Back At It

Well, I'm back to learning to use new technology with Maryland Learning 2.1. Today's assignment involves posting a powerpoint presentation from SlideShare to my blog. So, here I go. I thought I'd get a little fancy and post it to the sidebar rather than just as a post. It seemed to work just fine. Looked for something humorous hence the strange motorcycle shots. I found the Maryland Library slideshows with no trouble at all. The site seems quite easy to use and search. I imagine you could find some useful instructional slides here. I found some interesting slide shows, I may review when I have more time. The drawback is the question of reliability of information. There is no guarantee that the source of the information is reliable. If a reputable source posts an instructional slideshow, they would most likely claim their authorship.

Finally!

Well, I finally changed my outfit (after a year) and I'm ready for Christmas, 2008. Next up...Widgets!

Ready for Christmas! Happy Holidays!

Thing 23 - Woo Hooo!

I cannot tell a lie... I am happy to be finished with "The 23 Things." Actually, I learned quite alot and gained confidence in using some of the "things" to which I was re-introduced, such as blogging. I am happy, not because I just wanted to get done, but because there are some things to which I plan to return and either use or explore further. The looming deadline for completion hindered my adequate exploration of some tools.
Overall, this was a terrific exercise as many of us as librarians experienced the problems that are encountered by our patrons. Better understanding the current technology and what can go wrong with it will help us to serve the public more efficiently.

Thing 22 - Downloadable Audiobooks

The selection of titles offered as audiobooks from Project Gutenberg is rather limited. I did find titles that I would not mind "reading." I even found at least one that is on my list of classics I have to read at some time. Overdrive had a wider selection of current offerings, but most of these would have to be placed on hold. I was surprised at how many titles are now able to be burned to a CD. Unfortunately, although I checked out three titles (one was an ebook-oops!), I am unable to configure my Window Media Player to listen. I got the expected error requesting a "Security Upgrade," then I got a message stating that there is a problem with the "Digital Rights Management component" and I need to contact Microsoft. For the record, I had no problem listening to my Gutenberg Project selection. I am really puzzled as I have downloaded and listened to an audiobook from the MD Library Consortium previously.
I think this is a great service that is offered by Project Gutenberg and the MD Libraries. I think it is important that we as librarians continue to take advantage of these services now and then so that we can understand the problems our patrons experience and work to improve the service and find solutions before our patrons encounter the problems.

Thing 21 - Finding Podcasts

At first glance, I did not find the tools for locating podcasts much more useful than Technorati. The few book review podcasts I was able to find using podcast.net and podcastalley seemed rather new and, therefore, lacking in content. Librarian podcasts were mostly system-centric (is that a word?). I did not bother much with Yahoo Podcasts as there is a message explaining that this is a site they are discontinuing as of October 31, 2007. I finally just went to NPR and added their podcast feed to my blogroll.
What I did like about Podcastalley was their own podcast interviews. One of the first I saw was an interview with Marcus Couch, host of The Scene Zine. I began listening to The Scene Zine, not the interview. The show plays rock/heavy metal music that one cannot hear on the radio. I really enjoyed most of the music on the two shows I heard.
I do not believe there is much use for these sites in the library; however, visiting them from time to time and playing around with them might reveal the occasional worthwhile podcast.

Thing 20 - YouTube

I have often viewed videos on YouTube, so I was already familiar with the site. I had never embedded a video clip in anything... email, blog, etc. After several false starts, I was actually able to post this video to my blog more easily than is described in the discovery exercise. I simply set up a YouTube account, added my blog, and when I found the video I wanted to include in my blog, I clicked on "Post." It was that simple. I did try adding comment to the post entry that contains the video clip after posting it. This seemed to delete the actual video, so I deleted that entry and re-posted.
I imagine the library could upload "how to" videos about services available at the library to YouTube and then link to these videos from the home page of the library's website. After enjoying some old commercials and domino videos, I searched on the term "library" and came up with multiple library videos. I liked this one because it reminds users of all the OpenSource software available.