stay tuned...

i plan on using this blog in the future for more exciting, and not-so-blah subjects.
no offense to my library peeps, but...come on!

things

yay! i have completed Library 2.0! finally! :D

i felt this program was very informative. i enjoyed several of the exercises we were assigned and have learned a lot. i think possibly too much, eeek. i will have to go back through my blog and read over issues again.

i think this was a great program for library staff to have done and i hope everyone has enjoyed it.

it excites me to think about how our own organization will change in the near future to include some or many of these interactive online tools. i am so excited to see changes in our website!

in the future, i would like to see some of the tools used in children's services, like posting online video of preschool storytimes, for example. that would be a great way that parents would be able to attend storytime with their child if they were unable to make it to any of the scheduled times.

yay for library 2.0!!!

NetLibrary

this should be interesting to try on the new mp3-player i received through the Library 2.0 program. it's ridiculous that the most prolific mp3-player, iPod, isn't able to download audiobooks. luckily i have the additional mp3-player! i would be out of luck with my iPod...why doesn't apple fix these things??? >___<

podcasts

i am excited to learn more about podcasts! i never never experimented with them before, but now will! in the last few years, i haven't listened to NPR that much anymore. in the car, i've listened to music, instead. i miss several of the programs i used to listen to, especially This American Life from Chicago Public Radio.

now i can subscribe to the program's podcasts and listen to them when i have the time. yay!

online video

a new favorite, a skit from Saturday Night Live:

web 2.0 awards, continued (i heart etsy!)

Web 2.0 Awards

i really enjoyed looking over the Web 2.0 Award Winners. i found several sites i was already familiar with (and a fan of) there, as well as some new sites i could try.

i am already a fan of YouTube, Facebook, Yahoo!Answers, and my newest favorite: Flickr. i was happy to see all of them as winning in their categories.

one site that took 2nd place in its RETAIL category was etsy. i have been hearing so many good things about this site and have been wanting to explore it.

i think i know where my next online purchase will be! www.etsy.com is a site that sells specifically handmade goods. it works like eBay, where you buy from the seller directly, not to etsy. you can search for all kinds of things, from toys to clothing to plants to housewares and art. i am especially fond of items in the toys section, i have a love for stuffed animals, and i love the look of those that are handmade! i even found amigurumi, japanese crocheted animals, yay!

Google Labs (or i heart Google)

Google never ceases to amaze me. just when i was recovering from my obsession/love of Google Earth, i now discover the products on Google Labs.

i tried Google Trends and found this search quite interesting. By going to the main page of Google Trends, you can see the top 10 searches on Google for the day (or maybe lately? until something changes?) and i was surprised when i saw my own name there at number 6! well...sort of. the number 6 search was listed as "abbiejane swogger" and so i clicked on this search to see what this was all about. my middle name is jane, afterall. i didn't realize there could possibly be any other abbie janes out there! :P

so, as it turns out, i am most certainly NOT abbiejane swogger-as she is a stripper-turned-teacher's aide in Pennsylvania who is in trouble with the law. if i've sparked your interest, why don't you do your own search on her and see what you can find. i am a little embarrassed that i have the same first and middle name as this person! hmmmphhh!



the other tool i tried today was Google Web Page Creator. i am so excited to learn about this! i think it's a great way for people to learn how to create a web page. i didn't get a chance to really experiment, so i'm not sure as to how well it works. i am excited to learn!

Yay, Google!!!

i think using Google Docs seems a very complicated way to post an entry on a blog. maybe i am just new to the idea, and need to grow accustomed to it, though. i think the real test will be when i try to post this entry to my blog!

i do like the idea of not worrying whether computers are compatible, i know that can be a big problem in the long list of problems between personal computers and macs. whether material has come from a mac or not, i have had trouble opening information (while it is a document, a presentation, etc) on any of the PC's i use. it's very frustrating.

search engines

for this exercise, i tried clusty, yahoo, and wink. clusty and yahoo both found the same "top 5" sources for given topics, while on wink, i became distracted with the people search tool. i created profiles for myself (one under my married name and one under my maiden name) but after doing so, i'm not sure exactly why. i will have to play around with wink a little more.

testing yahoo as another form of search engine almost doesn't seem fair, i mean, it's been around since the days of everyone's favorite: King Google. i've never used it much, so i guess i could start trying. i think i will test all of the search engine examples and see what i think.

i found myself wondering what happened to the search engines that originally came out in the days of yahoo and google. what happened to excite? does everything still exist? it would be interesting to see a list of every single search engine available. i think this will be my next mini-research project. :)

library 2.0

while doing the reading for this exercise, i thought of what the city library already does (and does well) with the Library 2.0 frame-of-mind and what it could do better.

to me, library 2.0 means that the library is beyond user-friendly, it's user-driven. library services and subject matter can and should be available in users' preferred environment, which has become the Web. in this part, i must admit that i am not a big fan of the city library website. and i know i'm not alone. patrons ask questions and even complain, all the time. i am hopeful that when the Web Master position is filled, our web page will improve. i believe that a great website is crucial in this era of Web 2.0 and Library 2.0.

something that the city library is doing very well these days is being MORE than just a collection of resources that users can find on the internet. we offer so many programs that most of the time, i feel like my head is spinning, we offer our public space for public discussions. in the past, i have struggled with how much of the library's resources (both in staffing and in financial) are devoted to programming. i have been of the old-school librarian thought that more of the budget should be spent on The Collection. now, thinking along library 2.0 lines, i am reexamining my position on the programming issue. perhaps it's not an issue-collection vs. programming, maybe it's necessary for the library's survival in the present and future?

i really enjoyed the examples in "Into a New World of Librarianship" of the most important traits of a LIBRARIAN 2.0, as i think i am one, or striving to be. :P

updating my travel map

create your own visited country map
or check our Venice travel guide

image generator

RSS Feeds

RSS Feeds seem confusing to me, but i have set up a Google Reader account and subscribed to the following feeds:

Google Reader bundle "Fun"
Google Reader bundle "Celebrity"

Hello Kitty Hell

Salt Lake Tribune

New York Times

New York Magazine

NY Post

i plan on spending more time with Google Reader and getting used to it. i'm still a bit confused, so i need to do this. it would be nice to subscribe to different friends' accounts on MySpace and Flickr, but i think i'll just stick to the aforementioned feeds for now.

flickr tools

while i am becoming a big fan of flickr, i don't really like any of the flickr tools. i mean, colr pickr is pretty fun, but seems ultimately pointless, unless i was really searching for photos or images of a certain color.

i plan on continuing to use flickr and i will explore the tools more.

on another note, speaking of flickr, i really do hope that i will get to create more photo "sets" once it is a new month. i read in flickr help that you can create more with the start of a new month. i have three and it just isn't enough! i don't want to pay for this service, though. i can have as many "albums" as i want on photobucket, all for free.

so, we'll see. like i said, i really like flickr and plan on using it a lot. one aspect i especially enjoy is while searching for photos, when you find a photo you like, you can save it to your "favorites." this is great!

today's favorite photos on flickr (according to moi)

i want to be this girl!





this is the beach where i was married:

i heart flickr!

i have been aware of flickr for a while, but never really used it much. i created an account a few months ago, after Britton sent out an all-staff email encouraging library peeps to do so. now, after exploring for a bit, i love it!

i have used photobucket for storing photos online for the past couple of years. i do love photobucket as well, but there are aspects of flickr that i like better. i like that you can make "contacts" and comment on user's photos.

i am a big collector of photos of different examples of asian pop culture (i believe i've mentioned my love for Hello Kitty in earlier posts) and that is mostly what i have stored on my photobucket account. while doing photo searches on flickr, i noticed all sorts of new photos that i haven't seen before, anywhere on photobucket or even google images! yay! you don't know how new photos of japanese stuffed animals makes me!

i am part of the Salt Lake Public Library Board and Staff Members flickr group, so if you'd like to check out some of my photos (especially some of my Hello Kitty & Friends collection, hehe) add me as a contact and you'll be able to view them in all their glory.

library thing

i like library thing. it's similar to an application on facebook called "visual bookshelf". i like library thing better, it seems to work more smoothly. i'll probably use library thing to keep lists of books i like for personal, as well as, professional reasons.

i will have to explore library thing more, i saw a note somewhere on the site that library thing can be added to MySpace, which would be fun to add to my page there.

i like that there is a librarian forum and that you can be connected to other library thing users that like the same books or similar books. i am excited to use this site!

ah, the joys of technorati

while exploring technorati today, i found what is quite possibly the funniest website/blog in the entire world wide web. (well, ok, maybe not to everyone, but it is to me!)

www.kittyhell.com

some of you may know of my love for Hello Kitty and other asian pop culture characters, but this website is written from a different perspective. i think those of you out there that don't quite understand my obsession will appreciate this site. a lot of the writing sounds like it is being done by my confused-yet-enabling husband, so i appreciate that as well.

just wait 'til i get my Hello Kitty tattoo one day! just wait!

Del.icio.us

it's a little embarrassing to me that i was unaware of tagging and the bookmarking of websites on websites like Del.icio.us. On my personal computer at home, I have a bunch of bookmarks saved, and i've even experienced the problem of being at work and unable to find those bookmarked websites! Del.icio.us accounts would come in handy in a few ways. The first is the the way i just mentioned-being able to find websites i'd bookmarked on any computer, anywhere (with internet access, that is!) Del.icio.us accounts seem like they would also be a useful research/study tool as well. imagine all of the information you too could have for a project; information you would have never thought of. After learning about this Del.icio.us, i'm a little excited to try it out on my own! and, that i know what the Del.icio.us icon at the bottom of webpages or online articles now mean. :P

MySpace (a post long-overdue!)

eeek! i have been away from this blog for a while. it was a busy last few months AND i just came home from Peru. anyway...

i have had a Myspace account for about the past three years. sure, i think it's useful for libraries, as the majority of our patrons who use the internet computers in our buildings are on the website. i see it as another way in which technology has changed our lives. changed the way we communicate with each other. if many library patrons are getting together in a certain venue, wouldn't it make sense to advertise there?

i think Myspace gets a bad rap. it can be used for a lot of good. it's usually the people who are using the site that make bad decisions that get them into trouble. but that's another story.

i still think it is my favorite of the social-networking sites, although i only use Myspace and Facebook. i am happy to see a SLCPL presence on both sites.

wikis

so, i think i finally get it. finally! (i'm a little slow sometimes...) i should be writing about the library 2.0 activities (or assignments?) instead of just random library stuff. you all must have noticed that already. if anyone is even reading, that is.

so today's entry is on the subject of wikis. up until about 6 months ago, i was only aware of wikipedia. i love wikipedia, even though i know that simply BECAUSE it is a wiki, anyone can add to/alter any entry in this online encylopedia. it's still useful for me-i simply remember to take the information i find from this source with a grain of salt.

now i am aware of other wikis and excited to become familiar with them. i already liked the booklovers' wiki.

ok, this is all for now.

library pets

if you haven't seen the pets at Fth yet, you really should. they are so fun!
Chelsea Hunter and Wendy White bought Dumbledore, our teddy bear hamster and i adopted Ginny, our gerbil.

kids absolutely love seeing them here at the library. it's sweet to watch them with the animals.

although, if i have one more ADULT mispronouce the name "Ginny" (when reading it from a sign i made for her cage), i might have to stab someone. these people don't even realize what they're saying-something they might get beat up for in another city! ugh.

ok. just kidding. i won't stab anyone. ;)

so come to fth and see Dumbledore and Ginny! and if you think you don't like rodents, they will change your mind! i didn't think i used to like rodents, but now i love them both. it's really cool.

travel maps (sad!)

create your own personalized map of the USA
or check out ourCalifornia travel guide



create your own visited country map
or check our Venice travel guide

children at FTH

hi. i'm abbie. this blog will be about my work life here at fth. i am the children's librarian at the branch. it is my dream job! i'm happy to finally have it!

SOME BACKGROUND ON ME:
i started working for SLCPL in April 1997. i worked as a part-time aide in Circulation, in the old Main Library. i was an aide for about a year, then i was promoted to an assistant in Circ. i did that for 3 more years, working in Circulation until 2001. Then, i transferred to the Children's Library. When we moved into the new Main Library, i became full-time.

i was promoted to an Associate Librarian last April, in 2007. i love FTH, but am still adjusting to just how different life is at a library branch from life at Main. i miss Main, but i expect that's normal when you've worked in one setting for 10 years.

BACK TO THE BLOG:
anyway, this blog will be about children's happenings here at FTH and experiences i have while working with children in the community. i'll start with today.

today i did a penguin-themed program for Preschool Storytime. the highlight for me was Oliver Jeffers' book, LOST AND FOUND. if you haven't read this book, you should put a hold on it right now and do so. it's one of my all-time favorites. hmmm, it's probably not for all people, but if you like children's picture books, i think you'll like it.
the kids were so fun in Storytime today. i had two song/dances in the program and most everyone seemed to like them, which is always a plus!

ok. this is all for now. thanks for reading!