November 23 The end!

I feel delighted and relieved that I have finished this learning program. Some of my colleagues think it's quite funny that I have been reading others people's blogs and that I must have too much time on my hands! but I have really enjoyed reading them and I've learned a lot. Geeklibraryguy has even made me rethink Image Generators - I'm going back to try that cartoon site of his, and Scootergirl, why aren't you in the blog industry? My mission now is to go back and try and customise my blog to look more like theirs! (and many other amazing ones I've seen) - not because I'm under any delusion that anyone will read it but for my own benefit. I won't be changing the title of my blog just yet, but I know a helluva lot more than I did when I started, as well as being a lot more aware of the internet's potential in libraries. I think many of our customers would also appreciate the opportunity to complete this program. What surprised me was how straightforward each exercise was if you just took the time to read the explanatory material (and followed the links!) My only real stumbling block was publishing to my blog from Zoho - I'm coming back for you, mate. So overall, it has been an enjoyable as well as educational experience and I'll miss it. So good on ya, acl.2 and thanks for the encouraging comments along the way.

Podcasts

I must say podcasts have never appealed to me, they seem like something you would have time for and enjoy if you were retired. However, I did look at the directories and I must say I enjoyed listening to Carl Bernstein discussing his book "A woman in charge" about Hilary Clinton. I've never heard his voice before so that was interesting. That was on http://authorsontourlive.com/ which I have added to my Bloglines. I was hoping to shortcut my search for library or book related sites by perusing the top 50 podcasts on Podcast Alley - surprise, surpise, none were book related! (apart from the Bible which from memory was about no. 15). But a little searching will find lots of book and storytelling sites under the Arts category.

NetLibrary

I had intended to start this post with the words "Has anybody, anywhere, ever read a book online?", only to be told that one of our interviewees yesterday said she only read e-books. Well, knock me down with a feather. Without wanting to sound like a killjoy again, I just cannot imagine ever doing it. Apart from the discomfort and feeling somewhat alienated from the story, I could find hardly any titles I would want to read. Searching for favourite authors brought up nothing so I searched via Newest Books. There was the odd one - I don't know how "Dishwasher : one man's quest to wash dishes in all 50 states" slipped in among all the business and computing books but it looks a goodie - I've ordered the hard copy!

I did like the way you could add favourites and notes to your NetLibrary account but we have discovered a number of other sites where you could do this anyway - sorry, I'll be staying away from this in the future, which isn't to say I wouldn't recommend it to students or others to whom it may be of benefit. (We have always made use of Cliff's Notes but this has alerted me to the larger range of titles available).

Week 9 (November 19) Podcasts, Video and ebooks

YouTube

I feel a little embarrassed about this video. It was not my intention to do any flag waving about the war, I was just searching for a favourite song by Emmylou Harris. I thought it was interesting though because I am someone who would never look at YouTube and here I learnt some recent news I hadn't heard - namely that thousands of anti war protesters had marched on Washington led by Iraq war veterans. The video is very moving and a reminder I think that many Americans oppose the war and that no-one does protest quite like them. As for their use in libraries, I'm not too sure. Obviously they have some educational value, we've used them in this exercise, but as I said, it isn't something I'm familiar with.