Thing 22: Tell Us What You Think

I completed the survey I feel like we have been working on this forever.....,

Thing 23: Final Thoughts

I've finished my journey through 23 Things. It's been at times exciting, frustrating and rewarding when I've completed a task. The world of technology is constantly changing and I appreciate the opportunity to learn more about it.

Many thanks to Tammy and Diane for guiding us through the "Things".

THING 22

Took the survey.

Thing 23: Final Thoughts

My first blogpost was as follows: My name is Melissa and I love working in the library. The library has changed a lot since I was a child, but it is in response to what the public needs. We are civil servants and our purpose is to evolve with the times. If we are not serving the patrons well, then the library will fail to be seen as a valuable resource. Becoming familiar with current technology is one of the most beneficial things we can do in order to continue to be viewed as essential.
I don't think my view has changed any with the many new things that I have learned. I still see becoming familiar with technology as being an important aspect of working in today's public libraries. We are here to serve the public, and in these increasingly technology-dependent times, we need to be able to assist those patrons who are not as up to date on the technology as we are. If libraries are to survive, we must evolve with the times!

Thing 22: Tell Us What You Think

I filled out the anonymous survey about this experience.

Thing 21: Show What You Know

My six sites of interest are: LibraryThing, GoogleDocs, Facebook, YouTube, JibJab, and Pandora. LibraryThing, or similar sites, is a must-have for anyone like me who owns lots of books and needs to keep them organized so you don't buy the same book more than once. GoogleDocs is great because it allows you to work on your documents from anywhere with an Internet connection. I have been using it for about two years and love it! Facebook is a great way to connect with old friends or far-away family members. You can set your privacy settings high, making it difficult for the unwanted to find you. I must caution my friends and family not to post every time they change brands of soap or make chicken for dinner though, or they will be removed from my newsfeed. YouTube, although addictive to some, can be used responsibly as well. I use it to check out storytimes at libraries across the nation and get ideas for how I could do things differently. JibJab is an entertaining site, filled with comical videos on current news topics. I visit it whenever I need a laugh. Pandora is a site that is useful to anyone who loves music, as it enables you so search, sort, and find music from a variety of genres. While there are many more sites of value on the Internet, I would start a person out with these.

Thing 20: More Fun with Google

In looking further into the tools Google has to offer, I didn't find much that I would actually use. My husband uses Google Alerts to stay updated in his line of work, but I don't think I would use it. Google Calendar might be useful to some, but I prefer using my old-fashioned paper and pencil calendar to keep track of my appointments and other events in my life. I wouldn't use Picasa Web Albums as I am not interested in sharing my photos online. Just the other day a friend of mine was freaking out because she found pictures of her son posted online that she didn't post. I have no intention of sharing my photos online, except for a few that I have on Facebook, with privacy settings set on high. Google Scholar is something I plan on looking at further, but with the great database access we have at this library and at my grad school, USF, I don't see needing it anytime soon. I have used Google Advanced Search before and find it useful when searching for something specific rather than sifting through the many results most searches return with. Google Earth is both cool and scary. I find it cool that we have the technology and tools to give us such accurate mapping information about our planet, but find it scary that there are actual photos of our homes so easily accessed. Big Brother is definitely watching over us. My favorite part of Google Earth is the actual flight-like experience one gets when they first put in an address. I already had an iGoogle page set up prior to this activity, but don't really use the tools I have placed on it.
Of all the tools investigated, my favorites are Google Scholar and Advanced Search.