Thing 18

I am signed in to Google.docs. I am going to see if I can get to my document from here: http://docs.google.com/document/edit?id=1KNBmduTPCLohedqZVlR3wWe47hOqjnYqm0qA-WV55Gg&hl=en#
Apparently what I can do is get to here from there when I put my blog post in the document in Google docs. Boy, now I am confused but really entertained.

Right in front of my eyes.

O.K. Here is what I have discovered about myself: I don't even see what is right in front of my eyes. I have, off and on, since I started this adventure, tried to figure out how to add pictures to my posts. DUH! Today, for some reason, I see the little icon-type tabs above. Once I get through this, I am going to have to start all over AND we know that the Web will have changed incredibly by then. Anyway, I'm going to try to add a picture now.

More about Thing 16

I've tried to explore more wikis and absolutely love Princeton Public Library's booklovers wiki. (http://booklovers.pbworks.com/Princeton%20Public%20Library) It is well organized, easy to get around, and purposeful. Some of the ones I looked at seem to be trying to accomplish way too much, wikis within wikis or something like that.

Thing 16

After exploring some of the wikis, I landed on/in? Merlin and was fascinated to learn that the ISBN is being replaced by EAN. Who knew? I think I will continue to explore Merlin. It seemed to offer a great deal for librarians in Maryland. I should have been exploring it long before now. The Children's Librarians are planning to have a wiki for programming but it really isn't going to allow everyone to post so I'm not sure what it really will be in the end. I may have to go back to Merlin and explore their definitions again. There is way to much confusion in my brain at this point.

Thing 15

When I was in Library School, early 90's, I had many assignments to predict what was going to become of libraries in the future. All of us predicted great changes would come with computers. At the time ability to search DIALOG was limited because the University had to pay for the minutes we were searching. You had to plan each search in great detail and follow set formulas to search. There were computerized catalogs in the libraries but not accessible from home. I certainly didn't anticipate the changes that would come with the internet, with wireless, with social networking, the addition of wikis, etc. etc. I am sure that someone anticipated ebooks but it was not I. When I think of Web 2.0, I am more than overwhelmed. This whole 23 Things experience has been an adventure for me. What encourages me is that change really has made access to information easier for all of us: librarians and customers alike. And more change apparently is coming: change that will welcome input from users, change that is delivering information to users instead of making users come to the information. In these lean times, we will have to use our money and resources wisely just as the school in the "ripple effect" article did if we are to keep up with the "times".