Thing #11: Take a look at LibraryThing and catalog some of your favorite books

Oh, I am so there. I found LibraryThing some time ago, and I already have a lifetime membership and a nearly-complete catalog of my personal library. I can't decide which I like most, the Suggestor or the UnSuggestor. Wanna see what's on my bookshelf? (See also my LibraryThing widget, "Random Books From My Bookshelf," at right.)

Here's what I wrote on my personal blog on that fateful day when first I met LibraryThing:

Monday, October 30, 2006

Call Me a Thingamabrarian

LibraryThing is the coolest Thing ever. Long have I longed for a card-catalog of my personal library (ok, you already knew I was a bibliophillic geek). Now comes LibraryThing.com, which has quickly become my favorite new time sink. You make up a user name and start building your bookshelf. All you do is enter the title or the ISBN (I like the ISBN's b/c I can do 'em fast), and LibraryThing links to Amazon & the Library of Congress to fill in all the rest for you. It even puts up pictures of the covers. I did 6 of my bookshelves in an evening- only 3 shelves to go!

Then comes the extra fun part: LibraryThing does lots of stuff with your book list. You can rate your books, tag them with notes and keywords, and write reviews. LibraryThing shows you how many other Thing-ers have the same book as you, and how many of those have the same edition. There are discussion circles for titles, authors, genres, and subjects, and you can start a new one anytime. Then there are the recommendations. Oh, never have I seen such spot-on recommendations! You have to check this Thing out.

By the way, if you want to see my book collection, it's here.

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Thing #10: Play around with an online image generator

Online image generators are fun little time wasters. Every now and then you even come up with something pretty good. Here's a golden egg I made myself, courtesy of www.LetterJames.de:


See also my lovely Yahoo! avatar, at right.

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A minor rant, related to Thing #9

When I went to MERLIN, I remembered right away a big reason why I don't like that site. I HATE that talking avatar that starts its spiel (loudly) as soon as the page loads. In fact, I hate anything that starts playing as soon as any web page loads. If I visit a site out there in web-land that has embedded theme music, or some video or embedded application that starts running by itself, I instantly click the back button or close the window. I just really hate that stuff. Sensory assault. It's fine to embed that kind of content in your page- in fact, that's what 2.0 is all about. But nettiquite should tell you that auto-play (except for unobtrusive Flash intros, perhaps), is a no-no. Give your user the chance to fully load the page, orient their eyeballs, and decide that they're ready to click-to-play your content. Especially if it's noisy. Sheesh, you MERLIN people. We all work in libraries, for goodness sake. We can't have sound just start blaring out of our speakers without warning.

Update:
The talking avatar doesn't seem to be there anymore. She appears to have been displaced by the MERLIN Site Supporters. I feel much better now.

Thing #9: Explore MERLIN; Locate other useful Library feeds

Somebody stop me, I've got 30 feeds already.
As far as blog-searching tools, I like the "Blog Directory Search" on Technorati (It's at the bottom of the "advanced search" page), and Syndic8. These were the only ones that searched blogs by topic. Everything else I tried searched individual blog postings by keyword. So, for example, if I searched "aviation" I got thousands of hits, but only a very few of them were from blogs devoted primarily to aviation content. The vast majority were blogs on different topics that just happened to include one recent post with the word "aviation" in it.
The main way I've been collecting feeds, though, is just to go about my usual web surfing but keep a look out for the little orange RSS button.
I'm enjoying a lot of these feeds. I love the Kitchen Contraptions blog, and as I said ad nauseum in Thing #8 Update, I love love LOVE the custom feeds from EBSCOhost. And I used to get a library comic strip, Unshelved, delivered by email; I switched over to the RSS feed of that as well. Wheee! Feeds are fun.

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Thing #8 Update: EBSCOhost feeds are wicked cool!

Couldn't contain myself and had to go check out feeds in EBSCOhost. They're there, and they work! This is so cool. I know a few patrons right off the top of my head who will be very eager to try this out- they have very specialized research and hobby interests and would really benefit from an automatic journal search like this. Does being this excited about information delivery make me as much of a nerd as I suspect?

Ok, here's what you need to do:

First, log into an EBCSOhost database of your choice. Then look at the top right corner of the window and click on "New Features!"


Select the checkbox for "One Step Alerts." After a moment, a little box should appear that says "feature enabled."


Now click one of the search tabs at the top of the screen (or the "back" link provided) and build a search as usual. With one-step-alerts now turned on, at the top of your results list you will see an orange RSS button labeled "create alert for this search."


Click this button to pop up a window with the details on your new custom feed, and then copy-paste the feed link into your feed-reader of choice.


From now on, new articles added to the database that meet your search criteria will be automatically delivered to your reader. Wicked cool.

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Thing #8: RSS Feeds & Bloglines

I set up a Bloglines account per the instructions for this Thing, even though I already use Google Reader AND the feeds feature of Safari on my Mac at home. I doubt I'll keep Bloglines after these 23 Things are done, 'cause isn't the whole point of a feeds to reduce the number of sites you check every day?

I already use and like feeds, very much. I really foresee their use exploding as more people become aware of them, they get easier to use, and more sites and services start generating them. I am reliably informed, for example, that our own EBSCOhost databases support custom feeds. I intend to check this out shortly- imagine setting up a complex search on (for example) Masterfile Premiere, converting that search to a feed, and thenceforward have anything new that meets your criteria, and that's published in any of the umpteen zillion periodicals indexed by the database, automatically delivered? Wow. For infogeeks like me, this is approaching Nirvana. In fact, I can't stand it any longer. I'm going to go over to the Databases page and check this out right now. Update(s) to follow.

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Thing # 7 Update: Libray Elf Now Works with COSMOS!

Woohoo! Within 3 days of my filling out the request form for Library Elf to add COSMOS to their supported catalogs, they did so. So now our library patrons can use this free service to receive automatic reminders before their items are due. I have signed myself up to test it out. I asked for reminders 2 days before a due date, and I have things due on Monday, so I should get my first email reminder tomorrow, Saturday. I'll let you know.
So now the question is, do we tell our patrons about Library Elf? If everybody had this service, they might not pay so many fines, which would be good for patrons, but not so good for the budget.

Update to the Update:
I've been getting my Elf emails, no problem. They're great! Each one tells you the specific reminder (hold ready for pickup, item due in 2 days, etc), and then below it gives you a rundown of the total status of your account. It shows you a list of everything by due date and all of your holds, and also shows a mini-calendar with due dates highlighted. Very thorough.


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Thing #7: Blog About Somthing Tech: Library Books & Library Elf

Whilst trying to follow another link from 23Things, I wound up on the LifeHacker blog, at a post called "13 Book Hacks." One of those "hacks" described 2 ways of managing your library accounts.

My favorite by far is the "Library Books" program for Mac computers (I use a Mac at home). It's a freeware downloadable that took about 4 minutes to download and set up. I input the URL for COSMOS, identified the catalog type as Sirsi/Unicorn/iBistro, and gave it my card # and PIN. Now this little program hangs out in the toolbar on my computer desktop with a small icon (a star) and the number of library items I have checked out. The star changes color when something is due, and turns bright red when something is overdue. If I click on the star, it drops down a list of all my library items by due date. With a single click, the program will open my browser to the renew-items page in COSMOS and automatically log me in.

I use the Mac calendar, iCal, to keep my appointments and to-do list; I sync it with my PalmPilot, which I also sync with Outlook on my work PC. The Library Books program has an option to automatically insert renew/return reminders for library items into my calendar. I have turned this option off for now, since I check out items so frequently and don't want to clutter my calendar. But if I had to pay overdue fines like an ordinary citizen, I'd turn this on to get pop-up reminders to return my stuff on time!

Alas, this fantastic program is only available for Macs. As a booby prize to you poor misguided PC-using souls, the Lifehacker Blog offered a link to a free online service called "Library Elf." Library Elf has you select your library, then enter your card # & PIN, and your email address. It then checks your library account every day, or a few times a day, and sends you the email alerts that you specify. You can choose to receive alerts a set number of days before an item is due, or on its actual due date, or when it becomes overdue. Library Elf also has an option to generate an RSS feed with these alerts instead of sending you email.

Alas, our library system is not on the "supported" list. I used the link provided to request that they add us, but I am not especially hopeful because iBistro wasn't on the list of catalog types that they work with.

Library Books and Library Elf (if they add us) could be the perfect solution to offer those power-user patrons who are always asking for more and earlier direct notification about their due dates. Not to mention, the Library Books widget for the Mac is just plain cool.

Thing # 6: Flickr Mash-ups & Third Party Sites

More Flickr fun! Seriously, somebody stop me!
Flickr Colr Pickr is good clean fun. I can also see where it would be useful when looking for stock art for a website or publication, letting you search for a pretty photo of just the right hue. Flickr Color Selectr is not as elegant, nor quite as accurate in matching the colors exactly, but I like that all the photos it pulls are "Creative Commons." The Pickr searches all public photos, which may or may not be rights-reserved. Selectr returns photos that you know you're allowed to re-use.

Here's a cool image in my favorite color, found on Flickr Color Selectr:

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Thing #5 Update: Changing My Mind about Flickr

The lady reserves the right to change her mind at all times. In the course of a few hours' exploration, I am officially hooked on Flickr. I've downloaded and installed the Flickr Uploadr and started uploading and organizing my photos from my recent trip to New Zealand. I described, tagged, and geotagged them. This is fun! Somebody stop me, I have other stuff I should be doing...

Looky my photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/pixofjill/

Here, for my amusement, are a photo from New Zealand, and the same photo after I ran it through the "Bead Art" creator on FD's Flickr Toys.

Thing #5: Explore Flickr

I already have a Flickr account, although I have found that I don't use it much. I greatly prefer Shutterfly. In general, I'm not taking photos for the World At Large; I take photos for myself and for the friends and family involved in the photographed occasions. Shutterfly lets us use and share that kind of photo the way we want to.

I might use Flickr more if I were still taking Artsy-type photos, like I used to back when I had time for that kind of hobby...

Anyway, here is my freshly posted Flickr photo:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/83002582@N00/704869093/

Thing #4: Register Your Blog and Track Your Progress

Done.
I like that we're using the E*Vents software for this project. All the staff need to be reminded periodically about E*Vents and how to use it.

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Thing #3 Set up your own blog & add your first post

I set up my blog. This is my blog. Right here, that you're reading now.

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Thing # 2 Lifelong Learning & L2

Phooey, I can't do this one right away, either. Same reason as Thing #1, below. No speakers. I dimly remember watching this tutorial before, months ago, but I don't remember it well enough to blog about. I wonder if there are any extra speakers in the computer graveyard?

Update:
Found some crusty old headphones. Went and listened to the podcast and then watched the tutorial. I find that when I'm listening to this sort of audio presentation of straightforward information, I get frustrated. I can read much faster than the speed of the narration, so I'd much rather read a transcript than have to listen to somebody slowly reading the script. In fact, on the "7 1/2 Habits" tutorial, I clicked through to the next slide before the narrator finished speaking on every single one, because I was reading the transcript that was displayed to the left of the media player.

Don't get me wrong, I listen to podcasts all the time. My current favorites are Uncontrolled Airspace (a pilot podcast), and Mo Sermons (a Christian podcast). The difference? These podcasts are what I might call "native audio." They're more like radio shows- meant to be listened to- and less like someone reading a written document out loud, which is what the first two podcasts on the 23 Things site sound like.

But moving on to the 7 1/2 habits:
I pretty much already have these habits in place. I'm really into learning, and the problem for me is finding the time to pursue my learning interests and maintaining balance. Right now I'm engaged in the following learning pursuits:

1. Earning a Private Pilot Certificate
2. Working towards a Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do (I'm at brown right now)
3. Re-learning Spanish & American Sign Language, in which I was once almost fluent but haven't kept up my skills since college
4. Learning Gregg shorthand
5. Learning to Podcast & Vlog
6. Learning to play the guitar well enough for sing-alongs in storytime
7. Learning to make balloon animals (so far I can make dachshunds and giraffes).

I've temporarily put most of these pursuits on hold to concentrate on the Pilot's Certificate because it demands focus and lots of study and flight time.

I guess, of the 7 1/2 habits, the hardest one is #3, "View problems as challenges." When I'm weary or otherwise not at my best, I don't always respond to difficulties with a positive attitude. I'm working on it, though.

The easiest habit for me is # 7 1/2, "Play." I definitely tend to dive right into things and figure them out as I go along. As a team leader at Habitat for Humanity likes to tell his newbies, "Go ahead and try. You can't break anything that can't be fixed."

Thing # 1 Read this Blog and Find Out About the Program

Ok, I read the blog about the 23 Things Project. I can't listen to the podcast just at present, 'cause I can't sit at my public desk with headphones on, and I don't have sound on the computer in my office. It's always the little things, isn't it?

Update:
Ok, I found some crusty old headphones to listen to the podcasts in my office. The podcast on the first Thing didn't add much info. Now on to the podcast in Thing #2...

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My Library Is Doing 23 Things!

This is my blog for the 23 Things project. Over this year, most of the librarians in Maryland will be making blogs like this one as we work our way through 23 activities and challenges to bring us all up-to-speed on various Web 2.0 and other technologies. I'm looking forward to this, even though some of the 23 Things are Things that I already do. It'll still be interesting, and perhaps I can help some of my co-workers along. Hear that, guys? I'm ready and willing to help anybody with any of the Things I already know how to do.

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