#30 Spring Cleaning

I have finished cleaning my files on the P and Z drives. I did not have very many documents saved, but I cleaned out old timesheets and mileage forms for 2007 from the Z drive, and also deleted some files from the P drive. Some old Task Force and LPC documents from several years ago were also deleted. I had never saved anything to the S drive since I usually am not sending large files. I did copy my Monthly Branch Reports folder to the S drive, and then deleted it as directed in the ihcpl assignment. I found some old branch and children's narratives from 2001, which had been dumped into my Monthly Branch Reports folder, and I deleted those. I created a new folder for a file containing Crosby Library History, which had been filed in the wrong place. I believe this completes the requirements for this exercise.

#29 Cleaning Email

I have finished cleaning my email. My inbox is empty and folders have been created to file needed information. I have checked the contents of the folders as well, to be sure the contents are still pertinent. I don't have many addresses in my address book, as I usually just look these up on Harriet as I need them. I plan to handle incoming email as I receive it, and delete or move to folders as needed. I will continue to do periodic reviews of my inbox and folder contents and clean as needed.

#28 Spring Cleaning and GTD

The GTD article addresses an issue we all need to think about. It is always helpful to organize one's workflow and priorities. I don't think my job usually requires a system as complex as this one, since many tasks I have to do are regularly recurring jobs that must be done every day. There are useful thoughts included, however. The idea that we should handle items only once if possible is a useful one. I think email management is one of the easiest and most profitable places to apply these principles. I tend to accumulate many pages of emails in my inbox, which should be moved into folders or processed immediately. I am trying to work more efficently in this area by creating folders for information that I will need later, rather than keeping it in my inbox.

I also looked at Google calender and the other list-making sites, but don't wish to use these at this time. I already have a Yahoo account which includes a calendar feature. If I decide I need it, I would probably use that instead of opening a new account. When we had the calendar feature on Webmail, I did use it quite a bit, so maybe I will look at that possibility.

Week 10, Final Post

Hooray, we have reached the finish line!!! The finale video is most appropriate. It has been a great ride, both enjoyable and informative. At times it was tough finding enough time to get the exercises done, especially since we have been shorthanded recently, but the effort was worthwhile. I saw many possibilities during the program that previously were unfamiliar to me.

The information on internet safety was timely. The safety concern is my primary objection to the proliferation of social networking sites. I think the Flickr site and photo editing tools might be fun to play with more. Also the avatars were fun. Zoho is a great word processing program that is available free. If I didn't already have Microsoft Office, I would be very interested in using it for word processing. It would be way too easy to waste a couple of hours on YouTube. There are some funny things on that site. I like Bloglines because it lets me access a lot of sites of personal interest from one location, but I probably won't use the podcast audio feature much. I would have more opportunity to read the posts than to listen to them. I had already been looking at some of the library blogs occasionally, but having them all right there at my fingertips is nice. I will use this site frequently. Library Thing has definite possibilities. I don't like the way Library Elf displays in Webmail. If I switched it to go to my home email, I would probably like it better.

I read one post suggesting a Wiki for Harriet, and think that is a good idea. Wikis could also be used for patrons to post book reviews and suggestions for other patrons to read. Of course, we are already posting pictures on our website using Flickr, so hopefully, that will continue and become more widely used. Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 are the wave of the future, and we must adapt and respond to the needs and interests of our patrons if we want to remain viable. I don't think libraries are in danger of extinction, but if we remain mired in the past and refuse to adapt to our changing world, our influence is sure to be limited.

Week 9, #22 Downloadable Media

I was impressed with the variety of material available on Overdrive. I think the selection is better for audio books than for videos. The selection will only improve as funds become available to purchase more titles. I love to read, but have never acquired the audio book habit, so haven't investigated the service before now. If I spent more time in my car, I would definitely be interested.

I was not impressed with LibriVox or Wowio. LibriVox might be fine if you need to find an old classic, but since all of their books are in the public domain, there are no currently popular authors included. I noticed that the books are read by volunteer readers and sometimes each book has multiple readers, with different chapters assigned to different readers. This could be a bit annoying if some are poor readers or have less pleasant speaking voices. I don't know what the company does to monitor the quality of the recordings. Wowio did not appear to have many interesting titles available. One of my coworkers noted that the publishers and authors seem to be mostly unknown. I also found the search feature to be very imprecise. All searches seem to be keyword searches for any of the words you list. A search for John Grisham brought up any book with either "John" or "Grisham" anywhere in the summary. There were 36 pages of results, but no books by the popular author. When I searched for "John Grisham" with the quotation marks, it found no titles, so this is a more accurate search. One nice feature was that when you move the cursor over the picture of the book a dialog balloon pops up with a blurb about the book. This makes it possible to get basic information about that title quickly. I didn't see much on the site that I was interested in pursuing.

Of the three options, our HCPL Overdrive service is clearly the best. Way to go, Harris County!

Week 9, #21 Podcasts

I took a look at Podcastalley.com and was able to add two podcasts to my Bloglines account. I chose to add SirsiDynix Institute and Uncontrolled Vocabulary. I also added LibVibe on the recommendation of one of my colleagues. I don't know yet how much I will use them because usually if I have time for things like this, it is between customers while I am at the circulation desk. For obvious reasons, it is easier to read a blog under those circumstances than to listen to an audio feed. Anyway, it is nice to know that this is an option. I am sure there is some interesting information which is available in this format.

Week 9, Post 20 You Tube

Well, this is supposed to be about You Tube, but I just discovered how to change fonts and print colors on this blog, so I have to mention that. It is amazing what you can figure out if you open your eyes.

I looked around on You Tube and saw lots of entertaining things, but not a whole lot of substantive content. I especially looked at some of the library related things. The "get a library card" commercial where the boy uses his library card as a noisemaker in the bicycle spokes is cute. He really gets "the look" from that librarian. I also like the Super Librarian. If I could shelve as fast as she does, we would get things done a lot more quickly! Cookie Monster was bemoaning the absence of cookies in the library. He obviously missed storytime at Crosby today. The Thanksgiving party for the children featured lots of cookies plus popcorn, fruit, and lemonade.

It is frustrating to navigate the site since our site restriction query keeps popping up. "Press continue if this is work related." Too bad this annoying question couldn't have been suspended for the duration of the exercise. Also, after watching some of my coworkers pull their hair out for the last two days trying to open accounts and download videos to their blogs, I decided to avoid the optional exercise altogether.

As far as application of this technology to the library website is concerned, maybe we could have a contest to create a commercial to promote the library system. The creations could be downloaded onto our website and then judged for originality, humor, or other factors and the winners could be given special recognition on the website. Perhaps we could even get some of the TV stations to air the winners as public service announcements.