Avast me hearties!

Talk Like a pirate day is here again.
I've been checking my name for this year and came up with 2.

vMary, your pirate name is
Seaman Grainne O'Malley the Green
What is YOUR pirate name?

PLCMC Tech Summit 2008

It seems we had a great day this year.

This year I did a presentation on Open Source Software that could be used in Libraries for working with youth of all ages.

The presentation was posted to Slideshare.

It seemed to go very well and I look forward to more similar programs.

I am hoping to do a public presentation for parents and teens on Software Freedom Day, September 20th, which I will also post.

What is a Librarian, anyway?

I have to say a few posts grabbed my attention recently. They began with comments by a fellow library staff member and member of ALA, who does not have an MLS, MLIS, or other library degree. Lori Reed wrote about Emerging Leaders in ALA. Lori is a Library Trainer at PLCMC and highly professional, however she lacks that critical MLIS or other library degree that the program requires.

I was pleased to see one of my favorite bloggers, LibrarianinBlack was supporting Lori and she pointed out other issues for people who are don't or can't travel. Neither however, mentioned the age factor. I realize ALA are assuming that to be an Emerging Leader you are just starting your career and recently out of Library school. But there are people who didn't go to library school until later in life. I once met a former State Librarian for Colorado who got his degree at 40, I think he was 60 or 70 when I met him. Despite his rapid rise through the ranks of Librarians he would not have qualified for ALA's Emerging Leaders Programs either since they also limit to under 35.

Lori has since added a second blog on the value to the organization of non-degreed staffers.

During our new employee orientation the following question is asked, “How many of you are librarians?” A handful of people will raise their hands. The rest will squirm in their seats waiting, wondering what’s coming next. “To our customers we are all librarians” is the next thing new staff hear.With that statement you see a smile emerge and tension melt away.

I definitely think she has a point. I've worked in libraries for 22 years and 20 of those years in one system in a variety of roles. In some cases I felt a definite segregation of "Professional" vs "Paraprofessional" staff. The thing is when you work in a small location with only one person with a library degree, there just isn't always a person on hand to be the librarian if you restrict the definition to only include people with the degree. Our customers don't in fact know the difference. 10 years of my work were at just such a location. I worked in every capacity, from periodicals clerk, storyteller, shelver, reference librarian, to Manager On Duty, and on occasion cleaning up vomit. I now work in a much larger facility with several degreed Librarians and am called on to serve as Manager On Duty about once a month. I am pleased to say I have seen much less of the attitude I saw when I began working in libraries. Now more are surprised to find I don't already have the degree.

I like what Liminal Librarian's has to say on this topic:

And yes, some will define "librarian" as simply someone who holds an MLS, but I think this is an oversimplification, given both the diversity of fields in which we work and the number of people who do the work and call themselves/have the title of librarian, without having earned the degree. Not to mention the fact that we lack standardization in library education and schools, so we come out with the same degree, having learned very different things.

My role in the Library has changed a lot over those years, due in part to the advancing role of technology in libraries. I am a bit of a geek and nerd at heart and embraced technology from an early age. I was playing with Fortran and Assembler languages in the early 70's, before the first desktop PC, so when our library system introduced public internet access stations in 1995, I soon found myself as the one who my coworkers came to for help with things computer. Later, when I felt it was time for a change, I moved entirely into technology and became a public technology trainer. I worked my way up from teaching Computer Basics and the occasional MS Office class until now teaching Animation, Image Editing (both Photoshop and GIMP), Dreamweaver, and was even called on as one of the first guest bloggers for Learning 2.1 by Helene Blowers. The point is at my age (currently 55 going on 30) I am in the unique position of being a technology resource to younger staff with Library degrees.

I probably won't bother getting a degree as I am nearing the end of my career but I'm proud of my 27 year old who will be starting at UNC-Ch this Fall working on a MSLS degree. I hope she has inherited my love of technology as she will be joining the ranks of Librarians in the digital age. I also hope she will value all staff she works with no matter what degrees they have or don't have.

Facebook and Facebook groups #60 and #61

Since there really wasn't much for me to discover here, I will take Kjersti's post and add to it. I've had my Facebook account for a couple years and really like it, though I shy away from a lot of the apps that just are for fun like Kharma, cupcakes, Vampires, etc.

Probably the first item to show I use Facebook for Library related use is my friends. If you look at my Friends list, I currently have 55 friends. Five are related to me directly, 2 daughters, 1 unborn grandson, and 2 nieces. One is my Son-in-Law. One other is an old high school buddy. All the rest are in some way library related, either current PLCMC employees, former PLCMC employees, Learning 2.0 and 2.1 contacts, one I found through Facebook Groups, three friends were guest speakers at the library's Tech Summits, who I friended to see what they are up to in the library technology world.

I use Facebook as a launch site for a lot of the Web 2.0 resources I use a lot, such as:
Zoho Office
Twitter
Jaiku
Last.FM
Books iRead
Goodreads
Library Thing

I use these apps as a way to find new reads and sometimes for library purposes. I have to admit I keep up with Books iRead more than the others as I enjoy the Chuck this book capability. Jamie Christenbury and I chuck books we think the other might like and I've chucked a couple new titles at Kjersti by some of our mutual favorite authors, such as Mark Kurlansky and Robert Sullivan.

One use of Facebook was one brought to my attention by PLCMC's Chris Bates. He and I are both members of Metrolina Library Association and he used Facebook to ask me some questions for use in a presentation for Metrolina. I hadn't really thought of using it that way before. Since then I found an Irish Librarian looking for help with some research that our Carolina Room could provide and hooked her up with Jane Johnson. The original contact came from the Library 2.0 Interest Group in Facebook.

That leads me to the next use I've found for serious Library discussion on Facebook, Groups, here are the ones I've joined an found useful:


Library 2.0 Interest Group
Web 2.0 Tips and Hints
Libraries using Facebook Pages
Internet Librarian
FacebookAppsForLibraries
Libraians and Facebook
Web 2.0
Second Life Librarians

I'm sure there are others but these I have found useful to me. Of course, I also joined a couple Apple Groups too. Anyone who has followed this blog for a while will know I am a hardcore Apple fan, especially in the last 2 years since I bought my MacBook (I still have iPod Touch Lust, maybe someday I can afford one).

Next I plan to share my favorite Google Reader Library related feeds.

From LibrarianinBlack

I am rapidly becoming a fan of this person's blog. Today when catching up on posts I found two exciting posts.

Alice a programming software to teach kids programming basics from Carnegie Mellon. I'm looking at it for youth classes next fall.

The second OpenLearning is a product from Open University in the UK offering free online training in a variety of subjects. Registration is free and easy. I can't wait to begin learning!

I can easily see that she will remain in my Google Reader to follow on a regular basis.

Tom Lehrer and Google

I was happy to see that Google paid tribute to Tom Lehrer in their Official Blog this week. His 80th birthday is just past and I realize that the old vinyl disk we raised our daughters with is long gone. I wonder if any of his tunes are on iTunes?

It pleases me that the company that brings me such helpful items as Docs and Blogger also shares an appreciation of the same wit and intellect that I do. Perhaps I'm not such an old fogey after all.

Image Editing Online

I've covered this topic before on another blog, Learning 2.1, but a new entry has joined the field of candidates and I think it deserves mention. I will also be giving an update to one I mentioned before.


First of all, I want to do the update. I mentioned Fauxto before as a great online image editor. They have changed names and can be found at Splashup This one is a really high-end image editor that gives Photoshop Elements a run for it's money, even offering layers and filters similar to Photoshop. Surprisingly they manage to offer a Photoshop like experience and look in a Flash based environment. I highly recommend checking it out.


In other news Adobe has finally launched Photoshop Express. It's offering for online image editing and storage of images. Express is no where near as powerful as Photoshop or even Photoshop Elements but it's a start. The biggest drawback however is the need to have the latest Flash player installed, not surprising from Adobe however. It has a clean interface that is easy to understand and use. Basic and some intermediate features are available but it is limited in scope.

I am glad to see this available but will stick with SplashUp and Picnik for online editing and GIMP for the serious stuff.

Re-organization

The library system I work for in undergoing a major re-organization. A former leader in our library, Helene Blowers now in Ohio, posted the following blog post over the weekend and it seemed to me as very profound and appropriate to consider as we move forward.

LibraryBytes: Growing the Org Chart

Helene really hit a chord with me. I like the idea of likening an organization to a garden, perhaps inspired by Spring getting going but it made total sense to me. In her description the leaders are the "dirt" that fertilizes and supports the organization. If you continue that analogy, I as a front-line worker might be like the worker bees who pollinate the garden and help it be fruitful. I am there to facilitate the customer experience and help them accomplish their goals. I doubt it will make any major difference as I feel I have always striven to provide the best possible service. However, it may give me a new way of looking at how I provide that service and as a gardener, I enjoy the analogy.

Recovery and Ravelry

it's been a while since I've posted. From November through January I spent most of my time learning Final Cut and preparing for foot surgery. On Jan 24th the surgery took place and I couldn't do anything for a couple weeks. During that time my oldest announced her impending wedding and, in anticipation of grandkids, I decided to check out Ravelry. I believe Jamie has already done something on this and this is my discovery posting on it.

Since she wrote about it Jamie and Lydia of IS at PLCMC, have set up a PLCMC group for our Stitch-Ins, Main, North County, and Mint Hill. We are still a small group of people but we can now see what books we all have, for sharing patterns, ideas, etc. You can see any user's projects and are able to set them to favorites easily to pick out your next project. Projects are tagged so you can search for a project type. They give you pretty good links to patterns and many free patterns with a place to save pdf's so you don't have to print them all out until you are ready to start the project. I really like the Queue where you can set up a set of projects you intend to start soon, I have 2 for yarns I found on sale recently. Moving to the projects is as easy as clicking "cast on". You can also keep up with your progress on the project. If you put it on the back burner set it to hibernating, and if you rip it out set it to frogged. You can also post photos of your work.

As a result I now know that the afghan, lovingly dubbed the "forever afghan," that I have been working on for 35 years was in hibernation, however, it is now finished thanks to 6 weeks of inactivity and the need for a wedding gift and no money.

Music downloading

Thanks for this one Jennifer! I can't think how often our patrons ask for just this.

What I liked was that there is only downloading the music so the only limits in the library would be getting the computer to recognize the player or have a CD burner available if that is their choice. Of course not all the most popular songs will show up and I noticed that the first song listed was rated as explicit, so parents still might want to be aware when allowing their teens there to download.

Jott

This was almost too easy! I had my account set up and the first Jott done within 5 minutes. That included verifying my email etc. I can really see the use for this when you are listening to the radio and want to "Jott" down a name, book title, or song title. Of course I recommend having some kind of hands free headset.

I personally prefer the wired head sets. I know everyone is going Bluetooth but there are some serious considerations when looking at Bluetooth.

Bluetooth makes a serious reduction in battery life for your phone, requiring more frequent recharging. I can go 3 days without chanrging. Bluetooth reduces battery life to 1/3.

Many bluetooth headsets are heavy and not particularly comfortable after only a short time wearing it.

Bluetooth is not (I repeat, NOT) a secure connection. Anyone may listen in so if you are discussing personal info , such as SS# or credit card info, you are taking a big risk of identity theft using bluetooth. Although it is possible tap into any cell call or any other phone for that matter, most cell phones allow encryption that will reduce the risk considerably. Using a bluetooth headset is about as secure as using a megaphone, it doesn't even take any special equipment to tap in.

Groups from Usenet

Usenet was indeed the beginning. Groups aren't that new either I joined my first Yahoo! Group in 1999, New Nordic Folk. I could keep up with new music and find out about the next Nordic music festival in Minneapolis. I've been known to make pilgrimages so joining a group isn't far out of line for me. However, if you look at the Ning Networks and all the different groups there you can discover the next development of the idea of places to share ideas.

I admit that Virtual Worlds are likely to be the next step in this progression. Although I have had singularly bad luck with it, Second Life is the next step. Librarians are gathering on Info Island and sharing there. I just wish I could get past getting an avatar. For some reason they keep saying I already have a character on the island but I never got past the signup and I've even tried new emails that I created jsut for that. Grrr!!! Yes, even I can meet my technological barriers. I will beat it though just not tomight.

LiveMocha

This has a lot of potential but is still a bit new. I did start learning German but I hope they continue to add new languages. I can't wait to begin Norwegian or Swedish. I suspect my daughter would enjoy the chance to keep up her Norwegian and Finnish too. Of course they are still in Beta but I hope they keep going.

Animoto

Not bad but I wish there was greater control of the animation. Also I had trouble with uploading my music. Additionally, it took a long time, 15 minutes, to render the video. Still I am not totally displeased with the results.

Retroland

I can see a real audience for this one also, provided the user is into lots of popular music, movies, foods, tv, places, toys, fashions, or arcade games, all the topics offered. I didn't find anything of interest since I am compulsively into the non-popular. I know there are groups for me just not here. Of course, being one of the least sentimental people I know I rarely like to think about "good old days" besides for me they were anything but good. Anyway I couldn't do much here since I found myself back in the outcast era of my life. I would recommend this to someone trying to meet others who do have fond memories of "good old days."

Social Networking: Age and Apps

In light of the recent NYT article on social networking sites for an older generation, I thought I would make a first appearance discussing Facebook.* As Paul Kedrosky says, teens might be tire kickers, but in my experience they move because there is an improvement from, say, Friendster to Facebook. I never used Friendster, and I have a fundamental dislike of Myspace. I think Myspace is ugly and the embedded music annoys me. If the music was optional - something that the visitor turned on rather than being required to turn off - I would feel more positively about it. My point, rather, is to discuss the plethora of new applications that Facebook has gained this year.

Facebook originally appealed because it was a college student exclusive. No little brothers and no mums were going to see what you were saying to your friends. All that has changed as Facebook opened to the general public, with no small amount of protest and a stepping up of personal information security. So why are people still using Facebook, now that their employers can check out whether their profile is displaying unprofessional behavior? Well, online scrabble can't be the only reason, but for my part it is certainly getting me to sign in to the site a lot more. It must be true for a number of other users as well, as the Scrabbulous developers have had to make a number of upgrades and server moves to keep the application running smoothly. Poking has been upgraded through news apps that allow users to do whatever action they wish to their friends, and applications now exist for sharing huge lists of one's favorite music, movies, and books. There are at least three applications for sharing the contents of one's book shelves and reading lists with space for users to write reviews, explore the books of users with similar tastes even if they are not friends, and one even taps into Amazon enough to give recommendations of other books one might enjoy.

A small complaint: all of the apps tap into Amazon.com, while I would just as soon have a quick and easy link to see if my local library has a book that I am interested in reading. Now that would be libraries moving in a new direction to serve the public.

A glaring problem: there are three different book applications that I know about. Some of my friends use iBook, others Visual Bookshelf, and still others the Books app, so if I want to see what all my friends are reading I have to use all three applications. It isn't a problem limited to books, and Facebook doesn't regulate the apps to assure that there are not multiple applications serving the same function. Despite this aggravation, Facebook has still made an important step in opening up application creation to so many minds. Users have a direct link to developers through application wall posts to request new functions or report bugs, making Facebook far more responsive to user desires. In effect, Facebook doesn't have to do all the work to allow the application to adapt and mature with its users, with the potential to cross the generational gaps as well as the international borders that it already dances over.

The best thing: Facebook has added its own new applications that allow users to post music and video to their profiles. These sound and video files are activated by the visitor and not auto-run. Despite fears by may users before Facebook opened to the general public, it hasn't become Myspace.

*Reflink: LibraryCrunch

Thing 33: Expressing myself

It's not often I can create some art that I can appreciate. I frequently tell people "I am artistically challenged", or "I married an artist since I am not one". I will say that the Stringspin was fun I created 2 masterpieces, one with each version:






Anyway I still am behind 2 more Things so I must keep going.

Getting back on track

This summer has been incredibly complicated. One staffer is a new father, another has been in high demand as a conference speaker, and yet another is on a Technology Scholarship. Add to that mix, 2 week long summer camps for kids with the attendant planning required. A collection of animations to edit together as a video for the lobby Plasma Screen. But it doesn't end there, I was also active in the Harry Potter and Jim Dale event planning and those ended up being major projects too. To say the least I've barely had time to think much less keep up with the Learning 2.1 activities. I plan to work on those as soon as the Animation video is finished.

However, I would like to take this opportunity to state that some of the blogs here may not be mine. I have added my daughter, Kjersti, as a guest blogger here. Kjersti had a blog she kept last year Curry Potatoes. She was dong a year of study abroad in Bø, Norway. It was an experience of a lifetime as her blog shows. Kjersti plans to go for an MLS now that she has finished her undergrad work and that's why she will be contributing to my blog. If all goes well she may be starting her own Learning 2.1 blog. She has applied for several PLCMC positions and finally has an interview coming up next week.

Photobucket and Meez

Now here is where I think Photobucket shines. The Avatars are fun! Though I did get frustrated that not everything is free. This is a mashup of Photobucket and Meez avatars. Since I was using it through Photobucket I didn't even have to sign up with Meez, how slick can it be?

I chose to dress in what I would wear were I a 20 something, cropped cargo pants, boots. I do wish I could have found the hair in other colors, like green or bright red. The animation is Global Warming and since it's summer and we barely had a winter this year, I'm feeling the heat, though that might just be that I'm in my 50's but still think young.

Still I managed to get this not only posted to Photobucket but it adds to your blog easily too! My only comment is that you have to go into the blog to add the text as an edit. Other services just give you the code and you paste to the blog. See the ToonDoo post a bit back. There I could chose between a straight post and a flash file, I used the flash so moving your mouse pointer over the comic will scroll dynamically.

YourMinis

I like a clean desktop, so I'm not a big one for adding widgets to my desktop but I can also add a few to my blog so that's the way I went. For those primarily using shared staff PC's this will be a good solution to doing this Thing. There are a few more steps but they help you with getting them code copied. Just add another element to the page and there you are. If you've added Technorati, or an RSS feed you already know how to do it.