Reflection

It really is the end. I find it hard to believe that I am at the end of the 23 things. I really enjoyed the North Texas 23. I did not realize there were so many "things" I was not aware of and how useful they could be to me and the teachers at my campus.

The thing I liked least was Ning. With all the controversy around this site I don't think I could see using it. Twitter is another site that I will probably not use. I just do not see me twitting about myself every day. The thing I lerned the most about was the RSS feeds. I really learned what an RSS feed is and what it does. It is amazing how I know notice them on sites now! My most challenging time was using the Image Generator. I could not figure out how to get it in my blog. I finally got it there but it took some work.

The thing I will probably use the most - besides Facebook - is my Google Blog reader. I like being able to access everything on this site. I also like the Delicious site and will be using it more. I like being able to access my bookmarked sites online.

I will be checking to see how many sites I can actually access through my district's filter. It blocks so many sites, but now that I am a librarian I may be able to get through the filter because I will have the password power!!

Thanks to all of you who worked so hard putting together the North Texas 23. It was truly a learning experience. I appreciate the opportunity to learn from all of you!

My Own 23 List

Thinking about how I would adapt the North Texas 23 to be used in my library is very difficult. I will be a new librarian this year. I would like to be able to show some of the teachers at my campus some of the sites we learned about in the North Texas 23 as well as use some of the sites in my library. Since I am new I would start small. I would show the staff Google Docs, Delicious, and Tagging. I think it is important that the teachers understand what Tagging means. This way when I showed them Delicious they would better understand how to tag things. I also think showing them Google Docs would be something they could use right away. I would like to create Podcasts for my library. I think Podcasts are a good way to keep students interested in things in the library. Since I will be a new librarian I will want to limit myself to just a few new things not only for my only sanity but also to not overwhelm the teachers and students.

Podcasts

I went to the Library Success Wiki and then went to the Kankee Public Library and listened to the "Podcast 2009 Teen Poetry Slam." It was a poetry competition and was a very good podcast. It sounded more professional than other Podcasts I have heard. The sound quality was exceptional, no breathing sounds, no background noises, and everyone could be heard clearly.
I also listened to the DeKalb County Library Podcast. It was a Podcast on specific authors. The Podcast was the author speaking about their work. It was a very good Podcast. The sound was clean and clear. You could hear everything and it sounded very professional.

I have created a podcast and found it to be a very easy thing to do. I had to do it for a class so it was on using the Big Six. I think Podcasts can be very useful in the library. I will be working in an elementary library and I believe that both students and teachers would enjoy using Podcasts. They could listen to information about the library or information on new books in the library. I also believe that students would enjoy creating a Podcast. They could create book reviews for others to listen to in the library.

The only problem I can see with creating Podcasts is the sound quality. You do not need a lot of equipment but if you have low tech microphones then you tend to pick up a lot of breathing sounds with the recording. Podcasting is something that you need to practice a bit before you go public with the recording.

You Tube

I love You Tube. You can find anything there. Some things on You Tube are terrible but there are some very interesting videos as well as some good instructional videos.

I searched for "elementary library" and found lots of videos on school libraries. These were basically tours of their libraries. It was interesting to see how other libraries look. I did enjoy the one called "Alan County Public Library" which had zombies chasing a couple into the library. They end up finding a book on how to deal with Zombies at the library. A really cute way to show the library has everything you need. I also enjoyed the "Betty Glover Workout Tape Ad" which shows the reference librarian sleeping. It was really funny! It is the only "medically approved workout video for librarians." This video was more of a fun video not necessarily promoting the library. The rest of the videos I watched were trying to promote library use. Some were more creative than others but all accomplished what they set out to do - promote library use.

Some of the videos I saw were created as part of a library contest. I think that is a good way to show off your library. Get your patrons to create a video about it, the more creative the better. I can see You Tube as being a fun way to promote your library, promote reading, and do it in a fun, creative way.

Google Docs

What else can Google do? There is iGoogle, Google Earth, Google Chrome, Google Maps, Google Scholar, and now Google Docs!

I had heard of Google Docs and have used it to share documents with some friends. This is a good way to share documents with others. Having access to documents online is a great way to be able to work. I do not use it on a regular basis and really knew very little about it. I did not realize you could actually create documents there. I liked the template options. The site is very easy to use and makes creating documents quick and easy.

I am not sure if my district allows this site to be accessed, they block so many, but this could be a good site to show students and teachers. This site could be used by students to post their writing to their teacher and for the teacher and other students to edit the writing. As an elementary school librarian it is important to help teachers find innovative ways to keep students engaged and this site could assist with that engagement.

Wikis

I am familiar with Wikis. I know what they are but I have never created a Wiki. I use Wikipedia often. I understand that the information is only as good as the people posting there and that Wikipedia would never be used as a primary source. I don't think everyone realizes this about Wikipedia. I think it serves a good purpose and is a good way to show what a Wiki does.

I created my home page on Wetpaint. I had trouble because I chose a page with a photo and when I tried to upload the picture it took over the whole page. I decided not to spend a lot of time trying to change the size of the picture so I just deleted it. I would liked to have deleted the whole page and started over but I couldn't figure out how to do this. I also ran into trouble when I gave my sub pages names that were already being used. I had to get a little creative to keep the page I wanted. I was not familiar with this part of a wiki, but since we are supposed to be sharing information it would make sense that if Itype a page name that is already there then I should be editing that page not creating my own.

The library media department in my district has a Wiki for the librarians to use. I can see using a Wiki at my campus library with the students and teachers. They could post information about books they have read or want to read. This could be a great interactive tool for students and teachers. Now that I have had a little experience with this Wiki I may go try my hand at my district's Wiki!

LibWorm

I really like this site. I didn't have to register, which is getting to be a pain. I feel like I have to give my personal information to everyone on the web to access information! This site is very easy to use. I searched for "challenged books" and found that there is actually a banned books week that is from the end of September to the beginning of October. I also search for "book awards" and had 53,773 records returned. I was interested in learning about e-books so I used the subject search. I found over 6,00 records relating to e-books.

I see this site as a good site for research. Like any other site there is relevant and irrelevant information returned. I like that you can do keyword searches, subject searches, and search by tags. I would like to see more tags but then I wasn't logged in so I don't know if that made a difference. I also liked the Feed Categories. I found some very interesting information under the school library feed. This was a good way to see how other schools are using technology to get their information out. Since I will be creating a library page for my campus I wanted to see what other schools were putting out there. I looked at blogs, as well as campus pages.

Libworm is aimed at librarians and it was easy to use. Those two things make this a site I will use in the future.