwebz.

Anyway, since everyone else at work is blogging about the program, I had to be sure to put in my 2 cents as well. The program starts tomorrow (with an kick off presentation by Michael Stephens, awesome), and I'll be adding this blog to the official blog roll. Hmm, I sure hope I haven't said anything on here that I'll regret... haha. :D