Wiki, week two

Jeannie showed me how to create a link by linking my TS tour page to the sidebar (thank you, Jeannie). I also copied and pasted another TS document into wiki and created its link on my own. This is the "Why doesn't the author's name on the spine label match the name on the book" explanation about transliteration tables. I get this question every few months, and I posted the explanation on the web page, and now it's in the wiki as well. It really was easy, and it is immediately visible to anyone using the wiki, unlike posting it on the web page which may have to wait several weeks until someone in IT has time to post it.

I really would like KRL's wiki to become the one place to put any information that more than one person needs, and I will start by getting all of Technical Services' information in there. I'll also talk to Paulette about putting circulation procedures on the wiki, because that's what I have the hardest time finding.

Wiki, week one

The Stevens County wiki has not just a lot of library info on it, but also a lot of community info that could draw in non-library users. I especially liked the reading lists-- the Princess booklist is an excellent readers advisory tool, for instance. I also looked at Booklust and made a list of some of the titles in her "I love a mystery" section-- I'm always looking for new reading material!

I think Wiki could be the most useful thing we've looked at so far, used as a tool for pulling together all the documents, procedures, and forms that we have spread out over the web page, the transfer file, bulletin boards, notebooks, etc., as long as we can keep it organized. Wouldn't it be nice to have just one place to go to find things? I think we need to add functional areas to the wiki home page, in addition to the branches and departments. I know that I would like to be able to see system-wide procedures such as how to handle snags. I'll talk to Paulette about this.

I created a new page listing TS staff and how a book moves through the department by copying and pasting. That was as easy as pie, but linking it to the home page ...

YouTube

Okay, YouTube could be seriously addictive! I started by watching the first suggestion from krl2pt0, "Evolution of dance", and enjoyed it very much. That led to an animated hippo singing "In the jungle" which led to the horrifyingly hilarious "der arme Kerl" which led to "Road kill bird" which led to ... Well, anyway, I had to force myself to quit watching!

There are a lot of very professional-looking videos on YouTube, but also some very amateurish-looking ones, and unfortunately most of the library videos I watched were amateurish. I did like"Perry the Penguin discovers the Dewey Decimal System".

"March of the librarians" was fun, and I watched it very carefully to see if I could spot anyone I knew.

I found the KRL video, and enjoyed seeing staff on it. I thought the music was a little over the top, though-- it's not a shark, guys!

Library Thing

As you can see from My Library on the left, I like fantasy! Our imaginations are wonderful things, and we can create marvelous places with them.

The Mercedes Lackey books are set the The Five Hundred Kingdoms, and have fairy godmothers, dragons, wicked sorcerers, and some really spunky princesses. Terry Pratchett has a whole series of hilarious books set on the planet Discworld. Going postal and Making money feature former con artist Moist von Lipwick (pronounced Lipvig). Poor Moist, the tyrant of Ankh-Morpork has caught him and is using his skills to revive the post office and the royal bank. Both series are funny and charming.

Looking backward and Walden two are more serious works that lay out new ways of living that their authors thought would create utopian communities. Edward Bellamy was a social reformer who believed that nationalizing industry would eliminate poverty. His book was written in the late 1800s, and it's kind of depressing to realize that the problems he was railing against are still here-- the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. B.F. Skinner was a psychologist who was developing a science that would train people to be good members of society.

Library Thing's Very Short Introduction was very easy to follow, and I was able to set up my account and catalog seven books in very little time. I had to have Dweller Underground's help to get the widget into my blog, though.

I like Library Thing's reviews much better than Amazon's-- Library Thing's members seem to be literate, and you can't always say that about Amazon's contributors. The recommendations are also good-- I've already started a list of additional books to read.

Here is the link to my library (I hope): http://www.librarything.com/catalog/Cataloger60

Flickr

I think sea shells are some of the most beautiful things on the planet, and I enjoyed looking at them on Flickr.

I started my Flickr assignment by reading most of the suggested "additional background information" sources. The Wikipedia article on Flickr is everything an encyclopedia article should be-- it covers the history of the site, its features, how it's used, etc. The BBC article on Flickr talks about how it can be used in social networking, and the Wired article has short descriptions about Flickr and a couple of its competitors. All of these are worth reading.

I'm not planning to get an account with Flickr, but I went through the tour and it looked very easy to use.

Anemones are beautiful and come in all sizes and colors. I have an orange one that's bigger than my fist, and a little green one like the one below.

I learned a little about Flickr this week, and a little about putting pictures into my blog!

My first picture!

I love fog.

Words of wisdom

"It is best to do things systematically, since we are only human, and disorder is our worst enemy." Hesiod