This is dedicated to my younger sister and the hundreds of times she had to bite the bar of soap. I don't think she ever learned her lesson.

http://www.redkid.net/generator/soap/

Library Thing

Can I say "I love it!" I actually created two accounts. The first account is my personal this is what I read and would like to read account. The other account I created is my favorite storytime books which I posted here. I quickly marked some titles that I liked but I am going to go back and add more with tags. This is exciting for me because I am always planning at the last moment and can't come up with anything. I have tried to keep lists via paper and excel but they never seem to work for me because the lists are in one place and I am somewhere else ... not anymore!

If anyone has any great storytime books I should know about let me know. I do storytime for K/1st grade.

social networking

In order for libraries to network out to new users, libraries need to be where their patrons are. I think the YAAB myspace page shows just that. YAAB is able to reach out to wider variety of teens through the use of friends. Both teens and parents have the ability to find teen events, resources, and great reads. Not to mention the cool posting of things such as the robot videos :)

We must not forget that adults can benefit from a social networking page too. Access to the catalog and databases, events, booktalks, and video clips of library forums would be a couple of things to consider on a library networking page.

Meebo

Ok, I discovered meebo a couple years ago on vacation. Choosing to leave my laptop at home I was at the mercy of a foreign computer without any messengers installed. Low and behold this is when someone showed me meebo.

I think having a MeeboMe widget on our website would be great. I like the idea that a patron can "talk" with a staff member without actually picking up the phone. For a lot of patrons this would actually be an easier way of contacting the library. Just think ... no more using valuable minutes on your cell phone, no background noise interference (screaming kids), can save chat log to refer back to, and the option of not speaking directly to a staff member.

Finding RSS Feeds

So I tried hard to find feeds that were work related. I used some of the search tools to find feeds. The only work related feed I found that I would actually read on a regular basis was unshelved. I might go back and look into some of my favorite authors. I did find several feeds that I was personally interested in.

I think the library could use RSS feeds in a variety of ways. It could be used to send information about library programs, building projects, new materials, behind-the-scenes ...

I think it would also be good to have links to other RSS feeds such as authors and publishers, community news ...

RSS

I have heard the term RSS before better never really understood what it was. To my amazement I have been using RSS feeds without even being aware of it. My google toolbar has a strange orange icon labeled "Latest Headlines" that I check and read some of them on a regular basis ... who knew this was RSS! Now I am excited to know I can make a listing of stuff that I want to read not what someone has picked for me. I don't know how useful this will be for work but I can definately use it to organize my daily trash reading at home.

flickr

I can't believe how many people I see playing sudoku. A couple months ago I decided to give it a try ... after all the masses are always right. So now I am hooked. I stayed up all night on the computer trying to beat my measly time of 18 minutes and 35 seconds. Though I could not do any better and decided it takes me a long time to complete one I now love them. I was excited to see flickr sudoku ... another time waster!!!!! If you haven't tried it, go for it. Be warned it is harder than using numbers. http://www.beckysweb.co.uk/sudoku/flickrsudoku.asp