Hi, everybody!

I hope you are all well — as for me, if no news is bad news, then I have bad news today. In which case I need to cheer everybody up!

For a little while now, I’ve been trying to remember the words to that silly song, “I’m My Own Grandpa.” Then it occured to me — I’m an Information Scientist! I can find any information I want, no matter how obscure. So off I went, and …ta da!

With a diagram, and everything! How great is that?

Plus, I discovered that the song was inspired by none other than Mark Twain!

Mark Twain (aka Samuel Clemens)

You can read Twain’s original sketch on http://bolstablog.wordpress.com/2008/12/09/wyman/

The song itself was originally written by Dwight Latham and Moe Jaffe for a group called “the Jesters” back in 1947. Paul Stoneburner has the complete lyrics, along with another very neat (and tidy!) diagram, here!

Cool, no?

And now, on to WLS learns, thing 12. Our assignment this time was to explore Google Docs and see how this form of document sharing could be useful to the library.

Interestingly, our Head of Circ was doing the same thing, at the same time as me, and she LOVEs google docs. In her view, it is the perfect place to keep and maintain schedules. Which certainly makes a lot of sense to me! Especially in our current situation, with everything — and everyone — in flux, it’s a good idea to keep things people really need to see somewhere safe, where everybody can always access them!

Also, it’s a great way to do things like presentations and slideshows. Especially if you would like them to be collaborative efforts, but even if you would not!

Caveat:  On the other hand, there are a few awkward things about Google Docs — for instance,  formatting options for documents (next to none!) and wysiwyg printing (non-existent). However, the convenience is so great! It’s really nice to be able to access your work, no matter where you are, and which computer you’re using! And without having to remember your flash drive, or your laptop. Wonderful!

Just now, I used google docs to make a flyer about an upcoming concert. You can see it here, if you so desire. But if you don’t want to navigate away from this page, I’ll post the image I used right here, because it’s so great! Enjoy!

Swish and Flick

Wood Frog with Egg Mass, originally uploaded by J Gilbert.

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter — those of you who celebrate!

Easter day was very cold in Northwestern CT, down in the 30s and with a sharp wind. But my sister and I went to our favorite vernal pool in the afternoon, and saw masses of wood frog eggs in the not-quite-frozen water. Wood frogs are amazing! They are the first creatures to emerge in Spring — even before the Spring peepers — and they sometimes breed in the ice and snow. Actually, they are the only species of frog found above the arctic circle. They “hibernate” by freezing solid, and resume their busy lives when the Spring sun thaws them out again. Pretty cool, no?

Of course, our little “Waldo” was a wood frog — and I may collect one of his distant friends or relations for the kids again this year.

Are there any kids who don’t like frogs?

The amazing photo is courtesy of Jim Gilbert. Please check out his photostream for more wonderful pictures.

And now, on to the next topic.

WLS LEARNS — THING 11, deli.icio.us, “folksonomies” and social tagging.

WLS Learns: Thing 11: Tagging “Folksonomies” and Social Bookmarking in del.icio.us

Well! I finally entered the right password, (Thanks, John!) & I got started on this assignment this afternoon.

It’s certainly easy to see how del.icio.us could save me a lot of time, since I cannot save any bookmarks on my computer at work. We’ve also had problems every once in a while with the reference computer, and some bookmarks have been deleted. Del.icio.us would give us a safe place to organize web based resources and keep them available for everyone who needs them – I like it! Plus the Common Craft video is fun.

Now on to the remaining tasks:

1. Exploration. I decided my popular category would be “Travel.”  Interesting!  Today’s popular sites included a great one called Joobli, which contains an international calendar of festivals — so you can find something interesting happening, wherever you happen to be. It’s got everthing from book fairs to music festivals to beer fests. Pretty great! So, it seems easier to find really useful information on delicious than on google — particularly if you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for!

Of course, del.icio.us does not automatically eliminate the perils of exploring the web. I mean, you can still get sidetracked pretty easily, if you have any inclination that way at all.  Just for instance, the “travel” tag led me to concerts, which led me to Early Music sites, where I found theoretical discussions of things like heterophony and musica ficta. All of which could be a lot of fun to read — if I only had the time ;-D.

In sum, I can indeed see the use of del.icio.us. Bookmarks there are as tightly focused as people want to make them through their tagging — which could certainly be useful for a group or community wanting to study or discuss something together.

Which leads me to the last part of the assignment. I am now going to go and find a couple of nice Web sites and tag them for the rest of my colleagues.

…..and the links I added are:

1. Reading Rants
2. The Library 2.0 Reading List
3. 100 Free Library 2.0 Webinars and Tutorials

Enjoy!

~D.

Perelandra, originally uploaded by deirdrej.

Hi, everybody!

This blog is going to get a little technical again, now and then — I have to start doing homework, as the WLS Web 2.0 class, part 2, has now started!

But I thought I’d post a picture to start! I took this in my parent’s garden this past weekend, and I called it “Perelandra” because it reminded me of a beautiful description of a little dragon coiled round a gorgeously-colored tree, in that book by C.S. Lewis.

I love it when things in real life remind me of books!

(Is this another sign that I am becoming an ueber-geek?)

Enjoy!

And now, on to the techie stuff!

I have to admit, my heart sank a little when I got wind of this latest assignment. Not because I have anything against podcasts. I love them! I love them so much that I do them myself!

The problem is that I already subscribe to more podcasts than I have time to listen to. I started subscribing to podcasts on itunes even before I took Linda Braun’s awesome class on podcasts and podcasting. And I added more (including The Mount Kisco Library podcast) when I took that class.

HOWEVER, I’ve only used itunes to manage my podcasts before, and the bloglines option is certainly an interesting one. So, here goes!

WLS LEARNS: THING 10: Podcasting.

I had a lot of fun searching directories and finding new podcasts. Here’s a summary.

1. In Bloglines, I subscribed to 2 new podcasts.
      A. Games in Libraries
      B. The Art of Storytelling with Children.

These are both awesome resources, which connect with many other educational tools and interesting people, both online and in the world beyond!

2. I also added a great new information source to my ever-growing list of favorite web pages. The Online Education Database has published a Web page called Skip the Tuition, which lists free courses in podcast format from some of the world’s best universitites! This makes a great addition to the many classes already available at itunes u!

IN SUM: I had a good time doing this assignment, AND I learned about some wonderful new resources! Which goes to show you – even if you think you already know something, you can always learn more!

~D.

 

Ice covered tree, originally uploaded by deirdrej.

Hi, everybody!

I hope you enjoy the photo above. I took it this afternoon, through a skylight. The vertical lines you can see on the left of the picture are streaks of ice forming on the glass. I think ice is very beautiful actually — especially when it’s not dangerous! ;-D

Now, on to the assignment. This week, we were supposed to learn all about Wikis. Which is a “broad field,” as Theodore Fontane would say! Of course, lots of Librarians (including me) will tell you that Wikipedia, the granddaddy of them all, can be unreliable. It does have TONS of really good information, though — so, like the internet in general, it’s a teaching and learning opportunity. I’ve been urging students to analyze how articles are written and what source materials are cited, both in print materials and online, ever since I became a librarian. And in that respect wikis are no different. However — thier great strength — interactivity — is also their greatest weakness, where reliability is concerned. Actually, the editors of the Schools’ Wikipedia put it best. (btw I LOVE that site!) And here’s what they say:

Wikipedia CANNOT guarantee, in any way whatsoever, the validity of the information found here. It may recently have been changed, vandalized or altered by someone whose opinion does not correspond with the state of knowledge in the particular area you are interested in learning about. Wikipedia:Featured articles process, but even the articles listed there may have been mercilessly edited shortly before you view them. –>

BTW, I did not “mercilessly edit” the above. I am telling the truth! That “featured articles process” line was already there! before I got to it!

Which leads me to my considered opnion. I loved the common craft video example, on Biography and Memoir page! The organization is brilliant, with links to library databases, books in the catalog, ways to chat with a librarian, a link to the library blog, and best of all (imo) links to help people with their own projects. Plus, the page can only be edited by librarians — I love it!

The Booklover’s Wiki  is great, too! What an awesome idea — an online Summer Reading club with special prizes for reviewers! I’ve been looking for a cheap — or free — way to get our summer reading game online, and it’s been impossible so far. Maybe a wiki is the way to go.

One thing that jumped out at me when doing this assignment is that all the library wikis I’ve seen are restricted and/or require registration. I think this is an excellent idea, too!

I actually listed The Mount Kisco Library on Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki in the Podcasting section some time ago. I thought it would be a good way to let colleagues know what we were doing, and also to gather ideas. I haven’t had time to do more than look at the wiki every once in a while ….but this assignment has inspired me, and I intend to continue learning!

That will be all for me tonight, though. I’m trying to get over a truly terrible stomach bug, so I have to go to bed.

Stay well, everybody, and Goodnight!

~D.

Snow leopard, originally uploaded by deirdrej.

Hi, everybody!

Isn’t this an amazing pose? My twin sister and I went down to the Bronx Zoo this afternoon — ostensibly to see the special holiday exhibit — but there are SO many marvelous creatures there that we got seriously sidetracked. Which was good! There’s this wonderful snow leopard exhibit, for instance. Isn’t he a beautiful animal? And what a stretch!

Speaking of stretching — time to exercise my mind a little, I guess. I have been mulling over J. Sexton’s IMPOSSIBLE pre-holiday question: “what are your 10 favorite books?” Man, that’s impossible — isn’t it? It’s easier to just have one favorite book, or a hundred. But I’m going to go ahead and list a few. Here are some books that I seriously love, that I will definitely read more than once, and that had a big impact on me. (BTW, I think you can also find most of them listed on my Librarything page.

So… some of my favorite books are….

1. The Lord of the Rings, by JRR Tolkien. This book has SO much in it! I fell in love with it when my Dad read it to me — I was maybe 8 or 9 at the time — and that was without understanding half of it. Even now, when I read it, I still discover new things. By reading and re-reading it, I developed a love of nature and countryside, and also of language. (In fact, I think it’s Tolkiens fault that I took historical linguistics in college!) Besides, Sam Gamgee has got to be one of the best heroes in all of literature! (Excuse me, all you Peter Jackson fans — and yes, I love the movies, too, although they don’t hold a candle to the books, but anyway. Frodo is NOT the hero. And neither is Aragorn. SAM RULES!)

2. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking GlassAnother book I fell in love with when I was about eight. What fascinated me then — and still fascinates me now — is how perfectly Carroll captures the atmosphere of a dream. BTW, I liked “looking glass” better than “wonderland” back then, and I still do!

3. Jane Eyre I was a bit older when I first read this one — about 12, I think. But it’s another one I can easily read more than once. Melodramatic? Yes! But very compelling, and what a wonderful character Jane is! The consummate girl power book!

4. Kai Lung’s Golden Hours How to describe this? Imagine Sheherazade as a young Chinese man with a very clever and resourceful girlfriend, and an amazing gift for storytelling. It’s great!
Engaging, and very funny (imo). You’ll like it if you like the style — and here’s a sample. One of the characters is describing an exceptionally beautiful woman:

“…after secretly observing the grace of her movements, the most celebrated picture-maker of the province burned the implements of his craft, and began life anew as a trainer of performing elephants.”

I feel sure somehow that Terry Pratchett must have read Ernest Bramah. In any case, I love them both!

5. Cache Lake Country This book made a huge impression on me. Again, I read it when I was a bit too young — but I loved it! Passages from it have stayed with me all my life (particularly the scene of the wolves in the snow at full moon — awesome!) Plus, it has great illustrations — always a plus, with me.

6. Loitering With Intent I’m not sure I could say which is the greatest of the late, great Dame Muriel Spark’s many wonderful books — but this is one I really love!

7. A Wrinkle in Time Another favorite from my childhood. I just reread it recently, and it’s as good now as it was then. Meg Murray rules!!

8. A River Runs Through It Just a beautiful book. That’s all I can say. Really!

9. Cautionary Tales I LOVE comic verse, and these are some of the best ever! Deliciously absurd, but pointed! Here’s a quote — from the Moral Alphabet, in which every letter gets a verse with a Moral.

B stands for Bear. When Bears are seen
Approaching in the distance,
Make up your mind at once between
Retreat and Armed Resistance.

A Gentleman remained to fight –
With what result for him?
The bear, with ill-concealed delight,
Devoured him, Limb by Limb.

Another person turned and ran;
He ran extremely hard:
The Bear was faster than the Man,
And beat him by a yard.

MORAL

Decisive action in the hour of need
Denotes the hero, but does not succeed.

10. The King of Attolia Megan Whalen Turner’s 3rd “Queen’s Thief” book is the best one yet. And they are extraordinary.

But wait! I’ve already gotten to 10, and I have so many more favorite books. Ursula Leguin hasn’t made it onto the list yet, and neither has C.S. Lewis. Or Flann O’Brien, or Dorothy Sayers, or Adalbert Stifter, or Hartmann von Aue, or Jane Goodall, or… actually there’s next to no non-fiction. Which I read all the time, and love! (especially if it’s about nature or animals) And no serious poetry …. …… aargh!

Well, John, I agree, this was next to impossible to do! But I did enjoy the attempt, and I hope everybody who reads this does, too!

Goodnight, everyone! More later,

~D.

Belted Kingfisher – Ceryle alcyon, originally uploaded by emace.

Hey, good afternoon, everybody!

Jus wanted to let all the WLSlearns people that I did indeed check out twitter. And even posted a couple of silly tweets. (I mean, really, who cares what I’m doing on a Sunday afternoon? Unless, of course, I’m on the computer and I’m supposed to be doing something else!)

I can see that it might be useful for publcizing library programs, IF interested people knew about it and used it.

In the meantime, I was thrilled to find that you can post local events on librarything! (But, of course, people would also need to know to look there).

I think both of these options might be good for extra publicity, but it might also take a lot of work to get our patrons to actually check them!

I have found that people tend to get used to certain –limited!– ways of gathering information. And sometimes change has to happen slowly, because they will persist in remembering the old way.

For myself, though, I’d like a fast and effective way of disseminating information. And maybe twitter could be it …I have to think about it more, though. I’m not sold on it for interpersonal communication, in any case.

And now for something completey different! My sister and I went to Bea’s Cakes yesterday to get some doughnuts (yum!), and there was a belted kingfisher perched on a branch by the stream! Of course, neither of us had a camera handy. And when we went back with my sister’s cell, he had flown away. But he was beautiful, and today I have found a photo of exactly how he looked. Thanks to emace for the gorgeous shot — enjoy!

Well, here it is, the middle of the night again. Oh, well!

I’ve been madly adding books to my new Library Thing page. I also made an avi for myself to stick on the page, and signed up to be an early reviewer. Oh! and I added a widget to this page, which will show random books I’ve read (or am reading).

Library Thing does seem useful — there’s definitely a lot to do and explore there! The downside might be that I have to give up my Goodreads account. I definitely don’t have time for both, but I really want to explore them both and see which one I like better.

Off the top of my head, I’d say Librarything is a tad more technical, with all its options for getting the exact edition information of the book you have in your hand. Or even adding book information. It seems more geared toward librarians, while Goodreads seems to be more for casual readers. But I like them both!

OK, so I was playing around with image generators today, as my lunchtime catch-up-with-the-rest-of-the-class exercise. Some things were fun, others were frustrating. Just for instance, Simpsonize Me! seemed like a cute idea, but I could not get it to work. I don’t know, maybe I was asking too much of it! Lacking any pictures of myself (I just don’t have those lying around, even on my computer!), I asked it to turn Robert Pattison into a Simpson. And it just wouldn’t — but who could blame it?

So then I tried a couple of other things. I have a large and rambunctious cat, so I signed up at I Can Has Cheezburger? The lingo’s a bit of a challenge for me, but the results can be really funny!

OK, so this isn’t actually my cat. But this one I found is just SO much funnier than the one I made (imo).

I definitely love the Generator Blog, ! And Angry Tom was incredibly easy to use! Here he is, in my 30 second version.

He’d be even funnier if you had him declaiming something really romantic, don’t you think? But Belloc always springs to mind (my mind, anyway!)

And I also really liked The ALA READ mini poster generator I love this picture! It’s Lena, of The Butterbeer Experience and Lauren, of The Moaning Mrytles in the stacks! It’s just so heartwarming to see such enthusiasm for books, isn’t it? So, here’s the poster:

Well, I have to run now — I only get a short lunch break. So I’ll do the rest of this assignment after work, as usual!

I hope you enjoyed my experiments, though! Let me know what you think!

Glass Cactus by Leopold & Rudolph Blaschka, originally uploaded by j_naturalia.

Hi, again, everyone!

You may be wondering why I am displaying this beautiful flower to illustrate a blog about technology. To me, though, this photo encapsulates my thoughts on the subject almost better than anything I could write.
(A picture is worth a thousand words, right?)

This cactus is one of the famous glass flowers that the father/son team of Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka created for Harvard’s botany classes back in the late 19th – early 20th centuries. When I was in grad. school, I got to process the contents of their glass making studio for one of my internships. It was awesome beyond belief! I loved learning about the Blaschkas, who practiced a traditional craft (technology!) with consummate skill, in a way that perfectly combined science with art.

(I hope you can all follow me here — there is indeed a point to my ramblings! Well, let me continue…)

SO… thinking about this assignment made me think about the Blashkas again, because it made me realize once again how inseperable technology of all kinds is from human existence.

To digress just a little bit further. ….For me, one of the most eye-opening experiences I ever had regarding technology occured in high school. I was in a history class, and we were reading primary sources on English history — The Anglo Saxon Chronicles, etc. One of the books we had to read was “The Making of the English Landscape,” by Hoskins (I think this was the book). Among the many things we discussed in that class was the invention of the horse collar, and how that revolutionized farming, transportation, and building, and completely transformed the land. And I started to realize that even the most “natural” landscapes are often essentially “man-made.”

BTW, is it time for another picture? Here’s a nice one of an ox team. You can see how the yoke works — and how it wouldn’t work so well on horses!

OK, so I’m travelling very far afield here. Now to relate all this back to our assignment.

By musing on technology, I came to an important realization: I am a geek! It’s true! I might seem like some kind of nature-girl, luddite-type-woman-person. But I am indeed a geek. In fact, I am a librarian — and that means I am an UEBER GEEK! (or rapidly becoming one, I hope).

And what I’ve learned so far from this class is that technology=human inventiveness. And you really have to explore it thoroughly in order to exploit it to the best advantage.

For me, the most illuminating exercise so far has been “Bloglines” and RSS feeds. In the past, I’ve used these only to get information OUT. (Podcasts, for instance). But, like streets, feeds go both directions! Now, for the first time, I’m using them to bring information to me — and this really does save me time!

Hi, everybody!

Here’s a poll for you — please take it, if you have the time ;-D