Books, Readers and Beyond: #54 Social Networking Through Books

1. Have I ever been a member of a book club and do I prefer in-person or online? I have attended a few book club meetings and lost interest. I prefer reading nonfiction exclusively and few book clubs are set up that way.
2. What views come into mind for implementing a book club into our library? We have a book club at present. It chooses a mixture of nonfiction and fiction titles. Were I to implement a book club, I might try an all nonfiction format to see what interest I would get. Perhaps others would enjoy that genre. I searched for an interesting book club in Houston Meetup Groups. I found a local book club that is reading, "Obama: from promise to power" by David Mendell. It's a current nonfiction title that would be interesting to read and discuss.
3. I searched for David Sedaris' Me Talk Pretty One Day on several of the social networks. Many of the sites require registration. I found two that did not: LibraryThing and Reading Group Choices. LibraryThing's readers rated the book a 4.11 out of a possible 5 points. Reading Group Choices did not list the title at as recommended for reading groups. What I found surprising was the number of sites that required pre-registration for participation.

Books, Readers and Beyond: #53 Finding Books Online

Exercise 1: The three nearest bookstores to zip code 77571 are Barnes and Noble at Beltway 8 in Pasadena; Top Shelf Text Books on Spencer Highway; and the Dusty Cover on Spencer Highway. Barnes and Noble's page links from the corporate home page. It has basic information: address, phone number and hours. Top Shelf Text Books does not have a home page but by typing in its name in Google you can find address, phone number and customer reviews of the store. The Dusty Cover also has no home page but location, hours and phone number are easily available with a Google search.

Exercise 2: I searched for David Sedaris' Me Talk Pretty One Day. Most bookstores do not have searchable databases so I usually check amazon.com. They had used copies starting at $0.97. Shipping is normally only a few dollars and you can almost always beat any other price buying this way. I did find an audio book online in the HCPL Digital Media Catalog.

Exercise 3: I was unable to download an e-book in our library workroom. Instead, I checked out Project Gutenberg for its selections. It definitely seems to lean toward the classical and more esoteric titles rather than more popular and current titles. Reading the text of "Ancient poems, ballads and songs of England" was interesting but not as enjoyable to me as holding a book in my hand. The advantages of a print copy are: accessibility (do not need to own electronic products to read it); aesthetic -- for a bibliophile who prefers the smell and texture of pages; and ease of use -- requires reading skills but no technical skills. The advantages of an electronic copy are that the work is preserved in a form that will outlast paper; it transcends geographic location so that you can access it anywhere; and it appeals to a generation that looks to technology for communication delivery.

Books, Readers and Beyond: #52 What to Read

1. Finding a read-a-like. This lesson was all about finding a read-alike. I chose David Sedaris' non-fiction works as one of my favorites to search.

First, I searched Novelist Plus. Novelist was easy for me to navigate because it is familiar to me. An expert in reader's advisory wrote a helpful selection of similar writers. She interested me in exploring the works of James Thurber.

Next, I tried searching for read-alikes in Fiction_L Booklists. I found this site to be not as attractive to me personally since I prefer to read nonfiction. However, it has much of the same types of searches Novelist offers. I do find the site not as user-friendly as Novelist and you have to do a little digging to get information you want. I do think if you take the time you will get valuable leads to further reading.

When I tried Library Booklists and Bibliographies, there were more links to lead me to the information. Once I got there, I had the choice of fiction or nonfiction and the site offered many authors and specific titles to explore. I would like to use it again because its information was supplemental to Novelist's.
2. Find two books suitable for two children who have specific interests. I used NoveList to locate the following titles: For the girl interested in animals, I found Crinkleroot's 25 more animals every child should know and Farm animals. For the boy, I found Vintage: a ghost story and All the lovely bad ones: a ghost story. I was able to specify age group and subject to find the titles.
3. Author read-a-like: Dean Koontz. Find three new authors to recommend. I searched three lists with no luck: Fiction_L Booklists; Librarian in Black; and Overbooked. I googled "author read-a-likes" and found the Hennepin County Library author read-a-like list. Their approach was to break up the authors' styles into categories, i.e. horror, contemporary. Authors Sarah Langan and Brian Keene had books with horror elements similar to Koontz. Then, I looked at NoveList. I found it to be the easiest to navigate. One of the authors listed was Dan Simmons.
4. Series search. The series title is "Song of the Lioness." The books in the series, in order, are: Alanna: The First Adventure; In the Hand of the Goddess;
Woman Who Rides Like a Man, The; and Lioness Rampant. The resource I used was Mid-Continent Public Library.

Week 10: #23

Reflections on Library 2.0:

I really enjoyed working through these exercises. I learned a lot and especially enjoyed viewing YouTube. I will not be viewing it anymore, though, because I do not have a computer at home.

I was surprised at the number of young persons who are not familiar with a lot of the new technology we have learned. I feel newly "up to date" and I hope that we have similar learning opportunities in the future. Thanks to those who put this learning experience together for us.

Week 9: #22

Overdrive has a number of attractive features including a great user interface; easy ways to link to desired type of media; and a search window allowing familiar ways to search, i.e. author, title, etc. The selection of media was good and included titles in several genres for a variety of interests. The music selection is limited due to licensing limitations in that media. Overall, I found it an inviting site.

The free sites were not as visually attractive. The variety was limited and the selections in the e-book site were poor. The audiobook site provided more quality and variety, in my opinion, although volunteers record the books. I have not listened to any of their selections but my guess would be that professional readers would do a better job. I prefer the HCPL site to the free sites.

Week 9:#21

I found a podcast of librarians discussing current library news. I found it by typing in public library on PodcastAlley and then exploring some of the returns. The podcast is called Uncontrolled Vocabulary. I tried listening to it on my Bloglines account but it was taking too long to download or perhaps I wasn't doing something correctly. Here's the link:

http://recordings.talkshoe.com/rss38665.xml

Week 9: #20

This exercise was about discovering YouTube. It was quite an interesting and enjoyable exercise for me. I watched several videos about libraries and librarians and noted the common purpose of the profession continues even as technology changes.

I wanted to see if a video that I saw several years ago was viewable on YouTube. I found it by searching for the musical group's name in the search window. It is a British synthpop song and video about libraries. It is quite amusing. You can find it at

http://www.cheekybeef.co.uk/library.html

Week 8: #19

This exercise was the most personally helpful I have completed thus far. I really like the ability to do word processing in Zoho that can be accessed from any computer, just as I like having a yahoo email account that is not tied to any particular isp.

I tried out creating a simple document and was pleased to see that in a few minutes I had mastered the basics of using the application. Since the icons are based upon standards I had come to know in using Word, it was easy to see how to edit my document.

I will definitely use this application and perhaps teach it to customers who are frustrated by needing to carry around floppy disks, jump drives and the like. This will permit a lot of freedom and flexibility in creating and sharing documents. I really appreciate being able to learn this.

Week 8: #18

Social networking is interesting and time consuming. I looked at the various linked sites and enjoyed two: Ning and Rate My Space. I liked Ning because it organized the blogs into common interests and I liked Rate My Space for the same reason and because I like decorating.

I can see where occasional blogging could be helpful or entertaining. It would be good to use it in moderation.

Week 7: #17 About Technology

What do I think about technology? In the library, I regard it in a strictly utilitarian way; that is, what can it do to help me deliver the information the customer needs in a way that is meaningful to them? I do not hold the idea of technology sacred. It is only as useful as it is useful. I do not use technology for the sake of using technology. I liken it to driving: I like that the car gets me there but I am not a mechanic.

Although technology is wonderful and can be useful, we must remember we have customers who are unable to afford the devices that would allow them access to some of our services: home oomputers on which to avail themselves of services such as live reference; portable digital devices that would allow them to download music or books; cd players that would allow them to listen to audiobooks or music.

In the Deep Heart's Core said that the foundation of librarianship will remain --"the desire to connect the customer with the information requested in the best and most reliable fashion." Sometimes the best delivery is augmented by technology and sometimes it depends on lower tech solutions. In reaching to advance our profession, let's not leave out those who do not have access to technology's latest tools.

Week 7: #16

Regarding wikis, I liked Library Success and added it to my Delicious account. It had some helpful information. I would use wikis if I trusted the source or if I were looking more for editorial content rather than factual information. Having said that, I will admit I have used Wikipedia on occasion.

I think customers could use wikis here at the library to offer advice to each other about homework assignments or how to find particular information needed by specific community groups, such as the historical society or local genealogists.

Week 6: #15

What Library 2.0 is to me: I see libraries and librarians on a developmental continuum that has continued through the ages and will continue into the future. The Library 2.0 concept seems to be the current "it" idea.

I read and enjoyed many of the linked sites. My favorite was Dr. Wendy Schultz' vision of the library's growth into the future and, in this day of merchandizing everything, I liked her vision of the library of the future as "retreat from technohustle."

Week 6: #14

This exercise was done on Technorati. The first part was doing a search using the keywords "Learning 2.0." I noted that my favorite way to search was by using the Blog Directory. I think the user interface is much more attractive than the results of either the advanced search or the tags search. It was also fairly easy to pick out the interesting library-related blogs from the directory.

The second part, viewing the popular searches, was eye-opening. It is astounding to me what some people find interesting. The most curious popular item was "bikini." I had to find out why so many people were searching it. Even more interesting was looking at names of the related tags. This suggested a certain demographic of viewer.

Week 6: #13

Tagging on Delicious

Delicious is a handy tool for keeping up with interesting sites. I use it when I come across something interesting I want to revisit. I haven't explored the inbox feature yet. I will explore it more as I have available time.

Week 5: #12

I tried Library Elf and was pleasantly surprised. Not only was it simple to set up, but I really like the way my due dates and holds are arranged; it is formatted in a similar fashion to the calendar I use regularly. It helps me better conceptualize what to return next and also what holds I have to look forward to first.

Great idea!

Week 5: #11

LibraryThing is interesting. It has many features I will enjoy exploring.

Week 5: #10

The image generator in Yahoo was sorta fun. It was interesting to try on an altar ego and see all the embellishments you can add. I'm not sure how or where my avatar appears in Yahoo, though.

Week 4: Post 9

This blog finding is addictive. I tried Syndic8; don't like it. Feedster -- not. Topix - not of interest. Technorati -- yes, this one is great. I used quotes around my search terms to get the best results. Then I tried a Google search using my search term plus the word "blogs." I got numerous returns. I'll try some of the other search engines later.

Week 4: Post 8

This exercise was an eye-opener for me. I enjoy using Bloglines more than Flickr; I much prefer reading to viewing photographs.

Too many feeds, too little time. What can a readaholic say?

Week3: Post 7

Here is my edited picture:

I used pixer's saturation feature to improve the tones in this picture.