I wish I had thought of this!

Here is a website that just made me laugh and reminisce: The Virtual Museum of Cataloging and Acquisitions Artifacts.

I used many of the tools -- electric erasers, the card platens, Kardex trays, etc. KU's Curll Collection card with the title page image brought back a lot of memories -- I still have a card sorter squirreled away and a card catalog cabinet stored away! Ya never know...

The best use of catalog cards (after they leave the card catalog) I have seen yet is the decoration of an elevator shaft at the Los Angeles Public Central Library -- the elevator has a glass window and as you travel up and down the shaft you see all the cards! Check it out!

Looking forward, today I saw a word or tag cloud in action in a database -- Counseling and Psychotherapy Transcripts, Client Narratives, and Reference Works -- and knew what it was! Thanks TLC.

Now what?

Now that I have finished my 23 things -- now what? I have been thinking about this and realized that it was a quick pass -- there is more to learn and do. So I am going to go back and review some of the things I really don't quite get and also move on to some of the extra assignments. Like Second Life. Hmm -- I always wished I had red hair...



In the meanwhile I have been playing with books and reading again -- here I am in my favorite reading chair courtesy of the Coral Springs Art Museum:


The book on the ottoman is River of Grass by Marjory Stoneman Douglas. Appropriate reading for south Florida only a mile or two from the Everglades!

Facebook Angel

Library Angel

Oh no, I have a Facebook account -- let me check -- is my nephew on this? He is the right age to be using it for social networking -- 17. He will think me way cool when I tell him I have an account.


And what is this poking -- I actually found someone I know so he has been poked and invited to be a friend -- he is a former professor of mine so this should be interesting.


As for my Facebook identity -- I do like my privacy -- but here is the picture I put up! Right now I will be silly or is it giddy from finishing my 23 things?

I think Facebook's rep has spoiled it for some people -- I find it a little uncomfortable to be on it but also realize that if it were taken more seriously it would serve as a great networking tool. Should ALA set up an account and urge members to join -- might even help recruitment to the profession!

Finishing 23 Things

Well in truth I haven't finished it all -- still waiting on my Facebook account to be generated but I will go ahead and write about finishing my 23 things. I wasn't able to finish on schedule but that is OK. The point is that I got through all the exercises and played with all the tools being offered. I see a great deal of potential and realized that I both personally and professionally could be doing a lot more. For example I like blogging -- I don't think of myself as a writer but I am doing a lot of it in my blogs and will probably continue it personally. I find I like using anything that has a graphical interface and that comes from my interest in art and book design. I do think visually and love using pictures to illustrate or make my point. In fact I feel my blogs are not complete without a picture! I had played with Flickr in the past but now am getting more serious about it. I have even invested in a digital camera to make it easier for me to use.

How will this impact me at work -- well the ease of setting up and using many of these tools makes me think we can easily incorporate them into our work. I have tried to look at them with library or reading or book implications. I see the communication aspects as well as the promotional aspects. One thing that I had not realized the importance of was tagging -- and you can see that in my blogs -- it wasn't til I got to Del.icio.us and Technorati that I realized oops -- should have tagged those blogs!

Finally I don't think this is the end -- my other realization this is only going to continue and Web 2.0 is going to grow -- and we need to say abreast of it. Despite all of the commercialization and Yahoo or Google generated products Web 2.0 is being driven by a hugh force -- people who have easier and easier access online as the cost of doing so comes down and the user interfaces become less geek or tech-head operated.

So my thanks to the Libraries for supporting this and allowing me to use work time to play!

Shuffling

A few years ago one of my sisters showed me her new Apple Shuffle -- and I immediately lusted after one. I saved my pennies and bought one and have been playing with it ever since. It meant that I needed to install iTunes so I now have it set up on all the computers I use. At first I did think I could only load music on it but one day while checking out the NPR site I realized I could save programs! I love Fresh Air but because of the poor scheduling of it on the local NPR stations I never got to hear it. Now I listen to it when I want to.

Want to listen too? Go to Fresh Air and subscribe.

What I didn't know for a long time was that Podcasts were not just audio -- there is video too -- but with my little Shuffle I will have to watch elsewhere!

On Viewing YouTube and Fontaneda

YouTube is a massive phenomenon getting lots of press --- you can't not know about it -- and its sensationalism. But as I played with it I realized that there are many other worlds on it.

I did a search on "book collecting" and found a universe inhabited by bibliomanics infected by a disease known as the "gentle madness." Book collectors -- and I don't mean accumulators like me -- are a special people. They love their books and they love the topics they collect whether it be fine bindings or jazz discographies. They can entertain me for hours with the stories about their books. Locally there is a at least one collectors' group known as the Fontaneda Society. They meet monthly at the Bienes Museum of the Modern Book at Broward County Main Library. Members of the Fontaneda Society share stories about their collecting, hear guest lectures and visit collections. It is a interesting group to hang out with and there are some very important local collectors who participate. One always learn something at a meeting.

Here is a lovely YouTube presentation by a collector in Syracuse, NY -- a treat to see her collection:

Winners -- and Losers on Seomoz.org

I poked around this list of resources and there were some real winners and some real losers. I could live a long time without Fuzzmail -- maybe because I already struggle with spelling! Why preserve it! I did try the one line story -- I realized I had that story waiting to get out for a long time -- and now it is written. I popped a widget onto my blog -- see quote of the day. Mostly because I like the word widget! And someone needs to tell Marsha about Yahoo's Upcoming where events can be posted! Some of these items have been around for awhile or variants of them have existed in the past. But they do get better and better.

How useful is all this to know about-- well it opens up my eyes and my mind to the fact that there is a lot going on out there and some very talented and creative people are developing and playing with new ideas and new toys. Keeping up with it all is tough but we need to pay attention and perhaps even make our own.