Library Related Blogs

I found the LC blog interesting and informative but still don't see myself using it often.
I guess I have to be perfectly, brutally honest, blogs totally bore me. I have a friend riding cross county on a bike and he blogs about his day through his iphone-that is a way for me to keep up with his progress-otherwise I would never spend my time looking at blogs.

Summary

I was exposed to many new worlds in 23 things and thought it was a constructive exercise. I thought it was fun learning about wikis and mappers and some other tools I have never used. And I think much of the technology is most useful. But I think there is just alot of stuff out there for folks with too much time on their hands. For instance ROLLO listed someone who put all of their favorite shoppin sites on a list. What is wrong with bookmarks?
And one thing that I find very useful was not included and that is google maps. I think every librarian should know about google earth and the distance measurement tool-that we could use daily with our patrons. And I also use google calendar - another useful free tool.

Netlibrary

When the overdrive books were first introduced to MCPL I spent alot of time figuring out how to download (with my techie husbands help). I listened to quite a a few books on my IPOD. But honestly, it is quite a time consuming process and I quit doing it instead downloading podcasts-which are much less labor intensive.
I think our patrons are always surprised to discover that there can be waiting lists on netlibrary books. And of course there are lots of users who whould love to be able use the library for their Kindles.

Podcasts

The links posted in the 23 things tutorial don't work, but I have been listening to podcasts for several years.
I admit my husband set up the software, but I am now a "techie podcaster" The podcasts I download are from the NPR and NYTimes websites. I subscribe to the NYTimes book review, Science Times, Diane Rehm week in review, Car Talk, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me - all of my favorite radio shoes that I don't have a chance to listen to during the week. Oh and I don't want to forget the story from Lake Wobegon.
I listen to Podcasts in the car, walking and at the gym.

You Tube

I discovered You Tube when Tina Fey was on SNL. I now use it for clips on TV shows that I missed. Or when that singer was so over the top on American Idol-Susan whats her name.
I also use it for political events-like the Broadcast dinner for Obama. In fact, between Hulu, YouTube and Netflix (streaming) I know very few 20 somethings who have cable TV anymore.

Web 2.0

Well this was a no-brainer. I use Craigs list and Worldcat all of the time.
In fact, I can' t even remember a time without them. I wonder how people found apts., jobs, sold furniture, etc without it. I think Craigs list will drive the WP out of business. And I use Worldcat daily at work to locate and verify books.

Online Productivity Tools

I use Google Docs and Spreadsheets frequently. I like to be able to access the information anytime from any computer. I also tell patrons about it frequently when they have forgotten a memory stick and have no other way to save their work. I also show them how easy it is to email the doc. I was however unfamiliar with Zoho writer and will keep it in mind to tell patrons about who don't have gmail accounts.