Week 12- Wrapping Up

BCL 2.0 has been a lot of fun and a lot of learning! (But whoever said learning can't be fun??)

Thanks to Halle and the other classmates who made these lessons enjoyable and bearable at times when our brains were stretched. Kudos to all who have worked toward learning 2.0!!


What were your favorite exercises? I loved Pandora, Firefox Addons, RSS, Library Thing, and Widgets.

What were your least favorite exercises? Rollyo and Instant Messaging (b/c I already knew IM!)

How has this program helped you in your professional life? in your personal life?
RSS and Tagging have greatly increased my professional life. I'll admit that I do not like to read newspapers, but I look forward to my Beaufort Gazette news sent to my Bloglines account. I compare it to adding melted cheese to broccoli...it doesn't really help you heart, but it makes downing veggies easier! Plus, tagging keeps my most visited and helpful sites closeby.

Would you recommend the course to other staff members? If so, what advice would you give them?

I totally recommend this class to other staff members and ANYONE else! I think our patrons, with an inclination to computers, would LOVE some of these tools. My advice would be to take it at your own pace, but do the work. We all have different types of responsibility, not only professionally but personally and it may not be feasible to learn at a scheduled pace. So, I would say take control of your own learning and never give up...learning is good, even if it takes a bit longer due to your time schedule.

Did you like the format? Would you have preferred anything to be different?
For me, this format was perfect. I wouldn't have changed anything. Although, it would have been nice to see some of our classmates at times!

Were there any aspects of the program that surprised you?
I was surprised at how much I didn't know about 2.0 that I thought I did. For example, previously I thought all you could do with Flickr is upload photos to share with friends....wrong! So although I was familiar with most resources we covered, my knowledge of how I can use them greatly increased.

If we were to offer another program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?
OF COURSE....I felt like I was constantly learning....and I like that feeling! Who doesn't??

Week 11- Podcasts (Part II)

I added a Simon and Schuster podcast to my Bloglines account so I'll be updated on the latest books out by this publisher. I also added NPR's All Songs Considered to my RSS reader because I often find new, unique musical acts I like through this program. This way, I won't have to worry about missing the broadcast on air, and can listen at my convenience. Literally, music to my ears!

Since I am interested in podcasting and learning how simple it appears to be, I plan to try Odeo but the page wouldn't load here at the reference desk. Perhaps it will work better on my laptop at home.

I've enjoyed learning about podcasting and hope to pursue it more!

Week 11- Podcasts Post 1

Podcasts....fun and free!

I have a bit of familiarity with podcasts through a project one of my library science professors invited me to be a part of. The library school @ USC in Columbia wanted to start a storytelling portal to put stories on the web for anyone to enjoy. The purpose was to add exposure to the "art of storytelling", promote literacy and imagination, and promote USC School of Library and Information Science. Being a musician and a student in the storytelling class, I was glad to be a part of this project.

If you're interested in seeing one way to use podcasting in a library setting view the storytelling portal here: http://www.libsci.sc.edu/storytelling/stories.htm

Week 10-Extra Tools

Here's my 2 cents:

Pandora is awesome. Free music tailor fit to your taste AND you are in control of what music you like to hear or don't like. Plus, you can have different channels for when you want to hear a a specific type of music. For instance, I like Edwin McCain, Shawn Colvin, the Gabe Dixon Band, and acoustic guitar....but not at the same time. So I have seperate channels. When I feel like listsening to a bit of acoustic guitar, I chose that channel. Simple as that! GET AN ACCOUNT...TRY IT! IT's FREE!!!!!!

Digg is okay...not my favorite site, but it's neat!

I didn't like my Moo cards, but I think I'll revisit later when I can give more time to it.

Firefox Addons are plentiful...I recommend Cool Iris and Answers. Cool Iris lets you preview a webpage without even clicking to "go" to the site. In essence you can do a google search, then move your mouse of the link while a pop up of that webpage appears. But, it's not just an image---it's the webpage, so you can navigate the page without ever leaving your google results. For a reference librarian like me, this is GREAT!

Answers isn't as time saving as that, but it is just as neat. After you download the addon into your Firefox browser, just hold the ALT key and click on ANY WORD on ANY WEBPAGE and a pop up box will provide spelling, audio sample of the word, definition of the word, plus related links associated with that word. For example, I held ALT and clicked on the word "audiobooks" on our the library's home page. The pop up 'answer" box gave me a definition of audiobooks and some neat information related to audiobooks. It's cool!!

Alright....it's your turn!!!

Week 10- Making a Widget

Don't you think "widget" is a funny word!?!? Web 2.0 (and thus, Library 2.0) is full of cute, fun words. Think about it: wiki, widget, flickr, blog....I love it!

You can see the widget I created through widgetbox on the left hand column of this page...see!
Creating the widget was EASY! Try it!

Week 9- Online Tools

My experience with Google Docs and Zoho Writer is limited due to the fact that I've only recently started using them. I recommend Zoho products, and in fact, chose Zoho Wiki as the platform for the Local Author wiki I made a few weeks ago.



I was introduced to Google Docs a couple of months ago when I went to Sirsi training @ Bluffton. If I remember correctly, Pete uses Google Docs to keep track of students in the computer classes he offers @ Bluffton. Since I saw the feature, I began using it @ Beaufort to keep track of the various "lists" associated with my job. For example, I have the following:

• "Display Case 2007-2008"- Click HERE to view


• "Program Ideas 2007"- Click here to view


• "Program Ideas 2008"- Click here to view


• "DVD order suggestions" - Click here to view

These are just a few of the ways I've used Google Docs. It provides the ability to work on projects wherever I am, as long as I'm connected to the Internet!

Social Networking- Week 8

Let me preface my blog entry today to explain that I am an avid MySpace and other social networking site user. (I even tried relationship sites like eHarmony.com and Yahoo!Personals but found NO matches...what a bummer!! Ah, well!)

Add me to your MySpace friends if you want: www.myspace.com/amandabrewer

Questions to consider this week:
1. Which of the social networking sites appealed to you most? Why?
MySpace appeals to me most because I've been using it for a while now. I also like it because most of my friends have their own "spaces" and we connect through the site through messages, comments, and picture sharing.

I like our BCL MySpace page and would think a staff photos album, pictures from programs(with permission to use) album, plus a video or two describing how to use the library or something similar could be cool, too. Can our Instant Message widgets be placed on the site too?? That would be great!

2. Can you see yourself using these sites? Which one?
I'm not a personal fan of Facebook but that could be only because I know it started out as a high school age site. For me and my circle of influence, MySpace trumps them. It would be great to have a social networking managing site like Meebo is for IM. That way I could manage pages in all of these sites and not have to give up any extra time.

Ning was okay, but I didn't find it too helpful in any of the group searches I was looking for. I doubt I will use it again...neat concept, though.

I like Bebo simply because it places a prominent place for authors!


3. Can you see a use for these in libraries?
I definitely think libraries should utilize these sites. I'm sure there is much argument as to which site would be best. For libraries in the U.S., I would think
MySpace and Facebook would be the top choices.

4. Why do you think these sites are so popular, particularly among teens?
By nature teens are social people. A sociology professor once told my class, "teenagers can be classified as social beings--everything they do, enjoy, and crave is social!" These websites are social--they allow users to talk, share, comment on their friends pages, keep track of their favorite celebrities (and even be added to their friends list)....It feeds their very nature! (and if we admit it, ours too!)