Lessons 26 & 27: Final Thoughts

I am glad that many of the KCLS staff have opted to participate in this program; I feel it will allow us to better serve our patrons and anticipate their future needs. I look forward to being able to incorporate what we have learned into the new KCLS features.

I did enjoy the format of the program, as I prefer to do as I learn, rather than sit and listen. However, I think one of the major flaws of the program was the underestimated amount of time many of the lessons would take. I know that as I helped many of my colleagues, they were weeks behind simply because they could only do one of a multi-part lesson in a week's time.

I hope that in the future, KCLS will utilize similar methods for training. Many things to everyone who put in so much of their time and effort to bring Learning 2.0 to KCLS employees.

YouTube & Podcasts

One of the great features of YouTube is the ability to embed videos. KCLS could possibly use this function to demonstrate the various services we offer, or how to use things such as self check-in. Or, by putting story times online, KCLS might be able to reach more patrons who may not be able to get to these events.

Podcasts have been around for a while, and I must admit I have never taken advantage of them. Probably because I don't enjoy watching on my computer monitor. There is a great diversity of podcasts available online, enough to keep even the pickiest person entertained and informed.

Web 2.0

I explored the many Web 2.0 Award Nominees and browsed many of the award winning sites. Lately my hobby has been real estate, so I checked out HousingMaps.com, PropSmart, and Trulia; none of which I had previously used. I was dissapointed with HousingMaps.com, as many of the listings were out of date and the navigation was less than user friendly. Propmart and Trulia were both user friendly; though saving properties and searches was a bit more difficult. In the future, I will probably stick to my old was of browsing real estate.

Online Software Tools

I have had a lot of experience using the online productivity software offered by Google, and I am slightly familiar with the products offered by Zoho. I generally have no need for office products, since I don't generally use these products when they are installed onto my cpu. That being said though, I do think there is a usefulness to these products that has not been tapped into.

Google Labs is always fun to explore, though I rarely use many of the offered products. Google Maps is probably one of my most frequented sites. Other than that, I don't have much use for the other products.

Exploring Web 2.0 and Library 2.0

I chose to read all 5 articles in an attempt to be well rounded. They were all insightful and offered information I had not previously considered. Library 2.0 may not be the final incarnation of how a library functions, but it must be acknowledged and embraced.

Customized Search Engines

This week I experimented with both Rollyo and the Google Custom Search Engine. While Rollyo did have cute graphics, I found the ads to be quite distracting. For my own custom search engine, I used google because it was ad free. I found it simple to set up and easy to use. In the future, I will probably use this service again. Were I doing research on a specific topic, I see how these sites could be quite helpful.

My Google Search

My Vacation to South Park

On my summer vacation I visited South Park. I met with Cartman, Kyle and Stan. They showed me around town and we had great fun.