Thing 16: Wild About Wikis

Hi, my name is Julie and I'm a wikiholic.
To quote Pat J., "it's a non-stop train!"

At home, I find myself on Wikipedia, feverishly searching some tidbit of information -- and by golly, I'll end up on some crazy (I use the term mildly) adventure...that wastes a couple precious hours.

Libraries have their own wikis!?! I've had fun searching the St. Joseph County Public Library's Subject Guides and used the MLA Conference wiki briefly back in May.

I think wikis could be used in a variety of ways throughout the library. What if book clubs posted their book selections on a wiki and linked to more information regarding the author and kindred books? Gosh, we could even link to the databases in the different subject areas.

Out of the 23 Things thus far, I think this is in the top 3. So...can we do this? :)

Thing 15: "To infinity...and beyond!"

What an exciting time to be part of the library community! Times, they are a-changing, and we really need to step it up and keep as current and user friendly as possible. I think Rick Anderson pretty much says what I think regarding the future of libraries:

No profession can survive if it throws its core principles and values overboard in response to every shift in the zeitgeist. However, it can be equally disastrous when a profession fails to acknowledge and adapt to radical, fundamental change in the marketplace it serves.

It will be exciting to see where 23 Things/Library 2.0/Web 2.0 takes us. :)

Thing 14: Technorati

I started exploring Technorati and found in the Top Favorited Blog section, the blog for PostSecret. Warning: it's not for the faint of heart. If you've read Post Secret, you know what I mean. That being said, I found it refreshing that it's one of the favorites.

Under Top Searches, I immediately clicked on iphone. This small, yet "powerful" device has been of much debate in our house -- if you know my husband, I'm sure you know his stance on the subject. :) There's a post regarding if there will be a second generation iphone coming out in the fall and all the fanatical hub-bub and flurry that goes along with anything with a lowercase "i" in front of it. Joy.

And for the Top Blogs section, I decided to go to Boing Boing because the name is intriguing! Now here's an iphone--Old School. I wonder how much one of these would be??? Since it's rare, it may be more than the new version.

Thing 13: del.icio.us

I think I finally "get it." At first, I wasn't too sure how this whole del.icio.us thing worked, but now it makes sense (thanks to a few colleagues and their blogs).
The San Mateo library's del.icio.us account is waaaaayyyy cool. Thanks, James, for pointing it out.
I decided to create my account and put in a few items that have helped me on the reference desk and at home (Two Paws Up...love that store.)

Thing 12: Rollyo

This is kinda neat. I decided to create my search roll for all of the ALA-accredited online LIS programs. While I like the idea of rollyo, I'm not really "sold" on how it's organized and its ease of use.

Great Googlie Ooglie!

Update: Google no longer offers this service. Bummer...it was so cool!


Wow! So I went to the training today that Kari and Trina gave on Google and...learned how to order pizza! Actually, we learned how to use Google Maps and a wicked cool feature where you can find a business and Google will actually call it over your home phone for you. It totally worked, too...we just called out for pizza. Rock on! Thanks ladies!

Thing 10: I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for...

Yummy! What flavor will you create? Ben & Jerry's Flavor Generator

Thing 11: My LibraryThing Selections

Wow! This is too cool! I didn't know it was going to be this easy to make a list of my favs. Now I need to figure out if I can organize them by type (childrens, YA, biography). I'm sure there's a way. More titles to come...

JT's picks

Things 8 & 9: So THAT'S what RSS means!

Here we go!

What a neat way of organizing some of the blogs I visit frequently. Cool beans!