Ning Communities

I LOVE the idea of utilizing a Ning both as librarians and at the campus level. It seems to me that Nings could become somewhat of a Facebook for professionals. Posting on Facebook is a fine line. We spend a lot of our day at school, but should we posting about it on an open social networking site? I like the idea of each ning having a specific topic and audience. You could essentially be a part of several nings, depending on your job in the school. It would be a safe place to post and share ideas. It seems so much more personal than email. It makes sending new information seem more like sharing than just reading. I think that nings would go over well at my school because so much of our staff are already familiar with social networking sites already.

I poked around in the Texas Library ning and found lots of resources that I could use in my library next year. My favorite things were the pictures people had posted of various events in their libraries and the storytube videos put together by students. Sometimes seeing pictures of events taking place helps me to visualize what events I could be planning for my patrons. The storytubes were fun to watch and would be fun to make with our new Flip cameras.

Wikis and the Use of Wikis

We utilize a wiki at my school, and I agree...it's a great place to store needed information. Instead of saving technology help sheets, grade level schedules, and special event calendars on my drive, I can access them via the wiki. I love that they are available to me anywhere that I can get on the internet and they aren't taking up space on my drive.

Online Prodictivity Tools

I love the idea of using a Wiki as a note taking device. On our campus, it has always been utilized as a place to store and share information for teachers. I think that looking at a wiki as an interactive learning tool sounds fantastic!

Book Trailers and YouTube

While exploring YouTube tonight, I was amazed at the number of book trailers available. I even found one for a Leaping Lizard Club title! Check out the video below. I'll keep exploring and looking for new book trailers to share. Enjoy!

Learning from a Blog

I am an avid blog reader. I read blogs mostly about books, home improvement, and family. I was VERY interested in hearing about the website www.technorati.com. It's like the yellow pages for blogs! I love being able to type in what I am interested in learning about that day and having new blogs at my fingertips. I'm adding some to my beloved Google Reader today.

To help me professionally, I like: http://kidslit.menashalibrary.org/
Using blogs could be a fun new way to help with collection development.

Personally, a blog favorite of mine is: www.younghouselove.com
This couple have been able to both quit their jobs and make a career out of full time blogging.

As mentioned above, I searched for new blogs today using Technorati.

I think that it is very interesting how blogging is changing careers. The first blog I posted is updated everyday. I'm sure that it is in someone's job description to post. The second blog is using blogging as a career to pay the bills. I wonder how many of our students will be able to do that in the future?

I think that for our schools, RSS feeders are a WONDERFUL resources. We're always hearing about how many things administrators, staff, and students have on their plates. RSS feeders are a great time saving tool. Viewers can get in and get the information they need without getting bogged down by surfing the web for too long.

First Time for Everything

I think the most helpful thing about having a blog is that it is a great outlet to share opinions AND a great way to keep a record of things that are important to you. I know that there are many places out there that will even print your blog into a book every year. I've been thinking about using one as a scrapbook for our family. It's easy to remember the BIG things with pictures...but the little day to day things are worth preserving too.

The biggest challenge for me will be updating the blog frequently enough to keep a readership interested. It seems like a small task to update a little at a time every day, but some days it could just turn into "one more thing!"

Eventually, I'd like for others to glean book ideas and a love for reading from this blog. By transforming a blog into a virtual book talk area, student can view my love for books.

Beginning a new blog world

As someone who really enjoys reading blogs, it is probably high time to start blogging myself. I'd like to use this blog in my library as a way to book talk with my students. By viewing my book talks, books reviews, and book trailers (my favorite!)...students will be able to choose books and become even more excited about reading on their own time!