CJRLC Tech Mtg. Reflections

I learned so much from attending the tech meeting yesterday. It was so cool to know what is happening out in the world of the Internet and how we can keep up with the information using RSS feeds. I'll definitely be back on Bloglines adding more feeds from some of the places Robert Lackie suggested. Since I am a total believer in libraries as equalizers, I really liked knowing how much of what we saw yesterday can be located for free using JerseyClicks and other databases that are provided for free through the state library. I need to really evaluate the periodicals that we get in paper form and will be cutting back on many of the ones that don't seem to be read. We (hopefully) will be subscribing to Gale's Elite 500 package also next year, which will give us access to many of the periodicals that we receive in print form now plus many that aren't included in EBSCO. One idea that has worked well, that I took from the middle school, was to circulate our magazines out of the library to the staff, which has increased our readership a great deal. At least 15 teachers/staff have participated in this program.

Since it could possible take me all day just to write this one entry in between helping staff and students, I will just end it with the links to the websites that Robert Lackie gave us yesterday. His website wwww.robertlackie.com contains many interesting articles on Web 2.0, emerging technologies, and educational resources. The PPT presentation can be found at the following link: http://leto.rider.edu/~rlackie/exploring/webtoolbox5-2007.ppt. In a nutshell, the things that I am going to put my time into learning more about are Zuula, Exalead, Clusty, and especially the Wayback Machine, which is part of the Internet Archive, the group that is spearheading the universal digital library project. Information on all of these tools is available via the power point.

I was too shy to take any photos of the presentation or of Robert Lackie; I guess no one feels they need to ask permission anymore at these gatherings, but I still feel funny just taking the pictures. So after the presentation finished, I headed out into the library and went to the Children's Section. It is phenomenal--beautifully designed with scenery indicative of the shores of Monmouth County. While the library itself wasn't, in my opinion, as visually interesting as the Mercer County branches are, they do have some features at Monmouth County headquarters, like a snack bar and tables where people can meet and talk outside in the lobby that I am sure add a "bookstore" feel to the library. So it is taking me some time to text the pics to the blog. So there will be more as the day goes on.

There Was Human Life Out There...and I Missed Them!

Duh. This is the part where I realize that I am really naive at this blogging stuff. I was walking around thinking noone would ever read this blog...and of course, who would because I have been too afraid to give the url to anyone :) and today I realized that a month ago that a persona actually posted comments to me! So there was human life out there and I missed it! I'll be sure not to make that mistake again!!

So my mother called me yesterday to tell me she was watching GMA and saw how young professionals are using blogging in their jobs, and out of curiosity she decided to Google me. She said she found my blog and was very interested. Beside the other person, thanks Janice Painter at PPL aka librarylvr for your comments, I can now say my mother has joined the ranks in my readership. Yahoo!! Knowing my mother, she will have her own blog and a large readership within 2 months of her reading mine! (JK Mom!)

Speaking of my mother, she has been perusing Squidoo as well, since she read about it here. Mom, why don't you post a comment?

Tech Group Meeting Today in Manalapan

The CJRLC Tech Group will meet today at Monmouth County Library Headquarters in Manalapan, featuring a presentation by Robert Lackie of Rider University entitled The Web Search Toolbox. It is supposed to be practical tips and techniques designed to help you make more effective web searches. I am excited just to be in the same room with Robert Lackie, since I have heard so much about him. He is also a contributor to the Library Garden blog that I like to read and have subscribed to receive RSS feeds to through bloglines. To learn more about the Tech Group, you can go to their blog at: http//cjrlctech.blogspot.com/ To read the blog Library Garden, go to www.librarygarden.blogspot.com

I get really excited about any of these free meetings as it is a great way to network and meet new people around NJ. Since school districts in NJ are in such financial hardship, it is really essential that between library school programs and cooperatives and state offerings, we are able to participate in some of these workshops. In this year alone, I have learned more information about Flickr, RSS, movie making software, Web 2.0, blogging, collection development/reader's advisory, among other topics I can't remember at the moment. I am so hungry to learn more about my profession, and so thankful to have so many really cool library people within an hour of my school to talk to and use as resources!

RSS Feeds via Bloglines and Potpourri

Today I created a bloglines account and subscribed to some blogs via bloglines. I would like to know if I can have them posted to my blog, but I am not sure how to do it. Will wait for a response. I can see how I could get easily overwhelmed by reading feeds. I only clicked two categories on the suggested links that Bloglines provides and ended up with 10-12 different sites. I quickly scaled back to get myself started with only a few blogs, like LibraryGarden, Pop Goes the Library, and The Shifted Librarian. I need to hunt up some school library blogs.

Things we've been doing around here lately include crowd control (kids get rowdy when the weather changes), manual inventory (even in this day/age we are resorting to pencil and paper--sad but true!), renegotiating database subscriptions for next year and increased fees for our circulation system. Cleaning up records and collection development--both have been fun. I love looking at Sets and Series in Titlewave and finding things that will add to our collection. I inventoried the small section of 100s. B did the Biographies. Currently we have AP testing in the MC so we have been given kid-free time to get some of this work done.

Google Earth and Map

Lest people think all I do is whine, I have reserved some positive remarks for Google Map and Google Earth. In my house, we adore Google Earth. It's a shortcut on the desktop! We have the best time going to addresses in other countries where we have lived and looking at how things have changed and where roads now lead. My husband, who is from another country, loves the fact that he can locate our home in his country--when it is so remote that it doesn't even show up on a regular map. My daughter was fascinated when we showed her where her grandparents lived and required some explaining as to why she couldn't see the front or back of the house, only the rooftop. My husband and a friend who came to stay with us spent over an hour looking at the town that our friend was going to move to in Utah--switching between the street map and the satellite--they had the best time in a way I don't think I will ever understand except to say that brain research shows men's brains are very spatially oriented and therefore I can get why they get into Google Earth on that level. We've been exploring it by using it to locate the towns of our Aupair candidates in South America. It is kind of fun to feel like you know a bit about where they come from while you are talking to them.

Anyone who wants to check out Google Earth can do it at http://earth.google.com/. Something really cool to do is check out the 3D buildings of America in Google Showcase: http://earth.google.com/showcase/

Squidoo Lens

Squidoo--what is it? According to its creators, most of us are overwhelmed by what we see on the web, which they believe may desensitize us from taking action because it takes us so long to poke around and become informed. So their alternative is Squidoo, where one can peruse groups and look at lens that are created by people who are interested/passionate about a particular topic enough to pull resources on that topic onto one page or lens. It is interactive because other people can chime in on what they think on the topic and the lens itself, and Squidoo even mentions that people may get paid for the recommendations they provide on materials purchased by others. I have no idea yet how that works. My basic frustration is that at school the computers are so slow that Squidoo does not inform me, it frustrates me as I try to narrow my search of its lens and groups. I haven't looked at it enough to know if I think I would use it all the time. I think it could be fun to spend time in some of the groups, but I would probably just put the links into delicious and use them from there or a favorites page. If I am missing something here, and anyone actually reads my blog and cares to share it with me, I would appreciate it. So far, here's what I have found:

I spent some time exploring Squidoo and the lens related to parenting and children. Here are some of the ones that I thought would be appropriate to mention on my blog:

1. Tips for Teens on MySpace http://www.squidoo.com/TipsforTeensonMySpace/. This lens seemed worthwhile to me--informative and well-planned.
2. Children's Books http://www.squidoo.com/groups/childrensbooks
3. Children's Authors and Illustrators http://www.squidoo.com/groups/childrensauthors
4. The Wonder of Girls http://www.squidoo.com/groups/girls. This is a moderated group that focuses on lens celebrating raising strong, healthy daughters.

There were several others that interested me as well, but after looking through them, the quality of the lens varies so much, I am not sure that I would want to spend hours searching through them. Apparently, if you go to www.squidoomadeeasy.com you can get free help on becoming a "Master Lensmaster".

I think I will peruse this sparingly!

Delcious and Squidoo

I should just email my blog entries since I am so far behind on my blog. I have been using delicious and find it quite easy to use, except that it is not set up properly for use at school so it takes me a lot longer to use. I think once my head is above water in this job and I can actually just search around for some of the stuff that the teachers need instead of relying on what comes through outside sources, then it will be easier--I feel pressure to add so many sites daily. Anyone who wants to see my delicious site can see it at http://del.icio.us/ellendavila . Right now it is basically sites that Phyllis from CJRLC sends me daily and what I get from LII. You can see Phyllis's list of favorite sites in the on-line copy of the CJRLC newsletter at http://www.cjrlc.org/Newsletter/newsletter.htm and you can get to Librarian's Index to the Internet at http://www.lii.org and join their newsletter, which posts on Thursdays. I have had a lot of the teachers rave about sites that they have seen on the LII newsletter. I send that to them directly using a distribution list. Yesterday I went to squidoo.com. I am not sure what I think about it yet. I kind of get it, but I wasn't that impressed with what I saw. I decided to look more into the lens that focus on religion and parenting since they might spark my interest more. I will play with that more and write about it again.