Where did the time go?

It's almost Christmas, and I can't believe that I have posted since May. Since May, many things have happened. For the Kentucky Room I have created a site on Ning.com for Owensboro genealogy. You can post your queries about your genealogy and also read my blogs about doing research. http://owensborokygenealogy.ning.com/

I also have pictures posted from Voices of Elmwood. That was a project that was started last year. Members of this group research those buried in Elmwood Cemetery, turn the research into a script, and then we portray them. This usually occurs in October and there are ten people you "visit" on a hayride through the cemetery. The money raised from this is divided between the Daviess County Public Library, the Owensboro Area Museum, Theatre Workshop and Elmwood Cemetery. Many of the stones and monuments there have destroyed by the weather and we hope to repair these. You can check out the pictures on the ning site or at the Voices of Elmwood Facebook page.

The library is also working on its long-range planning. This includes the process of planning for results. I was sent to Cleveland for Planning for Results Bootcamp and learned how a library develops a long-range plan with goals and objectives. My library started this process in April or May and we are continuing to progress. Also we are weeding our reference section to make room for biographies and our large print. The large print is so crowded that this is necessary.

I am hoping that the new year will bring exciting changes to the library and to my life personally. I want to recommitt to posting my blogs and I want to keep up with library trends and Owensboro events. Speaking of which, over the summer Extreme Home Makeover Edition came to Daviess County and built a house for the Mattingly Family. I was honored to meet rapper Xzibit, who is a champ at trivia. May you have a happy Holiday Season!

My Papaw, Walter Lile

This picture was taken ten days before he died on July 19, 2007. The lady next to him is my Aunt Carla. Tomorrow he would be 96 years old. I can still hear his voice, but I know he's happy where he is. Not a day goes by that I don't think of you. I love you, Papaw.

Fifth month is going...going...

I can't believe it's already the 5th month of 2009! So much has happened in that short amount of time that I have to catch my breath. Last weekend I had a garage sale and did pretty well. We sold movies, collectibles, books, purses and clothing. I have three tubs of clothing left but I think another garage sale may take care of that.

This weekend is BBQ Festival weekend and a friend of mine who I haven't seen in ten year will be here! He's guest vocals for a band, to which the name eludes me, and I hope to have a nice visit with him. He was in the band at Campbellsville University. During these ten years he has played for different venues all over the country and has had a successful wrestling career. Now he's back at C'ville trying to earn his bachelors in music and then venture on to FSU to get his masters. Talking to him last night on the phone brought up alot of memories.


Sunday, May 10, is special for two reasons. For more obvious reason it is Mother's Day. I salute each mother for their hard work, love and dedication to their children. My mom is my hero. She is smart, funny, is strong in her faith and was a great role model for me. She was diganosed in her early 30's with multiple sclerosis. I can't imagine how she must have felt trying to understand why she was sick and trying to raise my brother and me. But MS hasn't stopped her. She lives a very active life and sells Avon. If you need an Avon representative, just let me know!


May 10 is also my dad's birthday. He will be the big 60! I don't think of my dad as his age. I'm a daddy's girl, so to me he is timeless. My dad is a leader at my home church and is a member of our local American Legion. He served two years in the Marines in the 1970's. Dad was also the one who would make sure I went to bed and said my prayers. He also taught my brother and I how to play basketball.

May 17 is my Papaw's, Walter Lile, birthday. He would have been 96 years old. He grew up in Bullitt County, KY and had only an 8th grade education. He was a plumber who worked for Ft. Knox and when he was a teenager he worked on a turkey farm and til the day he died would not eat turkey. You can imagine how strange it was having ham at Thanksgiving. His favorite hymn was How Great Thou Art and he had beautiful white hair. I loved to talk to him on the phone and send him cards for every occasion. When I go home to my parents and see his house empty it makes me very sad. This time of year Papaw would have had his garden planted and his flowers would've been blooming. He could also pray very beautifully.

I've been very blessed to have such a wonderful family. Although it seems the time is going by so very fast, take a minute to think of the people you love by honoring them with your memories. I miss you, Papaw.

May--Kentucky's Month of Events

The month of May is approaching very quickly, and three events happen that keep us very busy. If you like horses, food or history, keep reading!

May 1, 2009, 135th Run for the Roses, or the Kentucky Derby, Louisville.

According to Wikipedia, on May 17, 1875, in front of an estimated crowd of 10,000 people, a field of 15 three-year-old horses contested the first Derby. The first winner was the horse Aristides. As an almost Louisville native, I have never been to the Derby. It is tradition in my family to go to our local American Legion's derby party and watch the races all day. Highlights for me include stories from the in-field and celebrity watching on millionaire's row. But to witness the race is like nothing else. You hold your breath until the horses cross the finish line. It is the most exciting two-minute race in history.

May 9-10 is Owensboro's BBQ Festival.

People from all over come to the BBQ capital to sample amazing mutton, pork, beef, chicken and burgoo. I love the smell of the food, the friendliness of the people, and the view of the river, which this year happens to be under construction. Thinking about watching those church teams cook their bbq for glory makes me hungry!

May 15-17 is the Battle of Sacramento in McLean County, KY.

According to the McLean County Civil War Driving Tour of Sacramento, Confederate forces, under Lt. Col. Nathan Bedford Forrest, were active in the Green River area during the fall and winter of 1861.

They were protecting the Confederate base and capital at Bowling Green and trying to maintain control of the Green River and the surrounding area, a long time source of food for the lower South. Ten thousand Union soldiers under General Thomas Crittenden were stationed in Calhoun protecting Lock and Dam No. 2 and maintaining the security of the Union’s Ohio River supply lines as the campaign for control of the Mississippi was developing.

Control of the Green River was crucial to both Union and Confederate goals during the maneuvering for position in late 1861. This made McLean County a focal point for both sides.On Dec. 27, 1861, Forrest assembled a force of some 300 men in Greenville to scout Union positions in the farming country between there and Calhoun. Union Major Eli Murray, only 18 years old, led a scouting party out of Calhoun to reconnoiter the area around Sacramento.

The two forces collided on December 28, with Forrest emerging the victor, in what came to be known as the Battle of Sacramento. The Union forces reported 11 killed and 40 missing, while Forrest lost only 2 men. Confederate success was fleeting, however, and by February, they had withdrawn from Bowling Green and conceded control of the Green River valley to the Union - losing access to one of the South’s traditional sources of food.

To all mothers, Happy Mother's Day!

A funeral customs museum in the land of Lincoln

When I was doing research on funeral cards (y'all know how I love anything weird), I came across an article that talked about a place called the Museum of Funeral Customs. Located in Springfield, Illinois not far from Lincoln's tomb this museum houses a collection of interesting items dealing with this subject. Items include a replica of Lincoln's casket, a horse-drawn hearse, embalming tools and burial robes. The focus on this article from the New York times talk about how the museum is struggling to stay open. It has reduced it hours to appointments only. It also has a myspace page that has not been recently updated. They do not have a functioning website. Here are the links to the article and the myspace site:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/us/09funeral.html?_r=1

http://www.myspace.com/funeralmuseum

Photograph available at www.everystockphoto.com. "The final journey" by TheLizardQueen.

Myspace and Facebook

I have enjoyed using Myspace and Facebook for quite sometime now. I enjoy messaging my friends, updating my status, uploading pictures and just having fun. Kevin and I started the library's Myspace and Facebook page. I have to agree with him that I do like the Myspace page better because it seems for the library this is the better tool. With Facebook you can create only a fan page for the library, which really limits you to what you can do with is regarding content. Myspace gives you free reign on any page you create. I really enjoy blogging about library events and I try to include some thought prevoking questions. I wish we could get more feedback from our patrons in regards to the blog. I want to know what they are talking about, what they're reading and if I could do something to enhance their library experience. My other favorite feature on the Myspace page is that you can create bibliographies using the myspace tools and show the covert art of books and cds. I like the colors of the page because I think they're complimentary and easy on the eyes. I will try to do a better job blogging about library items.

I Promise it's not Totally Morbid! Listen to me, then Listen to Yourself

(Photo by Tom Curtis www.freedigitalphotos.net)

I was looking through blogger's blogs of note when I came across this one by Lover of Life called Life in the Second Half. http://lifeinthesecondhalf.blogspot.com/. In one of her posts she talks about how a professor asked her to eavesdrop on her own funeral. Lay down on your back in an empty, quiet room. Cross your arms over your chest and pretend you are dead. Then envision yourself at your funeral. What will people say about you?

"The idea behind this exercise is not to be hard on yourself . It's not a popularity contest. If you don't have many people in your life, then use the people you come in contact with. Be totally honest with what you might be hearing. Were you a kind person? Happy? Sad? Honest? Charitable? Are people saying how much they will miss you? That your generosity of spirit will be missed? Are people saying that it is sad you are gone, but you really weren't a very good person. You were successful, but at the expense of others. Anyway, this is your funeral - you get to pick the conversations.

"The point is to really look at where you are in your life. And maybe where you want to go for the rest of it. The impact that we have on others is very real and far-reaching. It's rippling effect is powerful."

So where are we in our lives? Do we know where we stand? These are the questions that keep some of us up at night. The author of the blog is right--you only get one chance to live this life. Live your life well.

Squire Boone, Old Episcopal Burial Ground, Lexington, KY

I have used Youtube before to watch all the videos I like! I love watching old music videos and I also like to search for library videos. When I was doing my search for this assignment I wanted to find something about Kentucky. So I picked out something about Squire Boone. Hope you enjoy it!

Podcasts, can I hear you???

http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

While trying to find podcasts on things that interested me, I did not have a positive experience because I kept running into road blocks. I checked out both directories and on podcastalley I kept finding podcasts that insisted I download the software. I also tried clicking on different tags to see what else would come up, but I felt like I was going in circles. I did Google podcasts for libraries and found several different ones. I probably should've narrowed my search to something like book review or adult services. I know that many of my friends listen to podcasts about computers and other technologies and listen to ones on ITunes. I have had to listen to a podcast for a school assignment and I used ITunes for that as well. I also made a podcast by using the Audacity software. I am going to continue on my podcast journey to find something that suits me.

Technorati and Delicious

From the about us page on Technorati: "Technorati was founded to help bloggers to succeed by collecting, highlighting, and distributing the online global conversation. As the leading blog search engine and most comprehensive source of information on the blogosphere, we index more than 1.5 million new blog posts in real time and introduce millions of readers to blog and social media content."

When I first looked at Technorati I became overwhelmed. There is so much for you to explore and do that you could take hours just on one subject! From a blog directory, to videos, to trying to claim your blog, it's amazing what you could possibly find on here. I did a search for library 2.0 and pugs and saw everything from very technical blogs regarding 2.0 to very cute blogs about dogs or dog products. If one joined this site it would be easy to mark your favorite blogs and read them at your pleasure. I don't know how much Iwill use this, but this could be a very useful tool.

When I explored on the tagging site Delicious, I could see how if you are a member that storing tags to sites you liked would enable you to go back to those sites right away so that you don't have to memorize web addresses. It's also a great way to discover new sites. For example, if you want to know more about a topic, type it in the tag search and see what sites come up as hits. I haven't quite figured out how to see more hits then what I'm is being brought up. I think the site could be lots of fun, but it looks way too time consuming and I think I would get bored with it.

Librarianship and 2.0: Can one help the other?

Michael Stephens brings valid points in his article "Into a New World of Librarianship." I love his first line, that the library is human and because of that the library becomes an emotional and social learning experience. He wants librarians to become the best 2.0 librarians we can be. Librarians need to take the lead in the technology field and understand what trends are, how trends will work in the library world, and how to guide users to using them in their maximum potential. Here are some helpful hints:

1. Librarians 2.0 plans for their users.
We become user focused and base our services and materials for the users needs and wants. We make the user involved as much as possible so that the library can become a transparent entity.

2. Librarians 2.0 embrace Web 2.0 tools.
"This librarian uses Instant Messaging to meet users in their space online, builds Weblogs and wikis as resources to further the mission of the library, and mashes up content via API (Application Program Interface) to build useful Web sites." We go where the user are--Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, etc.

3. Librarian 2.0 controls technolust.
We buy technology with a purpose because the library nurtures a technology plan.

4. Librarian 2.0 makes good and also fast decisions.
The world, along with its library users, change with technology. The librarian uses his/her resources to plan and adapt the technology that is available to them to meet the needs of the users. Librarians have meeting and discussions to understand how this will benefit their customers.

5. Librarian 2.0 is a trendspotter.
The librarian watches for new trends and programs that will take the library to the next level in technology but also follow a technology plan that suits the library's mission. Librarians should look outside of the profession to see how technology impacts other businesses.

6. Librarian 2.0 gets content.
Users are going to help define the direction the library will head because they create the content. Librarians are going to help them find the content they are looking for.

Web 2.0 and Libraries--Icebergs

In reading the OCLC newsletter, the article "Away from Icebergs" by Rick Anderson shows us how to get away from "iceberg's that will hinder a library's progress into the 21st century. He says that we need to steer away from builing what he calls a "just in case collection." Now that information is digitally available and before where it was only available in print format, we don't have to build a print collection that anticipates every users needs. This idea can help libraries spend their budget efficiently on digital collections that will provide access to the information people are looking for. If your spending your collection budget on items that don't circulate and are not in demand, but your database usage is very high, wouldn't it make more sense to buy more databases or ebooks? This principal also comes into play when we weed the collection. If the item doesn't circulate and you can get it on interlibrary loan, then weed the item. (Photograph by Hordur Vilhjalmsson)

Anderson also comments about "eliminating the barriers that exist between patrons and the information they need." This is exactly why I believe learning these web 2.0 applications are so important. Librarians don't need to stick their heads in the sand. We need to learn what's available on the subjects we're trained in, learn to navigate those sites, and show people the easiest way to find what they are looking for. I would not be much help to patrons in the KR if I didn't know how to find information on Ancestry.com. That's also why I'm very excited about application tools such as Google Docs. If a patron can save it in their Google Docs account then saving it to the desk top and not having access to their item later, then make sure they know that having Google Docs is an option. As someone once told me, try to find a way to say yes and make it work before you say no.

Last but not least, Anderson says that libraries need to stay relevant with the times and to do that we need to bring our services to the patrons. Libraries "no longer have the monopoly power they had the days before the Internet. At a minimum, this means placing library services and content in the user’s preferred environment (i.e., the Web); even better, it means integrating our services into their daily patterns of work, study and play." That is why the library has made an effort to have a Myspace and Facebook page. We have to go where the people are, and they are in chatrooms, profile pages, and other virtual realities.

The library must adapt to enviromental change to stay afloat in the world of the Internet. If the library doesn't change then it will become useless to its patrons.

Your Book Club Can Save Money! Use Book Kits

If your library or local group wants to start a book discussion club but doesn't want to spend the money on buy copies of the selected title, then I suggest looking to your local library to see if you can check out book kits. Book kits include at least 15 copies of the book, an audio book and discussion questions. If your library does not have kits, see if your interlibrary loan librarian can borrow these from other libraries.

When the DCPL started the 20/20 Book Club we did not have money in our budget for buying extra copies of books. With borrowing book kits from other libraries, this has helped us decide on titles to select and provided us with the necessary amount of copies for our members. Thanks to Kentucky Department of Library and Archives, Kenton County Public Library, Campbell County Public Library and Boone County Public Library for helping us provide quality book kits to our customers.

http://www.kdla.ky.gov/collections/books/rbrequest.html

http://www.cc-pl.org/

http://www.kenton.lib.ky.us/

http://www.bcpl.org/

Happy Fools Day!

Did anyone read my column in this week's paper?(It comes out on Tuesdays.) It explains why you shouldn't take today too seriously.

According to Wikipedia, "The origin of April Fools' Day is obscure. One likely theory is that the modern holiday was first celebrated soon after the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar. The term referred to someone still adhering to the Julian Calendar, which it replaced. In many pre-Christian cultures May Day(May 1) was celebrated as the first day of summer, and signalled the start of the spring planting season. An April Fool was someone who did this prematurely. "

Another origin is that April 1 was counted the first day of the year in France. When King Charles IX changed that to January 1, some people stayed with April 1. Those who did were called "April Fools" and were taunted by their neighbors. In the eighteenth century the festival was often posited as going back to the times of Noah. An English newspaper article published on April 13th, 1789 said that the day had its origins when he sent the raven off too early, before the waters had receded. He did this on the first day of the Hebrew month that corresponds with April. A possible reference to April Fools' Day can be seen in the Canterbury Tales (ca 1400) in the Nun's Priest's tale, a tale of two fools: Chanticleer and the fox, which took place on March 32nd.

On a personal note, today is my sister-in-law's birthday, and she claims she was born a fool. Happy birthday, Leigh Ann! I love you!

Online Productivity Tools

As to quote from the DCPL blog, online productivity tools are web-based applications that "provide users with the ability to create and share documents over the internet without the need of installed desktop applications." When I went to PLA Bootcamp in Cleveland for Strategic planning, each of us created an account with Google so that we could access Google Docs. This let us put all of our notes for the bootcamp into a single place. This allowed us to read each other's notes and give input where needed. Anytime I need to refer to those notes, especially with planning coming up in May, I can go to Google Docs at any time. This feature makes web-based applications invaluable because you can collaborate, write papers, or make those last minute files from anywhere. If my co-workers had to make one single document from all the notes, it would easy to make modifications to the documents and to email or print them.

I was very impressed with Zoho and Thinkfree. As they say, the office is on the Internet. I just signed on for thinkfree and you can create HTML documents, spreadsheets and powerpoint. The workspace is also called the dashboard. This can help you create projects and assign tasks and team members. This may be very helpful if we were working on a library wide project or for those on committees and we could put our notes and presentations all in one spot if we did not have a Staffdocs on the server. This could be used as a backup for your files if they aren't on some sort of outside hard drive. That's also the same with flickr or any site that let's you upload pictures. You need to backup everything, (which I am guilty of not doing), and this is a perfect way to do that.

As for the wiki, I really enjoy posting to the sandbox, and creating pages for others to enjoy. I like reading their posts and I feel like I get to know my co-workers a little better. Wiki would be great to do these lessons as well or some sort of web class where you posted to a wiki your responses. What will the web think of next?

Shelf Check

I'll just say it--I really love our profession. And I love anything that emphasizes it including t-shirts, canvas bags and bumper stickers. My favorite comic strip is Unshelved, but now it may have a close second. Shelf Check is posted by Emily Lloyd who is a librarian/teacher from Minneapolis, MN. She also maintains another blog through blogger called poesy galore. Today's strips remined me of some of us who haven't felt that well. Hope you enjoy!

http://shelfcheck.blogspot.com/

Funeral Net

Yesterday, March 23, the KR received two new books. One of them was called The Everything Guide to Online Genealogy by Kimberly Powell. This book is fascinating because it discusses every aspect of genealogy such as how to get started, who to interview, where to look such as libraries and of course what websites to look at and what they offer. One section of the book discusses searching records at funeral homes. Although many funeral homes are privately owned, they may be willing to work with you on finding the information you need in your search such as death and burial dates and maybe a birth date. If the death your searching for is more recent and the funeral home has not changed hands much then the funeral director or employees may remember your family. I know this from personal experience because one funeral home in Valley Station, Hardy's has always been owned by the Hardy family and they know my family very well. I have always found it comforting to be there for those occasions because I know I will be well taken care of. If I had a question about my family I know that one of the Hardys would be able to answer it. (Photo by George*50 posted on Flickr.)

One site that caught my attention was http://www.funeralnet.com/ This is a great information center because you can do many types of searches, which include searches for cemeteries, obituaries, funeral homes and ancestry. When I searched for cemeteries, it only gave me 5 listings in Owensboro because these have offices or a contact number. The Info Center has great search tools. You can look for veterans' information, grief sources and careers in the funeral industry.

My Trading Card

I picked this picture because I thought they were the prettiest flowers that day. It was a wonderful celebration and I'm glad we have all of these pictures to remember it by.

Flickr Image

For those who know, you know I don't have to explain the picture that I uploaded. The picture belongs to Dunechaser. If you do a search for pugs, many hits will pop up. I thought this pug looked the happiest! I am familiar with Flickr because when I am on Twitter, most people who post web pictures use this site. It's very interesting to see what they take pictures of. I think this is a great way to share personal pictures. I also like how people can comment on your photographs if they have an account. This seems like a safe way of sharing your photos.

What do you do?

I was reading the blog of Kimical Smile, and this gave me a great idea. What do you do in your daily job? I know on our wiki we have the page called "The Buck Stops Here" and it gives in few details who is responsible for what. But that doesn't really explain what it is we do. Most of you who know me understand that I work in the Kentucky Room. What does that really mean? What is the Kentucky Room and where is it? Well, the KR is on the first floor of the DCPL near the end where the reading garden is. This room houses our local history collection as well as genealogy materials, county histories and records, Owensboro newspapers on microfilm going back 150 years, the U.S. Federal census, Kentucky Death Certificates 1911-1957 and so much more.

My job is to help patrons trace their genealogy, answer questions about local or Kentucky history, answer queries via phone and email and do the best job I possibly can. I also am a public notary, which means that I witness and verify signatures on documents. I also weed the collection, am a member of the 20/20 Book Club committee, and I plan the adult programs. My latest projects have been researching for scrips for Voices of Elmwood and being a member of the planning committee, which helps with the library's strategic planning.

Being in the KR is a real pleasure because I get to meet a variety of people and learn about their families. I also learn interesting things when researching local history from the newspaper or any of the county history books. (And I have the best view looking out of my window!)If you have a chance to visit the Kentucky Room, please stop by and I will be glad to show you around!

RSS Feed

RSS Feed
To emphasize what's already been said in a few blogs, I had a class on RSS feed back in the fall and didn't quite grasp how it all worked. It just seemed like magic to me and I was satisfied with that explanation. But now that I have subscribed to some RSS feeds and they come straight to the Google Reader, it's very nice to open Google Reader when I check my email and see who has written a new post. I did not want to start a Bloglines account because it would have been another account I would have to keep up with. So in Google Reader I did a search for history blogs or blogs about Kentucky and subscribed to About.com: American History and My Old Kentucky Blog, which is a music blog. I like this one personally because my cousin writes it and he review indy bands. The blog that I wanted to subscribe to but was a Bloglines groupie was one called www.Pajamadeen.com. Pajamadeen is "fighting the good fight in our jammies." It has great news updates and talks about historical items such as the women's hsitory museum in Bardstown, KY and Lincoln's birthday. I highly recommend this blog. As for using these blogs, I can see that I would use it both personally and professionally, but I like to post to the wiki for work.

Twitter--They're even talking about it in Public Libraries magazine

Alright, you knew eventually I was gonna talk about this. I love Twitter! It's a wonderful social networking site that answers the question "What are you doing?" in 140 characters or less. Status updates are made in real time, and the message is delivered instantly to those who subscribe to Twitter, aka your "followers." In the article I'm refering to in Public Libraries, "What Are You Doing Now? And Do Your Patrons Care?" writers Michael Porter and David Lee King believe that this is a viable tool for connecting with patrons. Here is their list of potential uses for status updates:

• Connecting with patrons and colleagues


• Connecting with other organizations


• Advocacy


• Answering and asking questions


• Professional development


• Using it as a listening tool to "hear" what your community says about the library


• Broadcasting announcements


• Throwing ideas around


• Promoting services or events


• Job postings

The article also states that libraries that already use Twitter do a lot of linking--to events, new titles added to a collection, webpages, or blog posts. We could use this service to our advantage by telling our audiences that check our FB and Myspace page to join Twitter and to follow us. This could help us listen to our community.

Our Homework of 71/2 Habits

Ok, I promise I read this. But now I can't remember what I read! And I'm too young to have CRS! But I do try to do the last 1/2 and play. Whatever project I'm working on, if I'm really into it, I try to make it fun and memorable. For example, I had the task of making a powerpoint about people's interests that people may have time for now such as scrapbooking, sewing, photography, etc. and I was really into the spirit of the project once I figured out what to say. I think I had too much caffine that morning and now I'm going to do embroidery like Laverne. I can say that I can sew a hole in my jeans! But back to my original point, whatever that maybe at this point, is that when I bring play and work together, I get alot more out of it then if I tend to do more of one than the other. There is so much to learn by working in the library and if you take everything so seriously, it's going to wear you down in the end.

Shelfari--edited

http://www.shelfari.com/lesliewp/shelf

As you can see from the previous post that I have signed up for Shelfari and have invited several staff members to be my friends. The drop-down features make it simple. This is an easier way to showcase what you've read, what you would like to read, and if you own the book or if it's your favorite. You can browse different genres to find books you like or you can plug in the titles. I like this better than library thing because the functions of Shelfari are easier to use. I also like the presentation of the books on a virtual bookcase. I did not write any reviews but I think by showing that I own the book shows how much I value it. I also like that I can invite users to be my friends and this give me an opportunity to view their bookshelves. Some of you have very interesting titles on your shelves!

I know the library uses a social book site on their myspace site, since I am one of those who keeps it updated. Although that is used with myspace tools, you could still embed the shelfari or other bookshelf site to the myspace or facebook and this would give our patrons a taste of what we have to offer when they come to the library. This can also show them what they may not know we have, like movies and music.

From that list there are several that I have used or have become familiar with such as Facebook, Myspace, IGoogle, pbwiki (which is the wiki we use for the library), youtube, twitter and my heritage. You all know my fav is Twitter, but I also like IGoogle and Facebook.

Looking out the window

This is the beginning of my new blog, where I hope something I say with either interest you, make you laugh, or shake your head like I'm crazy. I love looking out the window of my life and noticing all the beautiful things the world has to offer. For example, I love the library I work for. I get to help people find what they're searching for, and I hope I make their day a little brighter. The library offers things to the public that no other entity does. Where else can you get free movies and books, Internet service and a public notary all in the same building? Where can you go to look up something so personal like death or medical questions that the staff would treat you with the kindness it calls for in those sensitive situations? I can't think of another place but the public library.