ICEBERGS

"Away from the Icebergs" was interesting, in that it pointed out 3 dangerous threats to the future success of libraries: The "just in case" collection, reliance on user education, and the "come to us" model of library service. All three of these, I think, are true. The traditional COLLECTION has been available for "if" and "when" patrons might need the items. I liked the point made that library staff aren't teachers -- If patrons cant' use the services available, then the service needs to be changed! AND, thirdly, the libraries need to find ways of bringing services TO patrons, rather than insisting that the patrons come to the library...on our terms! It's exciting to speculate on the various possibilities for the future. The main thing to remember is that the world, even for libraries, is changing VERY quickly, and libraries need to not only keep up, but think WAY ahead. So that the patrons can benefit.

Week 6

Found a bookmark..."Gather" then "Olive Oil is Olive Oil." This'll be nice, think of the creative resources available with all this sharing stuff!

WRIGHT BROS. and MADAGASCAR

I accessed Webfeat, both from the "23things" link, and from the PBCLS homepage. Fun. Found the Wright Brothers while searching for Dayton, Ohio. Orville was the younger of the two, but the one who actually piloted the first flight.
Thought I'd do a children's search -- in Madagascar (since I know very little about the place). Read a little about lemurs, which are native only to Madagascar and one other small island country off the coast of Africa. Who knew?

LIBERRY THAING

Library Thing is very similar to SHELFARI.com, which I'm registered with. I'll have to do a little more exploring to see which is superior. Nevertheless, it's nice to have your reading repertoire all in one place. Hey! We need to tell our patrons to register on one of these sites -- they're ALWAYS asking if we can pull up what they've read in the past!!!!!

RSS & Readers

It was said this would be the hardest of the 23 things. Very right. It might have proven harder for me because of the limited chunks of time I had to complete it; ya think you're "getting it" and it's time to quit. Then, next day, you must re-teach yourself for a few minutes before making more progress! Ain't that life, tho....
I added three readers to my blogline account. I can see how this would be very valuable for many library staff - both at work and in their personal lives. It shortcuts one's searches for latest news, products, etc. which are of interest. I'm not one to enjoy surfing the internet -- there's SO MUCH at our fingertips, and (for most of us) so little time.