Thing #23: Cliff Notes

Oh, this has been a treasured learning experience! Thank you for making me get off my duff and tackle these "things!" Our RCE librarian is one who always just jumps in and does something with new technology--remember the "teases?" I really envied that attitude, and although it is not a "native born" trait, I feel that I am developing into the kind of person and librarian I want and need to be.

It feels so good to have done this and to understand the terminology that our geeky kids seem to have been born knowing. Today I complimented a student for helping me clean up a mess on one of the computers, and I asked him how he had become so knowledgeable about computers. He replied, "Well, I ought to be! I've sat in front of them for 11 years!" I thought, "Well, we have probably sat in front of computers the same number of years, but you are light years ahead of me. How did that happen? How did I let that happen?"

Thing #22: Ding Dong Ning!

Oh, this was interesting I started with the definition of a "ning." I'd never heard that term before, and when I started Thing #1, I didn't even really understand what social networking was! At least now I know that a ning is a social networking tool that brings like-minded people together, no matter where they live!

I started with Teacher Librarian Ning because I do like that term, and I feel it describes my position--somewhat! This ning is for teacher-librarians and other educators, and some of the groups appealed to me: High School TeacherLibrarians, for example, discuss the lack of help, guaranteed research experience, and "old school" library aides. What to do? Building a Culture of Collaboration revolved around disseminating and implementing the AASL Standards for the 21st Century learner, flexible scheduling, and approaches to teaching information literacy. These are subjects that all of us wrestle with, apparently. It's nice to have company but maybe not so nice that we are all familiar with the problems!

I thought I would try to make a ning, so have a look at Nontraditional Old Maid Librarians!
It is just a start, I know, but it is fun, and the next one I make can be the "really good one!"

Thing # 9: Information Overload

It is Flex Day. No, I am not going anywhere special. I am sitting in my rocker with a laptop, and I am watching The Plague episode which is airing on The History Channel. That reminds me .... My retired librarian friend just purchased a copy of Daniel Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year at Barnes & Noble, and Valerie Koehler, of Blue Willow Book Shop, recently purchased a book she thought I would like: The Pesthouse by Jim Crace. A man and a woman, in what was once the land of prosperity, join forces and traverse the United States, which in this future time is sparsely populated and rife with lawlessness. Valerie was right; it is my kind of book.

All righty then. Blogs. I started looking for blogs by seeing what other people have listed. That could be construed as cheating, I suppose. You see how much that bothered me. Then I went to Google Reader, which, after trying the others, is my favorite because it is the least complicated. Next, I tried Syndic8, which interestingly lists 5 random syndicated feeds, 10 random headlines, 5 most recent actions, and 5 most viewed feeds, among others. I searched for blogs dealing with "YA Lit" and subscribed to " Teen Reads," which I may or may not keep. Topix permits searching by keyword or phrase. Again, I searched for blogs dealing with YA Lit, but I didn't find any I wanted to read on a regular basis. As you can see, I listed few blogs--not wanting to get blogged" down!