Thing 20

Holy cow, Thing 20 is long!

I read the amazon article about loaning out Kindles. First of all, I think in our library this would be bad news. Most people have a hard time returning a book or Playaway undamaged...I can't imagine what would happen if a Kindle were broken or just went "missing". It's too expensive to loan out in my opinion. With sites like Booksinmyphone.com, you can still appeal to the public and those who can't afford a Kindle. The only problem I found with Booksinmyphone.com is that it doesn't have every book. I typed in several titles and got no results. However, it does have a lot of the classics like "20,000 Leagues under the sea" and "Journey to the Center of the Earth".

I'm intrested to try this out and see how it comes up on my phone. It looks like it uses an external memory disc and once inserted into your computer, stores the book on the card and then you just insert the card into your phone. Fairly simple as long as your phone is up to date with the latest technology.If not it will use up internet air time trying to download which could cost a pretty penny.

In our library, we have a database that patrons can use called Tumblebooks. It reads books to children and has simple tests and games for them to complete after reading it. It seems to be very effective and has a good number of books to choose from, including chapter books for older children.

Thing 19

Ning was first introduced to me a year or so ago by a hip librarian who has since left for greater library things. She set up a NING account for us to use to connect on books, movies, etc. It was called Libraries and Books and Discussions

I never got to use it much at work but it was a fun way for all of us to come together when we couldn't talk because of conflicting work schedules and whatnot.

Since then, I haven't really gotten into them because Myspace and Facebook take up enough of my time, and I don't like to sit on the computer for hours anymore like I used to.

Thing 17

Ok...so I admit, I skipped ahead and forgot Thing 17. But, at least I noticed!

I used to listen to Podcasts all the time. A lot of churches put podcasts out and that's when I first heard about them. When my husband and I moved away from our church and had yet to find another one, we used to download the podcasts onto our Ipods and listen to them while traveling or excercising. It was a great way to stay updated with what our old church was doing. Now, I only listen to them when I miss a day at church, but it's comforting to know that they are still there if I should ever need them. :)

I use the Itunes directory to find my podcasts because I only listen to them on my IPod so it makes more sense. I find that their directory is easy to use and has a lot of variety. Also, a lot of them have free downloads so you can listen to almost anything.

Thing 18

I have been Myspacing and Facebooking since 2005 or earlier. I visit them daily at home and I find it a great way to stay in touch with friends who are far away and even to find old friends. They have great search engines to find people from your school or hometown. Now, they even do the searching for you and give you a list of people you may know. It's usually 99% right too!

For this thing I visited Alachua Counties Library Myspace and found it to be very interesting. They have adds for events and pictures of things they have done in their library. It's also a great way to show people what your library looks like. I love seeing the insides of other libraries to see what it's like where other people work. It's also a cool way to get library members together. Alachua county has many friends, most whom seem to have some library connection. Posting blogs or event invitations are good ways to get information out to friends and also to get an idea of how many to expect in attendance.

I wish our library system would get on myspace so we could connect with other libaries and maybe do a joint effort one day!

Thing 16

This is one of my favorite dances we do in the library. BTW, he's coming to Ocala CFCC in April!!

Thing 15

I think Rollyo is a brilliant idea. I do a lot of searches for lesson plans for school and even for work. I love picking books and then searching online to see if theres anything fun I can incorporate with the book. I have a ton of favorite teacher websites that I look through for ideas and I think it would be great to have one way to search them all, because Rollyo is right, sometimes you search and all sorts of crazy stuff comes up and you aren't sure what a hotdog has to do with your search term of "Rolex watches". The only thing I can see this being good for in libraries is to create a list of safe websites for kids to search the web with that allow them to search without having random, or even innappropriate information pop up. I have seen that too many times even with all the filters we have.

Thing 14

I love countdown timers and sticky notes. I tried Flash Countdown Timer and found it to be really easy.I really wanted to try the sticky notes websites but since they require a download, I wont be getting to those. I did however try "Remember the Milk", and I really love this website. I am a notes kind of gal. I leave them everywhere about everything. These types of things work great for me. I think in libraries we could use them as ways to count down to events. For instance, in less than 2 weeks we will have Curious George here. It has prompted calls from all over, but having a countdown on our website would be even more publicity. Or, what about sending out texts to subscribers about events. Now thats cool!

Created by OnePlusYou

Thing 13

LibraryThing is a really interesting blog concept for libraries. I like how Broward County library uses it with Young Adults to chose books or see what they are reading. Topics such as "1001 Books to read before you die", always catch my eye and I can't get over how many members they have responding to these posts! I think it's a great way to see what the community is interested in so that you can plan programs for them.