Saturday, March 15, 2008

23 Things of a Stick #7 Web 2.0 Communication Tools

1)Productivity Hints. This was good basic information--some of which I already follow. I do like the idea of a Mail Template. I will have to check into that for some of the things I do via e-mail. One of the things that comes to mind is when we get a request via e-mail for obit records. I always e-mail them information about our local museum, and end up typing up all the information about hours, phone numbers, etc. every time. This would save me time!
INSTANT MESSAGING
2a)Video. This was interesting. I think this would work very well for a college setting. Virtually all college students use IM so it is a great way to communicate with them in a way they are comfortable with. I have used IM several times before--talking to my kids. chatting to fellow classmates in a course of studies I am studying. I'm not sure how it work at my individual library at this time. We do not have the staff time to deal with it, and I'm don't think we have a high number of IM patrons to warrant staff using this as a communication tool with them. I could possibly see it as a tool to use with librarians from other neighboring libraries or back up reference at our headquarters library.
2b)Journal article. I like the definition of IM as "sped up e-mail transaction". That is exactly what it is. I will try to remember that definition when I am explaining it to patrons who have questions about it. Sometimes I think e-mail is just fine--it is usually fast enough.
I do think it could enhance reference services between our headquarter library and the branches.
2c) I installed MSN IM because that is the e-mail I use the most. I do not have anyone else in my building who is doing 23 Things or would want to IM me, so I tried in with my son in college.
3a)video. I liked the visual demonstration--it "clicks" with me. I am an auditory learner 1st, and a visual learner second, so it works for me. I could see how it might work for a patron.
3b) I realize to best serve our population libraries have to adapt to the needs and desires of our patrons. I never thought about patrons getting their library notices via text message from their cell phone. Librarian's do have some creative, wonderful ideas sometimes. It sounds like this has worked well in the U.K. Will that be the way of the future in the U.S.? I can see it really working well for college students. We will have to see if is something that will work for the public libraries. Being in a rural library system we usually "follow" what the cities libraries do eventually (if it is a good idea). They have more staff time and money for resources.
3c) I do not have a colleague to text message, so I tried the phone number on the u-tube video. It did not take too long to get a response. Interesting

23 Things of a Stick #6 ImageChef

ImageChef.com - Custom comment codes for MySpace, Hi5, Friendster and more

Had to try one more! Looks like you can send these as greeting cards too. That would me fun!

23 Things of a Stick #6 ImageChef

ImageChef.com - Custom comment codes for MySpace, Hi5, Friendster and more

23 Things of a Stick #6

Trying an online image generator was fun, and easy. Here is my Trading Card. If I do another one I would change it some, now that I know what it looks like. I think it might be fun to generate one that I could use instead of a business card. It would have more impact, and you could have the same type of information on it.
One of my concerns as I was going through this exercise was how am I going to find this tool later, when I might want to use it? So, I bookmarked the site. I decided I will make a folder on my bookmarks and put all of the tools from the 23 Things on a Stick in there so I will be able to find them later. Right now it is easy to use the prompters on the 23 Things on a Stick website, but who knows how long the website will be there after this program is done.

Friday, March 14, 2008

23 Things of a Stick #5

There sure is a lot of stuff out there! I did play with most of the mashers shown and did down load a graphic of my name from the spelling one. Some of the ones I played with I did not fully understand how they worked or why you would want to use them.

A couple of the ones I though could be potentially useful if I had more time to "play" at work would be the trading cards, or the calendar. We usually put some kind of calendar together for the summer reading program. I would be fun to add pictures from last years program, or even graphics from this years program. It also might be fun to make a calendar for my personal use of pictures of my family, or trips I have been on. Or even possibly to give as a gift to Grandma and Grandpa. I'm not big on games, so those would not interest me, but they would possibly interest library kids. I wish we had more computers at our library.

spell flickr

castiron R o Beggin I N