Learning 2.0: RSS and Feedreaders Rock

I discovered RSS and feedreaders maybe a year ago, I think. I started out with a Bloglines account and have recently been experimenting with Google Reader. I love my feedreader. In my personal life, I have several friends and family members who have blogs and Flickr pages, so I was always checking their sites for new stuff. Professionally, I think a big part of my job is to stay "on top of" what other librarians are talking about and what other libraries are doing. I read all of the professional literature, but I quickly discovered that Blogs were, honestly, an almost better place to go for some of this. But to check every site! Then I started using a feedreader and it was like getting to eat cake for the first time on your first birthday. Whoa! Now I can go to one site and quickly see in bold who has new content. I can quickly read a text-only version of each new entry but can easily go to the actual blog if I want to. I can easily see who is referencing other blogs and add other feeds that way. And, I can easily spot the repetition, which, sadly, has been happening a lot lately. (Boy, I used the word easily a lot there....)

Yard Work

We had a beautiful weekend in Central Kentucky and, luckily, actually got some rain last week. Which, of course, meant yard work! So both the husband and I were out yesterday morning working in the yard. First I went to house 1.0 (which we really hope to be closing on this week) and mowed that lawn. Took all of 15 minutes to actually mow. Got back to house 2.0 and started mowing that lawn. The husband came out with the fancy new weed eater. He tried to start it. No luck. Tried again. Still no luck. Of course, I had been using this very same weed eater the entire 5 weeks he was gone. I let him try one more time. Walked over. Started it on the first try.

That totally made my day.

Learning 2.0: More Flickr

lolcat2091702
Originally uploaded by Matt and Nicole

Wow, all the 3rd party applications, mash ups, and more that you can do with Flickr seem almost too much! I didn't realize you could do so much. To be honest, many of the tools just seem silly to me. But, then, like this 3rd party lolcat creator that I did, maybe that's the point?

I'm particularly interested in the Mappr application. I think someone like my husband, who has been traveling places many of us haven't even heard of, could have a great time putting some of his photos on a map. FD's Flickr Toys all seem really fun. Making a fake motivational poster? That's awesome! Add widgets. See where you digital camera ranks among Flickr users. All really fun things. But definitely a bit overwhelming.

Learning 2.0: Flickr

I have had a Flickr account for a year or so now but did not realize how easy it was to integrate your Flickr photos into a blog. After taking some digital photos of the Justice & Safety Library on my digital camera, I uploaded them on Flickr and then used Flickr's Blog This feature to put some in this blog. How easy! Took maybe 5 or 10 minutes. Hmmm, I may have to use this feature again in the future.

Justice & Safety Library, Fire Codes CD

Justice & Safety Library, Fire Codes CD
Originally uploaded by Matt and Nicole

During the Fall and Spring semester, this is probably the most popular item in the library. We're excited to be moving to the Web version soon!

Justice & Safety Library, Funny Sign

Justice & Safety Library, Funny Sign
Originally uploaded by Matt and Nicole

We currently have a faculty member temporarily living in our conference room at the Justice & Safety Library. Here's a shot of the hilarious sign some of the J & S staff put on his door.

Justice & Safety Library, Patron Computers

Justice & Safety Library, Patron Computers
Originally uploaded by Matt and Nicole

A shot of some of the patron computers in the Justice & Safety Library