Summary of My Experiences with Learning 2.0

This was an incredibly exciting learning experience for me! Thank you to the Library 2.0 team, Laurel and David, for designing and facilitating the program and to KCLS for sponsoring and supporting this labor and time intensive program for staff development. It has been worthwhile several times over for me. It has fostered my lifelong learning goals as a librarian, in both my teen services and reference work, as a mom of a teenager and as a constructive and productive citizen of a constantly changing world in which technology is playing a larger and larger role.

All of the learning sessions were useful as they offered an overview of what is available in cyberspace. I knew very little starting out the program and, therefore, was often surprised by the variety and sophistication of tools available. I was also often surprised at the creativity of web-users and the willingness of people to design and participate in web-based experiences. It also continues to amaze me how much time people spend online and all the opportunuities that exist to live online--a good reason why libraries and librarians should be cyber-savvy!

My favorite experiences were *Creating a Blog, *Flickr, *RSS Feeds, *LibraryThing, *Mash-ups, *YouTube and *Podcasts. My most frustrating experiences were with MySpace and del.icio.us. I would haved liked a longer session on the KCLS ecollection (music/videos as well as books).

Learning 2.0 was well set up and clearly defined with an understandable format, flow and goals. It was easy to be successful. Also, having work time to go through the program was crucial; it fostered communication and sharing with the workplaces and cluster. staff helped each other out and learned together -- wonderful concept and result! I would love to see similar training opportunities as new library-relevant technologies appear -- YES!! I have discovered I really enjoy learning hands-on online.

Improvements: only minor ones needed. As others have pointed out, most of the sessions took longer than 20 minutes; I averaged 45-60 minutes per session. That was OK, but it would have helped to have a more realistic time estimate before starting each session. And perhaps only two sessions a week -- three sometimes felt overwhelming to those of us who wanted to "keep up".

Available Help: I found I could get help with all my questions so far within the branch/cluster and I have had other staff members ask me for guidance, too. Having Learning 2.0 Advocates in the community libraries is helpful and reassuring--a good idea.

If I had to do it over agin, I would definitely choose to participate in the program. I am very glad I did.

The L-Team

YouTube and Podcasts

YouTube is truly addicting...and really entertaining. Its all very grass-roots and low-tech and democratic. I looked at alot of library-related" videos, many of them were alot of fun but still got a message across, like "The L-Team" and "Ninja Librarian". I can see alot of potential for putting out all kinds of messages about KCLS and its programs and services to people through YouTube. I think the key, though, is to make the videos short and entertaining.



I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the podcast directories. On PODCASTS.NET, I found alot of library audios, many of which looked esoteric and/or boring, even to me -- a veteran librarian. Just because you can make a podcast doesn't mean you should! Maybe as podcasts become the norm, we will be more selective in what we choose to broadcast. I was thrilled, however, to find *Hennepin County Library TeenLinks Podcasts*, where teens review books and discuss the library programs they like and in which they are involved. I added an RSS feed to my Bloglines account from this site!

Wow...Web 2.0 Awards!

Nice to see that sites that I like and use, such as Technorati and Bloglines, have won awards. I like the way each category has a summary describing the category...very helpful when one has no initial idea of the purpose of the sites, like "Peer Production News", for instance.

I looked at the book-related sites, of course, and was especially taken by Lulu, www.lulu.com, a self-publishing site. Interesting to see what people are publishing, what the needs and interests are outside of the mainstream publishing industry choices.

I also was blown away by the winner of the "Mashups" category, Supreme Court Zeitgeist, www.judgejohnroberts.com. A site like this is a fabulous reference desk find!

Google Labs

Amazing how many things there are to discover...way more than 27 I'd venture to guess! Anyway, Google Labs was one of them for me.

My favorite, in terms of potential usefulness to my library work, was Goggle Suggest. I like the way it came up with potential search terms as I typed more letters into my search...and I was surprised at the usefulness of some of the suggested terms. I can see using this Lab in my on-desk searching. Google Suggest was much better than Google Sets, which I think was kind of off-base and uninspired when it comes to linked areas/terms.

I also looked at Google Trends and Google Mars...fun but not really exciting or useful. And Google Transit, which I liked..glad to see Seattle was listed as an accessible city...would be great to have more cities added...a good traveling tool.

Sharing is good/No discs needed!

Enjoyed learning about Google Docs AND Zoho Writer. I actually liked the format, options and operation of Zoho Writer slightly better, but I am more likely to use Google since I am there so often!

I just love the capacity with both these programs to save, share and collaboratively edit documents...all without saving to a disc or drive or sending back and forth through e-mail. I can easily see KCLS applications, especially the capacity to share, access and edit documents effortlessly from any computer in a cluster.

Library 2.0 Debate

Wendy Schultz really hit a chord for me with her article, "To a temporary place in time..." For one, she places libraries in an evolving historical context, judging neither past, present or future, but accepting change and making sure that she is an agent of change by helping to guide it in the ways that she envisions:

"The ongoing Library 2.0 debate frames library renewal within the current trends transforming our information infra-structure. But those trends themselves will evolve, even mutate, under pressure from emerging change. A futures perspective asks us to reconnect this dialogue to the grand sweep of time from the treasured past to the adventure of the future—and to put people and meaning at the center of our concerns."

***PEOPLE AND MEANING*** Shultz values the past, imagines the future and sees the present as a continual transition...which is the way it has always been! I love her insight and humor...and her ability to dignify past, present and future at the same time. No haranging or criticizing, no placing technology in a superior position. Always keeping the good as libraries evolve, Schultz's Library 4.0 would include Library 1.0-3.0 rather than evolve beyond them...these ideas of library evolution are spherical, circular, fluid...not linear and rigid. And I love her final inclusion of the library piece that we will always need...the retreat, the WIFREE space, the sensual, the "relaxation spa"...part of, included in, not in opposition to, the multi-dimensional library that will live beyond our ability to experience it.

I read all the other articles, and could argue or agree intellectually with each of them, but none affected me like the Schultz article and made me feel glad to be a librarian and to see myself as part of an evolving cultural community.