Method 12 - Evaluation

Well I did it! I finished! And I have to say this was a very worthwhile endeavor on my part. While there are some things I most likely won't be using in the near future (pod casts, wiki) there are many things that I found very useful. First, just being introduced to blogs. Sure I read a lot of them for fun, but to see the professional application and get hands on experience using them was invaluable. In fact, because of this blog, I actually transferred out "suggestion box" into a digital one that is now a blog posted our homepage. If I had not had the experience I had here, there is no way I would have had the confidence to get my own started at work. While I'm going to need more practice with some of these tools, my professional goal is to never "fall behind" when it comes to technology. With the tools I have from this experience, I feel more confident in learning even more applications for these things Ive learned. I loved that the format allowed me to do this program at my own pace. When it is quieter (like it has been the past two weeks) I can give my full attention to completing things like this. When it is really busy I don't have to worry about  making sure I'm still making time for activities like this. It really allowed me the freedom I needed to get it done on my schedule. Thank you for that!! I look forward to participating in beyond two steppin' and hope to see more programs like this in the future!

Method 11 - Podcasts

While I don't have much experience creating pod casts, I do have quite a bit of experience in using them. When I used to have an hour long commute (each way) on public transportation, having a subscription to pod casts got me though a lot of those long trips to and from work. What is easier than updating your ipod at night and then when you jump on the bus in the morning you have a whole group of new and interesting things to listen to. One of my favorites was *nerd alert* the podcast from the creators of Lost where they would discuss all aspects of the show. For a large library and maybe even for public libraries, pod casts could be helpful in lots of different ways. They can be used a tutorials, updates on current things going on, recordings of programs, book reviews al la NPR and many other things I'm sure I haven't even dreamed of yet. With a limited staff that has a focus on teaching, I don't think we have too many options for integrating pod casts into our library currently.

Method 10 - Wikis

Up until just a few years ago, I was a snob when it came to wikis. I thought they were useless and that there was no one anyone could use them for good reliable information. Having had more experience with them in both my personal and professional life, I have changed my tune. Would I recommend a PhD student use it as a reference for their thesis, probably not. Is it a good place to get quick definitions, info on current events, pop culture or the order of books in a series? By all means! Especially after reading the material and practicing with a real live wiki I can see that there are even more uses that I had ever imagined. While we probably wont use a wiki in our library any time soon, I can see the applications in the library as a quick place to post things and get the public interacting with the library. I look forward to seeing more uses and hopefully being able to integrate them into our suite of technology offerings.