23 Done, but not quite dusted

Finally, the end. I was going along quite well, then things went bellyup for a bit, but I got there in the end.

First,
Habit 1 – Begin with the end in mind
Habit 2 – Accept responsibility for your own learning
Habit 3 – View problems as challenges
Habit 4 – Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner
Habit 5 – Create your own learning toolbox
Habit 6 – Use technology to your advantage
Habit 7 – Teach and mentor others
Habit 7 ½ – PLAY!Have fun! It's never too late to become a lifelong learner.

I've got most of them covered I think, although some of you out there may not agree. I am known to procrastinate a bit and that's not so good, but here I am at the final post for Learning 2.0. But, you know, not my final post for ever I don't think, I quite like this. I would like to explore the possiblity of a blog for the reading group I run for upper primary school students, they never hand in their reading log books, maybe they would blog about books they have read, you never know until you try I suppose.
I have really enjoyed the learning 2.0 program, but I have to say I have probably done about 95% of it at home. I felt guilty trying to do it at work, there was always something else I should be doing. Some of the people who have struggled to complete the program in the time slot have also had this problem, paired with the fact that this is just stuff that they don't do at home, makes it hard. As with our patrons, there are staff who just aren't interested in learning the ins and outs of all this stuff and that's ok. If we did it again, maybe do it in pairs and have time together organised off desk to do it, when it is ok to do it.
There's stuff I have to go back to, the RSS feeds for example, why do I have them, and what do they really do? Really simple stuff, probably, but ???
Podcasts could be used to great advantage by libraries, advertise the features of the library on local websites that may be getting more hits than the library website, people nowadays are more visual and may look. Link into the local school websites with podcasts on the local library and how they could support the students, podcasts to explain how to use the catalogue, the list is long.
Wikis sound awesome for libraries as well, book groups, staff manuals, facilitate more patron input, all good ideas for a wiki.
So that's it, congrats to all who have finished, and keep going to all those who haven't. I know some people who are keen to go in the next round, so that's good. There were some negative aspects to all this, but I'm trying to be a more positive person, so that's for another day.

16 Wiki me Wiki you

Wikis, what a wonderful way to help share information, but do we really think that as a profession we want to relinquish the control and power we have over all those people who come to us for information???? I know that many people are working in libraries to share information and help people in their search for further information, but at the moment we control what we do to a certain extent. I notice that by reading some of the other blogs that the control of content in a wiki seems to be a major concern, and after watching the interview with the guy who created Wikipedia on the Sunday show a while ago I understand this. It was interesting as the interviewer questioned him on information about herself that she found on Wikipedia that was in fact wrong! I personally think that Wikis could be a great tool, but would have to be monitored to ensure content was appropriate and applicable to what the Wiki was about. As many of us are finding whilst doing this Learning 2.0 it is all too easy to be taken off course here on the Internet. I would like to explore the possibility of Wikis for a young adult book group, it seems that it too difficult to get one running in person, perhaps by starting in the electronic world????

15 On Library 2.0, Web 2.0 and other stuff

After a break while my daughter was quite sick, in and out of hospital for a month I'm back!! They finally decided to take out her appendix and she is better now, so it is all systems go.

So library 2.0 and Web 2.0, well, I love it a lot, but I also loathe it just a little. I think it is a great way for people who may be far apart for whatever reasons to be able to communicate and share information. I think all the social networking is ok, but in is it all really necessary?? My fourteen year old comes home and gets onto msn, or myspace and talks online with people who she has just spent all day with at school, but try and get her to make an actual phone call and talk with an actual body rather than use a keyboard, sometimes that's like pulling teeth. That aspect of all of this scares me a little, in this rush towards social networking are we forgetting the basic social skills???

In the library world many of these skills can be used for good rather than evil. The often proposed idea of wikis for staff manuals or book groups, blogs for the younger generation to interact with us old fogey library staff and more interactive library catalogues are all great ideas. Sometimes in this rush towards being so technologically savy are we disregarding the needs of the less technologically savy of our patrons? Some of the older patrons who come to my library have no desire to get the latest and best reads in their favourite genre emailed to them as they have no desire to ever have an email address, so we have to balance the needs of all our patrons without favouring one group over another.

I think the library of the future will still have books in it, maybe not as many, but the ability to get books from further afield helps this, I think it will still be staffed by actual people, we will just have more advanced skills in all things web 2.0

So I guess I see a future bright with the glow of library 2.0 and 3.0, 4.0 and beyond, but hope that the people who do still like to hold a book in their hands and feel the paper as it turns are not neglected in this rush towards reading books on your mobile phone as you network electronically with your vast friend network of people you have never met.