Your own ... personal .... Twilight shrine!

We are all squealing with anticipation over the release of Stephenie Meyer's new book BREAKING DAWN!!

In honor of the 4th book in the Twilight series making its debut on August 2 - we held a party at the library aptly named Bella's Bridal Bash.

We gushed over the romantic details, munched on cookies and treats, took sides in the Edward vs. Jacob debate, Twilightized the alphabet, answered tough trivia only a die-hard fan would know, decorated key chains, tote bags, and created personalized Twilight pocket shrines dedicated to our favorite character/ obsession.

Check out our pics!

http://flickr.com/photos/26840793@N06/

THINGS are DONE!

Yeahs!!
* wikis rock ... especially the pbwiki project
* Web 2.0 awards were interesting
* Exploring the websites
* Actually sticking to writing in a blog
* Gave us all something to talk about

Boo!
* Youth Services people are way to busy to do something like this during the summer
* Should have more in-house, on-on-one, help classes
* We never explored Social Networking! This is such an important facet & foundation of Web 2.0 applications and I'm disappointed that it was ignored. Whether we approve of sites like MySpace, Facebook, & Twitter or not .... we should still be knowledgeable about them.

2 4 1 -- podcastdigitalaudiobooks

PODCASTS

I mostly subscribe to podcasts from ITunes because it's super easy to have all my music and podcasts in one place.

But podcastalley was something else.
Trust me ... they have a podcasts on everything ... one called Dirty Kumquat Radio, cooking shows, 83 podcasts on yoga, Twilight podcasts (hooray), and even podcast of the X-rated variety!

This site is useful because you can download podcasts anywhere ... no need for a computer with ITunes.

NPR podcasts are spiffy! I always listen to Wait Wait Don't Tell Me while cooking ... and I do love Ira Glass ... it's the glasses.





AUDIOBOOKS

I gave up on our library audiobooks a while ago because they weren't compatible with my IPod.
But .... I did not know you could burn a downloaded audiobook to CD!! That's cool.

The library needs to have a class on audiobooks or really push the fact that we have them. I think many patrons have no clue!

YouTube Blast From the Past

On a whim I typed in"winterguard" in a youtube search.
I performed for years in winterguard and crossed my fingers that somebody had posted a video of one of my performances.

Who knew, that our secret ops lighted run at World Championships 2002 was up!!
We were a scandalous group. I was a sabre dancer.

Applause

By Jove! Web 2.0 awards rock!

I was disappointed that some of the neat stuff required subscriptions. I have this crazy notion that all Web 2.0 stuff should be free.
These sites would be amazing ... but they cost money!! Boo!
Mango Languages
Wufoo

Super interesting and Free ---- > the food section of the Web 2.0 awards!
Great for the food obsessed and food snobs.
I never knew these sites existed!

I especially loved the sites ImCooked and iFoods - instead of printing out boring recipes - you can watch videos!

This video of Christopher Walken cooking chicken is quite amusing!

Drumroll please .... my favorite Web 2.0 award winner is: LAST.FM
Type in an artist or band and you can stream music, download songs, view videos, read bios, tour dates, listen to similar artist, stalk, and comment ALL ON ONE PAGE -- this will definitely be a major time-sucker for me.

The man I adore: Andrew Bird

oh zoho

Zoho is useful ... indeed.

However is looks like a rip-off of Google Docs.

Why I love Google Docs:

It's simple and clean.

I have all my google-mania in one place - Docs, gmail, picasa.

Why I can't deal with Zoho:

I had to sign-up for another site.

Quoted from Amber: It's trying to be too much at once!!

However, being able to publish a document from Zoho to your blog is nifty. And I imagine it will get snazzier with time, but for now I am overwhelmed with signing up for so many sites and not having time to explore them.

So Adieu ..... I'll pass on Zoho and stick with what works for me.

sandbox yo!

Cilla and I had a blast playing the sandbox!

We learned how to post pictures of our favorite wines (and cheese) on our pbwiki!

http://pbclswiki.pbwiki.com/Favorite+Wines

This was the best "thing" yet!

Cheers!

Aloha!

Fascinating .....

wiki is from the Hawaiian word wiki wiki which means fast!

Wikis are a great source for collaboration ..... I'm realizing that I should have created one for my Battle of the Books team to share questions and info about the books we're reading. But getting something like that approved would involve too much hoop jumping.

Wikis are also scary .... students readily cite from wikipedia like it's the encylopedia. I even had students in my MLIS classes that cited from wikipedia. WHAT!?!!
At least it should inspire discussion about valid sources.

Such as the entry from Wikipedia below .... Does a backronym actually exist?!


"Wiki Wiki" (/wiːkiː wiːkiː/) is a reduplication of "wiki", a Hawaiian word for "fast". It has been suggested that "wiki" means "What I Know Is". However, this is a backronym.

backronym (or bacronym) is a phrase that is constructed "after the fact" from a previously existing word or abbreviation, the abbreviation being an initialism or an acronym. Backronyms may be invented with humorous intent, or may be a type of false or folk etymology. The word is a portmanteau term combining back-formation and acronym, coined in 1983[1] and documented from 1994:

The arrival of coeducation at St. Paul's in 1971 inspired the verb to scope (a foreclipping and conversion of "telescope") and the derived noun scoper, "one who appreciatively ogles the opposite sex." From this process has arisen an unofficial organization named SCOPERS, a reverse acronym, or bacronym, for "Students Concentrating On the Palatable Extremities of the Reciprocal Sex.
-Richard Lederer, Adventures of a Verbivore, 1994

Tales from the Stacks

Observed yesterday:

We have a grandfather who comes into the YS department everyday with his 6-yr-old granddaughter. He wheels her in on a pink stroller. He lets her run wilds while he takes over a table and sets up the following items around him:
Newspapers in Spanish
Magazines (usually about guns or ammo, etc.)
A kitchen timer
A digital clock
One wooden ruler
A watch display with 2-3 cheap watches on it.
And here's the kicker ..... An pill box covered in construction paper with the word BLADES written large in sharpie marker on the front.

He comes a few times a week and the BLADES usually come out also.
Scary and intriguing .... are BLADES actually in there?

UPDATE from Keisha - 6/28:
Grandfather Razorblade actually sits at his little table and make calendars all day .... he even draws out the little boxes and all .... but what does he use the blades for?
Why? How many calendars do you need?


Story told by circulation:

A man wanted a library card and had no identification.
He told them check his name in the Police Blotter for identification.
Ummmm ..... I don't think so!

!!!

I can be like paparazzi on technorati ....

and stalk my musician obsession - Andrew Bird ----->

through blogs, photos, and videos ....

More glamorous than searching on Google.

Especially because you get the real news - blogger news!

Blogger Central is spiffy also.

Egads!

del.icio.us is so yummy for library people .... we get to apply our own subject headings to our favorite sites .... hooray!
Folksonomies and tagging actually lets the public be their own lovely librarians ... how nifty!

Now ... if only that would aid in better understanding of the OPAC ... or maybe the OPAC should be more organized like flickr and del.icio.us. That would be riotous.

http://del.icio.us/nosilla26

Team Twilight

Team Jacob Black-should-be-played-by-Ben Barnes

Pimp - Your - Pet

Duncan Dog is such a sport .... in his trail riding outfit

Poem for Web 2.0

WEB 2.0 is FUN and AMUSING!
Because for the self-centered ... it's all about personalization, showing off, all about you, you, you!
And some sharing involved also.
I love it. So indulgent.

.... and here is the poetry dedicated to it ...

You need someone who gets it.
This will change everything. We shall transcend borders. A
n AJAX-driven GUI. MSM just doesn't get it.
Hack it. Faster. Faster! Tag me. Float this.
Social is the new push. We're about what Web 2.0 is about.
Always be launching. Label what defies categorization.
Clear that.
The words aren't what they were.
Clustering. Single. Word. Sentences!
This is newer media. Folksonomy.
News clouds. Podcasts. On-demand streams.
It's all changing. Splog is an aggregate noun.
Cry out, blogosphere!
It's all about community. 2.0 is the new New.
Roll your own roll-your-own. The new is old.
We are on the brink of a new age. "ASL" is geezer speak.
The buzz is loud and clear.

Web 2.0 Poem courtesy of http://what.was.the.question.whyblog.org/buzz/


I've also created my own Web 2.0 Company:

Your company name:
Rionojax
Your company product:
social invites via instant messaging

Courtesy of: http://andrewwooldridge.com/myapps/webtwopointoh.html

Addiction ...

I've been addicted to Bloglines since I went to a Web 2.0 conference in Miami last year.

How efficient it is!
All my blog addictions in one place!

Beside reading Boing Boing's happy and quirky news bits .... I'm absolutely obsessed with the blogs of popular YA authors. They have reverted back to being in high school and formed these cliques where they go out together, meet in fancy hotels rooms and write, make silly vlogs filled with inside jokes, take road trip book tours, dare eachother to eat dozen of peeps and drink cheap wine and then film it all ... and they just look so damn hip that I want to beg to be part of the group.

Links to my faves:



Maureen Johnson - http://maureenjohnson.blogspot.com/



John Green - http://www.sparksflyup.com/weblog.php



Scott Westerfeld - http://scottwesterfeld.com/blog/

For interviews and the scoop on new books:
http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/
http://blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings/



Jackie Parker - http://interactivereader.blogspot.com/



The Ya Ya Ya's - http://theyayayas.wordpress.com/2008/05/22/summer-blog-blast-tour-e-lockhart/



Little Willow -http://slayground.livejournal.com/


I Love Boing Boing too!



because of articles like this:
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/05/01/young-adult-sections.html




Articles on sugary cereal light fixtures:

And videos of of the Wearable Technology Fashion Show:

FLICKR FATASTICNESS - Ode to Twilight Fandom

Lovingly made with Flickr Toys' Mosaic Maker!
http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php

A connection is made

How can blogging be used in libraries .... CONNECTING!!

... if libraries are an institution that connects people with information .... then they should also have the same presence online.

Blogs allow for the sharing of information, they allow patrons and staff to collaborate - share ideas, meet new people, chat about the Twilight books.

I'd love to have a blog to post reader's advisory lists, ask teens for ideas, post new book reviews, cool websites, trailers for movies based on books ... etc.

We have enough presence in the community that if we had an online presence also, through blogging, I think it would totally change the community's perspective on the library. Especially for the young people. By not having a blog or myspace that represents the library we are telling this young demographic that we just don't care about them . ... That we are totally ignoring they're need to connect online. So Sad! .... because they are a rockin', vibrant group!

Lifelong Learners

While the slideshow was dull ...
the message is true ....
for lifelong learners
it's never too soon, or too late ,to learn something new!

This is why I love working in youth services!
We work to inspire lifelong readers and library users. From baby storytimes to teen events, we have to keep convincing parents and children that we still have what they need and keep them interested.

This also what keeps us on our toes. We have to be on top of the latest trends and continually learn what's HOT and deliver it to the public. Especially with young adults and children, they are hardwired into technology - they are the key lifelong learners because they will always want to be ahead of the game and will constantly learn to keep up with those trends. We have much to learn from them.

MOST DIFFICULT PART FOR ME??

Using technology to my advantage!

It's a piece of cake using technology to my PERSONAL advantage. I love my ipod! .... and I'm addicted to RSS feeds and blogs and YouTube. And admittedly - MySpace.
However, trying to incorporate these technology trends into the library has often been met with resistance.

"If you don't offer them something they value now, you're going to be irrelevant to them for the rest of their lives. It's not a risk we can afford to take."
- Eli Neiburger, ALA Gaming in Libraries Symposium, December 2005

That's my difficulty ... convincing others that it is beneficial and NEEDED to incorporate social software on the library teen webpages, teen advisory boards need blogs and mysapce pages, teens should be allowed to podcast, we should be able to hook up our ipods for story time music instead of using cassette tapes, staff should have a listserv, patrons should be able to comment about books on a blog, the library director should have a blog, patrons should be able to text or IM a PBCLS librarian with questions, gaming should be promoted in full force!!

Especially since all this is fun! Web 2.0 technologies promote the sharing of ideas, creativity, and online communities.