Reading Experience

Reading for me is a way to "export myself". Especially for me, sitting outside in soft sunlight, sipping a glass of good wine and reading a good novel is the perfect way to relax.

The Last, Whoopee !!!

After thinking I had got to grips with these excersises some time ago I lost my final blog. So here's a repeat.

Favourite Discoveries: The visual sites Utube and Flickr were my hightlights. Also realising how much I loved neon art.

Lifelong Learning: This ones a worry because the more I delve into the net the more I realise how much there is to learn and how fast technology is moving. This of course strengthens the need to keep up to date. I did get a confidence boost in my skills, and was able to help people with tricky enquiries about their e-mail and to find information on the web sites they were interested in.

Unexpected Outcomes: The fact that when I had completed some of the more frustrating exercises it gave me a feeling of acheivement . Not unexpected (of course) was all the help and encouragement I was given by my friends and colleagues in the library. Really re-enforcing how good it is to work with super, duper people.
Lastly after joining Facebook finding a photo of my Granddaughter looking just gorgeous and wearing my sunhat!!!

Social Networking

Well after seeing how libraries are using Social Networking I have had to rethink some of the comments in my last blog.

My Space did put me off by all the celebrity sites and erotica ads but when looking at how many libraries are successfuly using this medium obviously it can be harnessed and controlled.

Bebo has had such bad publicity in the press, especially for bullying, I didn't think it would score in my opinion but it was so visual perhaps if I had explored it furthur I may have rated it higher.

Facebook I learnt was generated in academic environments and aimed at students and I did think this was a good site for libraries to use although a comment was made that the students were not using it for educational purposes.

The article "Libraries get social" had good comments on SNS ie. who was using it for educational purposes; for better contact with youthful communities and for vibrant promotions of library services and resources.

Getting social

I was put off at first by My Space. This looked a bit trashy. I liked the way Auckland City and Rotorua Libraries used Bebo and it would seem they have good response to their sites by a wide range of mainly young people. Very good for the future of libraries I would think as a reasonable safe forum to express views.

I did enjoy joining Facebook and took delight in finding my Granddaughter and what a laugh wearing my sunhat in one of her profile photos and looking just beautiful.

E-books

I looked at Kindle first. Good results for Steinbeck and the Brontes. Project Gutenberg was appealing in the manner the book enteries were entered and I was able to track down old favourites, School for Scandal, Sheridan and the Diaries of Samuel Pepys. I found librivox rather complicated to find my way around.
The fact that some of the older classics can be hard locate now unless you have access to special libraries makes the e-books a worthwhile addition to publishing and I can see an advantage to library patrons if this format became part of library collections. But please, not at the expense of a the paper copies. Not everybody wants to read from a screen.

Podcast

I can see this can be exciting technology if I had access to receiving some of the podcasts I was interested in. For this exercise I found little sites where I could use a free rss to complete the task. But I managed to put NPR: Books Podcast on my bloglines and this could be a useful tool for library work.

Utube exploration

I was not very impressed with many of the library videos. The image quality was poor in most of them and the ones I watched were rather corny and amateurish. QandANJ: Now Your Library is Open Late Night Too! was one I liked. Much better quality and the acting seemed more realistic. I could see this type of attractive video could be well used for marketing our libraries as long as it was well scripted, acted professionally and produced to a good standard.

I did look at Neon Art Journalism Video which I thought was an excellent production and demonstrated making this art form in an interesting well thought out clip. I seem to have sent it to my g-mail but haven't cracked getting it onto my blog yet.