Faculty Kindle Use a Hit!

Last week was spring break at our school, and the first faculty member bravely took a Kindle home to enjoy over the break.  She was a little nervous about the  responsibilities including proper care and use, but when she saw how user-friendly  ebook hardware is, she enjoyed her reading. Her remarks are worth posting:

"The Kindle was great!  Only problem: not enough spring break to read everything I wanted to!  I really liked Unbroken: A World War II Story, but did not have enough time to finish it!  Lost of great possibilities with this!  Thanks!"  Kathy A.

What could those possibilities include?  So far, student use of Kindles is restricted to in-library usage.  Only faculty members can take a Kindle home.  I am already thinking about locating textbook and required reading titles for our students in the upper school.  As an English teacher, I am sure Kathy A. will come up with some wonderful suggestions! 

Week 3 a Success

I enjoyed week 3 of my exploration into Web 2.0.  I am feeling more proficient on Facebook, and enjoy locating and reading the various libary blogs.  Later this week I will post a brief list of my favorites library and education blogs to date.  Last week my eighteen-year-old son taught me 2 valuable Facebook skills; how to delete wall remarks made by friends, and how to delete that friend!  He also cautioned me against deleting a friend whose personal posts appear to be commercial in nature. He reminded me that these post to my news feed, and not my actual wall.  It only took 2 weeks for me to discover that some of these long-lost high school friends are probably making money posting links to products and services.  I suppose the sales-pitch mentality of search engines has found a way into social networking. 
This week, I'm prepared to dive into the wonderful world of wikis!

From 23 to 10

In February I read the article Happy New Year! by Mary Ann Bell in the Jan/Feb issue of Internet @ Schools.  The article suggested that library professionals “reboot” themselves by participating in Web 2.0 tutorials such as 23 Things.  As my school is going through an accreditation self-study process, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect! Any time your library is faced with a reflective self-study, including commendations and recommendations, you are given pause to ponder not only yourself as a professional, but where your library is now and where it is headed.

Always eager to learn something new, I quickly googled 23 Things and came across the original program, along with several library blogs across the country that had also participated.  The idea of the program is to spend 23 weeks learning how to use a new tool, such as blogging, tweeting, social networking, rss feeds, podcasts, etc.  Having what I like to describe as a “unique” learning style, of course I jumped right in, but not in the correct order!  Thus, this blog was born, which I later learned didn’t come until week 2!

Further research brought me to an interesting post by Stephen Abram, The Original 23 Things . . . Irrelevant training?  This was not good.  Was I starting a journey that was already outdated?  Not according to the Mr. Abram. 

So, I have created my “professional reboot project” over the next few months, borrowing from the original 23 Things, Abram’s post, and other’s.

Week 1:  Join a social networking website.  Done!  I joined Facebook and promised my sons I would not, I repeat not, “friend” them!

Week 2:  Set up my own blog and begin to read/share with other professional library blogs. Done!

Week 3:  Take a deep breath and enjoy what I am learning from weeks 1 and 2.  Don’t just read, but participate and share!

Weeks 4 & 5:  Explore wikis and join in at least one discussion.  Is this something a high school research project can participate in by sharing knowledge?  The possible benefits of wikis will need to be explored in detail, so I’ll take my time here. 

Week 6:  Explore Twitter, and attempt to tweet!  This week sounds like fun! 

Week 7:  Learn how to tag.

 

Week 8 & 9:  Explore tools that I absolutely have no earthly idea about.  This would be cover week 6 of 23 things;  Tagging, Folksonomies & Technorati, Del.icio.us.

Week 10:  Take a break, pause and reflect. 

Abram, Stephen. “The Original 23 Things . . . Irrelevant training?” Stephen’s Lighthouse. N.p., 19 July 2010. Web. 10 Mar. 2011. <http://stephenslighthouse.com/‌2010/‌07/‌19/‌the-original-23-things-irrelevant-training/>.

Bell, Mary Ann. “Happy New Year!” Internet @ Schools 18.1 (2011): 26-27. Print.

Jumping in to Web 2.0!

I've always considered myself an information professional on the cutting edge, but aside from accessing shared information online, I had yet to wade into the waters of Web 2.0 and actually participate.  So, I set 2 goals for myself this year:
1.  Participate in a "23 Things" program for librarians. 
2.  Set up a library blog for my patrons.

One goal of this blog is to better promote the services we offer at our library.  After hosting a school technology fair last month, I found that families had no idea of all the exciting online resources and information tools at our library.  These exciting resources can benefit not only students and faculty, but our parents, as well.  I am now challenged to get the word out about these resources.  So, I decided to blog the good word!

As to the 23 Things, there will be more about my experiences in Web 2.0 on upcoming blogs.
Until then, welcome to all the students, faculty, and families that support our library, and all you information/library junkies!