So I'm sitting here on a Friday afternoon waiting for a girlfriend to come join me in a glass of wine and I'm thinking about my love/hate relationship with social networking. I just can't wrap my head completely around the concept of living that publicly. I don't have it in me to post "going to grocery store now" or "having my third cup of coffee". It's not that I'm ashamed of my life, I just don't think anyone really cares what I'm doing. And I'm wondering if it's just a personality issue. I am by nature a private person. I'll tell my closest friends anything they want to know but I tend to want to keep my little business to myself. Do the people I work with really need to know every move I make on my days off? Do my friends want to know all the things I do when I'm at work? I doubt it.
At work I've got the library Facebook page up and running. Everyday it seems we get new fans. I Twitter regularly with library events and as with Facebook, our following grows daily. And I always get excited when I track the numbers. But shortly after the excitement comes the feeling of, "so what". I need to figure out why this is important to the library. It is increasing community awareness, but weren't those people aware of us already? Are they just blindly jumping on the social networking bandwagon without truly understanding why they're doing it, like me? I'm waiting for an epiphany here. If someone can enlighten me please do....
Friday, February 6, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Inauguration Day
It's hard to put into words the feelings I had throughout the day. I woke up early, even by my standards, and before I even realized what day it was I felt a sense of urgency, like something very important was going to happen. This is one of those days that we will all remember for the rest of our lives.
I was fortunate to be involved with the Inauguration Watch Party at the library, helping with set-up, milling about talking to members of the community, and assisting with blogging. There were people from all generations - toddlers to octogenarians - and as has happened so often in the past few months I was so proud to be living in this country. It was so moving to see an elderly man, and a woman whom I assume was his daughter, pass a hankie back and forth while watching the ceremony. The level of emotion in the room was palpable, people were cheering and clapping and as President Obama was taking the oath of office I didn't see a single person who wasn't deeply affected by his words.
If nothing else comes from this presidency I hope these feeling of community, of hope, of actually having a future we can look forward to last. The mountains we, as a country, have to climb are enormous but I truly believe that we are now, finally, in good hands.
I was fortunate to be involved with the Inauguration Watch Party at the library, helping with set-up, milling about talking to members of the community, and assisting with blogging. There were people from all generations - toddlers to octogenarians - and as has happened so often in the past few months I was so proud to be living in this country. It was so moving to see an elderly man, and a woman whom I assume was his daughter, pass a hankie back and forth while watching the ceremony. The level of emotion in the room was palpable, people were cheering and clapping and as President Obama was taking the oath of office I didn't see a single person who wasn't deeply affected by his words.
If nothing else comes from this presidency I hope these feeling of community, of hope, of actually having a future we can look forward to last. The mountains we, as a country, have to climb are enormous but I truly believe that we are now, finally, in good hands.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Tech talk series will be continued....
Yes, it's been a while and again I'll make the promise to be better at this. I've decided to change the focus of this blog, or more accurately, take away any focus and use it to talk about anything and everything instead of just tech stuff. Last night was my last Tech Talk presentation, although there is one more scheduled for next month I won't be doing it. We're bringing in an actual presenter to talk about digital photography something even I couldn't "wing" if I wanted to. I have, however, decided to continue the program throughout the year. We'll meet monthly and leave the topic open to the participants; they'll bring their questions, discoveries, etc and we'll go from there. Feedback has been great so far and I think, even though attendance is somewhat low, that there is a need for this forum and over time the group will grow.
Yesterday I registered for my next class, Information Seeking Behavior. This is the third time I've signed up for it - for some reason it scares me and I keep dropping it. Time to bite the bullet though and get it over with. The torture starts on the 26th, so I'm planning on reading for pleasure as much as possible between now and then, knowing that there just won't be any time for that once the class starts.
At work we're gearing up for the Inauguration Watch Party. If you're in the area please come - it will be a day to remember. We're setting up blogging stations and have arranged to have some press coverage so aside from the fact that this will be one of the most important days in the history of our country it should be a great opportunity for the library to get some good PR.
And finally, my latest favorite Firefox add-on: is.gd. Turns long urls into small, manageable ones very easily. Try it, you'll like it.
Yesterday I registered for my next class, Information Seeking Behavior. This is the third time I've signed up for it - for some reason it scares me and I keep dropping it. Time to bite the bullet though and get it over with. The torture starts on the 26th, so I'm planning on reading for pleasure as much as possible between now and then, knowing that there just won't be any time for that once the class starts.
At work we're gearing up for the Inauguration Watch Party. If you're in the area please come - it will be a day to remember. We're setting up blogging stations and have arranged to have some press coverage so aside from the fact that this will be one of the most important days in the history of our country it should be a great opportunity for the library to get some good PR.
And finally, my latest favorite Firefox add-on: is.gd. Turns long urls into small, manageable ones very easily. Try it, you'll like it.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Keyboard Functions to Learn & Use
During my Tech Talk presentation last week a request was made for some basic computer training. I can't think of anything more basic than simple keyboard functions that work as shortcuts for many word processing tasks. So, here is a short list of keyboard function to learn and use:
Pressing Ctrl plus I will italicize any highlighted area.
Pressing Ctrl plus C will copy any highlighted area.
Pressing Ctrl plus V will paste the last text copied.
Pressing Ctrl plus B will bold any highlighted area.
Pressing Ctrl plus U will underline any highlighted area.
Pressing Ctrl plus + will enlarge all images on the screen. Ctrl plus - will shrink it.
Use the tab key to move to the next box when filling in a form.
Press Ctrl plus PrtScn, then paste into a word document (or another document) to copy of picture of the screen.
Double clicking on a word will highlight the whole word. Triple clicking will highlight the line. (Clicking four times doesn't do anything, sorry.) But Ctrl plus A will highlight a whole page.
Press Ctrl plus F to get a "find" box. This is a search box; type in the word you are looking for and each instance of that word will be highlighted. Use the next button to progress through the document.
There are more, but this is enough for now. I have more NELA blogging to do....
Pressing Ctrl plus I will italicize any highlighted area.
Pressing Ctrl plus C will copy any highlighted area.
Pressing Ctrl plus V will paste the last text copied.
Pressing Ctrl plus B will bold any highlighted area.
Pressing Ctrl plus U will underline any highlighted area.
Pressing Ctrl plus + will enlarge all images on the screen. Ctrl plus - will shrink it.
Use the tab key to move to the next box when filling in a form.
Press Ctrl plus PrtScn, then paste into a word document (or another document) to copy of picture of the screen.
Double clicking on a word will highlight the whole word. Triple clicking will highlight the line. (Clicking four times doesn't do anything, sorry.) But Ctrl plus A will highlight a whole page.
Press Ctrl plus F to get a "find" box. This is a search box; type in the word you are looking for and each instance of that word will be highlighted. Use the next button to progress through the document.
There are more, but this is enough for now. I have more NELA blogging to do....
Monday, October 20, 2008
NELA Conference 2008
I just got back from the NELA Conference in Manchester, NH (beautiful time of year to make that drive!) where I blogged for the Library as Commons session. Check out the entire NELA Conf. blog when you get a chance, it's proving to be quite informative.
These conferences are always great places to hear new ideas and meet interesting people. I had lunch with a woman from LIS in Providence, RI. We were bemoaning budget cuts, the inevitability of cutting services, etc., when we got side-tracked and started talking about inter-library loan and World Cat. If I understood her correctly patrons in RI can request a book directly from World Cat and it will be sent to their homes, postage required, of course. I started brainstorming about a way that this service could be offered to all patrons, free of charge. I haven't done any research on this yet, this is all just rumbling around in my head, but wouldn't it be great if libraries could, individually, pay a postage subscription to World Cat and any patron with a library card from that library could get books delivered to their homes for no charge? This would be a great service for shut-ins.
After my day at NELA I have a new wish list for the DFL:
A television in the periodical reading room tuned to MSNBC (or whatever news station), with the volume off, naturally.
Patron-set due dates for materials that they will be using for research or for materials they are planning on taking out of town. This would save some time for the circulation staff with renewals and be excellent customer service. There would have to be exceptions - no new release books or DVDs, no items with holds, or items used for current school projects. But I think it has merit and is worth looking into.
Interactive displays with hand-outs, looped presentations on computers, anything that would make them more exciting than just a table full of books. The displays should also change more frequently. Karen does a nice job with displays in the fiction department and we need to start doing more of it upstairs in the non-fiction section.
I'm looking forward to more NELA tomorrow - wikis and more!
These conferences are always great places to hear new ideas and meet interesting people. I had lunch with a woman from LIS in Providence, RI. We were bemoaning budget cuts, the inevitability of cutting services, etc., when we got side-tracked and started talking about inter-library loan and World Cat. If I understood her correctly patrons in RI can request a book directly from World Cat and it will be sent to their homes, postage required, of course. I started brainstorming about a way that this service could be offered to all patrons, free of charge. I haven't done any research on this yet, this is all just rumbling around in my head, but wouldn't it be great if libraries could, individually, pay a postage subscription to World Cat and any patron with a library card from that library could get books delivered to their homes for no charge? This would be a great service for shut-ins.
After my day at NELA I have a new wish list for the DFL:
A television in the periodical reading room tuned to MSNBC (or whatever news station), with the volume off, naturally.
Patron-set due dates for materials that they will be using for research or for materials they are planning on taking out of town. This would save some time for the circulation staff with renewals and be excellent customer service. There would have to be exceptions - no new release books or DVDs, no items with holds, or items used for current school projects. But I think it has merit and is worth looking into.
Interactive displays with hand-outs, looped presentations on computers, anything that would make them more exciting than just a table full of books. The displays should also change more frequently. Karen does a nice job with displays in the fiction department and we need to start doing more of it upstairs in the non-fiction section.
I'm looking forward to more NELA tomorrow - wikis and more!
Friday, October 17, 2008
After another too long break from blogging, I'm determined to get back into the habit of regular posting. I taught a class last night which was basically a tour through the library's website. It went very well, response was positive, and I feel like the people who attended left with a deeper understanding of the services offered remotely. The general impression I got was that this type of class should be offered more than once a year and I plan on making that suggestion to the director. Having some hands-on time with computers during the class would also be a good idea. (See ladies, those evaluation sheets are helpful!)
During the class I talked about some of my favorite websites and promised to post them here. Two good beginner social networking sites are Facebook and Flickr. For a "portable" list of favorites use Delicious. The woman who wanted to find people should look at Anywho or People Search. My favorite search engine is Dogpile.
I know I spend entirely too much time in front of my computer and my level of excitement over technology will not be matched by most people. At least an hour of my day is devoted to finding new and useful sites to share with the staff and patrons at DFL. That is my job. What I do hope however, is that I can make your life just a little bit easier, or add a little fun to your day, by sharing the information I have. So to my "students" I say explore, play, don't be afraid to follow links, and remember that you won't break anything. Please take advantage of our Book-A-Librarian program and don't ever be afraid to ask us questions, that is why we're here.
During the class I talked about some of my favorite websites and promised to post them here. Two good beginner social networking sites are Facebook and Flickr. For a "portable" list of favorites use Delicious. The woman who wanted to find people should look at Anywho or People Search. My favorite search engine is Dogpile.
I know I spend entirely too much time in front of my computer and my level of excitement over technology will not be matched by most people. At least an hour of my day is devoted to finding new and useful sites to share with the staff and patrons at DFL. That is my job. What I do hope however, is that I can make your life just a little bit easier, or add a little fun to your day, by sharing the information I have. So to my "students" I say explore, play, don't be afraid to follow links, and remember that you won't break anything. Please take advantage of our Book-A-Librarian program and don't ever be afraid to ask us questions, that is why we're here.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Can summer really be over?
It's been a while... this blog has joined ranks with many other things I neglected over the summer in the name of fun, family, and just plain life. Although I never intended this blog to be anything other than a professional/academic outlet, I'm going to break my rule and do some personal musing.
For anyone who knows me you already know this summer has been a busy one. Here are the high points:
A week ago I picked up my oldest boy, 15, from two weeks away at camp. Fifteen year old boys are strange, I know that, but he came back to me a stranger. It's amazing what pulling a young teenager out of his normal existence and putting him in a group of 119 other kids will do. He came back with a foul mouth (not that he hasn't heard/said everything already, it just seems dirtier now), a sarcastic nature, hair on his legs (okay, he left with that too, but again, it seems dirtier now), what seems like a few inches in height, and just a general feeling of not being mine anymore. I know the experience was good for him, and it was good for me to have a bit of a break with one less child in the house, but it is taking us a while to get back to the status quo.
My other two kids had a good time with their brother out of the house, their bond grew deeper which was nice to watch. The oldest and youngest now share something that the middle child wasn't a part of - not something that usually happens.
Work was extraordinarily busy this summer. Lots of new tech stuff going on, and I'll get to that in my next post. In the midst of enjoying the summer reading program, hot summer reads and overall elevated levels of circulation, the entire staff was saddened by the loss of fellow colleague, friend, and mentor Judy Sime. Judy was a lovely person, full of grace and dignity while she fought her battle with cancer. In so many ways she has been an inspiration to me, as well, I am sure, to many. She will be greatly missed.
My little family has added two new kittens to the mix, putting me dangerously close to becoming the crazy cat lady I have nightmares about. I think I'm just one pair of sensible shoes away from the abyss! But if Franks and Beans (gotta love it when kids name pets, right?) are my downfall then so be it, I've never seen two more adorable kittens. Unfortunately Franks is suffering from either a very bad cold or a fatal kitty virus, one that there is no test, and no cure for. We are doing everything we can to keep her going - sitting for hours with her in a steamy bathroom, lots of meds, and of course lots of love. She's a fighter and we're hoping for the best. If you're interested, pictures can be seen here.
My girlfriends and I have instituted First Fridays as a way to stay connected. Everyone seems to be going in so many different directions it's been hard to get together, but now we have a plan to meet the first Friday of each month for food, wine and great conversation.
And I think one of the best things that happened this summer is, through Facebook, I've reconnected with one of my best friends from high school. She's living in California now but comes back to the East Coast a few times a year. We have plans to get together in October to celebrate our 45th birthdays in Manhattan. Rest assured, there will not be a post about that!
That just about does it. What's next? Possibly another class, although I'm still trying to figure that out. There are a lot of exciting things on the horizon at work. My kids start school on Tuesday, which doesn't seem possible, but I guess then things will get back to what we call normal.
For anyone who knows me you already know this summer has been a busy one. Here are the high points:
A week ago I picked up my oldest boy, 15, from two weeks away at camp. Fifteen year old boys are strange, I know that, but he came back to me a stranger. It's amazing what pulling a young teenager out of his normal existence and putting him in a group of 119 other kids will do. He came back with a foul mouth (not that he hasn't heard/said everything already, it just seems dirtier now), a sarcastic nature, hair on his legs (okay, he left with that too, but again, it seems dirtier now), what seems like a few inches in height, and just a general feeling of not being mine anymore. I know the experience was good for him, and it was good for me to have a bit of a break with one less child in the house, but it is taking us a while to get back to the status quo.
My other two kids had a good time with their brother out of the house, their bond grew deeper which was nice to watch. The oldest and youngest now share something that the middle child wasn't a part of - not something that usually happens.
Work was extraordinarily busy this summer. Lots of new tech stuff going on, and I'll get to that in my next post. In the midst of enjoying the summer reading program, hot summer reads and overall elevated levels of circulation, the entire staff was saddened by the loss of fellow colleague, friend, and mentor Judy Sime. Judy was a lovely person, full of grace and dignity while she fought her battle with cancer. In so many ways she has been an inspiration to me, as well, I am sure, to many. She will be greatly missed.
My little family has added two new kittens to the mix, putting me dangerously close to becoming the crazy cat lady I have nightmares about. I think I'm just one pair of sensible shoes away from the abyss! But if Franks and Beans (gotta love it when kids name pets, right?) are my downfall then so be it, I've never seen two more adorable kittens. Unfortunately Franks is suffering from either a very bad cold or a fatal kitty virus, one that there is no test, and no cure for. We are doing everything we can to keep her going - sitting for hours with her in a steamy bathroom, lots of meds, and of course lots of love. She's a fighter and we're hoping for the best. If you're interested, pictures can be seen here.
My girlfriends and I have instituted First Fridays as a way to stay connected. Everyone seems to be going in so many different directions it's been hard to get together, but now we have a plan to meet the first Friday of each month for food, wine and great conversation.
And I think one of the best things that happened this summer is, through Facebook, I've reconnected with one of my best friends from high school. She's living in California now but comes back to the East Coast a few times a year. We have plans to get together in October to celebrate our 45th birthdays in Manhattan. Rest assured, there will not be a post about that!
That just about does it. What's next? Possibly another class, although I'm still trying to figure that out. There are a lot of exciting things on the horizon at work. My kids start school on Tuesday, which doesn't seem possible, but I guess then things will get back to what we call normal.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
