Sandbox
Originally uploaded by katmere.

I’ve just been doing some nighttime play in the PLCMC Sandbox. Added my blog and a recent favorite book ( A lovely first novel by Darnell Arnoult. You can check out her the author and her work here .
OK, it’s time to get out of the sandbox and into the pj’s (pajamas, not wikis, that is).

CIMG3890 (Medium)
Originally uploaded by utaballer18.

When simple and superb come together–you have something good. That’s how I’m feeling about wikis. Think about it–if we attended every meeting we could attend, responded to every email that appeared on our monitor (and this is excluding the million spam per week I get), acted on every request, answered every call, and filed every document–well, we’d be crazy. Which we are. At least if you’re doing your job you are. And in the meantime think of all the communciations or postings or other pieces of information that are falling through the cracks while we try to grab a decent burrito for lunch. OK, I’m making myself crazier just by writing about it. My point: wikis make sense. They are simple and effective. Who could ask for anything more (besides more salsa for the burrito). A place to consolidate reports, updates, proposals, current issues, or just chatty bytes that only certain circles will appreciate.
I’ve been pondering how my own library department could manage information and internal communications better. For weeks I’ve been thinking “we need to create a department blog.” After looking into the info on L2 about wikis–I think this is where its at! A little more research and I think a new wiki just may be on its way. Now where’s that burrito of mine?…..

mehr licht !
Originally uploaded by benwahh cote.

I began composing this post with the idea of “Library 2.0…Roll with it, Row with it, Roar with it”…all about moving with the changes in technology and being ready to just “roll with it”…see how it works, move forward and see how the public responds….commenting on how so very often the biggest hurdle is not changing or informing the minds of our users but our staff. Then I read the final suggested post on the OCLC site by Wendy Schultz and I came across this passage in her article:
What are libraries? Libraries are not just collections of documents and books, they are conversations, they are convocations of people, ideas, and artifacts in dynamic exchange. Libraries are not merely in communities, they are communities: they preserve and promote community memories; they provide mentors not only for the exploration of stored memory, but also for the creation of new artifacts of memory.
…and when I read this my mind expanded (or contracted?)…let’s just say I was moved. This is what Libraries are. What I have felt they are, known they are since I was 16 years old and had my first job in my small town library…it was the communtiy center (though no one really spoke of it in those terms)….it was the place that opened minds (like my teenage mind so eager and ready to grow), it was where people came to find out….where really everyone was equal in that they all had that small blue card with a metal strip on it that said “I own a part of this community wealth.” And this little library changed as the community did. As my small town broadened its mind so did the walls of the library (lead by an “out-of-town” librarian named named Beverly Means who changed both the carpet and the funciton of this small and wonderful place).
Library 2.0….it’s a natural progression…it’s a necessary progression…using the tools at hand and with heart and mind on each side–it offers, it welcomes the world.

Saturday night I multi-tasked. This is to say I watched a movie and explored Technorati on my laptop at the same time. The movie? you ask. It was How To Marry A Millionaire starring Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable, and tough-as-nails Lauren Bacall. The premise: three women decide they can put their scheming minds and limited resources (or is that limited minds and scheming resources?) together to snag millionaire husbands. It’s a comedy in that zany way movies from the 50’s are “comedic.” All the while I am watching such movies and laughing, I am wondering: am I laughing at this because it is funny-funny or because it is fifties-funny (you know, dated and that sweet kind of naive humor that makes you want to say “ahhh, people used to think that was funny, or zany, or out-of-the-ordinary at least). The costumes, err, dresses, alone are worth the 93 minutes it takes to watch this movie. There are moments of when you’ll laugh for whatever reason…watching Marilyn Monroe, whose character Pola can’t see a lick without her glasses but refuses to wear them (because you know what they say about girls who wear glasses) or the way that anything really great is referred to as just “creamy” (this makes me wonder if someday we’re going to look back and feel the same way about the word “amazing” used as a constant adjective….yes, I sometimes falter and use it myself though I am thoroughly over its use in daily vernacular–constantly! “Her work is just amazing!” “That show was totally amazing, you know?!” Maybe this deserves its own post someday? That would be, well, amazing, right?).
OK, so about Technorati. It was right on. Got it right away. Did the searches. Thought that it was great to find PLCMC bloggers’ posting appearing when I did the tag searches. I think this could be a terrific resource for serious bloggers (and there are so many of them)!
Oh, and the movie was in Technicolor! Tech….how the prefix has changed since 1953, huh? It’s totally creamy and amazing!

What does this image have to do with discovering del.icio.us? Well, besides carrots being delicious (especially those on a stick?). If you check out the del.icio.us account I’m developing, you’ll see that I’ve started by gathering information on researcher Alfie Kohn’s work. Kohn’s research deserves some serious attention, and his books (including No Contest: The Case Against Competition and Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A’s, Praise, and Other Bribes) really have tested traditional views of what is beneficial in education and in programs and activities that support youth. He challenges the “carrot and stick” model of education, rewards-based programs, and other common models of how we support students. Viva la revolution, Alfie! We’ll see how delicious my account gets…

It has been an exceptionally busy couple of weeks with lots of projects, tasks and initiatives in the works…but I’m rolling with it…including rolling with the discovery experience on working with Rollyo. I must admit that this was not as fun and laugh inducing as working with image generators or as satisfying as plugging in some favorite books into Library Thing, but, alas, I rolled with it (funny how much I want to use some form of the word “roll” when talking about Rollyo…don’t you love words!). I rolled a search for Charlotte Food. We’ll see how often I actually use this service…or if I can actually find how to create a unique URL for my Rolly search…perhaps, to be continued?

Checking the “Library Thing” off the list! What a simple idea this whole web site and service is–simple and effective–now that’s the best! I’ve added a few titles that have just been on my reading shelf as well as a few that are my personal “classics.” Many more to come! AND I added my “Random Library Thing Bookshelf” to the sidebar of this very blog.

My creation
Originally uploaded by tryscal.

OK, had to do a little retro for discovery exercise #6…here’s my contribution …summer bendies–they have become quite the artistic influence!

How many times have you wished that you had just read the signs?

I created this important warning sign using Warning Sign Generator. Now you, too, can warn others about the important things in life!

Guess what? There are a lot of librarians out there a’bloggin’! (Just in case you didn’t know this). I’ve been pouring over as many of the blogs that PLCMC staff are creating as possible as well as many library and librarian blogs out there in the bigger world. This weekend I was really happyto read on Michael Stephens’ blog (Tame The Web) that several PL’s are beginning to circulate Playaway units. Part of me held back a little on getting too excited about these when I first read about them because I kept thinking “are these the rocket e-books of the new millineum?” But what I read seems to be so practical–no downloading, not cds to change (just batteries!), one book-one player. So, we’ll see. I completely amped up about trying one out when I go on vacation this fall (they plug into your car’s MP3!).OK, back to searching through the insights and meanderings of all those blograrians out there….