son of a gun, I used it again

I was at a picnic on Sunday with people from my church. Over our delicious picnic food, the conversation turned to computers. I dazzled the crowd with my descriptions of all the wonderful things available over the internet. My listeners, aged 30 to 90 years old, were fascinated. They especially enjoyed my tales of Facebook and my alias of Hepzibah Pontipee. As I was driving home, I was chuckling to myself that I, the least computer-oriented person around, had entertained my companions with the wonders of the computer world. The irony is delicious, I think.

putting this all to work

I just told a customer about podcasts and how to find them on the internet. She was delighted and couldn't wait to go home and try them. Hurrah!

check out the new location!

My reading blog has been launched. Check it out at:

www.carolhashernoseinabook.blogspot.com

The last post (in this format anyway)

Okay, my one sentence description of my 23 things on a stick experience would be: Wow, was there a lot of frustration involved. Not being a techie really put me at a disadvantage. I don't know a lot of the "common" procedures and the language--many of the things we looked at assume more knowledge than I have. Directions were sadly unhelpful for many of the things. I really liked the things that could help me professionally (Library Things; del.ici.ous and the RSS feeds) but the more social things left me cold. I like to be actively involved, not just reading...which I don't enjoy doing from a computer screen. I loved Flickr, could spend hours idly hopping from interest to interest, place to place. This will be useful in the future. I was delighted that I actually knew (and had recommended to customers) about one of the things (the Assignment Calculator), yeah for me! This entire experience has brought me closer to my fellow librarians because they had to answer so many questions and hold my hand through many applications and, bless their lovely little hearts, listen to me whine! It really took a village to get me through this experience!

As I said in my evaluation, please remember the children's librarians next time...or give us our own 23 Things on a Stick! I would have been happier working on this if I could easily picture how to use each thing professionally.

My last words on the subject: bring on the chocolate!!!

Thing 22

How I will keep up with Library 2.0 by Loving Swedish Baritones

Why does this feel like "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" from school days long gone by?

Being human, I know I'll just keep up on the things that really interest me and that I can use to help me do my job better. First, this blog will be undergoing a transformation -- I want to change it to a reading blog because I love to share books, to help my fellow (hmm, we're all women....) librarians with children's reader's advisory questions and to keep my hand in at some of the library things (importing photographs, book lists, etc.) For a non-computer user, I am surprised at how excited I am about this project. I was lying in bed a couple days ago and Eureka!-ed, I need to have a poetry books list on my blog. You should believe in miracles, readers!

I'm trying to figure out a way to keep in close communication with my fellow (okay, one is a guy) children's librarians about programming, things that work, things that don't, etc. so we are not constantly reinventing the wheel --time is short and a good idea should be shared.

I was a little peeved at the learn something every day hint here--computers are not the only way to learn something, you know. Broadening my mind and my experience is very important to me (a history of Alzheimer's in my family has me doing everything I can to keep my brain active and functioning) and now using the computer is another way to do it beyond the wonder of books, the joy of good conversation, my magazine-aholism and every other way information comes at me in the day.

This has been an interesting experience and I am so grateful for the help and support of Librarian D.O.A., the Floating Lush, Libba Bray Cormier and Me and The Gilded Giraffe. Thank you very much.

Thing 21

All of this online socializing...how do people find the time? I'm always busy doing weeding, planning programs, womanning the reference desk, trying to catch up on all that needs to be done...I just don't have time to be a social being during my work week. Some of this is too cute for me but I did get some good stuff off of Web Junction, things I can really use as a children's librarian. Ning is not my thing...too much like Facebook which admits to being just for fun (and actually seems to be fun, so far though my adorable nephew still hasn't accepted me as a friend...boo hoo) and it was very difficult to sign up: I tried to join at the 23 Things on a Stick page and the sign-up block came up, I filled it out (3 different times) but it was not accepted. I was finally able to sign up by starting at the Ning welcome page. Why did this happen? It was very frustrating. Being a shy person, I don't understand why people put their entire lives, complete with photographs, out on the web for strangers to paw through. This is so invasive to me. I want to choose who and how I share my life. I really don't like social networking. I can see some uses for it in a professional capacity but personally, no way.

Thing 20

After much coaxing and encouragement from Librarian DOA, I reluctantly started a Facebook page. I really don't like having my name out there, I don't like strangers thinking they know me so I am Hepzibah Pontipee (one of the alternative names for the baby born at the end of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers). I filled out my profile, joined 2 groups (I yell at inanimate objects and Chocolate = Love) and asked a coworker and my adorable nephew (brother to my gorgeous niece) to be friends. Libba Bray Cormier and Me accepted immediately, nephew is pending. LBCM is going to give me a Facebook lesson later so I can try all the little nuances (ever seen the movie Diner where Paul Reiser's character is discussing words he doesn't like/can't trust--nuance is one of them!). As long as I can do this anonymously, I think it could be fun.

I looked at the linked library sites on MySpace as well as the one for the teen area at Minneapolis Public Library. The music is annoying (thank goodness for the mute button), but, yowza, there is a lot of information on those pages. Our library webpage is strictly supervised by the county which doesn't understand the need for color, action and general attractiveness of a webpage so a MySpace page could be a very fun way to get information out to the public, without the rules interfering....

I must admit I don't understand this need to put all of oneself out where everybody can see it. I don't own a cell phone (can't imagine who I'd need to be talking to all of the time...sometimes I don't want anybody to be able to find me) or a computer (yes, I function quite well without one) so I've never been particularly interested in "social networking" and, as a shy person, I am quite selective on who I let into my private life. That said, I think this could be a merry adventure for me, er, Hepzibah Pontipee.