Attention SJPL Library Staff

Snarling squirrel ravaging peanut
Originally uploaded by *jude*.

Please be on the lookout for this squirrel...he's been trying to enter the Rosegarden Library on several occasions and causes mass hysteria in the 1st floor hallway. Yesterday he was escorted out by a library staff member and told only to come back with the intention of signing up for a library card. This staff member was heard to remark "I think that he's wanting to check out some books on various types of nuts". The squirrel could not be reached for comment.

summary of 2.0 blogs

Alright I decided that it might be a good idea to help out those wonderful people who are running the Library Learning 2.0 program by giving them a list of the exercises and dates that I completed/blogged about them:

Week #1: Intro/ 7 1/2 Lifelong Learning Skills on 1-20-07
Week #2: Blogging/Set up Blog on 1-20-07
Week #3: Flickr on 1-31-07
Week #3: Technology Related Blog on 2-3-07
Week #4: RSS Feeds and Bloglines on 2-5-07
Week #5: Online Image Generator and Web 2.0 Awards on 2-7-07
Week #5: Rollyo on 2-9-07
Week #6: Tagging, Technorati, Delicious and Library 2.0 on 2-14-07
Week #7: Wiki on 2-16-07
Week #8: LibraryThing on 2-28-07
Week #9: YouTube on 2-25-07
Week #9: Summary of Program on 2-28-07

Missing Pieces/Items completed after summary blog was made=3-7-07(Podcasts/Ebooks,etc).

I hope this clarifies the exercises that I completed for this program and hope that it makes the lives of the tech services people a little bit easier when trying to figure out exactly what I did and what I thought of it.

LibraryThing Covers

Raks al Khalil - Rakkasah 2007-4/5

This is the drum solo that my bellydance troupe Raks Al Khalil performed at the Rakkasah festival held in Richmond last Saturday (March 17th). I'm in the front/center in the Purple and Aqua costume. We totally rocked! The rest of our perfromance vignettes are also on YouTube under the heading of "Raks Al Khalil at Rakkasah"

What I used to do on my weekends in MI

jingle_01
Originally uploaded by jaarockin.

My ethnic heritage includes Native American on my Mom's side of the family (Seneca and Ojibway) from NY state and the Great Lakes area. I used to dance jingle dress at the local powwows throughout the year when I lived back in Michigan. I also worked for one of the local tribes and learned to speak the Ojibway language (Anishinaabe). Since moving away from MI, I've kind of put that part of myself aside. As much as I love being part Native American, I really don't miss the gossip, backstabbing, and the limitations that exist back on the rez. I don't think that it's a bad thing to be an urban NDN or to be an intellectual, creative, loving human being. I still love a good powwow but I'm not about to get involved in the unhealthy relationships and lifestyle that seems to plague other NDNs

All those little things that I forgot to do!

Regarding the steps in the program that I overlooked or chose not to do- exercise #17 was completed. I did contribute favorite books, vacation stop, and was the 1st person to list my favorite bands/music groups under that wiki heading. I did get frustrated with the upload feature when trying to upload a photo of my favorite animal (my pet bunny) and had to delete the file and accidentally deleted the whole wiki page (sorry)...thus giving up the program for awhile. I looked at the zoho page and found it interesting as far as categorizing items, which I would probably use as a reference librarian, however I am but a lowly page. I already knew about podcasts- I used to work for the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe and their homepage has podcasts of speeches given by tribal leaders (in case I want to stay up-to-date on tribal politics), so I can see this as being beneficial for the acquisition of knowledge. As far as Ebooks are concerned. I thought that I made my thoughts about them abundantly clear in my library of the future blog. Anywho...I feel that I have completed the program and it's really not necessary to give me a flashdrive as I already have 3 of them that I don't bother to use....now, an Ipod on the other hand...; )

Summary of the 2.0 program

I have to say that overall I found that many of the exercises in this program were useless, as far as helping to understand the future of libraries. Most of the exercises were focused on personal networking and had very little to do with customer service and research methods at the libraries. However there were a few noticeable exceptions, including RSS feeds and LibraryThing. When first embarking on this program, I thought that the main focus would be on valuable methods of research on the Internet to better service Library customers. While I did enjoy some of the exercises, a majority of the program was unclear (esp to someone with limited computer experience and a deep desire for privacy). I think that we need to improve our customer service methods...the first of which should be easier and more understandable access of the library website and catalog. From there, we should encourage our staff and patrons to be looking at research options, connecting with other Libraries and readers, usage of LibraryThing to generate book discussions and reviews, all the while maintaining active community interest in local Library programs and book clubs. Because, ultimately, the focus should always be on bringing the community into the Libraries to offer them access to books, media, information...and most of all, to each other. I will be continuing this blog for my own personal use, so look out for amusing vignettes and (possible) book and movie recommendations.