Thing #23: Reflection

DONE!!! Woo-Hoo!!! *Happy Dance Around the Room* Okay, not really...I'm sure everyone would stop and give me funny looks. 

(EDIT: I ran into the back room humming the Rocky Theme song punching my hands in the air and jogging in place. Now that I really have my 23 Things done f'real, f'real this time. hehe...It is quite a triumphant feeling...I couldn't resist.)

I think social media in libraries definitely has it's place. We gotta keep up with the times! :)

I believe the Facebooking and "Twittering" (as one of my fantastic co-workers calls it) could be useful. I'm grateful to now have an arsenal of popular internet tools under my belt so I can keep up with today's 8 and 9 year olds. Hehe...

I have learned LOTS from the program. Thank you! I'm still in awe about LibraryThing. That's getting bookmarked and utilized for my ever expanding collection of books. I'm also going to use it to keep track of my 100 books in 365 days. (A lil' self improvement project of my own. :) )

And as a final thought...

I think all of you are fantastic and absolutely wonderful people. It's an absolute joy working with you guys.

And as a final final thought...
Instead of waiting to have a great day, try to always MAKE it a BETTER THAN GREAT day! I assure you it happens a lot easier when you do it instead of waiting for outside sources to do it. :) Yay for Frisco Public Library!!!

Thing #22: User Choice

Myspace.com

Is dead.

It was big in it's hayday and I know of some bands which use it to still reach it's fans. (I believe the original reason myspace was created was so bands could share their music and reach a wider audience.) Most people have migrated over to the Facebook world.

Thing #21: Wikis

I had to look up 2 subjects on Wikipedia. The first one was a band that recently came through town. It appears all the information for their page was deleted, thus they  no longer have a wikipedia page. Most of the reasons appear to be something along the lines of "doesn't indicate importance or significance", which makes me wonder...what information would be important or significant when talking about a band? Would little facts like, "Vic's real name is Zack" be considered unimportant? How about the fact that the drummer doesn't drink alcohol and prefers water when everyone else is taking rounds of shots? Who determines what's significant and what's not...What is the meaning of life? What am I doing here?

OH...yeah...Wiki's. haha!

The second subject was on a topic I knew was controversial. It was on a company that many call an MLM while others know it's a broker/dealer heavy on recruiting. There is a warning at the top of the page asking for input from others to make the page less like an advertisement. As for the history edits...there are some demanding that they repost that the company is an MLM and explanations as to why that section was removed. Very interesting!

Thing #20: Podcasts

Now that I have these awesome earbuds I can listen to the podcasts. YaY!!!

I listened to a couple of them. The audio quality of all of them was great! One of the libraries even had some sort of video that went along with it. (Very impressive!) The topics covered included information about free access to research material and another had folk tales. (I have to admit, in one of the podcasts, the person reading/telling the folktale sounded EXTREMELY bored. It makes me think it's not a very good folktale. :P )

I'm not sure if podcasts are popular enough for people to want to actually listen to them. If they were simple enough to do and use, we could have someone read children's stories from the collection and kids could check out the book and follow along from the Frisco Library's Podcast. (Kind of like the kits--minus the CD.)

Thing #19: Hulu

WHAT!?!?

I can't sit  here and watch the latest episode of Modern Family or The Office at work?!?!

Lucky for you all, I've spent countless hours frying my brain at home watching show after show after show on Hulu.

I knew there would be a good reason for it one day! And now it has presented itself!

With technology constantly changing, digital delivery could potentially replace DVD's. I wonder if there's a large enough portion of the population that would prefer to keep some sort of tangible media with their shows on it. Hulu may be the "it" place right now for digital streaming of shows, but who knows what the next big website will be.

I could see libraries that keep up with the changing demands eventually offer some sort of online streaming for patrons that subscribe. (Kind of the way we offer e-books.) I'm sure the film industry will figure out a way to make money from the streaming of movies and shows...and when they start charging, libraries may find a way to offer the service for free to its patrons.



Thing #18: YouTube

I've seen companies and groups utilize YouTube to promote events and offer "how to's". Libraries could create videos on what services & how to use the services provided by the library, teaser trailers for upcoming events, and create fun, cheesey videos of "do's" and "don'ts" at the library.

Thing #17: Music Streaming & Sharing

We sell earbuds at Circulation for $1.00??? I wasn't aware of this. Well, I'll come back to this "thing" so I can complete it at home. I just wanted all my things in order, so I decided to create a post that I'd come back to edit.

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EDIT: 

Guess who the latest owner of a brand, spanking, new pair of ear buds is?!?!

And only for a dollar!

I know, it's hard to believe...but yes...it's meeeee!!!

Why such excitement? Because Pandora is awesome!!! (Plus, I love a great bargain. They sell earbuds at Wal-Mart for waaaay more than a dollar.) As for Pandora, it's up there with LibraryThing. (Don't get me wrong though, my heart belongs to LibraryThing...I have a feeling my husband's will belong to Pandora as soon as I show it to him.)

It turns out our Blu-Ray player is also equipped to stream music from Pandora.

Extra points for Pandora!

It was super easy to use from the start and the suggestions were great! For those who aren't as musically savvy (such as myself), I really appreciate recommendations.

In terms of what this has to do with our patrons:

I think CD's will continue to be checked out--for now at least. Even though Pandora offers the ability to save music, it's still nice to have a copy of your favorites on your computer (or on actual CD). Also, my good ol' car (aka "The Grey Phantom") currently only lets me listen to the radio or CD's. So, even with Pandora, I wouldn't be able to listen to it while driving. OH! And let's not forget the benefit of having music on your computer so you can customize playlists and burn CD's for those you love...I believe they were called "Mix Tapes" back in the day. hehe...

In conclusion...

Pandora = Two Thumbs Up