Task 21

Like many of you, I preferred Michael Casey's post and some of the Tech Crew ones. (I read one about "Unsucking the OPAC" which was interesting.) The article by John Blyberg was wordy and difficult to reason through. I really liked the emphasis they place upon service to patrons (with technology just being one of the means we could use to better serve). I think that's especially important in an area like Nelson County where many people don't have the technology at home yet. If we were to focus only on technology we would lose them.

On the other hand, I think it is important to start moving toward change now (as we're doing with this tech challenge). One article I read mentioned the importance of meeting the technology needs of the library's "power users" (advanced frequent users I assume) because the technology they are using now will be the technology that other library patrons will want in just a couple of years. I think the wireless service we're currently offering at Main (branches too?) is sort of like that.

I can't even remember what I read. I followed links so it's all just one big blur as to source. But I read about library job descriptions and seeking employees with these new technology capabilities and ways of thinking (interactive, multimedia ways of relating to patrons). Unfortunately, many applicants didn't even understand what it was that the employing libraries were desiring because much is so new. Few MLS programs are even training future librarians in many of these skills and ideas yet. It's interesting to live in a time of transition like this.

Task 20

I love and use and refer others to our databases all the time. For school, I use EBSCOHost. I love the pdf articles because I can save them to my computer and get offline quickly. I use Novelist all the time in deciding whether to weed a book that's not circulating; Novelist gives me info about series that's sometimes not obvious just by looking at the book jacket's blurbs. I've only used our genealogy (sp?) databases one time but found some info about my grandparents. I'd like to know more, but there's only so much time in this life.

Task 19

I haven't downloaded or listened to any of the audiobooks yet, but I did explore the Librivox site. The podiocasts site wouldn't work for me because even if I loved one of the books they offer, it's not likely that I'd be able to find more books by the same author which is one of my favorite ways of selecting books. But I love some of the books that Librivox offers such as The Scarlet Pimpernel, Emma, and The Girl of the Limberlost. I'm going to try downloading O. Henry's The Gift of the Magi since it is a short story and will take less time to download and to listen to. But I'm at work now during a lull at the circ desk in the morning, so I'll try it at home after dinner maybe.

I have to say that I haven't had much success with audio formats either. My eyes crave the print. On the other hand, I often put on a movie then don't watch it at all, only listen, while I do some other task-- like a radioplay. Seems to me that if I can do that, I ought to be able to listen to audiobooks. For a long time I didn't have even a radio in my car let alone a cassette or CD player. But now that I do, I ought to try out an audiobook on my next trip to the city; usually I listen to my favorite radio station and sing the whole time. I love to sing, so I'm not sure I want to give that up either. Still, once school starts up again, I won't have much time to read; maybe audiobooks would help with that.

Task 18

Here's my post about technology. I just got a new ink jet printer. It's so much better than my old one. It's not just a printer; it's a copier, a scanner, a photoshop. It even has a slot for digital camera memory cards to plug right in. With the purchase of a USB cable it cost a total of $80 tax included. I hate to think how much it cost for the old copier and the old printer I have-- substantially more at any rate. You've got to love the way the price of technology comes down over time. For instance, my first portable CD/tape player cost $210. Now they're cheaper than dirt.

I gave my old printer to my Dad since his broke; it complements his older computer nicely and eventually he'll buy both new. I'm still keeping my old copier around though-- it handles hefty books better and, as Glenda mentioned, the cost of ink jet cartridges is rather high compared with the cost of copier tone (when considering how many pages each will produce at any rate).

I love being able to scan colored magazine articles that I want to keep. Sometimes I come across decorating ideas I want to reference, and a black and white copy just doesn't do the idea justice. I love being able to scan in business cards; they're so small and easy to lose, but I can scan them and store them in my computer, throwing the original away. I used the scanner for uploading film pictures to Flickr too. I'm sure I'll find more uses as time goes by.

I know many people have had this technology for some time, so it's not exactly cutting edge. Still, it's new to me, and it makes me happy to have such a useful tool.

Task 16

I spent some time looking at the Web 2.0 award winners. It's great that we've already been exposed to several with our tech challenge. I know that even after the challenge ends I'll continue to use LibraryThing.

Of the winners, one that I've tried and that has proved useful to me is 43things.com for listing goals & projects & progress as well as discussion with other people. I also like pbwiki.com for indexing my recipes (as mentioned in a previous post I think). Based on Catherine's enthusiasm for pageflakes.com, I tried that too and definitely like it and will use it in the future. It's a good way to keep lots of different things (blogs, links, to do's, weather, etc.) all in one place (a startup page).

I also think that these Web 2.0 winners should win another prize for all the words they're adding to the English language.

Task 15

I usually just use whatever default search engine my browser of the moment uses. I use AOL at home, Mozilla Firefox in the basement at work, and whatever the circ desk offers (Internet Explorer?). It looks as though AOL & Mozilla both use Google. I don't know what the circ desk computers are using.

For this experiment I tried out 3 search engines: Yahoo!, Google, and Ask.com. I typed in "baking stone" as my search terms. I'd like to know more about them because I'm thinking of buying one. So prices were of interest to me too. All three engines pulled up the same basic sites: Amazon, King Arthur's Baker's Catalogue, Pampered Chef, Kitchen Supply, etc. What varied most was the order in which these sites were given and each also listed their own more obscure sites. In my opinion, Google offered the best results with a mix of information and commercial sites.

To be honest, I think the fuss over search engines is largely irrelevant for the average person. I don't think most people conduct sophisticated searches using Boolean operators very frequently. If you use reasonable search terms and spend enough time on a topic I think you can pretty much find what you need regardless of which search engine you use. Granted, we all want our lives made easier, but I don't think it gets much easier than typing in a few words and clicking a few times to have all kinds of info available. I think the people who care most about which search engine is best are the IT types who are actually designing them and the business/investor types who have some sort of monetary interest.

What is of greater importance to me is the speed of my Internet connection. Cable versus dial-up would make my searches far more efficient that switching search engines I think.

Task 14

I also tried Google Docs & Spreadsheets. After the computer problems I just had, I can definitely appreciate having my documents stored online as well as on my computer. Also, there's the benefit of accessibility from any computer. I liked the word processing application, especially being able to save work in various formats such as PDF. The spreadsheet program is definitely inferior to Excel in its capabilities. I use Excel all the time and know many shortcuts and the idiosyncrasies of the program; I would hate switching over. Another great thing about Google Docs is being able to collaborate on them. In my library science classes we usually have to do some form of group work. Since the classes are online, it would make really good sense to use these web-based applications. Have we ever done that? No. It seems typical of secondary education to do what makes the least sense. To be fair, Emily said that Google only recently bought out the program so it is relatively new to most people including my professors I assume.