Branch Managers' Challenge #1 ListenNJ

Okay . . . hated it! First, I spent two and a half hours at LBI trying to download two of the books available that I had even the remotest interest in (all others were checked out, or book 1 in a series was availabe in a different format than books 5 or 6 in the same series. Then when I went to listen to it, the file wasn't there (or didn't seem to be there). So I tried again at TR today, only the PCPlus kept saying I had to download the upgrade and then it would shut down and restart, except as I understand it when PCPlus restarts it erases all that went before. Finally requested help from Info Services and we tried several things unsuccessfully. However in that process Colleen (thanks Colleen) discovered that I had indeed downloaded the books at LBI--they had simply filed them under music instead of under audiobooks as I thought I had requested.

So, success at last, but at that level of frustration I far prefer books on CD or the actual printed book. Aarrgghh!

But, in spite of my blood pressure, I did accomplish the challenge and, late in the day as it is, even by today's deadline.

Thank goodness the digital projector/laptop challenge is far easier:)

Thing 23

All right, I messed up the numbering somewhere on the road and I mislabled post 21 as post 20. I've probably got some other errors along the way. No time to do the Listen NJ thing, and Technorati still wasn't cooperating when I went back, but I can be pretty happy with the progress I've made, even with missing the completion date. I will carry on and complete next week.

The experience has been a good one. It's a fun way to force me to look at things I usually say I have no time for. I don't feel an expert in any of the "Things," but familiarity will make it that much easier to explore more in depth at a later date.

The most useful bit for me was Google Documents, though the most fun was the podcasting. I can see me spending lots of free time looking for other Harlan Ellison rants for entertainment:)

The least useful to me (and this is strictly a matter of taste and/or personality) was the social networking stuff. I don't really understand the need people have for all these "connections" when they could talk to people face to face. I actually have a Facebook account, but I rarely use it.

Anyway, well done, all of you who put this together and who coached us along the way. It's been both fun and enlightening. What more could a person ask?

Thing 20 Podcasts

Okay, because I can't get enough of Harlan Ellison. I found this clip on Odeo. It's promoting a new documentary about Unca Harlan called "Dreams with Sharp Teeth." Warning, if you watch this short clip--some strong language.

http://beta.odeo.com/episodes/18425772-SXSW-Harlan-Ellison

Interestingly, when I searched on podcast.com, I got nothing about Ellison, but odeo had quite a bit.

Thing 19 You Tube

You Tube is always fun--sometimes silly, sometimes educational, and a great way to pass the time when you're procrastinating about getting something else done:)

Here's a link to a Harlan Ellison rant:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj5IV23g-fE

I love Unca Harlan.

Thing 19: Web Awards

Well, I went through a good many of the winners, and noticed that a lot of our Webthings were among them: Flickr, Google Docs, etc. I decided to explore Biblio.com, which took second place in the books category. Doing a sample search I found I could get a copy of Dominique-Jean Larrey's memoirs for around $150.00, which is cheaper than I've seen when I've searched alibris or other out of print sources. This one could be a keeper!

Thing 18

Did the Google Docs thing. I think this has potential. I edit a writing newsletter with a distribution of about 200 Odyssey Writing Workshop alumni and I'm thinking this may be a way to stop the paper mailings. If nothing else, it can be a good way for me to get the articles I solicit in some reasonable order. I can see workgroups at the library getting a lot of use out of this, too. Wish I'd known about this when I started out with the Communication Task Force!

Thing 12, cont'd. Worldcat

Oops, forgot the Worldcat component of this Thing. Thanks to Jill for alerting me to the fact.

So I searched "Gospel of the Living Dead" on Worldcat. Took me a bit of playing around to find how to change the location. It defaulted to NJ libraries even prior to my change. The closest was Rider College, with Princeton the next. When I changed to my home zip code, I got Temple Univ. in the mix. No OCL copies, alas.

Great way to verify bibliographic data and discover multiple editions. Baylor University Press has apparently issued the book in an electronic form as well as in print. Go, zombies!

Thing 16: Wikis

Well, Library Success was of limited . . . er . . . success to me. The areas I was most interested in didn't have any best practices listed, though the headings were there. Guess I need to writes some:)

Nice to see the OCL listing on Wikipedia. I never really trust anything on Wikipedia, though. Have they done a better job at vetting their contributors?

However I can see that Wikis with limited access can have all sorts of posibilities for information sharing, so I think I'll be exploring this a little further on my own.

Thing 15 Library 2.0

I read the first two articles: "Away from Icebergs" and "Into a New World of Librarianship." I'm happy to think that OCL is attempting to be a forward-looking institution and strives hard to remain both relevant and flexible to our customers needs. However, a part of me still loves the traditional idea of the library as a warehouse of knowledge (and the dustier, the better) but I know this is probably more for my love of history and scholarship than to any real technophobia. I probably would have been at home with the illuminated manuscripts being chained to the shelves. But public libraries in particular have to be responsive to what the public wants, and space limitations, if nothing else, keep us from being able to house stuff that "might be needed some day." I think our real challenge is the divide between those of us who want the most current technology/resource/service yesterday, and those of us who are more comfortable taking it slow and thinking things through, plus those few of us who tend to dig in our heels at the very thought of change. Fortunately, I think the Tech Challenge is doing a great job in getting more of us on the same page.

Thing 14 Technorati

Technorati seems to be unavailable at the moment. Will come back and try again later.

Thing 13: Del.icio.us

Looks like a fun resource. I went ahead and signed up for an account. Very easy to add the buttons and pretty easy to add pages and tags. Much better than my cluttered bookmarks bar at home. I'm not necessarily sold on the social networking component, but perhaps that will come with familiarity.

Thing 12: Netlibrary

Okay, the Netlibrary sign up is pretty straightforward, and I had no trouble searching. I found a book that sounds really interesting--one that's not business or computer-related which would probably bore me to tears. Anyway, the book is "Real Indians" by Bonita Lawrence, and appears to deal with Native Peoples and identity in urban Canada. I'd like to check it out, but I'm not finding any way to do that. I went into Horizon and found it, but again, no real way to check out the item. I think this would be a problem for most customers.

Thing 11 Library Thing

I've heard of Library Thing before, but resisted joining as too time-consuming and possibly anal-retentive. But I have to admit that now I've signed up, it's kind of cool. Seeing what other people have said about some of my favorite books is pretty neat, especially as my reading tastes are . . . um . . . shall we say eclectic?

Here's my list, from pirates to zombies to military satire:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=odlog

Thing 10: Technology

Okay, I'm not a technophobe, but I'm not a technogeek, either. My tv is old, I still haven't purchased a digital camera, and someone gave me an I-pod and I haven't taken the time to figure out how to get stuff from the computer to the machine. It's shiny, though.

I'm wondering about this whole e-book thing and how it will affect not only libraries, but writers. I'm sure there'll be a standardized platform at some point soon, and that the things will be as user-friendly as the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," but what about copyright and proper compensation for the folks who actually write the books? I've downloaded some e-book novellas, only because they were written by friends of mine, but really, I like books on CD better. Podcasting is kind of cool, but I would think more of a marketing tool. Authors get the shaft more often than not from their publishers as it is (unless their name is Grisham, Steel, or King)and if stuff is proliferated in e-format, wouldn't it be as prone to being pirated as DVDs? So what's a poor midlister (or someone who just dreams of being a midlister) to do?

#9

Okay, I tried the blog search tools, (Topix, Syndic8, Technorati). Was not enamored of the first two, but had more success with Technorati, where I discovered Kim Pfaffenroth's blog, "Gospel of the Living Dead." Kim has the distinction of being an academic in religious studies as well as a zombie fan. Not interests typically found in the same person:) He did a great nonfiction book about the Christian symbolism in George Romero's zombie movies, and edited a collection of zombie stories in various historical settings, called, "History is Dead." He also was the first one to reject my Napoleonic-era zombie story (he hated the ending), but I don't hold it against him, as I wouldn't have written the story but for the theme of the anthology, and I sold it elsewhere (after tweaking the ending--so he was right--sue me:

But back on topic. Technorati is very easy to use, so I'll probably try more searches when I'm not scrambling so hard to beat the webchallenge deadline!

Plugging Away at RSS

Well, I've set up my Bloglines account, and subscribed to a few feeds, including the Ocean County segment of the Asbury Park Press, the always funny (and mostly true) Unshelved, and the Webthings Challeng blog. In addition, I've subscribed to one of my favorite writing blogs--by James Van Pelt. James is a High School English teacher, short story writer, and novelist, as well as an all around nice guy. He had a story published in Paradox the issue after mine. Plus he's down to earth and shares a lot of his classroom experiences as well as thoughts on writing which are generally inspiring.

Web Challenge Thing Five

Well, I fell a bit behind, having succumbed to excessive meeting-itis, but here I am attempting Thing 5. I will make a valiant effort to catch up before the deadline, but May has turned out to be busy, busy, busy. However, I have a Flickr account now and have even figured out how to tag. I've posted a few of my recent pictures from Spain, so let's see if I can post them here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9916517@N07/2492990694/

PLA Minneapolis

Well, the conference is over. I have to say this has been the best PLA I've attended. All of the sessions I attended ranged from good to excellent, and the presentation skills were much higher than in previous years. Topics I found particularly interesting included immigration issues, collection development for LGBT populations within a conservative community, coping with law enforcement requests, management/union relations, handling difficult customers, the library's role in disaster preparedness, and conflict resolution. Speakers included Warren Graham and Pat Wagner, both of whom have been guest speakers at OCL in past years.

I also took a quick tour of the Minneapolis Public Library and visited the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and saw "Jane Eyre" at the Guthrie Theater. The weather was occasionally cold and windy, but free of rain or snow, which was good, since I spent a lot of hours walking around the city and taking pictures of some of the sights for eventual posting on Flickr.

From Madrid to Minneapolis

Well, I spent a wonderful ten days in Spain. Spent a total of of about nine hours in the Prado Museum over two days, enjoying the works of Velasquez, Bosch, and Goya. Also managed the highlights of Seville, Cordoba, Torremolinos, Granada, and Toledo. The bus took us through Don Quixote country, including the famous white windmills. Toured an olive oil plant and a workshop where artisans make damascene jewelry. The food and people were terrific and I can't wait to go back. I'll post pictures soon.

I was back to work for one day before heading out to PLA in Minneapolis. So I've just settled into the hotel and will set out in quest of lunch soon. Tomorrow I'll see about getting oriented in the city--right now I'm too jet lagged.

Getting Started

Okay, I'm a little late to the game here, but ready to play! Exciting news on the branch front. We have the Branch Managers' meeting coming up in TR on March 14th. And our April meeting will feature and all-day training on Logic Modules/Outcome Measurement. We have lots of new Branch Managers on board and will be completing orientation for them on April 3rd.

In other news, I'm off to Spain on Wednesday, and following that with PLA at the end of the month.