#23 Is this really the end? Or just the beginning...

I’m very grateful to the Statewide Project for this invaluable opportunity which could not fail to broaden the horizons of every participant. I admire Lynette & Lesley for so successfully steering this monumental process.

There is no doubt this is only the start of a new era, generation, metamorphosis, paradigm, quantum leap, revolution, shift, transformation, vision… for us as human beings & library staff. Our descendents will view us & our customers as almost a different species.

My feelings are still mixed: wonder at the possibilities & what’s out there; excitement that there are new ways to connect with people whom our channels have bypassed; & trepidation at the immensity of contributing to the necessary development & the difficult choices which are now even more inevitable.

Even with the constantly morphing tools we’ve been given to foster interactivity, empowerment, & connection, & the demonstration to ourselves that we have achieved a goal which may have seemed Mt Everest at the start, the road ahead is ever steeper & ever more challenging – the essence of life now. Completing the course though is a milestone, which I hope will spur me on in moments of discouragement.

I could spend weeks exploring more deeply the resources whose surface we have just skimmed. The real world now looms however, with the real challenge of finding the best mix of services unimaginable in the past, which will make the most difference for the greatest number of customers by the wisest use of resources, as well as fulfilling more traditional aspects many customers still want – a familiar goal..

#22 Audiobooks (or “The end is in sight”)

Marvellous, revolutionary resource for customers, though will not right now eliminate physical CD Audio Books (our standard challenge of maintaining several formats applies because all our customers will never be early adopters).

Looked at & watched demos on:
http://www.oclc.org/audiobooks/
http://www.overdrive.com/products/dlr/
http://www.overdrive.com/products/dlr/demos/salesdemo.htm http://www.overdrive.com/files/DLReBooks.pdf http://www.overdrive.com/products/dlr/tour/default.asp

So liberating to be less tied to the technology of a specific player than in past, but still a great shame to be unable to load to iPod. Paradigm shift to library paying for a service/access for customers as opposed to owning an asset needs to be fully recognized by funders.

http://worldebookfair.com/Mp3eBooks.htm Though ingenious, Gutenberg Computer voice audio e-book was disconcerting & not restful. Turned with relief to Human voice files & Sound of Human Voice Collection. While it is wonderful & a tremendous achievement to have classic titles of lesser demand though this free site, major popular demand & therefore a substantial commitment, would be for paid services.

Authorization required to get into other sections.
http://worldbookfair.qoop.com/
http://worldebookfair.com/Childrens_eBooks.htm
Noted http://worldebookfair.com/PLIN.htm (public libraries international network publications) under http://worldebookfair.com/Collections.htm

# 21 Podcasts, Smodcasts

Looked at http://audio.search.yahoo.com/ http://podcastalley.com/
http://www.podcast.net/ through which I added Kankalee Public Library Podcast to my Bloglines account, as an example.
Checked which ABC Radio National programs are podcast.
Visited introductory page of http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ , but no further - far beyond skills to create anything currently, but has enormous potential for creating, keeping in touch & empowering both groups & individuals. As indeed has the whole podcast revolution.
Listened to Learning 2.0: Make "play" your New Year's resolution – great to have a reminder of how far I have come, even though still only scratching surface. At the start it all would have been gobbledegook.
As a result visited http://www.myspace.com/ for the first time. And for good measure looked at http://www.facebook.com/ which my only teenage relative uses.

#20 You too can YouTube

On http://www.youtube.com/
I particularly enjoyed the Medieval IT help desk, library dominoes & Conan the Librarian (let no one say we have no sense of humour). Could have spent many hours playing on this & also on http://video.google.com.au/
http://video.search.yahoo.com/
I can see video is another immensely powerful tool for interactivity with customers especially the digital generations.

The video I chose says it all 'A Librarian's 2.0 Manifesto' – inspirational & aspirational.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZblrRs3fkSU


In a lighter vein, also so much closer to the bone, I liked the messages in 'Libraries in 2010' (not so far away)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V67QuW0NeXI

#19 Discovering Web 2.0 tools

My tool from the Web 2.0 awards on http://www.seomoz.org/web2.0/ was http://pipl.com/ - picking up info on people through the invisible or “deep web” often hidden elsewhere, would seem to be a goldmine in a library or personal situation. And indeed there was only an incomplete overlap between pipl & google. Addresses & some other types of info through pipl (not necessarily of course the person you want) so perspective does produce other angles. Better results if country not specified. I think it would be useful for libraries.

In my quest for a site which I could assimilate & make any kind of comment on, I had earlier looked at City maps & guides, Travel, & Visual arts. All wonderful but all needing lots of time to explore.

Then tried Books – http://www.lulu.com/ self publishing for our many aspiring authors. http://www.biblio.com/ for 2nd hand books. Congratulations to our friend, winner www.librarything.com & acquaintance, honourably mentioned http://reader2.com/ . Also http://bluerectangle.com/ especially book review component. No contest that customers would love the interactivity & ability to choose & control their individual forms of involvement with resources & literature, whether their own or in libraries, & with others who share their commitment, wherever they may be in the world. Therefore these sorts of tools are crucial if libraries are create, empower & contribute as essential parts those networks.

There’s another friend in Search http://www.rollyo.com/ .
http://www.eurekster.com/ - way beyond my skills to contemplate any role in creating a swicki or custom social search portal on a particular topic. But extremely relevant to libraries.
http://www.usabilityviews.com/simply_google.htm & http://www.zuula.com/ a super, super search engine, both needing a lot of exploration but will have to defer.

Looked at Web 2.0 tool Directory & was again overwhelmed. Noted Gizmoz (animate yourself), Qunu (help me with …right now), Stikkit (little yellow notes that think), Unpackd (Share the joy of unpacking stuff – not operational yet) & Widgipedia (widgets). It’s a brave new world all right.

#18 Web-based Apps:They're not just for desktops.

How liberating to farewell attachments! And that we are no longer tied to buying software as was so limiting in the past - had no idea until saw the staff tracking log in Google Docs & started this exercise.
Another empowering revolution in communication, for everyone in both work & personal life, & as providers & customers.
Created my Zoho account & am preparing my blog initially in Write. The screens for Write & Sheet seemed like good friends, who've just revealed some hidden facets - always wanted to do emoticons. Will have to explore other new ones later.
Imported & then deleted a Word file to test.
And an image above (fingers crossed it stays there).
Tried to publish it but didn't succeed (I think due to initial mistake in setting up acount) so will try to transfer it a bad old way.

#17 Playing around with PBWiki

I did look at the wiki tips, how to videos etc, but am not at stage of using those yet, so the syntax will need to be mastered.
My blog is now in the sandbox, under my library, after some confusion about whether the square brackets etc are actually required. In the end the blog seems to be visible in what seems to be the right place.
Also added a line to the Music favourites which also seems to be there, after a bad moment in which I tried to add a comment instead.