What Happens at the Reference Desk When no Patrons are in Sight

Laughter. Yep. We reference librarians often end up laughing. Here's how tonight's laughter started.

• reviews on Will Smith's new movie
• excitment about the Underworld movie
• why werewolves and vampires can't ever get along
• reading Anita Blake
• reading the passage in Sunshine about wereskunks and werechickens
• McDonald's commerical about a man turning into a chicken (if you can find this, please send me a link. )
• more about werechickens
• zombie chickens
• Poultrygeist

Nasa Photos

Nasa just released some new photos of the earth. I just had to share my favorites.

The sunlight off the Amazon River in Brazil.

And polar mesopheric clouds over Central Asia.

You can find more photos of earth from space at Nasa's Earth Observatory.

Things, Things, and more Things

So the reason I haven't posted in a while is because I have been on vacation. I took a week long cruise to Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize. And then I spent another couple of days in New Orleans. When your cruise ship goes in and out of New Orleans, you can't not stay there for a day or two. I will post more about the Great Cruise of 2008 later. When I get all my pictures back. Yes, I took a lot with my new digital camera, but I also finished up a roll and half of regular film too.



So on the the Things.



Del.icio.us Thing

I suppose you could call del.icio.us a tag organizer as well as a really fancy bookmarker. It lets you label websites with whatever type of tag you want. You can search and create tags. You can even add a del.icio.us button to your web browser tool bar so can tag sites as you surf. Tagging websites it like adding subject headings to them, but we're not limited to technical language like we are with Library of Congress Subject Headings. We can use real language and not technical jargon.



For a little extra fun with del.icio.us, I found a site call Wordle that will turn your tags into artwork like this:

Technorati Thing

Technorati is a site you can use to find out what's hot in blogs and news. What's gaining the most attention; who's looking at what and how often. I think you can use this site to find out how often your own blog is being looked at. I haven't checked on this yet, but I have claimed my blog. Someone remind me to look at this again, after the holidays, when I have more time. Hopefully.

Wiki Thing

The last thing for today is the Wiki. Ah yes, the wiki. A little piece of technology that lets anyone and everyone pool their knowledge together in one place. This can sometimes get people in trouble. Especially those whose intentions are not pure. You know the ones I'm talking about. The ones that deliberately put wrong information out there in order to deceive their fellow men. But we don't know anyone like that, do we?

I haven't set up any of my own wiki's. I don't think I'm ready for that. But I am part of a wiki for work. We have a wiki where we post and create documents to help us with Reader's Advisory Training. We don't have much up there yet, but there's lots of potential. It should get more use after we start teaching the RA classes.

More Reasons to Love GoodReads

If you haven't heard about GoodReads yet, then you really need to go there right now and explore.

I just got signed off after adding new books to my "read" list, which is quite an accomplishment for me. Usually I add books to my "to-read" list. I think for every book gets read, I add at least two more to the "to-read" pile.

They've added something new. Book giveaways. They're about 20 books that are in the giveaway list right now. To find the list, you have to click on "explore", then "books". So what are you waiting for? Don't you like free books? Okay, so its a random drawing with only so many copies available, but they show you how many people want the books and how many copies they're giving away, so you can calculate your chances. If you're that type of smart, that is. Me, I just enter and cross and my fingers.

Egyptian Cat Recipes?

I recently created my own "roll" in Rollyo. Rollyo is a site that allows you to create your own mini-databases. Instead of searching the entire Internet, you can limit it to whatever websites you want. It'll ignore the rest. So I thought I would try it using cat sites. I have a couple of favorite cat sites that I check for kitty health, and I used Yahoo directories to add some more. Since Egypt used to worship cats, I used it for my first search. And what do I get? Eyptian recipes. They all came from a site called wuzzle.org. Apparently Yahoo thinks there's something on this site that's cat related. I couldn't find anything there. Lots and lots of recipes though. I'll know to add it if I ever create a cooking roll.

I don't know what other weird stuff will come up with my roll, but if you'd like to try it, here it is:

Select...The Feline Worldlost between the pagesSearch The Web

But they won't be available for Christmas

Long-lost 'Furby-like' Primate Discovered In Indonesia



ScienceDaily (2008-11-19) -- Anthropologists have discovered a group of primates not seen alive in 85 years. The pygmy tarsiers, furry Furby-like, or gremlin-looking, creatures about the size of a small mouse and weighing less than two ounces, have not been observed since they were last collected for a museum in 1921. ... > read full article

This supposedly extint animal has been rediscovered. Its no wonder they got lost. If you were only two ounces at adulthood, you'd be pretty hard to find too.

Cute as these little guys are, I hope they don't cause a Furby come-back.

Another Mosaic

Just because I like Mosaics.



1. Kiss from a rose, 3. Psyche Revived by Love's Kiss, 4. Kiss, 5. .. KISS .., 6. 34/52 a kiss can be a comma, a question mark or an exclamation point. That's basic spelling that every woman ought to know..., 7. kiss me., 8. Kiss, 9. The Kiss, 10. Trees Kiss, 11. A Santa's Kiss, 12. Kiss the Rings, 13. Shadow Kiss, 14. a beach kiss, 15. Kiss, 16. The Kiss, 17. Eddie's Kiss, 18. 28/365 - Toe Kisses, 19. A kiss!, 20. let the rain kiss you..., 21. you may kiss the bride, 22. a 'real' butterfly kiss ..., 23. Red kiss, 24. Kissed, 25. Kisses

Image Generators

Just like RSS's, mashups, and wiki's, there are a lot of image generators out there in the virtual world. Unlike the other stuff, I had a hard time finding one that I liked. They all just about do the same thing, add text, other images, and effects to pictures. They all have different types of effects to add though. Some you had to scroll or browse through their options; others you could search. Some you could upload your own pictures; others you had to use their pictures. Sorry I don't have all the names with me. I wrote them down on a scrap piece of paper and then I left it my bag at home. I'll edit this post when I find it.

One site that I thought was simple to use was Jelly Muffin. They mostly cater to MySpace users; but, you really could use their graphics and generators for just about anything. Their image generator is mostly point and click. You select a picture (note: you cannot upload your own images), you type in your text, and you select as many effects as you want. This picture comes from them:

Myspace Picture Generator

I also found a smiley generator. I IM a lot and one thing my friends and I complain about is the lack of smileys that accurately reflect our moods/tone of voice/personalities. I don't know if it was just the connection that day or what, but none of the images would show up until after I selected it. You know that "x" that appears wherever an image should be? All their smiley options were like that. And then you couldn't really change the image, just add text. Here's what I did there:

Which I think will work well in any of our arguments.

But the one that I really like is called Picnik. This is a photo editing site that lets you use your own photos as well as the ones in their gallery. If you already have an online photo gallery, like a Flickr or Photobucket account, you can use Picnik to access and edit those photos online. So you don't have to be at your home computer to edit your photos. They've got a tutorial that shows you how to navigate and to edit and its all free. I used a couple of pictures from my book display files and came up with these:

I'm very impressed with Picnik. And now that I have a digital camera, I think I'm going to need it. At least until I figure out all the options all my camera. And even then there are things you can do on Picnik that you can't do on a camera. Picnik is like a poor man's Photoshop and I love it.

more RSS

Like I said before, I already have several RSS feeds set up, and added a few more when this Thing came up. So instead of adding even more RSS's to my list, which would've been really easy to do since there are so many out there, I decided to organize my feeds. Shocking, eh?



If you've ever looked at my desk, you'll know that organization is not one of my strong points. I have papers and stacks of books everywhere. I know what each stack is and where everything is (mostly) but I'm sure to anyone else, it just looks like a mess. Online folders don't get that same cluttered messy feeling that paper does, but it can still look a bit haphazard. So I created folders and tags for all my feeds. They're all nice and neat now. It was quick and painless too. The only problem I had was deciding if my librarian friend's blogs belonged in the work folder or not. If only organizing my desk were as simple.

RSS

The next thing on the list was to set up some RSS feeds. I already had a couple for work and a few blogs that I read, but I thought I would add a couple more, just for fun. I found the PLA's (that's Public Library Association) news feed so I can be in the know for all the changes and innovations happening in public library land. While we're still trying to get a grasp on Library 2.0, they're already starting Library 3.0.

The Holidays are Coming Early

Has it really been over a week since I last posted? My oh my how times flies. And I haven't done any of the holiday stuff that I need to do before Dec 4th. Why Dec 4th you ask? Well, on the forth my friend, who we'll call Mason, is flying into the Alamo city to take off on a Caribbean Cruise with me. By the time we get back it'll be too late to get all the Christmas presents mailed out to arrive by the big day. And I have a niece who's birthday is happening during the week I'll be gone, so I've got to take care of that too. Work is already taken care of. Substitutes for programs have been found, schedules are being made. Hmm, maybe I should look ahead at the 23 Things and do some extra blog posts about them. I guess work isn't quite as taken care of as I thought.

So here's my to do list:

• Shop - buy Christmas and birthday presents, wrapping paper, and a turkey.
• wrap and ship said presents
• finish latest home decoration/improvement project. I found some decorate wooden panels at Michael's that are going to become a back splash in my kitchen. I just have to to measure, cut, paint and glue them. And this one has to be done before Thanksgiving.
• find a glue that sticks to metal and cement. I was finishing up another project last week (putting tiles in a bathroom) and went to nail down the carpet edger (that metal thing that you put between the carpet and the tile to make the edges look nice and keep the carpet from coming up and fraying) and found that there's cement under the floor in that part of my house. If anyone knows of a special glue that will stick metal to cement, please let me know.
• make Thanksgiving dinner. Crazy I know, but this year I wanted to cook the turkey.
• decorate. I'll be taking off to my sister's place for Christmas (so there's a couple of presents that won't need to be shipped) and I know if I wait until after the cruise, I won't get them up. I really enjoy Christmas decorates and I have no problem with after Thanksgiving decorating.
• finish schedules for the days I'll be gone.
• read all the books that due during the days I'll be gone.
• get ahead on the blog, which could be tough cause I think I'm several posts behind.

I think that's everything. I hope that's everything.

The good news about all of this is when I get back from vacation, I won't be going through all the holiday stress that everyone else'll be going through. I'll be all through with that and can just relax. How cool will that be? Getting to enjoy December?

Thing 7

Technology.

What do I think about Library 2.0 so far? So far its been fun. I've always like playing with the way things look, like the layout of a page and the composition of a drawing. Change one little thing and you change whole the feeling of the work. But 2.0 does more than that. It puts what you've done in an environment where other people can react to it. They can comment, they can copy, they can create something new from it. Its about building communities through shared interests. Communities are no longer limited by their physical locations. And the technology is advancing so that you don't have to have a degree to participate in it. Course, if you want to create new technology, you may want to get the degree anyway.

One little piece of technology I'm looking at buying right now is a digital camera. Shocking isn't it? There are people out there that still use film. It may soon be that digital is all there will be. Like with analog TV in 2009 - film will be a thing of the past. Already my favorite department store doesn't carry my film anymore (advantix) and the rest of the film was all on clearance. So I'm jumping the divide and getting a digital camera. Maybe I'll even start to take more pictures. I'm notorious for having multiple Christmas' on the same roll. But on my last vacation I actually took a roll and a half and pictures. So I may be getting better at this picture thing.

Creating new stuff from old stuff

Or maybe you could say we're shinning up the old stuff. Making it prettier. Hopefully.

Thing #6 is all about creating new content from content that's all ready out there. Mashups, I believe, is the word for it. A lot of my co-workers have been using this as an opportunity to create librarian trading cards. Since I don't have a picture of myself (well, I do but they're on my home computer and my computer and I have issues) I decided to do a nature trading card instead.

I've also had fun with Big Huge Lab's framemaker.

This last image is from the cover of H.P. Lovecraft's book of the supernatural. Wouldn't it make a nice display picture? I'm seeing all sorts of possibilities for displays with the Big Lab toys.

I haven't had a chance to play with Animoto yet. There aren't many computers with speakers here, and I keep forgetting my ear buds. I know, there's always my computer, but like I said before, we have issues.

BTW - if you haven't seen Digital Goddess's letters yet, then go now and ponder all the ransom letter possibilities.

I wouldn't live

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Would you?

Fun with Flickr

I found this little lion in SAPL's Flickr account. Isn't he cute? I wonder what he's reading?



I actually had a hard time with this Thing of the 23 Things. This is not my first time on Flickr though. I've created several reading maps for SAPL, like The Golden Age of Mysteries and Exploring the Classics: Jane Austin, so exploring and getting around was not the problem. Nope. The problem was selecting a picture to blog about. Finding something that I could wax eloquent on. There are a lot of good pictures out there, but I'm not one for saying much. Probably why I don't have a lot of posts yet. I've been playing with Flickr for days and days and days and now I'm finally blogging about it, and what do I have to say? Only that the lion is cute.

But really, this is my favorite SAPL picture so far. Its simple and bright. There aren't a any distractions in the background. A lot of our pictures have messy backgrounds. Lets face it, metal shelving does not pretty picture make, especially with some of our angles. I'd like to see more pictures of things that might not see in the library. Like the DIY Library set. Its a small set, but I love the idea of it. Pictures of things people have made using library resources. There are so many possibilities.

Now to continue playing with mashups. Got to get me some ear buds though, or do this on a computer with speakers.

But will it be as good as the book?

For the past few days I have been searching the blog-o-sphere, looking for blogs that deal with reading and reader's advisory and libraries. There is sooo much out there that it makes me dizzy. I found one site called EarlyWord. It talks about all the fun stuff publishers are coming out with in fiction and popular non-fiction. According to them A Platter of Figs is going to be the cookbook of the season, so I hope you all have your orders in. My favorite part of this site is their movie tie-in lists. All the books that are being turned into movies are listed with their release dates and in December, The Time Traveler's Wife will be coming the a theater near you.

I first discovered The Time Traveler's Wife while I was getting my MLS. It is a beautiful book about how Henry and Claire fell in love. Normally I don't go for romance/love stories, but add in Henry's ability to spontaneously travel through time (but only within his own lifetime) and I'm hooked. And now its being made into a movie. There's danger in this. How many times have books been made into movies and how many times have they not lived up their expectations? Or been changed beyond recognition? When Hollywood does it right, the movie usually ends up on the Oscar list (see The Silence of the Lambs, The English Patient, There will be Blood, LOTRs, etc, etc), so I really hope they get this right.

Tweaking

Why are there so many options for for blog pages? There are so many applications to explore! I could never ever get through all of them, yet there may be something else out there that would go perfect with my blog. Something that just screams "I belong with you!" How would I know unless I go exploring through the application and the widgets and plug-ins and whatever whatnots there are? So, in case you haven't guessed, I've been spending a lot of time exploring the goodies. My favorite thing so far is the quote widget from Goodreads. I love quotes. I have binders full of quotes. Now off to the tedious part of entering them all in.

Flickr Mosaic

A friend of mine who also blogs (really, who doesn't anymore) came across a photo mosaic on another friend's blog and had to do one. It looked pretty simple, so I tried it too. Here are the results:

Of course you just can't use any old picture you can find. There are rules. Each picture is an answer to a question, and you can only choose the picture from the first Flickr search page.

Here are the questions:

1. What is your first name? Stephanie

2. What is your favorite food? Strawberries

3. What high school did you go to? Roy

4. What is your favorite color? Purple

5. Who is your celebrity crush? David Tennant

6. Favorite drink? Smoothies

7. Dream vacation? Enlgand

8. Favorite dessert? Apple Pie

9. What you want to be when you grow up? A dancer

10. What do you love most in life? Stories

11. One Word to describe you. Timid

12. Where do you live? San Antonio

I'm sure there are lots of Mosaic Makers out there, but the one I (and my friend and my friend's friend) used was fd's mosaic maker. All you have to do is copy and past the URL of the pictures into the boxes. And you can change the size and layout of the mosaic too. Here's one I did with random library words:

I used the words library, books, program and librarian. I'll let you guess which picture is which.

Begin the Learning

So work has decided that it would be good for all of us to become familiar with Learning 2.0. Hence this blog. If I like it, I may keep it. Who knows, maybe by the time I'm finished with this course, I'll have transferred my whole life to Google applications.

Anyway, assignment #1 is to say which of the 7 1/2 habits for lifelong learning is the hardest for me to do and which is the easiest. The hardest is the teaching/mentoring part. I'm pretty good at picking things up, but teaching other people . . . well, I just don't feel that confident in doing it. I'm never sure on how much to explain and how much to show. I usually end up really nervous and talking too fast.

The easiest thing in the 7 1/2 steps is play. Who doesn't like to play? Do I even have to explain this one?