Oct 20 - blog renewal

Explore
How much have I blogged since Learning 2.0? - not a lot of contribution to my own blogs but certainly a fair bit of contribution to others', including wikis, nings, etc
What do I like about blogging? - the immedicay, the colour & vibrancy, the reflection of myself
Have I found other blogs to read? - oh yeah, heaps. Some I follow, others I check in on every now and then. I have set up various rss feeds but I find I don't use that so often anymore, rather I hit on things on my way past and file them away for later
Do I comment on others' blogs? - yes and no. It really depends on the writer and the topic. Sometimes the best comment is silence.

Adventure
Okay, I found a 3rd party template to use. Tried one site but it wasn't easy, flicked through another, decided on Pyzam - love the images but found the manipulation of html a bit of a headache - I didn't want to lose all the widgets I had already created so I had to save my first template's html somewhere else and then work out where in the new lot of html to insert my widgets back in - and make it work. Took me a while but I got there in the end - thank goodness for the 'preview' button and 'clear edits'. I love the available images from Pyzam but had difficulty getting rid of unwanted text - in hindsight probably should not have done the editing in html at all as I'm hardly html savvy.

Still - does it look good to you??

I have to admit though that rejuvenating my blog has given me cause to continue to rejuvenate myself with the 2.1 experience.

Learning 2.1 - back in the hot seat.

Well, well, well. Here we are again. It's great to see a new edition of the Learning 2.0 program begin and I'm quite excited about exploring Learning 2.1 - should be fun. Thanks and congratulations to Mylee & Ellen for pushing forward with this and for continuing to expose and explore the 2.? world.

I've completed the survey and noted the few areas i'm still a 'new user' so I'll try to make the effort to give those areas a bit more of a go when possible. Looking forward to it.

My contribution today (staff meeting in 6 minutes) is a new look for my blog ...... okay, I'm not too sure how long the pink is going to last but it's the least I can do for pink ribbon day yesterday (aside from the cupcakes and yummies we ate).

The time and place of social networking in our lives

Over the last few weeks, if not months, I've struggled with finding time to get all that needs to be done at work (and home too I guess) done. These last 2 weeks I've found time from somehwere and it's been great to have that sense of achievement - of being able to contribute where I'd like to be contributing. Though I do sense the fog closing in soon.
The oft' cried complaint is that we simply have no time for things - we're busy getting the job done, using loads of social networking tools and other technologies to enhance our work flows and processes and yet we find that there's still more to do each day. Yesterday I found myslef scrambling to accept that 5 o'clock had come round, I simply wasn't ready for it - still so much left to do and the day had gone (still trying to work out where it went - think it may have gone fishing with the rest of my family out on the river.....). In this current clime we're being asked to do more with less, and less. New technologies help us achieve these results but we still need the time to get used to how they operate, else we look foolish (or worse). By taking the time out to write this blog post I delay getting another task completed. By attending an all-day meeting tomorrow I delay getting even more stuff done, yet I need to go to the meeting in order to achieve other outcomes. Just as I need to keep contributing to my blog in order to restore my skills and abilities. The benefit is there, it'll just take a little while to filter through as a benefit.

Perhaps that's what we forget most when spending precious moments using social networking tools, contributing to blogs and wikis and nings and so on - there is a benefit to this activity, it isn't necessarily immediate and whilst it may take a little while for that benefit to filter through, the act of contributing and collaborating with others on the journey is certainly felt and appreciated.
I look back and see that it's over 12 months since I last wrote in this space and yet here I am - I have written in other spaces and explored other avenues but it's certainly rewarding to come back and look over my journey and know it's been a worthwhile one.

Readers Advisory Meeting, Tamworth City Library, 29th July, 2008.

meeting opened 2pm

Present:

Ellen Forsyth (State Library), Nicole Don (Richmond Tweed), Surinder Kaur (Coffs Harbour), Linda Brenton (Coffs Harbour), Valerie Phillips (Cessnock), Kim Shepherd (Wingecarribee), Michelle Hudson (Kiama), Frances Riva (Ashfield), Philip Edney (Burwood), Helen Cowen (Wingecarribee - Bowral), Martin Mantle (Armidale), Wendy Millar (Central Northern - Tamworth), Kate Nalder (Central Northern - Tamworth), Howard Boyle (Southern Tablelands), Cathy Johnston (Clarence), Jenn Martin (Auburn - remote via GoogleDocs)

Apologies:

Charina Kofod (Holroyd), Virginia Ghezi (Camden), Jo Smith (Lake Macquarie), Merilyn Hills (Hornsby), Joan Ingram (Singleton), Ros Dorsman (Central West), Chantal Birt (Central West), Jasmine Vidler (Central West)

Agenda:

• Report on planning for Readers Week in September.

• Ideas inspired by Learning 2.0.

• Ideas for shared resources

• RA wiki, RA blog & RISG/RA Forum

• Slam the Boards! & RA

• Next chapter: public libraries in Australia and New Zealand for older generations, State Library of New South Wales 1-2 May 2009.

• Communication - reference e-list ; aliaREAD

Readers Week (Jenn Martin)

Mark the occasion at your library with some of the suggestions compiled by the NSW Readers Advisory Working Group, available from the Readers Advisory Wiki: http://readersadvisory.wetpaint.com/page/Readers+Week+-+September

Members of the public can get involved by making their own motivational reading posters, which can be displayed in libraries (or elsewhere!).

Called Reading Around Our Region, a flickr group has been set up to collect posters created by library users all over NSW.

We can encourage our customers to support and celebrate reading this September by making their own Motivational Reading Poster and sharing!

Basic Instructions:

1. Join the flickr group

2. Take a photo that expresses how you feel about reading

3. Create a poster featuring your image at Big Huge Labs by using their Motivator mashup for flickr

4. Add the poster to the flickr group pool and tag it with rwmot so that we can keep track of all the wonderful posters that everyone is creating

5. Check and see if your local library is running a competition for the best motivational Reading poster - there could be goodies and prestige in it for you!

The motivator poster generator is here: http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/motivator.php

The Reading Around Our Region flickr group is here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/779314@N25/

And the instructions for the public on how to create their own poster are here: http://attachments.wetpaintserv.us/Ag6zaoJMr2LxgBjO%2BD%24KqQ%3D%3D96768

You can also post your photos of Readers Week events here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/537199@N21/

All links relating to the NSW Readers Advisory Working Group can also be found here: http://delicious.com/librarycreature/nswreadersadvisoryworkinggroup

Happy Reading!

Ideas inspired by Learning 2.0

http://nswpubliclibrarieslearning2.blogspot.com/

Comments from around the room indicated that not everyone had finished the Learning 2.0 program; Ellen that new participants were signing up each week so the program is continuing to be a dynamic learning ground for all things 2.0;

Considering the range of 2.0 tools currently being used around the state it was clear that this training program has been extremely useful and productive.

RA wiki, RA blog, RISG/RA Forum, Mashups (refer Readers Week), flickr, GoogleDocs (minutes being taken using Googledocs to allow participation by remote attendees), etc.......

everyone asked to consider how they could/do apply Web 2.0 in their library/Librarian environment

Ideas for shared resources

Promoting resources you can access online - look at the RA wiki & blog for some useful urls (aliaREAD,etc), please suggest others;

Martin (Armidale) suggested a humorous books list on the RA wiki, books that make you laugh, consideration for readers week list? - books that are upbeat, a feel good list;

also websites and specialist booksellers - please feel free to add them to the wiki

RA wiki & RA / RISG Forum

RA blog (http://www.nsw-risg.org/rablog/)

RA wiki (http://readersadvisory.wetpaint.com/)

RISG/RA Forum (http://www.nsw-risg.org/forum/)

These urls are also located on the RA wiki; try them out - different tools for different applications

Slam the Boards! & RA (Cathy Johnston)

http://answerboards.wetpaint.com/page/Slam+the+Boards%21?t=anon

Answer Boards and social searching is a Learning 2.0 Week 8 activity - http://nswpubliclibrarieslearning2.blogspot.com/ ; http://nswpubliclibrarieslearning21.blogspot.com/2008/03/week-8-answer-boards-and-social.html ;

This is not just a reference tool - eg. Yahoo Answers - Arts & Humantities - Books and Authors - http://answers.yahoo.com/dir/;_ylt=AhGTa5DQIMwR1xn4Ir0RjLiExQt.;_ylv=3?link=list&sid=396545299

It makes a great practice tool

It makes a great training training tool

Join the Answer Boards Librarians - http://answerboards.wetpaint.com/page/Participating+Librarians

Ask a question

Answer a question - using our tools (eg. NoveList, etc)

Pick a 'best answer'

Get a 'best answer'

Next chapter: public libraries in Australia and New Zealand for older generations, State Library of New South Wales 1-2 May 2009. (Ellen Forsyth)

The call for papers is out now (closes 26 September - http://www.auslib.com.au/pdfs/Callforpapers2009.pdf).

It would be great to have a couple of RA papers on the program.

There are three groups of older folk - leading edge baby boomers (55 - 60 something), well aged (fit aged) and frail aged. There are RA services for all of these groups.

This could also be an opportunity to look at starting some research around RA services for older folk.

Points to consider when it comes to our Seniors clientele - reduced numbers of LP books (delay in best sellers/new releases being available in alternative formats - fiction & non-fiction); TB's - listening for the narrator rather than the story/author; pressures from increased populations in various areas (balancing collections to meet this demand whilst also continuing to service existing clients, ie. making sure YA doesn't miss out due to increased demands from increased seniors); keeping technologies up with the demand (Navigators).

Research? - existing bookgroups; ageing populations (ie, north coast retirement 'hot spots' - eg. Yamba/Iluka);

The language of ageing; careful terminology - what is seniors? (baby boomers, fit aged, frail aged); targetet/specific services (eg. housebound), accidental services (eg. reading groups where it just so happens that the attendees fall within the 'seniors' framework); social isolation;

Strategies; balancing need/demand/local dynamics - retirement villages, nursing homes, frail-aged-staying-at-home;

Assumptions - 'good book, well written', Granny (aged 90) might not want Catherine Cookson, she may prefer Darren Shan ......... remember the basic principles of RA, it's all about what the customer wants, not what you think they need

Communication

Reference e-list; aliaREAD; Ellen will send out instructions again to PLN e-list on joining the various e-lists; anyone can join aliaREAD - go to ALIA site (check link on RA wiki), digest/individual posts available

It is important that all staff have the availability of these e-lists; a reminder to ensure that staff receiving one (eg. reference) know to make that list available to others who may not be on the list; these lists are our primary points of communication for upcoming events, seminars, Readers Week, feedback, etc - please spread the word

What are you reading right now?

(the fun bit!!)

TS Eliot; JK Rowling / Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows; Loani Prior/Wild Tea Cosies

David Sedaris/Naked; Richard North Patterson/Conviction; Oscar Wilde/The Picture of Dorian Gray

Max Lucado/Finding Your Sweet Spot; Irene Nemirovsky/Suite Francais

John Wyndham/Chocky; Orson SCott Card/Enders Game; John Mrasden/Checkers

Catherine Jinks/A Gentleman's Garden; Elizabeth Gilbert/Eat, Pray, Love; Caroline Hamilton/Consumed

Kim Edwards/The Memory Keeper's Daughter; Jodi Picoult/Change of Heart

Dorothy Dunnet/Niccolo Rising

Susan Vreeland/Girl in Hyacinth Blue

Superannuation; selection of Australian fiction

Kathryn Fox/Without Consent; Maria V. Schneider/Poison Study

National Geographic, June issue; Marcus Zusak/The Book Thief; Nino Cullotta/They're a Weird Mob

Dream time and meditation; Steve Light/I am Happy - touch & feel picture book of feelings

Nick Hornby/A Long Way Down; iphone for Dummies; Sebastian Faulks/Devil May Care

Connie Willis/The Doomsday Book

Terry Jones/Barbarians; Patrick Rothfuss/The Name of the Wind

Cormac McCarthy/The Road; Margaret Atwood/Oryx and Crake

Meeting closed 4pm

Date and venue for next meeting yet to be determined.

kids and reptiles mosaic

kids and reptiles mosaic
Originally uploaded by CatyJ

In exploring options for the upcoming Readers Week 2008 I put together this mashup of my favourite reptiles and of course my favourite children....... now, applying that to Reading????

So what if it's all over, the point is to keep going, and growing, and learning - never stop learning!!

Following on from the PLNSW-C Conference 2008 last week at Tamworth - "The Power of Place" (wonderful time had by all even if my feet are still killing me from walking around so much!!), I have been following Chrystie Hill's meanderings through our lovely country and after spending Friday last chatting extensively with her and Marian Koren during a drive from Tamworth to the newly relocated Manilla Library and then for a quick visit back to Tamworth to visit the newly refurbished South Tamworth Library before dropping them off at the airport for their flight to Sydney (complete with more than a few other conference attendees!), I decided to check out Twitter. I'm still trying to work out how it will best help/suit me but from Chrystie's talk I can truly see its possible applications - I just have to work it out a bit more first...... So anyway, I've now dumped it into my 2 blogs and am curious to see how long it will take before I'm Twittering madly each day! I can hardly wait!

Parting is such sweet sorrow.....

It's with a certain degree of reluctance that I face the end of the Learning 2.0 program. In reality there is no end as Learning is ongoing each and every day.
I have spent the last week or two going back across other Learning 2.0 participants' blogs and have found the experience rewarding (and frustrating too at times). Mostly I've enjoyed discovering what others got out of each exercise - I got one thing, they got another. I can see that some weeks I completely ignored particular aspects or I flew over them as quick as I could. Other weeks I got stuck into one tiny aspect and went over board on it. It's all been great and I am so glad to be able to view others' discussions and learnings along the way. This has certainly been a worthwhile journey and I am grateful for the opportunity.

Among a number of the blogs I have read a few disparaging comments from gainsayers to the whole exercise. I guess this is where I feel so discouraged by others' attitudes and narrow perceptions. Lack of funding is not an uncommon catch cry ("surely NSL staff time and effort could be better spent on getting us more for our dollar from the Premier's dept. [sic]") but here we have been opened to a learning concept (Accredited by ALIA) completely free that exposes us to where the world is and helps us help our clients so much better. For someone who has recently completed a Masters (and paid for the privilege) this cannot be ignored. I am disheartened by the lack of foresight in these gainsayers and am concerned for the future of their library services. In many regards exploring Web/Library 2.0 is all about getting on board or getting tossed overboard.
I admit that finding time for all these exercises can be problematic in an already busy world, but it is not an excuse, nor should it be accepted as one. As someone who is just as busy as the next person I simply ensured that Learning 2.0 was given credence within the schedule of my working day. That's right, I scheduled it in just as I would schedule a meeting or desk shift. By valuing my time and valuing this program I was able to then value my contribution and therefore my own learning. It's all about attitude.....

At the recent Imagination to Transformation Futures Conference, President of ALA Leslie Burger made the following comment:
Re-imagine all that libraries can be. The key to the future for libraries is our ability as a community to continually reimagine our service program in a way that makes it fresh and exciting for all of our users.......... if we get too comfortable and unable to get out of our comfort zone, we run the risk of of marginalizing what we do. We have to invest in work teams that are flexible, future focussed and fanatical about their committment to change. (http://www.palinet.org/media/ReflectionsFuture-Burger.pdf)

I'd like to thank the team at PLS for all the effort they put into this learning program and to also credit them for not losing their optimism and high regard for what we aim to achieve through Learning 2.0. Throughout all the comments they made on everyone's blogs they maintained a positive outlook and encouragement to constructively help participants move forward. Well done and thankyou.

Return to Week 8 - Slam the Boards!

After inviting the rest of the Reference e-list along I have spent the day Slamming! I'm currently exhausted and don't know if any of my answers have been chosen as 'Best Answer', but I'm hopeful.
I kept with my favourite category (Arts & Humanities - Books & Authors) and in the process discovered a great little cheat site called Spark Notes, with heaps of free online study guides.
I think it's time for more chocolate and a coffee to get me home.

Week 12 - the end is nigh.

I've come to the end of the program and am struggling to fully verbalise what I've learned and how I can see social networking being used and applied successfully in the library environment. It's not that I don't know the answer to the question, more that I perhaps need a little more time to coalesce my thoughts into a cohesive, relevant, and understandable statement.
So I think I'll go grab a coffee and ponder.