postcript to #23

Let me say that I have been very fortunate to be able to finish all my lessons in a timely manner well ahead of the deadline in January. My manager has been super supportive of my efforts as well as my fellow co-workers. I believe that all staff should be afforded this kind of support. KUDOS to everyone who completed the course and those who are continuing with their training.

#23 Let the Journey Begin.......

Let me say in closing that I have enjoyed doing all the exercises in this 2.0 training. I have surpised myself that I have continued with this til the end. I have already patted myself on the back as well as my fellow co-workers. It is gratifying to know that I am not as technologically ignorant as I thought. Some the websites that I had fun exploring were LibraryThing, YouTube, Podcasts, and Audio Books. I am an avid reader of mystery books and I cannot wait to dowload some of new upcoming mystery books by my favorite authors. I have always found it a mystery how one can insert a video and postcast in one's blog, but I found it very easy to do and thus eliminating the mystery on how it was done. Now when I follow my fellow bloggers I can do that and with more practice be able to really "dress up" my blog. Some of the other websites were more challenging and some time in the future, I will play more with Technorati, Del.icio.us and Wikis. All in all, I have enjoyed stepping outside my comfort zone and taken on this challenge. I will certainly want to participate in future trainings of this type. In closing, the use of technology of this kind is the on the horizon for library staff and I can definitely see the need of it for library patrons. The information age should be made available to all library patrons and it is the responsibility of library staff to make it available to all.

#22 Audio Books-"The end is near"

Here is the jacket of a book of one of my favorite mystery authors which I have not read. I definitely plan to download this book on my new MP3 player. I can't wait. I have found the tutorial to the Overdrive quite easy to follow. There are quite a few and I only listened to the first six sections. It is nice to go through my JPL account to be able to listen to books, view videos. The possibilities are endless. As we are now in the 21st century, it will become the norm for libraries to be the custodians of this service and that it will encourage more patrons to make use of this valuable service. In doing so, it will be the resposibility of library staff to familiarize patrons with this service.

#21 Podcasts, Smodcasts-part 2

I figured out how to put my RSS feed on my bloglines.

#21 Podcasts, Smodcasts

I checked out odeo.com postcast and typed in "libraries" under the search section. I, then, clicked on "education" and found several podcasts that were interesting in listened to a podcast by the Bowery Boys who discussed the Statue of Liberty. The short version that I heard seemed very interesting. This would be great for anyone who wants to visit NYC and do the tourist sites. It is also good for someone who is interested in the history of the Statue of Liberty which extra information you may normally not read about in regular history books. Check it out!!!! If you make this available to library users on library websites, it would be another tool that patrons can explore. I was unsuccessful in using the RSS feed so I copied the podcast website into the "link" section of my blog. Click on the title of this blog to link up with the podcast.

#20 You too can YouTube

If libraries publish newly-released books on YouTube and make them available on their websites, it would give patrons a chance to look at books they may be interested in and thus increase the volume of library patronage.

#19 Discovering Web 2.0 Tools

#19 Discovering Web 2.0 Tools I really enjoyed exploring the Web 2.0 Awards site. I looked at a variety of websites that would be useful to and relevant to both my job and the websites. As an ESL adult educator, I looked under "education" and found the website mango.com to be excellent for ESL learners when they want to improve their English language comprehension. If you want to learn Spanish, the website spanishpod.com is an excellent for learning everyday Spanish. Another website, myheritage.com is a good one for people interested in geneology. All these site can be accessed on any library computer or home computers. I plan to explore the other award-winning websites that are listed on Web 2.0 Awards.