#22 Week 9 eBooks and Audio eBooks

I have just visited the World EBook Fair and was amazed at how many books are available free of charge or at a reasonable price. I myself have never been a fan of reading off the computer for any length of time, I would much rather have something to hold onto. It is a resource that any library could use to make books available that they would not have to purchase outright. Under the topics that I looked at I didn't see anything that was free, but the prices were not unreasonable. I am wondering if it would be something that the library should subscribe to, to make more resources available to the students??

Unfortunately I am using a school laptop which prevents me from downloading any necessary software to listen to these books. LibriVox website was down, British Library Online Gallery was not available due to software constraints, but the "Best Places to Get Free Books" was a really great resource that I can share with students and colleagues.

#21 Week 9 Podcasts

I opted to go with a technology podcast that I can use with staff and students. I found
"The Tech Teacher" podcast which focuses on several different types of technology. It was easy to use the website which is categorized and easily navigated for any type of user. There are so many possibilities that you can do with a podcast. Technology tips, book reviews, tutorials, etc. We are going to do podcasts on an immigration unit in which the students will tell a story about a person(s) who immigrated to the U.S. talking from that person's point of view.


http://thetechteacher.libsyn.com/rss

#20 Week 9 YouTube

YouTube has a lot to offer, but it is understandable why it is blocked at my school. I am not especially savy with video and I have to say that the Help menu was really easy to understand and easy to navigate. I did figure out how to embed the video into the blog, but I am not sure that it will run. There were some really great videos under librarian and library. I think humor is a great way to encourage students to use the library and it is something that I would consider to show 9th grade to introduce the library to them.

#19 Week 8 Library Thing

I tried to get into Library Thing a few times, but the traffic as too busy and wasn't able to take a long look around. I really don't see any value for my library personally since we have a circulation system already in place. I think its a great idea for small libraries because then anyone can access the materials. I forsee that there may be problems with multiple libraries and millions of people all using the same site. I thought about putting my own personal library on, but the last thing I need is more books. I am running out of room at my house, so this is definitely something that isn't going to happen anytime soon.

#18-Week 8 Zoho blog

Zoho writer is a great collaborative tool for anyone to use. Very easy to navigate probably because it is very similar to Microsoft Word format. In graduate school we used Google docs, but Zoho Writer is also a possibility that could work well. I tried to export it, a dialogue box came up, but I didn't know what to do with it, so I tried publish. It came up with blogger, thats where the account is so you just had to put in a username and password and that was it. It was really simple. I will have to look into the export option and find out what you are to do once the dialogue box comes up. I already have experience using Google docs so I didn't spend much time investigating the options, but I know that it is also very user friendly, easy to navigate and another great collaborative tool.

#17 - Week 7 Sandbox Wiki

There was a post in the sandbox about doing a district library handbook, what a great idea. I never thought about trying something like that. We are actually doing strategic planning this year, I wonder if they would consider using a wiki, it might be worth mentioning. I prefer wikispaces as opposed to pbwiki, it just seems easier to use/navigate for me. Wikis could be used to share information across the curriculum and it would be a easy tool to use to get teachers started with technology.

You have the capability of locking certain pages while leaving others open for collaboration.

#16 Week 7 Wiki Information

Wikis are great for collaborating with colleagues and with students. When clicking on the sample library wikis I found some that were well structured, easy to navigate and attractive to look at. While others were chaotic and difficult to look at let alone navigate. I have used wikis for colleagues to share information as well as set up wikis for students/teachers to use on a particular subject. When we used the wiki with the students it was locked down because there were assignments on drawings that the students needed to interpret and we were afraid that they would try to manipulate them. Maybe this year we may open everything up and see what happens.

I was supposed to do a webpage for the local library, but I think that I am going to contruct a wiki that we can both contribute information to.

#15 Future of Libraries

Library 2.0 is scary, nerve wracking, and exciting, but if we don't embrace the tools available our job/library will become obsolete. I know from personal experience that it is hard to accept change, but in order for us as librarians to become an effective tool within the school we must take a hard look at how our library was and what we want it to become. One of the articles did say about libraries and how they were a collection of books, but that is no longer the case and if we don't want to get phased out we need to learn all that we can about library/web 2.0 resources/skills so that we can again become a vital part of the school.

#15 Library Research

After reading these articles I have decided to focus on a few articles which include "Into a New World of Librarianship" by Michael Stephens, "Away from the "Icebergs"" by Rick Anderson and "To More Powerful Ways to Cooperate" by Chip Nilges. These articles have convinced me that I need to change my focus to how web 2.0 tools can assist me in engaging students and teachers to locate the information that they need. Each article points out thoughtful ideas which I plan on using when redesigning my library as well as the tools we are using for this tutorial. Cooperation, collaboration and change are words to live by for the web 2.0 tools. You can't be afraid to try something new or ask the students how they did something or show them a better way to locate information.....its what we do as librarians.

I also read the artcle "A Rural School District Shows How One New Service in 1992 Put in Motion a Steady Wave of Library Support" by George Bishop. Although it focuses on embedding ILL into the library program it also shares several ways that you can embed technology into your library program.