Session 15 -  Team projects - Tech Review Projects

  I must say that I was very impressed with my other classmates Library Tech Projects.  To teams Sandra-Joshua Elkhart/Avon Washington Public libraries-  you did a fantastic job with your project.  Gold stars to your team .  Very well done.  The similarities were well defined and the layout of your power point was well thought out.  Your project was well outlined and comprehensive.  Your covered your technology review very well right down to the inclusion of the software used by both libraries Polaris and Sirsi Dynix. 

Frank-Jumoke, St. Joseph's County Public Library/Indiana University NW Public Library-  I liked that you included the addditonal information for both libraries on their additional resources available (Government publications collection and the Calmut archives). 

 Chris-Tamara , Bartholomew/Logansport Public libraries-  I found the history of the libraries interesting but thought it could have been shorter so that you could get to the technology review.  Otherwise a great project.  

 As for my team, Randi, Tommie and I feel that we could have really done a better job in putting our project together.  We definitely fell far short of putting together a project together.  I put the blame on me for not being a better team player.  Howver I must admit that I learned alot from the teams above on how to put a project together and hence come up with a great project.  To all the participants, my classmates THANK YOU for TEACHING Me on how to put a good project together as a TEAM. 

Reflections!!!!!  Blogging   (Session 15)

 I feel we all have our preferences when it comes to technology.  Blogs are easy to set up but hard to maintain.   I must say that I learned how to blog  and even as the course went along I  somewhat mastered the URL of my blog (phew)!! it became a personal reflection on things experienced during the course and some were personal.Blogs require regular updating to keep the traffic up.   All of my classmates blogs were interesting.  The one blog I always wanted to read every week was Frank.   His blogs were always very interesting and I learned from them too in a strange but nice kinda way.  I found blogs in following other web blogs to be tools where people could vent, follow a seminar or workshop etc....that to me even sounded like Facebook.

 Its been said that "people do remember the URL of their favorite blogs but don’t remember the name of the author of the book which they have last read (if they got time to displace their face from system screens and turn it to the books), students get quiet witty when asked about what was posted on Amir Khan’s or any other celebrity’s blog yesterday or the day before but their repartee flunks out when asked about the work they are assigned to do by their professors." 

Lastly food for thought a commment by BlogTechnika "  Blogging may be a world for bloggers but one should not forget that there is a another real world exist (at the end of the day we have to show our face to our society). So try to give importance to your real life and do blogging in a disciplined way. There are certain ways of relieving yourself from blogging stress. Try to make use of all of them. Happy blogging."   I agree with this statement 100%.

 Who does not have a blog?

LIBR 105 has been quiet a ride.   To all my classmates I say "  Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. "  Happy Learning !!

Christmas is a necessity. There has to be at least one day of the year to remind us that we're here for something else besides ourselves. (Eric Sevareid)

Session 15 :   SecondLife  I wish I could say that I enjoyed SecondLife.  It really did feel like a second life.   I found it challenging and reminded me of a video game.  I don't mind the intrigue and even the amazing graphics.   My avatar was unique.  I enjoyed dressing her up.   One thing I found errie was meeting different people even while taking a walk or shopping, conversations would be interrrupted by so many people at a given time.  I got to meet quiet a few and found out they were from different parts of the world.   I visited Book Island; Imagination Island and a teleport to Billie's Jazz Island.  I would not be using this type of media anytime soon.  Frankly I did not enjoy...it is not something I will be using in my everyday business life. Even the Secondlife avatar of the first couple is not  complimentary.  

So long SecondLife.

Disadvantage/s: It's a virtual world.

The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom. ~Isaac Asimov, Isaac Asimov's Book of Science and Nature Quotations, 1988

Session 15.... that is how I feel about technology.  Facebook was one of my projects.  

 While I enjoy Facebook to keep up with family, I find that it is the ogre of society.  People put too much personal information and talk about some of the pictures.  I feel Facebook is open season if you do not follow Facebook etiquette.   I like that I can keep up with family all over the world, send birthday, and congratulatory messages to family and friends.   I was able to sign up on our local library Facebook page.  

Our library has a Facebook page.   http://www.facebook.com/HancockCountyPublicLibrary  Its nice that you can keep up with library events, know about the Friends Book Sale, Battle of the Books 2011 etc.  One thing I adhere to and preach to my kids is Customize Who Can See Your Facebook Status Updates.   You can decide who gets to see a particular update--or, if you prefer, who doesn't.  But how secure is it. Lately security /privacy came into question even with the founder of Facebook: 

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg becomes a victim of privacy glitch.  

Zuckerberg's private photos go viral

·  Facebook security flaw reveals images

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/technology/irony-facebook-ceo-mark-zuckerberg-becomes-a-victim-of-privacy-glitch/story-e6frfro0-1226215870163#ixzz1gANDnQl6

Session 14  It's a long and winding road!!!!

Finally got our home ready for Christmas we were done before Dec. 1st.  Great job to my wonderful husband.   The lights outside look wonderful.   I really cannnot wait for a break from school this semster and looking forward to the end of the year.  Bring in the New Year with new beginnings and stability.  Hope for all!!

Anyway I was able to send my notes on the visit to the Pendleton library for our group so that we can finish off our project. Our team should have this done shortly.  Can't wait to see the end result. 

I also signed up for my classes for next semester.  Waited for the last minute so to speak but have that done too. 

When things fall apart   Session 14 ..... sounds like the title of a book by Chinua Achebe.  Great read.  

Well this session was about waht to do when technology falls apart.  The long and the short is most time we need to foolow the instructions on the LCD of most equipment.  Manufacturers have made it so easy anymore to be able to "DO it Yourself".   Sometimes its as simple as did you remember to turn on the equipment.  I remember an embarrasing moment when I had forgotten to turn on the screen of the self chakc machine.  I thought I had done so ...you know how that goes.  Burke does a great job in sending a clar messsage, to quote"  If you spend much time using technology, you will find that many difficulties can be solved with a few basic skills. ....many "fixes can be handled by the end user, otherwise known as "you"."  I agree. 

Trying to get all these projects done.   I must say that I have not really enjoyed using Second Life.  I guess you have to be really into all that kind of technology.   The experience has been interesting to say the least.  My daughter said "mum you have to be careful some people have been known to get addidcted."    I am not one of them.  I have doing a world tour and getting ont the different Islands.  The people you meet...being able to compare cultures.    Almost done.  As for Facebook I have been able to keep up with our local library with respect to programming etc.  on a personal note I was able to follow my niece who lives in Greece doing a European tour with some friends.  Fascinating pictures she has taken.  I am impressed.

Session 13 :  Thank you Ms. Alicia Pitman, Assistant Director, Children's Librarian at the Pendleton Library.  Unfortunately Randi could not make it.  Ms. Pitman was so gracious and accommodating anwering all my questions and more.  She took me on a tour of her library and even showed off their new wing. I did spend more time than I anticipated because apart from the project we talked about her enthusiasm  and passion of working with the library. It was a great visit, very memorable.  All that's left is to get together with my colleagues about our library project.  

In Session 13, we considered how to protect our technology and its users (security systems, locking equipment, limiting functions, electronic measures, digital copyright), and then build and secure the technology environment (ergonomics, infrastructure, and gaming).  F-scure.com was a very insightful website which talked about what we should be doing doing the holidays e.g. changing out passwords on our laptops, computers, smart phones, i-pads and even what to look out for when shopping on line.   This is a great web-site.   To quote F-secure :  You’ve got your antivirus, anti-spyware and firewall up and running. You update your software all the time, patching any security holes as they come up.Still, that may not be enough.According to Travelers’ Insurance, old fashion theft is still the most popular choice for identity criminals. 78% of all fraud is the result of the burglary and theft of wallets, purses, ID cards or computers. However, 14% of all identity thefts happen online. While most online fraud begins with a large-scale data breach, bad choices made by us—the computer users—are making life forsier for thieves.  

  As far as ergonomic furniture etc. in chapter 16 I must say this I found to be very important when I worked at the Hancock County Public Library.   When we first moved into the new building at some point I had to get ergonomic mats for the staff at Circulation because they were always standing.   It was important to have the staff comfortable in their work and that went a long way.   We also had ergonic chairs.  They were great and what an investment. 

Well I guess despite an early start on homework my day is still not done...Thanksgiging prepping and of course trying to get our Christams decorations up as much as we can so we can enjoy them all month.  My husband loves, love Christmas.  We have our outside decorations out already.....

At church this weekend our Giving Tree was up.  This has tags for both young and old in the community, Mental Health and Seniors and Parishoners can take a tag to buy whatever is listed on it.  What a way to give back.   Happy Thanksgiving everybody. We all have alot to be thankful for but in being thankful we also need to think of those less fortunate than us and what we can give back in a small or big way. Enjoy the Turkey and all that food.......

Firefighter Training  Action!!Camera 123

Session 12 .....almost there !! lots of work to do re:projects.....
This morning my husband and got to watch the Firefighters in action.   They used the house next door (had been condemned ) for fire fighting practice.   Now it is just rubble.   It was like you say in America "awesome"!!  my kids and grandkids would be proud of me for saying that!!ha!
Proud of myself for downloading my pcitures onto my computer then a picture onto my blog...this class is certainly paying off despite being overwhelmed with project deadlines etc.    Still working on my projects...Facebook and Secondlife. 

This week we looked at library websites the creative process etc.  What do library websites offer.  It was nice to look at other library websites and I would say in most part all are very user friendly.  


LoOk at this a Phone booth library


by Public Libraries on November 11, 2011

Remember phone booths? You know those rectangle boxes that superman would use to change into his superman clothes? The thing you would put a quarter in (or a dime if you’re really old) to make a phone call? Well now that everyone including 10 year olds have cell phones, we no longer need phone booths.



It appears they don’t need them in the UK either. In Somerset, they decided to turn a phone booth into a library. Some would probably call that crazy, but we call it totally awesome!



The ground floor is home to the children’s department which of course has children’s books. The 2nd and 3rd floors are home to more advanced reading. We’re guessing it’s really easy to call the library to put a book on hold too. The building is energy efficient and all the materials used to build the facility are recycled.



Anyways, we love this small library in the UK.

How do you think they create their Library Web site???