What were your favorite experiences in the course?

I loved the online chats. They really helped me with questions and in getting to know more of my fellow participants. In addition, the screencasts rocked and I hope to use Drupal for our staff as well.

What technology did you find most interesting for your personal use? What technology did you think would be most useful professionally?

Drupal...and I say again Drupal for our staff and the tutorial I am building, but the aggregator and RSS feeds coupled with social tagging I plan to see all of our Reference Staff using them...muwhahahahaha! (But I know some are already Halle and Francesca and Gina!)

First, let me begin by saying thanks to the all of the organizers of this truly inspirational program. *applause* Second, to my chat group I say World Domination begins now costumes required…no capes. Third, let me just say how much I have really appreciated being a part of this fantastic course. It really motivated me to start utilizing these tools for our library system, not just for my own fun ;)

It is an information-rich world in which we work. It’s easy to feel run over by the scads of new and improved techno-intel-mashup-supertool-software-coolness that keeps exploding on our computer screens….or in our aggregators :) To quote Jess Shera, it is “Knowledge knowledge everywhere and not a thought to think.” But you see… that is where we come in: The Few the Proud…the Librarians. :) We utilize the knowledge and the thoughts and turn them into pathways, answers, relevance for our patrons to connect to the community and the world. Social software tools help us do that. So we take the red pill, because the story is just beginning and we don’t want to sleep anymore. We like the rabbit hole, so we are to be the Hitchhiker’s Guide, the Cryptographers of a new age. Instead of keeping secrets, we are learning them and utilizing the tools that open the pathways to so much more that rabbit holes. If information is power, then this class empowered and instead of sucking water….this class sucked life into the possibilities and the potential of 40 plus information professionals who will never be tempted by the blue pill…ever again.

Five Weeks to a Social Library: Final Project Proposal Beaufort County

Beaufort County Library System is already employing the use of several social software tools, thus I crafted a proposal that introduces these tools to the ENTIRE staff via our Intranet pages and & encourages them to begin to explore and use them on a daily basis.

The 2nd Life presentation today was excellent! Thank you :) I am particularly interested in this technology because I can envision a virtual branch to our library system that goes way beyond somewhat static homepages. Wouldn't it be great to get your own island in 2nd Life as a virtual library branch? (Go Yarra Plenty!) Boundless social networking galore. I guess I am wondering what virtual world residents want out of libraries? Do we need to just build a virtual branch with links to 2nd Life to keep our focus on our system, or do we use 2nd Life as a virtual springboard for our system? Is the focus even ON our system or more on libraries in general? Why do people go into virtual libraries? Who are they looking for and what? (Thanks Tom Peters, Lori Bell and Kitty Pope for your fab article addressing some of these questions.) When I was at the SirsiDynix Superconference in Colorado, I spoke with librarians who are developing virtual branches and they describe having a 24/7 365 online presence via Elibrarians.

I really enjoyed last night's screencast thanks y'all! I have been using Flickr limitedly so but am enjoying exploring the unique features. I can see how one can get 'sucked' into this tool as well...it's plain fun! Right now I use it to host pictures for our wiki's, blogs etc. Good stuff! I started out originally with photobucket, and liked that one too, but I did not need two photo accounts so I kept Flickr because we had already started to use it regularly. (But PhotoBucket is just as good peeps!)

This post is actually an amalgam of both possible activity questions.

First, after discovering we could not host our own wiki at this time (disappointed!) cause I so loved Media Wiki, I began to explore the hosted wikis. I used the Wiki Matrix suggested to me by another librarian (Jaemi read her fab blog at GPL: Technically Speaking) to help me compare and contrast the hosted wikis.

About a year ago, I never read blogs and did not know what RSS was. Thanks to a fellow colleague (Halle :), I started nosing around library blogs and quite accidentally discovered RSS. There was mention of it during my MLIS course at USC, but it was hazy and not anything I'd focus on at that time. Later, at work as a reference librarian, I love a good mystery, so I started exploring this strange new world. Within a week, I was hooked. The value of blogs became clear when I discovered the information just waiting to be used, but the RSS brought it right to my doorstep, thus alleviating my constant search of websites to catch up on professional material.

Hello my fellow classmates! You guys are doing some kick-butt work! It's great to read y'all posts and ideas. Thank you.

Wow, I am just now catching up on all my Bloglines, email, notes etc. In fact, I am sitting in the swanky lobby of the Broadmoor utilizing the free wifi to make this post. Today started out with a great welcome from the SIRSI clan. Updates on the company were followed by the latest on new products and services. After this, I ducked into several mini presentations including: The Google Experience, One Stop Shopping: EPS Rooms & Usability, and rounded it off with How to Use MARC Format, Unicorn, and Web2 to Create Your Own Law Database. Let me say, lots and lots of good stuff. It is very interesting to see how other library systems are paying attention to the End-User like never before by seeking ILS systems that function with the ease of Google coupled with great graphics and all the best of the library system content. Libraries NEED ILS systems that meet the demands of all that Library 2.0 touts and frankly, much of what has been designed just doesn't hold a candle. I agree with the SIRSI focus on the User Experience, but as a user of their product, it's not 2.0..it's not even 1.5 and that is the great debate. However, I do know from their presentation today, they are indeed working on products to make this happen. But what to do in the meantime as we struggle with clunky products? I see alternatives like the great Georgia PINES system, built by librarians and run by librarians who made it swift, fun, flashy and definitely in line with 2.0 styles. Perhaps a great alternative, but what to do for smaller systems without such support?

Okay, so without sounding too enamored, this conference is totally happening. I'm buzzing with fresh ideas and enthusiasm thanks to new tech intel and possible ways to implement in our system. (Teen Tech Week is a great opportunity to do that :) What a rush to get out of the day to day to be with amazing colleagues with so many great insights, expectations, visions etc. I know, that makes me sound a bit of a tool, but it's true. It's a rush to see so many DIRECTORS of library systems embracing the new technologies and supporting the staff to start playing and learning the new pathways to reach our users and beyond, build community connections and actually take those steps to make the library system more than a place, more than just good information. That's building social capital in a nutshell. Sweet.

Hello from sunny Colorado Springs! Let me just say, I am thrilled to be here for the SIRSI Superconference :) Today begins the executive sessions, including a great presentation of Library 2.0 and the use of social software. Our IT man is there getting the scoop and I'm sure will have lots to share. Steven Abrams already spotted...I'm holding out to see Gary Price of Resourceshelf he is SO the MAN! I will register today with my other colleagues, pick up some nifty SIRSI schwag and get ready for the User Presentation Track tomorrow.