Exploration 9--the end

Reflections on my explorations:

I started on regiscopes and card catalogs in book format and here I am today, 25 years later, writing a journal on the internet, twittering, and trying to find old friends on facebook. None of what we were asked to do was particularly difficult. Most internet stuff today is fairly user friendly.

I didn't try to hide who I was on my blog although I didn't use my name. How many still don't know who "Knitternana" is?

Twitter was fun but do I need to know who is hungry and who is tired? Now the fact that it's snowing at one of the northern branches will be very interesting when we start getting some serious snow.

Facebook --well, I'm glad I know all about it but I'm not going to be doing much more with it for now.

Between Librarything and GoodReads I ended up liking GoodReads better and am trying to keep up with that. I could see one of these being used to keep track of all the new Y books and sharing that with my teen book club.

I'm looking forward to our new homepage and seeing how we put to use the new technology to make searching easier and to keep the public better informed about library programs with a more interactive calendar of events.

This is by no means the end of learning about new technology. I can't wait for my first automated call from alerts.com! (I've got to make sure my cell phone is charged before a storm hits!)

25th anniversary

I Twittered and commented on Facebook yesterday but never got around to posting on my blog. November 16th was my 25th anniversary as career staff. I really started back in 1974.

YRead

I attended the YRead Conference in Carroll Co. this weekend. I don't remember knowing about the first YRead held in 2006 but this is planned to alternate years with Books for the Beast.

The facility was great--nice auditorium, one book group per classroom--not as crowded as it can get at the Roland Park facility.

I chose the Adventure genre because the featured speaker, Terry Trueman, had a book in this group and I wanted to read Peak by Roland Smith. Peak turned out to be my favorite, and I highly recommend the sound recording. Hurricane by Trueman was ok and could easily be recommended to high level J readers. Zane's Trace by Allan Wolf and The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean were challenging in their own ways. I will write more detailed reviews on GoodReads.

Exploration 7: Wikis

If only I could watch the little video on Wikis from my work computer. Alas, it won't work here so I will make the time to watch it at home.

Granddaughters in matching sweaters

See why I would rather knit. Aren't they cute in their matching sweaters?

Peyton's sweater

I knit this sweater for my 3 year old granddaughter. Isn't it cute?!

Facebook and Twitter

Those of you on Facebook know who I am and we've had some fun with some of the features like SuperPoke etc.

As far as using Facebook for library work, I haven't figured that out yet. It's been nice getting to know some staff members a little better but I don't think I am going to keep up with it.

Now Twitter is another story. That has been amusing but also I can see it have a purpose in our work. Twitter has kept us in the loop with what it going on in some other branches and with other staff members. I heard about Oragerful's new job way before the announcement came out. Other branch staff helped me out with my teen book discussion.

A big feature, for me, of both Facebook and Twitter is that I can keep up with what is going on at work from home. Being a JS I get nosy about what's going on when I'm not at work. I guess that's my problem with all of this--I like to read it but I don't like to contribute to it.