on passing

Feel compelled to document my sadness over the passing of Senator Ted Kennedy, not that it was unexpected or particularly tragic in its timing.  But like the end of summer, which looms like a large shadow as school begins tomorrow, it is a bittersweet and melancholy moment that both pulls you back to reflect on the past and pushes you forward to face the new day.  If it means a passing of the torch, a metaphor they've been talking up since Kennedy endorsed Obama in the presidential race, then this moment is somewhat anticlimactic.  But how fitting that the Obama's chose to vacation in Martha's Vineyard this summer, only a stone's throw from the Kennedy Compound and within palpable reach (both literally and figuratively)  of this great figure in American political history.   I hope the legacy of Ted Kennedy endures beyond cable television tributes, and his dreams of social justice and health care for all come to pass through the Obama presidency. 

end of 23 things, beginning of....

the rest of our lives in a techno age.  Looking forward to continuing to expand my use of:  library databases (before we lose them to the budget slashing!), flicker, blog uploads and embedding--which  I never really mastered, and delicious.  

Check out the Art Institute of Chicago

Check out the Art Institute of Chicago

Shared via AddThis

Post from youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bJOIqVAD-s

Check out the above link to see our family's favorite commercial jingle. My 9-year-old does a perfect impersonation of this guy's singing voice.

Primordial New Zealand

Primordial New Zealand, originally uploaded by /\ltus.

Ahhh...I would love to transport myself here now. I have never been to New Zealand, but it has always intrigued me (especially since discovering they filmed the LOTR trilogy there). This looks nothing like I would imagine NZ to look like, but the vibrant colors and trout pond are gorgeous.

Facebook

Ta-da!!  I am now part of that ubiquitous facebook community.  I have really enjoyed checking out people's facebook profiles as I've friended various people.  It's neat to see what all the fuss is about, and to compare how different people's pages mirror their personalities, ages, etc.  

database video

This week's lesson focuses on the amazing databases available with that little piece of free plastic called your library card.  Wow.  I didn't realize how many neat tools were available.  I watched the promo videos that other libraries have made, sort of mini commercials, and they were great! I definitely think we should try and do the same.  They were funny and informative.  I also found Thomas Frey's vision of the library as the "Search Command Center" with computers in a U-shape and the librarian as the Command Center Captain, (for lack of a better word,) very compelling. 

mission accomplished

After reading Dani's blog, I decided I would try to search for ebooks/evideos on our catalog as well.  I looked up Chicago travel info as my family is thinking of visiting there this summer.  It was really slick, and I was able to view Fromer's Chicago book online by just typing in my library card number.  No need to import software or download onto our computer at work! yay.  This is a great feature and one I will use in the future.

slight snag

Well, I hit a snag in trying to download a video from our Shaler homepage.  I perused the list of videos available, but when I went to download, my mac computer was incompatible with the software.  I guess I'll try overdrive later.

next gen e-readers

Wow, I want me one of those new-fangled "plastic logic e-readers" that was featured in one of the linked articles for Week 5!!  That is really cool!  In fact, all of them seem neat.  The super tiny readius (folds up like a wallet) seems almost too good to be true.  For my bad eyes, though, I am more interested in the larger format offered by that plastic logic company.  It is due to come out in 2010 and would be great for reading magazines, newspapers, as well as books.  There is a niggling worry in the back of my mind, though, about the impending irrelevance of libraries as physical depositories of literature.....as the e-readers become more adept as duplicating the tactile experience of "curling up with a good book" or "stretching out on the couch with the newspaper" how will this affect the libraries of the future?  I find I have lots of thoughts drifting out there, not necessarily thoughts of doom or anything, just ponderings and reflections upon this tidal wave of change that seems to be facing us.  But anything that encourages reading and the promotion of literature has to be a good thing.

Now it is on to the assignment for the week....downloading an audio or video from our library website.  Never done that, and I am totally a book reader (not listener) so audiobooks have never been my thing.  Perhaps I will look into the video options?

wikis

Now, that was easy.  My first plunge into a collaborative wiki was fun and hassle-free.  In fact, it was so easy I wondered if I missed something?  Granted, I didn't figure out how to make my typeface blue or anything (how DO you do that?).  Wait!  I just figured it out....you click on the toolbar button to the right of "italics" with the little color palette...Let me try this and a little of that!

Anyways, I digress.  We had to post to a pb workspace and list "6 things I love about my library." It was a nice exercise, and even more enjoyable to read everyone's lists so far.  We truly are a lucky bunch.  

customizing the blog

is really quite easy and fun!  I was reading Joy's blog and she had changed her background color, so I thought I'd play around with the colors, etc.  I only had a few minutes, but it was so easy and I can see the potential to get very creative with it.  

So far, I find myself sorta liking the RSS and delicious accounts, though I tend to find my home computer has all the bookmarks I like and it's faster.  I also kind of like the visual look of the homepages I frequently visit rather than seeing a long list on google reader.  However, on the plus side, I love that you can see if there are new blog postings on things.  And on the nytimes, for instance, google reader had tons more articles posted than I would normally scan through, so I caught some news that I might not have spotted otherwise.

second week of the blog

is underway and I have to say I have really enjoyed checking out many of your blogs.  They are as vast and varied as we are, and all have been neat to see.  I am really thankful that Kelly or Ryan (or someone else?) put all the blogs on a list that is accessible from our Week 3 assignment post. It was a bit cumbersome to scroll through everyone's comments to check out new blog sites.  

I just finished going through the little video about RSS and have subscribed to google Reader.  I figured I'd start slow and just subscribed to a couple news sites that I check throughout the day.  I can see how this would grow and I'd love to hear of cool sites that others have found.  So far, I just signed up for nytimes.com and krugman.blog.nytimes.  The blogs that I follow were automatically added to my subscription, so that was cool.

23 things 'n@

Okay, so this blog was created as part of a cool library educational experience called "23 things" where we learn about and explore 23 different technology-related things.  Voila!  Here is my blog. We are supposed to comment on our experiences thus far with the 23 things and continue to post as we evolve.  So far, it has been quite interesting.  The learning styles quiz was helpful, and reminded me somewhat of the Myers-Briggs personality test.  I enjoyed reading everyone's posts and discovering that many of us are verbal-linguistic and naturalistic learners, which is where I fell.   Have to agree with one person's post that all this technology strains our "free time."  This is one of the reasons I tend to be reluctant to embrace the new gizmos and gadgets.  It's not that they aren't cool, it's just that I can see myself being sucked down into yet another black hole only to emerge hours later with my "to do list" unchanged.  In short, it sometimes seems more process than product oriented.  I guess that places the burden on us to make sure it's time well spent!  :)  

clouding up

well, forget the sunshine. It has turned cloudy in typical Pittsburgh fashion. The Pens play tonight and even though I am not a hockey fan, I surely hope they win.

Welcome!

It's a sunny day in Pittsburgh and that always lifts the spirits. Thanks for checking out my new blog...I haven't had one going in like 4 years so this will be neat.

Life in Libraryland is exciting as we transition into our new arrangement. We are moving books and swapping almost our entire collection of fiction and non-fiction. It is making our patrons go dizzy, (not to mention us workers!) but it will truly be awesome when it's done.