Communications (23 +1) - Overdrive Study

Overdrive is a new way to download audiobooks and e-books. Many people at the library are now using it and are very happy that there is something new and innovative out there. A common response to Overdrive is "I had no idea the library was okay with digital books". I think that many patrons think librarians only feel that books should be in print and librarians should pretty much just live in caves.

I also discovered that Alachua County has a large quantity of e-books, audiobooks, music, and even DVDs on their Overdrive. All Florida residents are able to withhold an Alachua County e-card to check out all digital materials. Give it a try if you haven't already. You may find that you will even become addicted!

So, I decided to observe and note how many patrons within the course of a day were aware that our library had a digital library. I decided to be fair and stay within the children's area and ask parents rather than kids. Within the course of an entire day and asking about ten parents I found that none of them knew. A handful of parents knew about our Playaways which are new Mp3 players that allow patrons to listen to audio books through a handheld Mp3 player. The fact that they knew this was a given since we have had the Playaways for almost a year.

Unfortunately, none of the parents I asked knew about our digital library even with the advertising through fliers, bookmarks, and website. On the other hand, people were very surprised and excited that the library was so innovative. One patron even mentioned that she was reluctant to tell me that she had a digital reader because she thought the library would be offended!

I decided to use my activity in this case for my 23 things + 1 New thing:

The patron and I completed the following steps in a matter of 10 minutes (as long as you are a Florida resident you can do this for free):

1. Go To: Alachua County Library System
2. Apply for an e-card
3. You will receive your e-card number in your personal email account.
4. Once you have retrieved your e-card number - Go To: Overdrive
5. You will need to download Overdrive to your computer.
6. Proceed to browse Overdrive and checkout digital materials for FREE!

When I cannot find books on my library's Overdrive, I cross check materials with Alachua County's Library and I also refer patrons to it as well. The patron in this case was very happy and excited about the idea of free and new materials.

So, little by little we will inform and instruct our patrons of how innovative and cool the library is and that as librarians we really do not live in caves but rather try to live on the edge of new technology.

23 Things

My favorite things along this 23 things journey were the discovery of classifications and awards of web 2.0 technologies. It feels like there is a purpose and that there is some sort of validation or recognition for what's out there. There is a whole new wave of technologies and we are sometimes blind as to what is available.

As librarians I think we limit ourselves as to what we can use in the field and it is great to have an exercise like 23 things to practice and learn what are possibilities are. Thank you 23 things! I look forward to the next discovery program!

BlackBoard Part II

After playing around with Blackboard and finding all of its different uses for new web 2.0 technologies, I decided to find more information about it. I found that Blackboard had been around for awhile and as Karplus explains it is one of the most used management systems in academia.

In fact, she states that Blackboard has been around since 1997 and was intended for students to check grades, assignments, discuss and eventually incorporate things like RSS feeds, podcasts, and blogs. Blackboard has become a great tool for students on campus but most importantly for distance learning students. Today students are able to attend classes through Elluminate on Blackboard.

I can hardly wait to see what becomes of Blackboard in ten years or who and what may challenge Blackboard in ten years...

Karplus, S. S. Integrating Academic Library Resources and Learning Management Systems: The Library Blackboard Site. Education Libraries v. 29 no. 1 (Summer 2006) p. 5-11

Blackboard

Blackboard is a very interesting topic. This semester has really changed and as I was just getting used to the old version they changed it on us again. I do like the current version better however. I like the fact that you can open different windows and tabs from a master control panel. I also like the option of just being able to focus on the important things such as email, blackboard, and especially the addition of the Oasis tab on the "My Newsfeed" panel.

Furthermore, after I became acquainted with the new version of Blackboard I proceeded to play around with it and see what I could find and learn. I discovered that there are games, all different kinds of apps for iTunes and more, and I even personalized my page! Who knew there was so much to discover on Blackboard.

After taking this course it made me realize just how much I didn't pay attention to detail. I usually just logged into Blackboard to do my course work and submit my assignments, but now I have a better understanding for technologies and web 2.0. Blackboard itself can become a tutor to show students how we can use all different kinds of technologies in useful ways and fun ways as well.

Digital Readers

Previously I discussed the discovery of Overdrive. Originally I was downloading e-books and audio books straight to my computer or my iPod. Now, I have discovered the digital readers! And yes there are more than 2 or 3.

The Amazon Kindle, being one of the most important ones is unfortunately not compatible with libraries. The Barnes & Nobles Nook is compatible with libraries as well as the Borders Kobo. The Sony e-reader was also a very popular e-reader being one of the first to come out and it too is compatible with libraries.

The great thing about all the digital readers regardless if they are compatible with libraries or not is that they are certainly making reading a thing of the future. People are rediscovering their love for reading and some are discovering it.

Social Networking

Has social networking become a thing of the past or is it still relevant? If you ever go around the library to see what people are looking at on the computers it is usually Facebook. As an observation, I have noticed that patrons are rarely on Myspace or Twitter. Needless to say it does not mean people are not using Myspace or Twitter. The Martin County Library has chosen to use Facebook as their social network of choice.

Patrons are able to use the library's Facebook page as a way to become a fan and post comments or pictures. It is a fun way for story time story time parents to connect with the library world. When I asked why they prefer to use Facebook as opposed to Myspace the response tended to be that Facebook is more adult and safer. My assumption as to why they would prefer Facebook to Twitter is due to the pictures as opposed to the one liner comments.

In any case, even adult patrons are finding ways to connect to the library through technology and social networking. It does not seem to be a thing of the past and is still very relevant at least for adults. Facebook seems to be just another easy and free way for libraries to connect with the community. The library can use as many ways as possible to connect with patrons.

Delicious Part II

Using Delicious in the library is a great way to incorporate Library 2.0 technologies. Delicious allows librarians and patrons to create lists or social bookmarks. As Darby mentions, Delicious can be used with several different tools to make it even more advantageous.

Some of the different methods mentioned by Darby are by using Linkrolls and Tagrolls, RSS, and JSON. Some can produce larger results than others but each has a unique way of collaborating with Delicious.

Darby, A., & Gilmour, R. (2009). Adding Delicious Data to Your Library Website. Information Technology and Libraries, 28(2), 100-3. Retrieved from OmniFile Full Text Mega database

Digital Portfolio

I created a digital portfolio to share all that I have learned and explored in this semester's class. Visit my digital portfolio to see what librarians or media specialists can do with a podcast, brochure, website, and blog. The portfolio is also meant to get ideas on how to use technology to our advantage in order to stay current and fresh with the youth that we serve.

Delicious

What is Delicious? As Green (2010) explains, it is a way to tag or save information from the web to a specific location. He goes on to say that Delicious is the most popular social bookmarking tool among libraries because of all of its attractive features.

Furthermore, Green (2010) stresses that Delicious is one of the fastest, simplest, and cleanest forms of social bookmarking out there. If RSS feeds are used with Delicious then new bookmarks can be tracked as well. As a result, Delicious can be a first step towards adding Library 2.0 technologies to your library.


Green, C. (2010). Tag! You're It! Experiencing Delicious.com at Your Library—Introduction to Social Bookmarking. Kentucky Libraries, 74(1), 4-8. Retrieved from OmniFile Full Text Mega database

Website

Creating a website through Microsoft is easy. You pay $15 a year and the template is all drawn up for you. It is as easy as tweaking the template and customizing your design to the way you would like. Creating a website from scratch is a little different! I had a few problems but thankfully I was able to get some help through USF's wonderful IT Desk. As a result, I was able to develop my own website by using a seperate program to write script (well, I let the program write the script) and then transfered it into USF's student website program. The program I used to help me design and write script was SeaMonkey and the program that I used in order to upload my SeaMonkey page onto a live website was WinSCP.

I had to play around with it a great deal especially when it came time to add pictures and files. Make sure you have the time and patience to create a website. If you do have time and patience you will see that the benefits can be large, as your school or library can always use a website. Check out my website!

Wikis Are Not Just For Apple Pie

Wikis can be a very powerful tool. When Wikis first came out many people looked at them as a recipe sharing resource or a homework tool, but with the recent Wiki leaks that has all changed. The adage "Knowledge is Power" has been used to its extremity in 2010.

Wikis are now used to leak political, financial, and social information. Web 2.0 has allowed the common patron to be aware of what crimes are going on in government or major financial corporations. Wikis are no longer just for sharing grandma's recipe for apple pie.

E-reader Book Clubs

I have a teen book club right now that just started to use Sony e-readers to read the book club books. We started out with downloading "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins. We were fortunate enough to be able to purchase four e-readers and a copy of Collins' book to each device.

Due to the holidays in November and December as well as final exams we have not had a successful turnout thus far. The teens have been pre-occupied so we will have to start the book club up again in January and definitely for the summer. We tend to have a better turn out in the summer. I will keep you up to date as to how the "new age" book club proceeds.

Moodle - Book Clubs

YouTube is being used in all different kinds of ways today. An innovative way that libraries can use the YouTube concept is through online book clubs. Scharber states that a public library can use http://www.moodle.org as a safe and free way to host online book clubs.

Our library just received a donation for our teens and I am going to see if we can start an online book club or find a way to use technology in our teen book club. Scharber's observations of the Moodle program has some great ideas for using technology in book clubs both for youth and adults.


Scharber, C. (2009). Online Book Clubs: Bridges Between Old and New Literacies Practices. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 52(5), 433-7. doi: 10.1598/JAAL.52.5.7

Text-Messaging as Science Fair

Science fair projects are in progress right now and parents along with their kids are panicing for ideas and topics. But not one young gentlemen, he has decided to do his science fair project on text-messaging and the effects it has on driving. We found some great articles through the library's databases. We found several news articles, but one in particular was very scary.

In a 2009 article entitled, "Teens Under the Influence of Cellphones...and Texting", in USA Today, Nanci Hellmich reported that "About half of teens ages 16 and 17 who have cellphones say they have talked on the phone while driving, and about a third of those teens have texted while behind the wheel". More scary statistics were found and became a real eye opener to the adults in the library that day as we all huddled around the computer to find out more on the subject of texting and driving.

Kids today are growing up with this contreversy and hopefully by the time they are adults the problem with texting and driving will be resolved. In any case, children are receiving cell phones at earlier ages every year and I believe there will continue to be more problems on the topic of texting. But for now we can at least start with tackling the texting and driving just like the young gentlemen decided to do by choosing a very relevant topic for his science fair project


USA Today, Nov 17, 2009 p11D "Teens under the influence of cellphones ... and texting". LIFE Hellmich, Nanci.