Thing #18: Youtube

Thing #17: ELM Productivity Tools

I work with many of these ELM tools everyday. But I didn't realize all the things we can do with them.

I found the create a folder and/or website tool helpful- especially if you wanted to share a list with a colleague or patron. (I can see this tool being particularly useful in a college library setting where reference librarians may be helping students find sources for a topic).

Net Library is something that I use both personally (downloadable audio) and in helping patrons find e-books when they can't find a hard copy in the library. Before, the "Favorites and Notes" feature was something I never even noticed.

Thing #16: Student 2.0 Tools

One way that I can see these time management tools being used in the public library- is to help people (students and parents) who request books on this topic of how to approach doing a research paper. It's another source that they might be interested in.

These tools might be something to mention to teachers and classes when we do school visits or library tours for classes.

Thing #15: Online Games in Libraries

I have to admit, this is NEW territory for me!! I looked at the Second Life Video tour. The concept is similar to the SIMS games that my kids play. But the virtual classroom idea is interesting to me.

We have started offering gaming nights for teens here at the library. A couple of our fun, techno-savvy librarians have organized and hosted two very successful Guitar Hero nights here at the library. This is a great way to bring teens into the library.

Thing #14: Library Thing

I actually have worked with Library Thing before. I actually created an account months ago (pre-23 things) to access a co-worker's Library Thing storytime books page. This is a tool that can be VERY useful to librarians, as we are constantly creating and looking for booklists to help our patrons.

One of the features I love about Library Thing is that you can actually have a picture of the book cover on the screen- very helpful when you are trying to remember a storytime title (I often remember the cover and/or illustrations more than I remember the actual titles!) And a helpful tool for getting storytime theme ideas and/or remebering titles you've read before.

Thing #13: Online Productivity Tools

I set up an IGoogle start page. This could be very useful to have everything in one place- news headlines, weather, sports updates on my favorite baseball team, and gadgets such as the countdown clock could be helpful too (as I'm scrambling to get through my 23 things!)

I also set up an account with "Remember the Milk." This seems useful to me as well! The thing is, there are SO MANY of these tools out there! It's a bit overwhelming! I guess it's just a matter of finding out which ones work best for you and which ones are easiest for you to work with and actually make your life/work better.

Thing #12: Do You Digg?

As I look over the various social media sites, I'm starting to understand how these might be useful to librarians- it's a way to find out, quickly, what the "buzz" is on various topics- so that we might be better prepared to know the latest issues/news stories that our patrons are interested in. This is helpful because the amount of news and info available online is overwhelming. I often want to know what people are talking about/ interested in NOW- and these social media sites are a way to see what people are interested in NOW.

I set up a Digg account and shared a New York Times article about Federer winning the U.S. Open. It was very easy to do.