Playtime Thing #6

My apologies for not getting back to Playtime #6 -- I blush to say that I haven't dipped my toes in Playtime since the end of February! However, I just finished "meeboing" (have I just created a new verb?) Lynn D. I also have used Trillian at the Ref Desk.

I feel pretty comfortable with IM -- at least as part of my job. So maybe I cannot really speak to the recreational aspects of IMing. I do feel it can be a viable way to communicate with patrons and provide reference service. I suppose IM could also work at a Circulation Desk, i.e. "Please renew my books" or "Please set this book aside for me."

The 2 downsides to IM (for me) are: the occasional preteen hijinks (forcing me to use the all- powerful WARNING) and the logistics of people approaching the Ref Desk and thinking that I'm ignoring them when I'm really trying to finish the IM question. Perhaps a flashing IM warning button on the Ref computer....

Thing#5Podcasting & Video sharing

Back again after dipping my toes into Thing #5 - Podcasting & Video sharing. I happily set up my RSS feed for Audiopolis with reviews and readings from Audiofile magazine's website. It actually looks like I may use this feed as well as the Roger Ebert feed I already have. I listened to excerpts from several audiobooks and read reviews as well.

I also enjoyed a brief visit to YouTube for the dumb blonde video and another by Francis Ford Coppola which kept stopping briefly every minute or two. Is this because I'm trying to view videos at peak times maybe?

The booktalk videos that Lynn D, Christy and Lori C made for the library looked very good! I'm game to try this in the future, tho I may break the lens!

Thing#4Flickr

It's Friday -- the last day of our week "break" from Plaything 2.0! The week was meant to be a time for rest from the activities or a time to catch up. I am definitely in the latter category.

I enjoyed bopping around Flickr and looking at all the amazing photos from the last 7 days. Bit depressing to realize that I will never take pics like any of these wonderful shots. Oh well, I won't be making any guest appearances to sing at the Metropolitan Opera, either so I must learn to live with my shortcomings. That last sentence sounds like I should have both elbows propped on a bar, drinking some high-octane concoction. Rest assured that I am not!

Any hoot -- what I find really exciting is what I'd found out on Flicker through a Fiction-L thread on the use of Flicker by public libraries. Tho I am strictly a "lurker," I followed a link from a post by David Wright of Seattle Public Library on a recent use of Flicker to SPL's online feature "Shelf Talk." Readers could follow a link to a lovely photograph of traditional Valentine's Day items with notes attached about where to find a list of books of love poems in the library, yellow page listing for local florists, reviews of local restaurants, a list of books on chocolate, chocolate cookbooks, etc. It just seemed like a great way to provide information about what's available through the library and library holdings. Maybe I'm easy, but it impressed me.

The only wrinkle I had with the Seattle PL Flickr photo was that I could not search with tags to locate this exact Valentine's Day photo. I had to use the link provided in the Fiction-L post that took me to the SPL Shelf Talker page and then to the photo. Perhaps I am missing something.

So long story short -- Flickr seems like a cool tool to that the library and different departments could integrate into our website.

Is Facebook ready for Bluebird? Or vice versa!

Thought on Thing #3

I didn't really believe other Playtimers when as they walked past my cubby shaking their heads and mumbling about how Facebook is addicting. To paraphrase Mickey Dolenz ---I am now a believer!

It may have been the euphoria of having established the Facebook profile, etc. or just cuz I'm a friendly person, but, I have ended up by inviting many people to be my friends. I eagerly await the responses. Whether I will be able to keep up with all this networking remains to be seen... My past track record with mailing out Xmas cards in a timely fashion would suggest that I could end up as a Facebook flunkie!

My only worry is that I've used my real name to sign up and I am afraid of who all will come knocking at my profile's door. Well, I can always remove myself and re-register with a pseudonym --- something more aggressive than Bluebird.....

Thing #2 RSS

It's hard to type and still pat myself on the back! The explainations of RSS made sense; Google Reader is a snap to use and I added several RSS feeds that I can check on. The only hiccup was locating interesting websites for the RSS feeds from my Favorities list. Apparently I only bookmark websites that are real "yawns."

Thing #1: Blogs

Well, here I am scribbling my first post! It was amazingly easy to set this blog up. It took practically no time at all -- if you exclude the fifteen minutes spent agonizing over creating the cleverest, most descriptive blog name! Halfway through the process I wanted to switch to something about Jane Austen, but, too late! Oh well, I can always use that idea for my next blog!

I enjoyed reading posts on the Feel-Good Librarian blog; sampled just a few posts from the Shifted Librarian. I gave up, though, as that blog is way too "techie." I am going to go back and check out Librarian's guide to ettiquette -- just to see what that is all about.

As far as making use of blogs for the library we can use them for online book discussions, perhaps a blog for readers of particular genres -- mystery, romance, thrillers. I confess to being a little confused between blogs and the library social network. They seem quite similar.