When I discovered libraries, it was like having Christmas every day.
~ Jean Fritz ~

I can understand people simply fleeing the mountainous effort Christmas has become...but there are always a few saving graces and finally they make up for all the bother and distress.
~ May Sarton ~

Don't join the book burners. Don't be afraid to go
in your library and read every book.
~ Dwight D. Eisenhower ~

A good Christmas read

A Christmas Card
by Paul Theroux

Lost in a New England snowstorm, a family is sheltered by a mysterious old man who disappears the next morning, leaving behind a magical "Christmas card."

I really enjoyed this story. It's at your local library!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

The Christmas season is upon us. The Festival of Northern Lights began on Friday evening with the turning on of the lights. I was working and watched them come on through the large picture window at the library. Saturday was the annual Santa Claus parade, which I attended. Yes, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

REMEMBER...

YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN
A Glistening mist falls across the field
We take out our weapons and start to wield
A shot is fired, a man is down
We are across seas we know not this town

It is an unfair fighting field, we know not what to do
but we keep on marching two by two
We brave soldiers stayed firm on our feet
We men and women could not be beat

Bombs are blown, shots are fired
Men are wounded, men are tired
The enemy’s soldiers deplete more and more
Everyone is happy we are winning this war

We brave soliders fought in WWII
We brave soldiers fought for all of you.
Those soldiers that fought and died for it
This free country we live in today
For the soldiers who died R.I.P We hope you may

We thank you for the free country we live in today.

By: Jordan Dolk, Age 13, Barrie, Ontario

Books are the quietest and most constant of friends;
they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors,
and the most patient of teachers.
~ Charles W. Eliot ~

Happy Halloween!

These are not books, lumps of lifeless paper, but minds alive on the shelves.
~ Gilbert Highet ~

Never read a book through merely because you have begun it.
~ John Witherspoon ~

An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving
by Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888)

http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/lmalcott/bl-lmalc-old-fashion.htm

A novel must be exceptionally good to live as long as the average cat.
~ Hugh MacLennan ~

Happy Thanksgiving!

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.
- Albert Camus, French existentialist author & philosopher (1913 - 1960)


Photograph by Michael Yamashita

The library, I believe, is the last of our public institutions
to which you can go without credentials.
You don't even need the sticker on your windshield
that you need to get into the public beach.
All you need is the willingness to read.
~ Harry Golden ~

Wow!

Wow! I won the laptop! How lucky was that! It's still a little hard to believe. Now I have to go shopping. If you have any hints, suggestions, tips, etc. about buying a laptop, please share them with me! Thanks. And thanks to all who organized the Library 2.0 project! To think one week when I couldn't grasp the lesson, I almost gave up on the entire project. I'm certainly glad now that I didn't.

Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho

My week of holidays is done. It's back to work I go! I've had a wonderful week off. Now I head in to see what work awaits me. And I must remember the following quote:
"Laziness may appear attractive, but work gives satisfaction."
- Anne Frank -

The end of summer

It's the end of summer! Autumn arrives tomorrow morning at 5:51! I just finished a week of holidays, and what wonderful weather I had. It was like summer, without the high humidity. Perfect weather!

Happy Autumn everyone!

What a wonderful world!

I'm on holidays, supper is cooking and I'm checking out staff blogs. Thought I'd add a little to my own. I'm so lucky - getting this gorgeous weather for the week I'm off work!

What a Wonderful World!

I see trees of green
Red roses too
I see them bloom
For me and you

And I think to myself
What a Wonderful World

The colors of the rainbows
So pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces
Of people going by

I see friends shaking hands
Saying - How do you do?
They're really saying
I love you

And I think to myself
What a Wonderful World

Ohhhhh, yesss...

Check out the following from America's Got Talent: Terry Fator (ventriloquist, impersonator, singer, comedian) with Winston the Turtle's impersonation of Kermit the Frog singing Louis Armstrong's - What a Wonderful World.

Terry ended up winning America's Got Talent this year. Brian and I were rooting for him - he's so talented and seems like such a nice guy. Enjoy!

Shoe

The libraries have become my candy store.
~ Juliana Kimball ~

Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.
~ Emilie Buchwald ~

Free books

http://www.wowio.com/index.asp offers an impressive library of free book downloads: Titles by Mark Twain, Kurt Vonnegut, Aldous Huxley, Edgar Allan Poe and H.G. Wells are among the classics users can choose.

The site's coolest feature might be its wealth of comic books, though: Even though it costs nothing to download a comic, creators still get paid each time one of their titles is downloaded on the site. That's good exposure for the artists, and users are exposed to an endless array of books at no cost. Everybody wins!

I got the above information from http://blogs.usatoday.com/popcandy/

Last night's rainbow

Never judge a book by its movie.
~ J. W. Eagan ~

Misty Lake Jigsaw Puzzle

When I got [my] library card, that was when my life began.
~ Rita Mae Brown ~

Yesterday

I did it!

Well, I’ve finished the 9 weeks of Library 2.0 and I feel I’ve learned a lot. My favourite parts of the exercises were creating my blog and updating it. I also enjoyed YouTube and think I will enjoy NetLibrary once I have an MP3 player. Some sites I may never visit again, but it’s good to know that they’re out there.

The program has assisted me with lifelong learning goals in that it’s taught me that even when I feel like I will never get something (i.e. del.icio.us) if I persevere, and am not afraid to ask for help, I can finally get it! I don’t think I’m the best of students – I tend to procrastinate. The weekly draws for an ipod were a good incentive for me to finish things in the allotted time.

I plan to continue with my blog, but like Tim, it won’t be a work blog any longer, but a personal blog, just for fun. And it will be a continuing learning process.

As others have already mentioned, if we were to do another course (in which I would probably participate – depending on the topic) I would prefer that it be during the winter months.

Thanks to everyone who planned and set up this course for us. And thanks to all the participants. It has been fun (most of the time), hasn’t it? I hope you will continue to blog, as I enjoy reading them.

An interesting staffing choice...

And we thought we were having trouble with passwords...

"My kids love surfing the Web, and they keep track of their passwords by writing them on Post-it notes. I noticed their Disney password was "MickeyMinnieGoofyPluto," and so I asked why it was so long.
"Because," my son explained, "they say it has to have at least four characters.""

Audio books

I went into Net Library and browsed. I didn't have much luck at all doing searches. Seems the authors I was searching for weren't there! So I went with the Browse By Subject list. This was much better. I saw some titles that I thought might be of interest to me. However, when I clicked on "show details", and then tried to "listen to preview" I got the message "Your current security settings do not allow this file to be downloaded." So I left that alone!

I think once I have an MP3 player I might try downloading a book into it (if I can figure out how!). For now, I just explored the site.

Podcasts

Podcasts are interesting.

I found a book review podcast called "Rachel's Reviews". (This might be of particular interest to the CYS department as they seem to be books for young people.) I think Rachel is a high school student. I've added it to my bloglines. If you're interested here is the address: http://rachelsreviews.libsyn.com/rss.

I found old radio shows (i.e. Red Skelton) which I think my Dad would really enjoy.

Podcasts are something I will definitely return to for more study.

YouTube

So, I checked out YouTube. I can see how I could "waste" a lot of time there! I've posted three YouTube videos that I thought you might find interesting/entertaining. One is from the t.v. show "Friends", which was one of my favourites, and this was an episode that still makes me laugh out loud. I searched for "Owen Sound" on YouTube and found lots of videos. I chose one of the demolition of the Queen's hotel. The third one I chose is a library cheer! (Ever wonder what staff learn when they go away to conferences? Mmmmm......)




The biggest problem I found with YouTube is that our computer at home won't play the entire video in one motion - it plays a few seconds, pauses, plays a few seconds, pauses... It is quite frustrating, and takes a lot longer to watch the video. The other thing I found was that a lot of the videos seem to be very dark (lighting-wise). It is an interesting site to visit when you have time on your hands.

North Pole Sunset

"A scene you may never get to see, so take a moment and enjoy God at work at the North Pole. This is the sunset at the North Pole with the moon at its closest point. And, you also see the sun below the moon. An amazing photo and not one easily duplicated. You may want to pass it on to others. The Chinese have a saying that goes something like this: "When someone shares with you something of value, you have an obligation to share it with others!""

Web 2.0

I decided to explore the site www.upcoming.yahoo.com. I looked for events in Owen Sound, Ontario. There were 3 listed - 2 at Georgian College in September, and one at the Owen Sound Library in November! It was fun to see that one! I would check out this site again. It might be helpful in the library for the reference desk staff looking for local events. But maybe it would be more helpful for the library to post library events to this site.

I still find the www.osaic.com website to be the best one I've found for local events.

Google docs

My previous entry, about my cold, I wrote in Google docs and then published to my blog. I found it very straightforward and easy to do. In fact, I was surprised at how well it worked, first try! I did try to post a calendar too, but it was much too large so didn't work, so I deleted it.

Here I go, setting up a google document. What shall I write about? My cold? I had a sore throat when I worked on Saturday, spent 2 1/2 hours in bed on Sunday afternoon, and felt really bad calling Richard at 7:15 Monday morning to tell him I thought I should be staying at home, rather than going in to work. What a welcome back to him after two weeks of holidays. Thanks, Helen, for covering for me.

Gwen.

Sandbox

It's been a long time since I've played in a sandbox!

It was fun to see what others are reading, watching, eating, etc.... However, if one doesn't put their name with their comment, we don't know who it is!

I will add more to sandbox at a later time. I hope others will too.

Wikis

The Bull Run Library wiki – I found this site fun. They have an excellent resource called Elf “for anyone who wants to reduce overdues, families with children and lots of books, individuals with several library cards, anyone who requests a lot of holds. It delivers email and/or RSS alerts before items are due, email and/or RSS alerts on overdues and holds, consolidated list of yours or your family's library loans and holds, cellphone text message alerts for holds (US and Canada), and real-time checking by browser.” It’s probably costly, but perhaps it’s something our library could look into? It would certainly help a lot of our patrons - many are still complaining about their overdue fines with the "new" no stamping system! And think of the staff time it would save calling (and re-calling) patrons to tell them their holds are in, and the amount of postage saved not sending out overdue notices! Not all our patrons have computers, but their patrons must not either. It might be worth contacting them to find out how it is working for them.

BookLoversWiki is another fun site. It’s interesting to see what people are reading and find out what they think about books – as long as they don’t give away too much information. I think it might be fun for our library to have a wiki where patrons can review books.

What I don’t understand about wikis is the fact that anyone can edit them. What if some “idiot” decides to just go in and for the fun of it mess things up? Is there any way they can be traced/stopped?

Library 2.0

I looked through the five perspectives, reading some, scanning some, and rereading some. The one that interested me most was "Away from Icebergs". I liked the analogy of the libraries being boats, and the warning to look out for icebergs. Libraries (boats) are small compared to the potentially huge disasters (icebergs). Libraries must be careful when trying to keep up with the times. We mustn't be in a huge rush to change things. Change can be good, and so can progress. But I think we'd all agree that it isn't always good. Input is important. We're a small city. We must think of the needs of our patrons, from all different ages and incomes.

I can see our library becoming much more computer-oriented. But we must remember the patrons who cannot afford computers at home. Or the ones (perhaps elderly, perhaps not) who have no interest or are "afraid" of technology. As we're learning taking this course, there is a LOT of information out there! And some of it can be quite mind boggling.

I think Nadia's plan for a focus group is an excellent one. Perhaps something similar could be set up for the Adult part of the library. We would need to have a good cross-section of people, all ready to voice their opinions, ideas and concerns.

I don't think the idea of curling up with a good book will ever leave us. I know I, for one, would not sit and read a book from the computer screen! Perhaps the way of the library will become more for checking out books for enjoyment reading while the research part will be done by computers, either at the library or at the patron's home. Who knows? It certainly gives us lots to think about.

I don't think the personal touch of the library should ever be discontinued. I think there are many, many patrons at our library who enjoy the quick chats at the reference and circulation desks, the chance to share happenings in their lives, find out a little bit about ours, share what they thought was a good read (or not), just see a smiling, non-judgemental face saying "hi, how are you today?" Let's never lose that!

Technorati

Well, here it is Sunday afternoon. I'm battling some type of cold/virus today. Spent about 2 1/2 hours in bed, but I'm up now, and still trying to get through Week 6 of our course. I admit, Technorati had me just about ready to give up (thus the cartoon above!). I couldn't see where I was to do "a keyword search for Library 2.0 in Blog posts, in tags and the Blog directory". I was so frustrated! Thanks, Dale, for your help!

I still find Technorati rather overwhelming, but can see how it would be a great site if you were looking for a blog on a particular topic.

Like Joan W., I doubt that I will continue with my blog after this course - I'm just using it as a learning experience. I'm quite nervous of too much personal information getting out there on the web!

Whew! Technorati - what a challenge for me!

Del.icio.us or Delicious - you decide!

Del.icio.us

Well, here it is Monday evening, and there's a draw tomorrow, and I doubt that my name will be in it. I've finished the del.icio.us lesson, but that's as far as I got. In fact, I was so frustrated with it yesterday, I was about ready to throw in the towel. But finally the lightbulb came on, and I get it. I've set up a del.icio.us URL. If you want to check it out, it's http://del.icio.us/newg. At first I thought del.icio.us was something that I would never use. But when I realized that I can access it from any computer, I think it might come in handy now and then. But I don't think it's something I will use often.

I do see del.icio.us as both a great research tool and an easy way to create bookmarks that can be accessed from anywhere. Personally, I doubt I'll use it much, but it's good to know it's available to me.

Rollyo

Well, I did as asked, and went to Rollyo and built my own search tool. (http://rollyo.com/gwen/celebrity_gossip_etc/). I did this entirely as an exercise though, as this is not something I can see myself using. As Jody said in her blog, if I want to look at one of these websites, I'll just go to favourites. I organize my favourites in folders, so it's quite simple that way (and works for me!).

Most of the exercises in this course are interesting, but some are quite time consuming, and as Shirley said, wintertime would be better! I do think that they are more relevant to reference staff than other staff in our work environment, but some of it will be fun for those of us who spend lots of time on the computer at home. And it's nice to learn new things.

That's it for now!

LibraryThing

I joined LibraryThing and posted a few of my favourite reads. You can find these at http://www.librarything.com/catalog/Gwendolyne.

I plan to "play" more with this website. I like the idea of seeing what others are reading the same things I am, and what other suggestions there are for my reading tastes.

Hot! Hot! Hot!

I'm on holidays this week! And we're in a heat wave! So I'm not spending nearly as much time outdoors as I would like. Oh well! Such is summer. And a break is supposed to be in sight tomorrow.

It's been too hot to sit at the computer and work on the weekly assignments. So tonight I have the fan blowing right at me, and I'm doing a bit of the required work. I've tried some of the generators. Under The Generator Blog I tried the Simpsons one, but couldn’t view it all on the computer screen, so therefore couldn’t save what I did. I found the Kanzel generator rather boring. I tried the YourGen text generator and made the above banner. It was kind of fun and something I might use now and then.

I tried http://www.comicstripgenerator.com/ and came up with the following. I found a picture of Jack Nicholson from "About Schmidt" and I added what I thought was a humorous Jack Nicholson quote I found.

Search Tools for News Feeds

Well, here it is, Monday morning, and I'm doing my homework. Feels a bit like high school, except I'm home at my computer instead of on the school bus. Some of the writing used to get pretty shaky as we rode over those back roads!

I tried during the last week to use the search tools for news feeds, but didn't seem to have a lot of luck. Maybe it was cos I wasn't really sure what I was trying to do! But I made an attempt. Maybe sometime, when I have more time and want to just "play" with it, I will spend some time with it and figure more things out.

This whole process is quite a learning experience. I'm enjoying learning all these things. Some I may never use again, but it is good to know that they're out there.

Have a good day!

RSS

This is what week 4 tells us!

RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication” and is a file format for delivering regularly updated information over the web. Just think about the websites and news information sources you visit every day. It takes time to visit those sites and scour the ad-filled and image-heavy pages for just the text you want to read, doesn’t it? Now imagine if you could visit all those information sources and web pages in just one place and all at the same time … without being bombarded with advertising… without having to search for new information on the page you’d already seen or read before… and without having to consume a lot of time visiting each site individually. Would that be valuable to you? Well, it’s available now through a newsreader and RSS.

I've spent the last hour or so setting this up on my computer. I didn't find it that difficult to do (if I've done it correctly). However, this is a tool that I don't think I will use on my home computer. I don't visit that many sites in a day, especially news sites, and the ones I do visit I have listed under favourites, so it's just a click and I'm there. I don't think I'll find a need for RSS.

I can see how it will be helpful at the reference desk at the library as the staff can have all the sites they visit in one location on the computer.

Maxine

Maxine
Originally uploaded by igturner

Technology....

Flickr

Here it is, Monday morning, and after re-reading the instructions for week 3, I realize I'm supposed to put something in my blog about Flickr.

I find it a bit confusing at the moment, but I figure with more practice and reading more about it, I will get better. I think it's great to have a website to share photos instead of sending each one individually by e-mail, but I am a bit concerned about privacy issues. To upload a photo to my blog from Flickr, I had to make the photo public. (Of course, I guess my blog is public too, but I think a lot more people are going to visit Flickr than are going to visit my blog!) I'd prefer to upload a photo from my computer if I want to use it in my blog. Currently I use a website called Webshots to share photos. You invite those you wish to see your albums there.

But, as I said, I've got a lot more to learn...

Lake Eugenia

Lake Eugenia
Originally uploaded by igturner

The lake just before a thunderstorm.

Lake Eugenia

Lake Eugenia
Originally uploaded by igturner

I grew up near beautiful Lake Eugenia!

Technology

The Merriam-Webster dictionary's definition of tech·nol·o·gy is as follows:

1 a: the practical application of knowledge especially in a particular area : engineering 2 b: a capability given by the practical application of knowledge 2: a manner of accomplishing a task especially using technical processes, methods, or knowledge 3: the specialized aspects of a particular field of endeavor — tech·nol·o·gist \-jist\ noun

Dare I admit the definition alone boggles my mind? Technology. I know it's out there! I know it's important. But need I understand it? I mean, as long as something works, do I really care how it works? Can't I leave that to the "techinical" minds! We all have our areas of specialty. I know technology is not one of my specialties. But that's what makes life interesting. If we all shared all the same abilities, what fun would that be?

So, I'll continue to reap the benefits of all the latest technologies, and will try to keep up where I can, when the lessons are straightforward and geared to those of us who need a bit of guidance. But I won't be trying to learn the technicalities of how something works. As long as it works, that works for me!

Summertime and the livin' is easy...

What a great Gershwin tune! Every parent should learn that one, to sing their babies to sleep.

I love summertime. Give me a nice summer's day, not too hot, no humidity, a bit of breeze, and I'm happy! What can be better than a good book, a cold drink and a nice summer's day!

We are so fortunate to be living in Canada, where we have the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of the world around us. We see so much fighting in the world. The people in those countries, unfortunately, are missing out on many of the joys of life. And life is so fleeting. We have to try to enjoy every minute we have. Good health, loved ones...and a peaceful world in which to enjoy them. What more could one ask for?

I saw a house decorated with many yellow ribbons the other day. It turns out the husband from that family has just returned from a 6-month assignment in Afghanistan. He has four weeks to spend at home with his wife and young children, then it's back to Afghanistan.

We were told in this assignment that "you can write about your thoughts so far on the Library 2.0 project... or about blogging in general... or about your own thoughts about lifelong learning (week one)."

As you can see, I didn't do that. I will say that I think that life itself is a learning experience. As long as we're living, we're learning.

Enjoy this beautiful summer's day!