Thing #1 - Redux

I blame it all on PLA. I had a good routine going before the national public library conference with attention to one or two library things each weekend. With that pattern, I should have finished in round #1. But then that is the world of coulda, woulda, shoulda --- not reality. Along came PLA in March with my own conference blogging, as well as serving as a blogging buddy for a SELCO-PLA scholarship recipient and 23 Things slowed to nothing.

I am starting where I left off with 14 Things left to do, 8 -13, 15 - 17, 19 - 23, and this time the special 1-gig flash drive prize will be mine!

.

Thing #14

LibraryThing as part of 23 Things on a Stick. Is a pattern emerging? Pattern or no, I used this online tool this weekend and cataloged a small selection of the Hutton book collection, just the signed copies. In somewhat un-librarian fashion, I've never inventoried our collection. While there is a general order to where titles sit on the shelves, it is probably more "bookstoresque" than "libraryish."

The collection of signed titles is an odd assortment of books purchased over a long period going back to the days when I would willingly lug home pounds of new books after standing in long lines for the coveted signature of a Newbery Award winner. Most are children's books with a small selection of adult titles. There are classics as well as a few titles of which I am the only LibraryThing owner.

Some titles have been unopened for years. Cataloging them offered the opportunity to experience forgotten details --- the choice of paper and font, illustrations in subdued hues or bright colors. As well as bits of history tucked inside --- the forgotten bookmark (did it mark a once favorite passage or is this simply where it was left as I finished reading), a charge slip (not mine but belonging to the person who gave me the book 29 years ago.) Even more wonderful, the signatures of the creators --- small, tight script or flourishing pen strokes. Well worth toting home all these titles from so many author presentations.

Bookjacket art is missing for 1/3 of the entries and the LibraryThing generic brown cover is ugly. Another project for another winter weekend (there are still a few more despite 45 degree temps today) will be to scan the cover artwork.

Thing #7

My email experiences go all the way back to the days when VAX mail required a "hard return" at the end of a line and once the cursor jumped to the next line there was no going back. If you needed to correct a misspelling or restructure the sentence, it meant starting over. Editing was possible but only with a complicated set of key commands that required a cheat-sheet list.

A 23 Things discussion of email feels like old news but in the spirit of the program, here are are my email likes and dislikes.

Email likes:

• Generic. Other than maybe my Mom just about everyone I know has email. While it may not be the most elegant method to share important news, it does so quickly and uniformly.
  
• SELCO's new spam filter keeping at bay all those messages from foreign princes wanting to exchange currency.
• Filed.
  

And dislikes:

• Full in-box. I'll admit to less than stellar email management. Even with a thorough list of Outlook folders for major projects, committees, etc. there are too many messages just hanging around in my In-Box.
• People who insist on replying only to the sender even when asked to "reply all."
• Flaming and verbal escalation.

If email is on the antiquity end of the stick then IM is a more modern approach to quick communication. Before trying it, I couldn't understand the difference between an ongoing string of email messages and IM. Now I use it regularly to check facts, chat with a friend miles away or carry on a sidebar conversation during a less than productive meeting. Yes, I know that might be considered rude, but the meeting participants were rambling and the IM conversation kept my sarcasm in check and a smile on my face. My proudest IM multitasking feat --- online meeting with 2 IM sessions. Should I try for 3?

Presidents Day

Good things about Presidents Day (For those wondering if it is President's Day, Presidents' Day or Presidents Day, check Apostrophe Ambiguity.)

• Blue sky (at least in Rochester)
• A day when the SELCO office is closed
• Wandering through Barnes & Noble after lunch
• Picking up The Crown of Valencia (Yes, I could have checked it out of the library but much prefer to have a personal copy of the latest publication of a local author and former SELCO/SELS Board member, Catherine Friend)
• Catching up on all the 23 Things blog posts (There are over 100 - 23 Things blogs registered in SELCO/SELS with the rush before the official registration deadline)
  

Thing #6 - Chinese characters

Not because I can read Chinese but because there is such a thing as a Chinese character generator.

Richard pronounced: lǐ shā dé

Thing #6 - Chocolate

There's always chocolate in the SELCO office! And now there is a virtual cocoa version of 23 Things sans stick!

participation and progress

The list of 23 Things participants continues to grow! Aurora (who helped write a portion of the 23 Things curriculum) IM'd me this afternoon to announce 83 blogs were registered from around the region including 17 SELCO staff members. And, as of 6:12 PM, there are 697 registered statewide.

Our 23 Things experimentation ranges from slightly hesitant to wildly creative. Some of the highlights I've found include:

• 23 Enigma post with a Flickr collection of photos shot by a 4-year old in the library. This child has talent!

• 23thingsinAustin's dreams for a new ILS

• Here's the Thing started with Thing #7, then went on to #6, #11, and #20. Very free spirited.

• Links from one blog, It's My Life, to other neat blogs in the region like LibraryTree

And that only takes me through "I."

Thing #18 - Librarian Song

And thanks to Michael Golrick (now library director in my home town) for sharing a little library humor! (Does embedding a YouTube video count for #18?)

Thing #5

Not every day is a "nose to the grindstone" kind of day as we enjoy visits from SELCO's treat-or-treaters!



For all the fun: Halloween Presentation

Thing #4 – Flickr

The organizational options in Flickr are plentiful but like the current discussion about tags versus subject headings in the world of library catalogs, the organizer in me would love more consistency --- at least for SELCO’s photo array!

Our Flickr account keeps growing with over 461 pix today. We do an okay job tagging but the terms vary and 62 were blank, although I fixed 22 while working on this blog posting. (Maybe the other orphan pix will get tagged on another cloudy Saturday.)

Flickr makes it easy to create sets and insert a web link to a small selection of pix on the same topic. So a news item or a blog post on Rural Sustainability connects directly to our LSTA program photos. We also have sets for each type of library:

• Academic (6)

• Public (136)

• School (70)

• Special (13)

Thing #3 – RSS

Like so many others, I initially thought, I’ll just bookmark my favorite sites and check them periodically for anything new ---sort of like choosing when to pick up the newspaper. But unlike the newspaper that comes at the same time every day (or something close) bloggers post at all hours, they may post several times in one day, or be quiet for days. I was quickly converted to the advantages of RSS - Real Simple Syndication and have had a Bloglines account ever since Barbara Misselt (now at ECRL) shared this cool tool. I've even blogged about Bloglines!

So having subscribed earlier, my 23 Things activities for today included:

• Adding a Bloglines button to my toolbar
• Aggregating all the SELCO staff blogs in a Bloglines folder – energetic postings out there!

Wear Red on Friday

Friday, February 1, 2008, is National Wear Red Day-a day when Americans nationwide will take women´s health to heart by wearing red to show their support for women´s heart disease awareness. Join the national awareness movement by wearing red on February 1, and encourage your family, friends, and coworkers to do the same.

Thing #2

Just as Minnesota launched 23 Things, John Blyberg posted Library 2.0 Debased. Now if you only read the title or the first paragraph you might get the sense that he is shifting his support from Library 2.0 --- not so. Blyberg is simply reminding library staff to adopt these tools purposefully, not just as hype.

Maybe it is because library funding is tight or librarians are often perfectionists, but I get the sense that some believe we should only offer programs or services that are proven to be 100% successful. Certainly that pressure is palpable at the regional level. If SELCO delays implementation to identify major pitfalls – then we are holding back library innovation but if we spotlight something new – then we are wasting time. The reactions when we launched the SELCO Librarian were a good example of this dichotomy. There were some who cheered our blogging venture and complimented us by immediately adding our site to their RSS feeds. Others felt this was a waste of regional time and one reason some of us only posted long after work hours so as to be seen as something “extra” in our work life and not the norm.

23 Things is all about trying something new in a safe and supported environment and (dare I say it) enjoying online learning. I’m personally participating in the 23 Things program and all members of the SELCO staff are being encouraged to participate. As of this posting 437 individuals have around Minnesota have registered with 23 Things, including 60 (14%) from SELCO/SELS. How exciting!

We may not adapt anything from our experience but, as Stephen Abrams stated, we can expect change simply because of our exploration. As David Lee King wrote: ”If one 2.0 project doesn’t work as expected, that doesn’t mean that “library 2.0 didn’t work” as a whole … not every blog, wiki, IM reference service, Second Life project, or podcast that your library creates will be a blazing success. Some will be dismal failures. And that’s great! Why? Because you learned something, and you can take that knowledge and move on to the next project.”

Thing 1 and a half - Avatar Done

I was going to "accidentally" forget the 1-1/2 part of Thing #1 and not create an avatar. After all, do I really need a "visual on-screen, in-game persona"? But my conscience kicked in and such an omission didn't flow with the cooperative spirit with the program. So, the Beadworking Librarian has beads which will change as I progress through 23 Things. Stay tuned to see just how glamorous the jewels display.

Where? Oh where?

Even prolific writers face the challenge of finding time to blog and now there is the added dilemma of where to post? Nearly two years ago, SELCO launched the SELCO Librarian:

• to share professional information of interest but which is not critical to the daily operation of SELCO/SELS or the members of the multitype consortium; and
• to provide an insight into the personal interests, talents, and opinions of the SELCO staff as they pertain to librarianship.

As SELCO's Executive Director, that is blog #1 and I share right along with other staff members. In December, I authored 8 of the 15 entries. Admitedly, that quantity was a bit unusual and several of those posts served as reports for a virtual meeting. There is blog #2, the Structure blog, as SELCO/SELS deliberates about organizational structure, membership, and governance. And finally, blog #3 - Bead Working Librarian - my own blog and now part of 23 Things on a Stick for a bit more personal info and the place to work through the program with other library and web 2.0 explorers. So the question remains, "Where? Oh where to post?"

Beads for a holiday weekend

With frigid temps and lacy snowflakes, it has been a good weekend to take the bead supplies out of the hall closet. And I have been busy! A new multi-strand necklace and matching earrings for myself and a pair of lampwork glass earrings as a gift. I even found time to re-string an old favorite that broke years ago during a long-range planning session which added some comic relief to an otherwise tense meeting.

23 Things on a Stick - #1

Task #1 for Minnesota's new 23 Things on a Stick has everyone creating a blog. Since Bead Working Librarian was languishing, I modified the curriculum (you can do that with a self-directed class!) refreshed the site (converting from the old Blogger to new Blogger) and Voila --- I am ready to delve into Library 2.0. Biggest problem was not the work itself, but remembering an old username and password. Luckily, Google sends reminders.