Wikis

I have a little previous experience with these, having created a page on the ALSC wiki based on material produced at a preconference last June (on library services for people with disabilities). That wiki was a little complicated to use, mostly because of style rules.

I think wikis are great, and I see a lot of applications for them in the public library. First of all, I think they make great internal communication tools for library groups, such as our teen tech pages or the members of T-MAD (our teen advisory board). I can see a wiki as a good vehicle for sharing fingerplays and songs with parents of young children. In Youth Services, we currently maintain a physical bulletin board where I post notices of workshops and other information for parents whos kids have disabilities. If parents, educators and locl organizations had access and enough of them knew about it, a wiki would be a wonderful addition to or replacement for the physical bulletin board.

My Thoughts on Web 2.0

I read several of the documents about the future of libraries. I don't know, I agree that the new technologies make it easier to access information and that "paperless reference" may be the wave of the future, but we don't yet have anything electronic that takes the place of a good old-fashioned book. Manufacturers of e-readers keep telling us it is coming, but I haven't heard of one yet that even comes close.

And, I also think the physical librry still has a role to play in the community --with programs and face-to-face interactions. Maybe second life addicts enjoy doing all of their living electronically, but I don't think most of us do. Give me body language and the sound of live (not electronically delivered) speech and music. Besides, how do you shake a hand or get a hug online?

My LibraryThing Catalog

Instead of writing posts about books I'v read, I've decided to keep track of them using a LibraryThing catalog. Just click on the url at the left side of my blog to go to the list of my recently-read books. This list will also take you to book summaries and reviews, so you can decide for yourself if you also want to read what I've been reading. I may use these posts to tell you what I especially like and dislike (just because I read it doesn't mean I think it's good).

Net Library and OverDrive

My first attempt to access ebooks and audiobooks was met with frustration. I couldn't seem to be able to download anything from Net Library and, because I have a Mac, it didn't look like I could use Over Drive at all. After wasting time trying unsuccessfully to make it work, I gave up and sent a "Help" email to Maura. She kindly explained that I had to register for Net Library at the Ferguson (and then went ahead and registered me--yay Maura.) Now I can use Net Library at least. It does seem unfair that Over Drive is not Mac-friendly, but I wonder if there is another service that is. Is there a Mac user out there who has discovered another good source of e books and audiobooks? Let me know if you have.

You Tube

I just spent some time looking at videos of folks on crutches (misery loves company). What I don't like about the You Tube videos is the quality, many are very amateurish, murky and hard to hear (at least the ones made by individuals). I found one I enjoyed, of a college student climbing stairs on her crutches. Very impressive, but I couldn't understand what she was doing well enough to duplicate it, so I think I'll continue to do stairs on my bottom for the time being.

Having watched part of the first World Series game yesterday, I was interested in videos of Pedroia's homerun in the first inning for the Red Sox. I couldn't find anything. I was surprised -- I thought folks would put something on You Tube immediately.

I do see ways to use You Tube in the library, particularly with teens. We could show videos on selected subjects at T-MAD meetings, have kids produce videos of their own as a program, etc. It may be worth asking our teens for ideas on how to use these new technologies with them (they know a lot more than I do).

More About Books

I've been at home for the past three weeks with a fractured knee cap, so, as you may imagine, I have been doing lots of reading. Some teen books, some adult. Ones I've especially liked are Slam by Nick Hornby (teen) about a young man whose life revolves around skating (on a board, not the ice), until, at 16, his girlfriend finds herself pregnant. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie (also teen) was a pleasant surprise. The cover and the title didn't appeal to me, but the story is charming; profound and funny at the same time, while taking on a number of serious issues with a light touch (alcoholism among Native Americans for example). On a different note, I read and enjoyed the adult memoir by A.J.Jacobs called The Year of Living Biblically. With the writing of this book in mind, Jacobs set out to follow all of ther directives in the bible for one year, turning him from an average American into a white robe-wearing weirdo with a flowing beard who refuses to touch women. His attempt to determine what the bible requires of him takes him to the Amish, Christian evangelicals, orthodox Jews and eventually Jerusalem. He is both irreverant and sincere, and I enjoyed accompanying him on his year of discovery.

Podcast --Listen while I write

Through Yahoo I subscribed to NPR story of the day, and I am listening to that as I write this post. Very nice. I have a MAC, so I am familiar with ITunes, and I've used it to access podcasts in the past. I like having another source in Yahoo, but the site says they are discontinuing the podcast feature next week. Oh well, I'll have to try one of the other ones or go directly to the iTunes lists.

Flickr fun?!

I enjoyed the opportunity to see what flickr was all about, and I admit, without Learning 2.0 I probably would not have done this. It still seems pretty daunting, I could use several weeks on each lesson--but I did get a basic idea of how the service works and used it to organize photos taken at my husband's ordination last year. The problems I had were in iding the photos to upload (I didn't get to see them before I chose them), and in dealing with images that uploaded more than once.

The trading card seems like lots of fun. I am making one of my husband and his fellow graduates, for him to share with the ordination class. I think they will like that.

Some Recently Read Books

Since I'm calling this a book blog, I thought I should mention some books. I recently read The Road by Comac McCarthy. It is beautifully written and haunting..but the subject matter is difficult. The book tells the story of a young boy and his father wandering in a post-apocolyptic United States; scavenging for food and avoiding other survivors, some of whom are cannibals. The releationship between the father and son is touching, as is their attempt to hold on to goodness under very trying circumstances. I highly recommend this adult novel.

I also read the teen novel, Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer. The third book in a series featuring teen Bella Swan and her Vampire boyfriend Edward Cullen, continues storylines introduced in the previous two volumes. There is more about the tension between Edward's vampire "family" and a group of werewolves who live nearby (one of them, Jacob, is also in love with Bella). Bella still want to become a Vampire herself, and as her high school graduation approaches, so does the time when Edward promised to transform her. These books are fun reads, and are really teen romances, with lots of sexual tension (but little or no action) and an overlay of the supernatural (vampires and werewolves) to add to the excitement. The books are best read in order-- the first is Twilight, followed by New Moon. I can see why these are so popular with older teen girls.

The third book I want to comment on is called The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd, due out in 2008. It is a British mystery story with an adolescent protagonist who has an Autism Spectrum Disorder, so it is being compared to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. While Dowd's book is entertaining, and the mystery has some unanticipated twists, I thought that the depiction of the main character is less convincing than the protagonist in Curious Incident, but maybe you have to know a lot about Asperger's to pick that up.

Wandering in RSS land

Well, the world of RSS is new to me, so it is great to discover it. I found the easiest way for me was to go through Yahoo, where I already have an account. In My Yahoo there is an area that lets me select any number of feeds that I want to add to my Yahoo page. Now I have news, the weather, a word of the day, and other interesting tidbits available whenever I log into Yahoo. I can add or delete RSS feeds easily. I found Blogline.com much harder to deal with, but I will play with it some more.