Thing 17: Social Networks Beyond Facebook

I love Facebook of course that is really the only social network I belong to, but I do also belong to  many free genealogy sites as well. I liked Gather it had lots of news which makes a newsjunky like me happy. I probably wont join any other social network's unless there free and my family and friends are on there. I think I will just stick with Facebook. I do often tell people about my experience with Facebook and my genealogy sites that is what people seem most interested in.

THING 16

I explored Grooveshark, Last.fm and Pandora. I liked working with Pandora as it was the easiest site for me to use. I selected an artist and his songs were played continuously and I could click thumbs up or thumbs down it I wanted to keep the selection. This was an interesting exercise but not something that I would spend much time on.

Thing 16 Streaming Music

I am not a huge music person so the idea of streaming music is not really very appealing to me. I found Pandora to be the most user-friendly site, but wouldn't use it very often. Searching for children's music, I found it interesting that the Wiggles was even available on this site. I happily listened to them, as well as Raffi, before tiring of listening. I can't really say what music I usually listen to as I listen to audiobooks most of the time I am driving and don't play music in my home very often. Being an easy to please person, there isn't really much music that I wouldn't listen to, but I would not pursue listening to music online very often, if ever.

Thing 15 Podcasts

I am somewhat familiar with podcasts as I had to make one for my Preparing Instructional Media class a few months ago. from the directories listed, I liked Podbean.com the most. I searched for storytimes and found quite a few to choose from. I did not subscribe to any of the podcasts, not do I feel I will listen to podcasts regularly, but I can see how some people would like them. The library could do weekly podcasts of children's books being read in a dramatic way. Another idea would be to have monthly library news updates for patrons posted on our website.

Thing 14-YouTube

While I have be on YouTube a few times, I am not what you would classify as a fan. I will sometimes watch a video that someone has suggested to me, but I'm not one of those people who sits around watching videos for hours at a time. The most useful thing I have found on YouTube was a few libraries that post videos of fingerplays they use in their storytimes. After watching them, I feel more confident about using them in my Curious Kids program.

As far as how we could use YouTube at the library, I think it would be a good idea if our children's department recorded and posted some videos of our storytime components. Another idea would be to post short puppet shows. Outside of children's programming, we could have a virtual tour of the library posted since our library is so picturesque. Just a few suggestions.

The video I found to be most interesting in my search was a library-related remake of a song popular in the 1990s. I hope you find it to be as entertaining as I did.

Thing 16: Streaming Music

I love listening to music I used to go to Pandora all the time. Yahoo is great but I have a sharing site called 360 SharePro where I have my own playlist and I download music. My tastes in music varies. I like anything from Frank Sinatra to the singer Pink I like big band, and I also like 80s & 90s rock bands.

Thing 15: Podcast

Podcasts are pretty cool if you dont have a DVR or TVO. I found that Podcast.com worked the best and had the best selection. I know my own daughter uses podcasts when her shows dont record. Maybe the library can make podcasts to announce programs for the upcoming months, and to let patrons know whats new and exciting. More and more people are on the net its a very clever tool to spread info. I am personally a news junky so I have posted a link to a FoxNews podcast its the lastest news from around the country and world. http://podcast.com/show/60230/FOX-News-Radio/