Tuesday, December 30, 2008

At last.....per Betsy's request, I copied over my posts from Doggieblogger into this one.....I think I have to simplify my blogging.
I need (belatedly) to note that I was in the audience for Rita's presentation on her trip to London (which was great).

I'm going to try doing Listen NJ again tomorrow with my MP3.......wish me luck.



Thursday, December 11, 2008
moving forward I guess.....
well, I did assignment #2 today......as Rita is my witness. I made a power point with some family photos, saved on my flash drive, and did a little show after setting up the laptop and digital projector. I'm ever so proud.....thing is, I'm having difficulty with the Listen NJ. thought I took care of that weeks ago....discovered my MP3 player wasn't charged up at the time, so nothing actually downloaded. so I re-tried it with my charged MP3 (on a pc plus at info services) but wasn't successful . what's a mother to do ?! I'll try again......holidoggie....... (in honor of the season)Sharon
Posted by doggieblogger at 12:52 PM 0 comments
Friday, October 31, 2008
whew ! at last, I downloaded a book onto my MP3 player through Listen NJ. It took me a while to get the gist of things, though I did view the tour and various help screens. The book is (strange title really) The Nutmeg of Consolation by Patrick O'Brien. I chose several others before this one but they had waiting lists or wouldn't download to the player I have.I won my MP3 through NJLA, at their podcast both @ the last conference. 'bout time I actually used it !Sharon O
Posted by doggieblogger at 8:42 AM 0 comments
Here I go......into Web Challenge two. This time I'll finish, with a little help from my friends.As you may have guessed, the subject of doggies will figure prominently in all this.
Posted by doggieblogger at 7:45 AM 0 comments

Friday, October 31, 2008

Here I go......into Web Challenge two. This time I'll finish, with a little help from my friends.
As you may have guessed, the subject of doggies will figure prominently in all this.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Delicious del.icio.us

Playing with del.icio.us is addictive. I instantly found all sorts of titles that are most intriguing. I will work on refining tags so I can "cut to the chase" on some searches.
A friend collected some really useful travel sites using this tool. I've used that one to plan actual trips (esp. with the dog - which isn't always easy).

I especially love that it's a portable tool, useable on any computer. I have too many files that are tied to one pc and it's inconvenient. I do have a flash drive to save 'em on, but that's not always the best choice either.

Worldcat

Well, I was able to find a title I wanted and its location (TR of course). The attached terms were interesting - for example the "citation" option. I would have given a body part for that back in high school......or college for that matter. Pre-computer college that was. Eek !

I did find part of the search frustrating. I located a title then lost it and somehow couldn't get back to the original listing again. Much better luck with the second title. Now this is a dumbish observation......but where you play around with the parameters and then tell it to search, I didn't pick up right away on the fact that you don't just hit enter on the keyboard. You have to hit the Go button on top line. ah well.

I could see where this could be a valuable tool for Materials Requests, giving specifics and locations in a concise way.

Netlibrary

Actually I've had an account for a long time. I established it so I knew how to tell customers how to register and to use it.

I just opened another account (since my password etc for other is probably at the old branch). Anyway, I think it's pretty self-explanatory except ! "Create log in" at the top is really too small and easy to miss when you first register. Also, when you get into the body of the title you need to know to hit the + sign to get further into your book - and that isn't obvious. I think it could be a little frustrating to a user.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

I really like this tool ! Just working with it for a little while brought up hundreds of interesting titles, of the type I like best (outdoor adventure, survival stories etc.). One of my favorite books, A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson was a common favorite with other members too. I tried to track down a discussion and I know it's in there but I couldn't connect yet. Another time....
ok- this is for Thing #10.....

I tried a bit of Methodshop and that was an eye-opener. Before now, I knew just a few acronyms used in chat. Now I know a few more than I wanted to. O well ! And in product reviews I read about some earbuds from Shure that sound good. One of the less favorable aspects, though, was that they have wires that go behind your head and "make you look like a horse." I do enjoy humor, wherever it crops up.....

Here's a thought on technology that's related to my current work. At our recent Friends exchange we asked attendees to bring pictures of their groups to scan onto a cd. Two or three groups did, and a couple others sent theirs digitally. We're doing this so that the Friends page on our OCL public site can be updated. I'm working with our Webmaster so we can accomplish this in a fairly simple and straightforward way. One thing I like a lot is that we plan to re-route programming information . In the past, the plan was for the Friends to update their program info on a regular basis. Groups started well, but most fell by the wayside. This resulted in really outdated info on the site - and we know folks won't likely revisit a site that isn't up to date.

The new page, when it's pulled together, will link directly to our "engaged patrons" sign-up site for programs. Most likely a Friends listing will be added to the ways to break the list down.
This is a great example of the way traditional approaches and Tech can work together. Woo hoo

Friday, May 23, 2008

Bloglines.......Logbines.....Sinegols....Slogineb

Can you tell I've been at this a little tooooo long !
Actually I set up a bloglines account last year for the cjrlc tech challenge. but ! I really didn't check it much after that, so it wasn't very useful.

my goal is to trim my bloglines list down to a manageable few entries, so I might have a prayer of scanning a few each week. I'd like to get familiar with sites that relate to what I'm exploring with branches -- Friends issues, better communication techniques, etc. plus some fun sites too.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Tigger


Tigger
Originally uploaded by piotr m
You'll be seeing lots of posts here about Brittanys. They are a lovely breed of dog and used to be called "Brittany Spaniels." They were the only "pointing" spaniel. The AKC (American Kennel Club) changed their name at some point to just Brittany - maybe due to the pointing thing. I dunno. Anyway, here's a portrait of "Tigger," which I found searching flickr files. He (?) is a beauty. When we get to the scanning part of these exercises, I'll post some pics of our Brittany too.

moving right along...

ok....I thought I addressed this earlier but maybe not ! Re: the 71/2 Habits for successful lifelong learning : I find the easiest is: to accept responsibility for my own learning. There are so many ways to learn, but to take advantage of them you have to shake yourself loose from being stuck, and set out on the journey. The hardest of the habits, to me : to use technology to my advantage. With some technology tools it isn't hard - like pc basics and things we've learned on the job. Others are elusive since I haven't made the time to try them out - like MP3 players or really learning how to use a digital camera.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Doggieblogging !

hello all ! old dog......new tricks....you know the drill.
after looking at Learning vs. Training, here are my thoughts.....

I like to think liberally, to be open to possibilities, to be optimistic about learning and assuming responsibility for it.

What comes harder to me is really carving out the time to learn new technologies properly. even the digital camera for example. I learn things I need to at work ( for example, some aspects of using the scanner on the pc+) but don't get around to others (for example, some aspects of using the scanner on pc+ !). We have lots of resource people. It's a matter of making it a priority and making the schedule work out.

Doggieblogger


March 19

I'm daffy about Brittanies, doggily speaking. I'll soon scan a few pics of our own doggie. Meanwhile, here's a great one I found on Flikr.....pic of Padget