23 Things Summary

Keeping up with techonology is an important part of our job as librarians and this challenge provided a framework to learn about Web 2.0 in a fun, organized way. I now feel more familiar with some of the terminology and websites I hear discussed at meetings, but I am still unsure how Web 2.0 fits into my daily life as a librarian. I can answer questions about blogs and RSS feeds better, but how we can use this technology to improve our library's website or delivery of information is something I need to continue to explore.

La Habra Library

La Habra Library
Originally uploaded by librarypageturner

Library Picture

Library Map

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Podcasts

The Yahoo podcast directory says listening to a podcast is like listening to the radio, and I did find this to be true. If you find a topic you are interested in, then a podcast is a fun, easy way to keep up with information. I don't really envision myself searching for or listening to many podcasts, unless it is something educational for work. I have watched and listened to several webcasts, but of course, those included the visual element. For me the visual element makes a difference in my ability to focus on the topic, even though most to the time the presenters in a webcast are fairly stationary. Using the yahoo podcast directory I did find some interesting author interviews, and this might be a nice addition to a library website. A quick google search shows that other directories, including podcast.net, and itunes, also provide nice indexes for podcasts.

YouTube Part Two

I looked at YouTube earlier, but I took another look today at an amazing video about the web 2.0 phenomenom. I put a link to it on the blog.

Google Maps

I tried out Google maps but had a bit of difficulty. First, I assume the instructions mean to place a picuture of your library on the map, not actually make a map of our library. Placing a pointer and filling in the library's hours and website was easy. Adding the picture proved to be more problematic. I had to unblock the site, but the picture still shows up as a blank square. The actual picture does not show up even though I pasted the URL from Flickr. Does it have something to do with the fact I did not use Picassa? I will have to consult with someone else on the staff next week to see if I can make the picture appear.
On the Flickr website I was able to place one of my pictures on a map and this was quite easy to do.
Link to google map:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=33.932334,-117.944477&spn=0.000857,0.001808&z=19&om=1

Online Productivity

I was aware that online word processing existed, but I have never tried the use any of the products. Now that we have a word processing program on all of our Internets it's not as critical, but this is certainly a nice option for students to use, especially if they don't own a flash drive. They could store their document online and then access it later on a different computer just by logging into their account. The online spreadsheet program was easy to use as well, almost easier than EXCEL!
I was able to save documents, easily email someone, and cc myself. I only signed up for an account on Google, but a quick look at wikipedia shows that other options are available:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_online_spreadsheets
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_word_processors