Thing 23- Thinking Back...

I already had experience with most of the Things on the list, but this was a good review and great way to put it all in one place. I also discovered several helpful resources along the way.

I am still using my RSS reader and find it very helpful. I also really liked playing with Library Thing.

I plan on using my blog in the future to keep on learning. In fact, I shall pursue other things right now.

Overall... great experience and I would definitely participate again!

Thing 22- Keep on Learning!

I am out of my 9 Things!!! My next move will probably be to do or at least read about the other 14 Things. I think it's important to keep up with Web 2.0 as it is ever changing. I find it helps to sign up for library and tech List-Servs.

Some sites I find interesting:

1. CouchSurfing.com helps you make connections worldwide. You can use the network to meet people and then go and surf other members' couches! I know it sounds a little odd, but you can choose to only sleep on couches of people with high ratings. They will provide you with some sort of accommodation or maybe a back yard to pitch your tent in. I am not suggesting this site will really help libraries, but it's useful to know about.
2. I also really like Pandora Radio: "Just drop the name of one of your favorite songs or artists into Pandora and the Music Genome Project will quickly scan its entire world of analyzed music, almost a century of popular recordings - new and old, well known and completely obscure - to find songs with interesting musical similarities to your choice. You can create as many "stations" as you want. And you can even refine them. If it's not quite right you can tell it so and it will get better for you."
3. StumbleUpon can be fun: "StumbleUpon helps you discover and share great websites. As you click Stumble!, high-quality pages that match to your personal preferences are delivered. These pages have been explicitly recommended by your friends or one of 7,209,924 other websurfers with interests similar to you. Rating these sites you like automatically shares them with like-minded people – and helps you discover great sites your friends recommend."

I'll probably add more sites later!

Thing 18: SurveyMonkey

Oh surveys. I like. I have filled-out many an online survey in my day, and I usually don't mind. I do not like long surveys or ones with vague questions. I also prefer closed-ended questions. They're just easier. I think if you would like to include open-ended questions you should do so cautiously. When compiling your results, open-ended questions are a lot harder to aggregate and you can't really run them through various statistical tests. However, they are very informative and can be essential to an effective survey. It just depends what the question is and how many open-ended questions there are. It is also good to think about what you would like to do with the data you receive.

I think SurveyMonkey is easy to use. I have used it in the past and have few complaints. The design is simple and intuitive. It also provides several options for how the survey is to be designed and analyzed.

I think we need more surveys in the library. I have found the few we have had in the Circulation Department have been very helpful. They are a great way to increase communication and stay informed.

Thing 13: LibraryThing

So, LibraryThing is pretty cool. I have never actually used it before. The link to my library is: http://www.librarything.com/profile/endthought.

I was happy to see a few people had Arkansas and Indiana hiking books also, so I will have to check out their libraries.

Of course lots of people have Little House in the Big Woods and the Secret Life of Bees.

Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey has been added by 294 people, which is cool.

That is pretty much all I have added at this point, but I see potential to become addicted to LibraryThing.

I think using LibraryThing could be a great way for MCPL to enhance its OPAC. I like that patrons can write reviews and recommend titles. It's a great way to incorporate Web 2.0 into our library. I also think LibraryThing is a terrific way to share booklists with patrons.

Thing 10: Wiki Wiki!!

I loved the youtube video and I love wikis! I would never use a wiki for academic research. But I would never use academic sources to find information on pop culture or let's say, travel destinations. I think wikis can be a great ready reference source, but you have to remember that pretty much anyone can add information and edit an existing document. It is a great tool for collaboration.

I like the idea of a reader's advisory wiki or a community wiki. I am going to do something crazy with the 23 Things wiki as soon as Phil grants me permission. I'll probably talk about cats...

Thing 9: Collaboration Tools

I have used Google Documents in the past for group projects and have mixed feelings about it. We had some trouble with putting data tables into a text document. They would be fine and then suddenly we would log in and the formatting would be all messed up. I have also noticed that if too many people are trying to work on a document at the same time, sometimes the changes are not all saved and the program can easily freeze. Crazy stuff does and has happened. However, I still love and use Google Documents. It is really intuitive and easy to use and I will continue to use it. Once again, well done Google.

I hadn't used Zoho before today. It seems that Zoho offers more advanced options and might be more reliable than Google. However, I really don't have enough experience with it to say it is in fact better. Has anyone ever had problems with it freezing or refusing to save data? This sort of thing always makes me kind of nervous. I didn't really have to sign up for a Zoho account because it just accepted my Gmail address, which is nice.

After this, I would have to say Zoho is easier to use and has more interesting features. It seems like it might also have fewer issues than Google. However, I am kind of stuck on Google for the time being, my stuff is already there and that's what my collaborators always use anyway, but a girl can change. I'll probably give Zoho more thought.

Thing 6: Let's Chat

I find that in general, email improves my productivity. I don't know how I would live without it honestly. Of course it can also be a great way to waste time. I find it most efficient to check my email at specific times and respond to as many as possible right away. I also keep emails I would like to save in folders rather than letting my inbox get out of control. My favorite folders are Mom (yeah, that's right), Magazine Subscriptions, Online Accounts, Receipts, and ListServs. I think the biggest issue I have run into is having too many email accounts at once. It can really be a waste of time to constantly check different inboxes. I make sure to give my 'junk email' address to businesses when I prefer not to give an email. This keeps all of my spam in one place.

I think online reference is definitely the way to go. Many of our patrons are wired 24/7. Why not make ourselves even more accessible and useful? I think reference via email, IM, and text messaging are great ideas. I have used IU's IM service before and was satisfied with the results. Personally, I do not text message because of my current plan, but I see myself using the service a lot in the future. I go through periods where I use IM. I prefer AIM, although I have used yahoo and google also.