World Book 1b

My choice for this search was the beaver. I need to be "busy as a beaver" to get caught up on my assignments!

The Kid's Edition has very limited information. It tells me that beavers live in North America, Asia, and Europe, but there is no direct information about the beaver's habitat. It does mention that beavers make dams across streams, eat tree bark and water plants, and have lodges with underwater entrances. I know that beavers live in rivers, streams, or lakes near woodlands, but I'm not so sure a first or second grader would figure that out from just reading the text.

The Info Finder has a wealth of beaver information. There is information about habitat, and also much more. It goes into great detail about the beaver's body, literally from head to toe and teeth to tail. We also learn about the beaver's busy life of cutting down trees, constructing dams, and building lodges.

I especially liked the video of the beaver pup trying to climb up on a dam. That little guy wouldn't give up!

I must say I did get distracted from my beaver search by the virtual tours on the Info Finder. I spent more time than I should have learning about pilgrims and romance!

I looked up Moldova in the Reference Center. Since I know very little about Moldova, I appreciated all the information about the land, people, products, and history. It's a very small country - South Dakota is larger in area than Moldova. I used the Read Aloud function to find out how to pronounce Chisinau, the capital city. The Facts in Brief Table is helpful for learning quick bits of information.

World Book 1a

I chose the alpaca for my mammal, mainly because I wanted to know the difference between and alpaca and a llama. The Kid's version did not even mention llamas - it said only that alpacas are related to camels.

Alpacas live in the Andes mountains, and have very soft wool. As a knitter, I have worked with alpaca yarn and it is wonderful.

World Book Student edition has a bit more information about alpacas. There is more detail about alpaca wool and its uses. It also mentions that they are related to domesticated llamas.

Links are provided for llamas, guanacos, and vicunas. I checked out the llama article and found that alpacas are smaller than llamas.

The country I investigated in World Book Advanced is Guatemala. I have traveled to Guatemala, and can identify personally with information presented in the articles. There is a lot of basic information about the country and its people, as well as separate articles about various cities, important people, and Mayan culture. The information in the right-hand column is mostly presidential papers, but they're interesting to read as well. A person could spend hours clicking from one article, map, or chart to another!

I used World Book Discover to check out Citizenship. Being able to read the article in another language would be very helpful to patrons who do not speak or read English fluently. Being able to listen to the article is also a useful feature. I can see that this could be a good resource for ESL learners.

On a pracitcal note: Two weeks ago (before I even started this Challenge) we had a class of 5th graders visit the library. They arrived with lists of books needed for their reports. To supplement their bibiographies, and provide even more current information, we showed them the World Book Student edition!

Here We Go Again!

The last time I wrote anything for this blog it was at the conclusion of the Library 2.0 Challenge. I vowed to keep posting to my blog. Yeah, right.... We can see how that turned out! But it's a new year, and a new Challenge, so I will try to faithfully complete my lessons and record my findings in a timely manner.

Seriously though, I'm glad for this push to investigate the different data bases. I have used some of them here at the library, but am woefully ignorant of others. This will give me an excuse to play with them.

I am a bit afraid that I will become addicted though. It's so fun to see where searches can take you, and I can see myself ignoring my other tasks in order to delve deeper and deeper into my queries.

Hooray! I Dit It!

I am so pleased and proud of myself! Surprised too! I actually completed the Library 2.0 Challenge!

I disagree that it doesn't take a lot of time. Some of these lessons seemed to take me forever to figure out and complete. It was difficult finding time during the day to do them. I spent several evenings at home studying, listening, registering, etc. That was hard for me. I spend a large part of my work day on the computer, so when I go home I want to do something else (like sewing, gardening, even cleaning my house!).

But I did learn a lot. I may not use all these tools, but now I know about them. I'm more aware of what's available, and ways we could use them at our library. And most of the "fear factor" is gone. I'm not afraid to try something new!

I hope to maintain this blog, continue to explore ways to use Google Docs, and post more photos on Flickr. I think I may be moving up the ladder from "Low Tech" to "Mid Tech." The view looks okay from here!

I Can't Believe I'm on My Space!

Okay, I did it. I created an account on My Space and I am freaked out! I am a private person, and having all that information about me on the web for others to see freaks me out! I see an ID Thief lurking around every corner just waiting to take my information and run with it! Am I being paranoid?

Or am I just too old for all this technology? My idea of connecting with friends is talking on the phone, or having everyone over for an evening of games and root beer floats.

I will be honest when I say I will probably delete my account as soon as this exercise is over! Writing and posting this blog is about as public as I want to be!

It was quick and easy creating the My Space account, but I know I could spend hours fine tuning it, adding photos, backgrounds, etc. I honestly do not have that kind of time to commit to it, nor do I have the interest.

Wikis: Pro and Con

I am standing firmly in the middle of the road on my opinion of wikis. I can see both pros and cons to using them. Maybe making a list will help clarify my thinking.
Pros:

• Easy to add information
• Anybody can add to it
• There are wikis on tons of topics (Who knew there were so many experts out there?!)

Cons:

• Because anyone can add to a wiki, the information may not be accurate - (Can you restrict who is able to add content?)
• Because anyone can add to a wiki, the creator of the wiki has no control over the content

Our library is planning for the future and exploring the possibility of building a new facility. I can see how a wiki could be helpful in gathering opinions from our community. Not everyone is able to attend community meetings: a wiki would be available 24/7.

On the flip side, I wouldn't want a wiki to become a place for library bashing because a patron is angry about an overdue fine or a long hold queue. But I guess that's the chance you take....

I heard a young patron the other day refer to my library" (not the library). That is what we strive for: that the community values the library and feels a part of it.

I'm still in the middle, but I may be leaning towards the positive....

About the wikis listed on the 2.0 Challenge, I did find several articles on the Library Success wiki that I want to read or listen to (library podcasts). And the Rapid City Flood wiki is great. Having not grown up in South Dakota, I know very little about the flood (only what I've read in local histories). Having this site with first-hand accounts and photos is amazing. Good Work, RCPL!

Google Docs

This lesson on Office 2.0 has taken a while for me to complete. I actually watched the tutorial last week, then I went to Google Docs and viewed a variety of templates. I tried to think of a document I could make and actually use.

Then I received a flier in the mail about ordering t-shirts with a reading theme. I was going to use Word to make a sign-up sheet to post by the In-Out Board. Then I thought, "Eureka! I can use Google Docs, make an order form, and share it with our library staff!"

Voila! My very first document is here:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AuzoF9i-2QMmdGQyZ05fUXpIX3N2cS15N1FFRUNodkE&hl=en

I can see that this will be very useful when sharing documents. We could use this with the Children's Book Award Committee when compiling our reading lists for one example. I'm sure as I think about it, I will come up with other uses as well.