Thing #8: Share Creations

PictureTrail was easy to use and provided many creative display options. I picked one that reminded me of file drawers...old technology to new! The photos from my personal collection have a seasonal theme which have me longing for green grass days and Rainy Lake fishing.

I'd recommend PictureTrail for creative displays - library or personal. Don't be put off by the sample displays...you don't have to be a kissy-faced teen to do this!

In the past I've used Kodak Gallery, Snapfish, and Shutterfly. I'd recommend any of these for photo save/distribution.

bweldon

Thing #7- Web 2.0 Communication Tools

Email is the preferred method of reference and document retrieval and delivery here. I still have many walk-ins during the day, but they're usually verifying something from hard-copy sources or escaping for a bit from offices/cubes/phones to scan the newest science mags or trade lit or WSJ. Customers prefer email to send requests and I respond by email (with attachments) as often as possible. Email has SO improved productivity here with great time savings. I liked the email productivity reminders esp. the tip to be honest..."guilt will not make you more responsive two months from now."

IM and SMS are tools I've used outside the library. IM isn't currently allowed in our resident email system, but if a business use can be proven, it might be. It would be a real time saver in linking staff. Using email for customer correspondence keeps the communication more formal - and traceable - which I appreciate. Is there a danger of IM in a solo situation with users expecting instant answers? Maybe. The use of acronyms make IM/texting a whole new language! If my company paid for my texting, I'd be glad to use it if a user preferred that mode of notification.

I "attended" these Minitex' archived training sessions: Web 2.0 Tools - Del.icio.us and Wikis - both presented by Carla Steinberg Pfahl. What a great Minitex service! I've attended many webinars presented by SLA and vendors. The concept is great for quick learning...just don't make me sit at the screen too long or I'll be asleep on the keyboard!

bweldon

Thing #6: Image (Trading Card)

I still haven't figured out how to alter a previous post, so this is Thing #6, Part 2, Trading Card.

I love the Carleton College trading cards...what a clever way to (super) humanize yourself while touting your specialties. Many applicable ideas here for enhancing my brown-bag-seminar to employees.

I need more photos in my Flickr account. Anyone who has followed this blog is sick to death of me with the cake! Sorry!!

Thing #6: Image Generators

Thing 5: More Flickr Fun

I hope this is considered a mash-up. I'm certainly getting a lot of mileage from that darned picture! I used Big Huge Labs to create the magazine cover. This would be a good application for the Library. I can imagine the design of creative covers to advertise online and print subscriptions. And how great it would be to produce my own posters.

I'm looking forward to our Library 2.0/23Things info-sharing meeting on Wed. night at Donaldson Co. It's the pits to be a solo librarian - and, dare I say - over the age of 55, without younger, computer-savvy co-workers with whom to share these assignments. Those of you in that situation are VERY lucky. Hug your staff members now!

Thing #4: Flickr

I explored Flickr, searched by keyword (tags), watched the video, and set up a Flickr account. I had the photo from my 20th anniversary saved on my computer already, so it was easy to retrieve and save to Flickr and really easy to add to this entry.

I like the searchability of Flickr for photos of all types. My favorite tag was "library cats" and I'll use one of those photos in a future blog entry. The "add a note" application with mousing-over for details, like book titles, gives me lots of ideas.

One thing I haven't figured out in Flickr is how to add one more tag to a picture that I previously loaded and tagged. I hope to find that answer as I do Thing 5.

Thing 3 - RSS

My Bloglines account is set up with 20 feeds added. I installed "Sub with Bloglines" to more easily add feeds. Most of my feeds are library-related but another one is from our parent company with corporate and product announcements. I added Boing Boing for its randomness and BBC for a newsfeed. I'm still reviewing 23 Things blogs for one to add.

The concept of RSS feeds is great...if I choose to go to Bloglines and read them. It seems, though, that unless you're compelled to read someone's post or are chasing a hot topic, you may not bother with your feeds for days or weeks.

Newsfeeds are everywhere - our intranet (work) main page, on displays in the hallways around the building, my home computer browser home page, every public area including airports...it's hard not to know, at least, some piece of news. So, my Bloglines newsfeed may most often be used for recall or more detail of recent stories from BBC.

bweldon