Teaching kits

Had a busy last couple of days at work. Trying to get some Teaching Resource Kits off the ground, and it isn't as easy as one would think. The idea behind the kits is to support topics that are taught by schools in the area. I put together a good list of themes to design the kits around by talking to teachers from local schools. Each kit is supposed to have activities, props, books and AV items to fit around the topic. To make it easier for staff to check, the kits will be limited to 3 of eveything - 3 activities, 3 books, 3 props etc. This is where the difficulty comes in! Try finding only 3 activities and keeping it so that the activities are quite dissimilar. Try finding 3 props, again that are not similar, which will end up consisting of ONLY 3 pieces! For the Farm kit, wouldn't it be great to have kids assemble a farm, complete with fencing? How is that done with three pieces??? Perhaps a large wooden floor puzzle? Nope, they come in more than 3 pieces :) To add to this, I tried buying from an online educational toy supplier. Buying online is timeconsuming, especially when one is just browsing in various areas to see what is available - imagine how much more timeconsuming it is when THE CART DOES NOT SAVE!!!! I must have lost that cart at least 5 times. Phone calls to the supplier did not help at all - would you believe they had no idea what I was talking about when I mentioned the word 'cart' and 'online'? Frustration plus! I ended up cutting and pasting my cart into a Word document to save the codes but the cart still wouldn't save long enough to enter them all in. I ended up faxing the order instead. I am glad I persevered, because the props are exceptional - now I just need to put them where they belong! Hey, I am getting there....

Meme : 8

Well I haven't been tagged, but I have a bit of an obsession about memes at the moment, so here are my random 8 things - thanks to CW for suggesting we just do it anyway!

1. I love shoes, any really, but high heels and classy stilettos really get me in.
2. I drive a white 4WD Musso.
3. I got engaged in April.
4. I love photos and love to scrapbook.
5. Can't stand tomatoes. YUK
6. I own a Craft Robo
7. I loved movies stars from the '40s, '50s and '60s as a teenager (esp Marilyn Monroe and James Dean)
8. I am listening to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on my iPod shuffle -roll on July 21 and the release of HP and the Deathly Hallows!

I tag Boneygirl

Back on track

So much has been happening of late, it is easy to think that time has passed and nothing has been achieved.

Sitting and reflecting on things made me realise that quite a lot has happened.

• The iPod pilot is finally up and running, after weeks of research for clarification on copyright and licencing issues;


• I found out about adding widgets to blogs;


• I was involved in interviews to shortlist from a list of Professional Conference Organisers for ALIA's 4th New Librarians Symposium (NLS4) - decision still in the process of being finalised, so stay tuned!


• There has been a fair bit of discussion happening between the NLS4 committee regarding our websites - the one in progress (not the one linked to above) is looking superb, thanks to Jill, our Website Coordinator. Big learning curve on what is possible when developing a website!


• Figures - oh my god the figures! Who would have thought that delegate fees, trade booths, percentages, management fees and square metres (yes square metres!) would need to be scrutinised as closely they have been. Number crunching is happening more naturally now, but still glad the NLS4 team has such a great treasurer in Kevin;


• Worked on getting the July holiday program ready - printed copies finally out and I must say it is looking good!

When you consider I had two weeks leave in the middle of this, then i guess it is a fair bit!!!

Update - this post has been a few days in the making, Since I last wrote, the Team for NLS4 has made its decision for a PCO and selected ICMS, a professional conference organiser with over 30years experience. It was not an easy process, but we got there in the end - thanks to the team who were so supportive during such a mad time.

So tweet me

I finally couldn't stand it any more - I had to find out what 'Twitter' was. Sent a friend an email asking what the heck Twitter WAS and got a quick link back. By the time she replied with more information, I had checked out her link, made no sense of it so had to join to find out for myself.

So what is Twitter? It's another social networking service that lets users of the site to send text messages to their friends in several ways - via SMS, IM or the Twitter website. The best way I can think to explain it is that it is like web based sms...and can be quite addictive...

You don't 'text' from Twitter, as you do from a mobile, you 'tweet'...

Back after 25 minutes of 'friending' some people that I recognise in Blogland. KathrynG wrote an interesting post on it on her blog - good read.

So have I sparked some more interest in Twitter for you? Hope so - friend me and tweet away!

Playing around

I thought I would have a little play around with my blog and add a widget or two. I don't really want to overload the blog with widgets everywhere, but I thought the To Do list was cool. Lots more widgets like that at LabPixies.

Being a true cataloguer, I tried to have correct labels on my postings so they could be searched, but I didn't like the way they looked visually. I put them in a label cloud, thanks to Phydeaux's instructions for that. The largest labels in the clouds are the ones that appear the most throughout the blog. Phydeaux also give instructions on how to organise blog archives into a calender - looks pretty neat!

Note scrapbooking is first on my to do list!

Innovation and initiative.

This posting has been a work in progress for many days. It can take me a while to put an entry on my blog, but it doesn't usually take me days to complete a post.

I have to admit I have been on leave and work was crazy when I got back, with lots to catch up on, meetings to attend and planning for a new library. It's been a bit harder than usual keeping up with my feeds because I seem to be getting caught up in 'being on the edge' and thinking of cutting edge stuff in programming and services, never mind all the technology that keeps coming our way and staying up to date with innovations in library practice.

Reflecting on all this has made me stop and take stock of everything - someone (a very knowledgable someone) told me to take this time as a 'pit stop', to gather my thoughts and see where to go from here. Rather than looking at keeping up with what has been happening in blogland as being essential to everything, I turned it around to look on it as something I wanted to do, rather than something I had to do. It worked and my feeds have come down :) Surprised me no end to find this post from Michelle, where she also talks of taking stock and also of the painful process it can be waiting for your colleagues to catch up with you - too true.

Like Michelle, I want to regain my optimism, and in my case, enthusiasm, for my profession. A bit more encouraging for me now knowing there are others who a having similar struggles. Here's to successful outcomes!

iPods on loan - at last!

It has been a long time between posts, but things have been moving along. In my last post, I mentioned that I had 3 emails floating around in cyberspace to Audible. One of them was answered and it turned out that we (as a public library) are definitely able to purchase and lend out mp3 audio files. Not only this, but we can actually have 3 copies of the book on loan simultaneously, which was not my original intention. it actually still isnt my intention to have more than one copy available - i will wait and see what this pilot turns out like.

There are geographical restrictions - I am not too sure what they are, but when I registered and specified my country as 'Australia', the website automatically allows me access to only what is available for purchase in Australia.

So far all is good. The iPods are being borrowed and I am sure there will be teething problems soon, but so far all is good.......

Update on mp3 audio books, iPods and libraries

WOW, I am in 2 people's feeders - doesn't take much to excite me nowadays :)

Since my last posting on the subject, I have been very busy investigating other options for buying mp3 files to lend out on iPods. I found this interesting post on Gordian Knot. It seems Bartlesville Library has been doing what I want to do for a while. Ironically, they found that iTunes was the best way. They were loading audio books onto patrons’ devices but then also purchased their own iPods for loan, in the same way that I would like to. With iPods (not sure on other mp3 players), you can’t synchronise the device to more than one computer. This, to me, is a bonus with relation to the copyright issue. If a patron tries to use the library’s iPod with iTunes on their home computer (eg to copy the audio book for home), the computer will erase all files from the iPod, as it has already been synchronised with the library’s pc.

With my investigating hat still on, I contacted one of the Library’s audio book publishers who are hoping to go down the path of mp3 files for purchase (as opposed to mp3 files on CD). The person I spoke to was under the impression that the licence meant one copy could be loaned out at a time, so if I chose to make a copy of an audio book and lend it out on an iPod, that would be ok as long as I removed the cd copy from the shelves. This seems too good to be true! I would be happy to buy audio books as mp3 files on CD and then transfer them to an iPod and not lend out the actual CDs, but I think this warrants some more investigation.

THEN Boney-girl sent me this doozy. This is the Catholic Ed Office in NSW and they are lending out audio books on iPods! They use Audible.com, which the iTunes person has also referred me to, so I went there. They seemed ok, so I sent them an email outlining what I wanted to do and got this back “In regards to the sharing of audio books, you will only be able to activate 2 iPods on your Audible account. There may also be some geographical restrictions on certain titles on our website due to your location.” I replied back asking what activating only 2 iPods means (useless if it means I can only download to 2 devices – what is the point??) and also asking what the geographical restrictions are. There was no reply regarding geographical isolation, but that copyright meant an account couldn't have more than 2 iPods to download to. I managed to track down another 2 email addresses to contact, so currently have 3 emails floating around somewhere in cyberspace.

I do find it strange that a public library can't lend out an audio book when they can lend out print copies.

Oh, and there are lots of libraries in the US that are loaning iPods with books loaded on them, such as South Huntington Public Library in New York.

So does anyone have any ideas here???

RSS addiction

I wonder if anyone else is addicted to RSS feeds the way I am at the moment?? As soon as I read a blog, I have to add it to my aggregator. Those of you who read my blog (and I hope that someone does!) will know of the problems I had earlier on when trying out Google Reader and Bloglines for a blooging/RSS workshop I am running during National Youth Week. I really liked Bloglines, but ended up using Google Reader mainly because it is the same account as the one for blogger and gmail - easier when training patrons, I think anyway.

At the moment I have nearly 90 subscriptions, with 7 folders and some loose subs that I am unsure of (unsure of where to slot them for now). Of course this means that, at the moment, I have 100+ feeds to read......

I wonder if I am in someone else's aggregator????

MP3 audio books in libraries

I have been thinking for ages about the possibility of buying Young Adult audio books as mp3 files and lending them out on iPods. I know that there are ways to have these audio books available for downloading from a library's catalogue, but this can take time and is very costly. So, me being me and not wanting to wait, I thought a quicker way to start this would be to buy the audio books as mp3 files, buy some iPods, then lend out the iPod loaded with the book, pretty much in the same way that public libraries lend out books. I had no plans to lend out a book more than once at a time (after all, with a printed book, only one person can borrow it at once, right?) and thought it would be pretty straightforward for staff and patrons to understand. There would be no need for staff to transfer files, as the iPod would stay preloaded with the same book.

Sounds simple?

well it isn't. I can't get a straight answer from iTunes on whether we can do this. One person told me that he saw no reason why we couldn't and although we were restricted to having the audio book on no more than 5 computers, we could have it on as many devices as we liked. Further enquiries have led to puzzled questions for clarification (obviously lending out an audio book is a foreign concept??), to replies saying that lending out the book for commercial purposes is against the terms of sale. Trying to clarify whether a library lending out an mp3 file on an iPod is commercial still had me going around in circles.

So much for good ideas. sigh.

Major bookstores - strange selling tactics

Went into work quickly today (yes I know it is a Saturday, but I had to meet someone there for a pickup) and saw that more advertising had landed on my desk. This was a letter from a major bookstore chain (not Collins, Angus and Robertson or Dymocks), addressed to me (although any organisation that sends out blanket letters starting off with 'Dear Tanya [surname] [and spelling my name with a 'y' - bad form] needs to be spoken to seriously about the credibility of their marketing) and letting me know about the bargains that were available to me. If I bought THREE books from their bargain books, I - get this - only had to pay for FOUR. "Pick any three Bargain [sic] books and only pay for four".

What a deal - buy three books and pay for four.

What did I say about marketing credibility???

Blogging workshops - National Youth Week

Well, I think I am just about ready - still some fine tuning details to get through, but the bulk of it is all done. For those of you just joining in, we will be running a series of blogging workshops during National Youth Week, which is from 14 to 22 April 2007. The workshops cover basic blogging, using blogger, and also an introduction to RSS feeds. We will be using Google Reader, mainly because of people's familiarity with the google name. I was hesitant to go down the 'google only' path - there are many others out there, but as I started using blogger and used my gmail account to login, thought it would be easier to keep going down this path. I did think of trialling some other email addresses to sign in, but didn't want to end up with millions of unused blogs everywhere (and hence clutter up cyber space - hate clutter, even on the net!)

Because (at the time), I was unsure if one could start a blog with blogger using a different email account, I then had to think of whether to say persons doing the workshop needed a gmail account or whether we would run participants through that too. Of course, I couldn't assume all had a gmail account, so now that is in the program too. Then we move onto Google Reader....

Another concern was the age. 12 and up? 13 and up?? Went to Google's terms and conditions and they say that anyone signing up has to be 13 years or older, no provision for parents signing for anyone under, so that settled it - anyone signing up has to be at least 13. Maximum age?? Still undecided. Perhaps 16?? They are probably already blog-savvy by then!

I have put together some basic steps on how to get a gmail account, then start a blog using blogger and using Google Reader as an aggregator. I have been told that getting people to understand RSS feeds can be quite a challenge, which surprised me, maybe because it is so logical to me??? time will tell! The idea is that everyone will start a blog (after getting a gmail account of course), put some posts on their blog, then everyone can use Google Reader to get feeds off the other participants’ blogs. It really seems too easy……

Now the biggest challenge- preparing and educating the staff!! The biggest barrier will be the mindset of this being something run by the Children’s Department – always a challenge! Then preparing something so that staff understand what a blog is, what RSS is and what participants will be doing. They need to understand so hopefully they will be more interested, but also so that they can answer any enquiries made and they can tell patrons what is required (ie an email address will have to be created) and what is also involved.

Had a brilliant flyer created by BoneyGirl – really funky, but very streamlined and classy (appeals to my nature of wanting less clutter!). Need to print these out in the coming week and distribute them. The bookstores have agreed that they will pass them on to their customers. Of course, over promotion can be a problem in itself…. We have just undergone a major refurbishment and the public access PCs are now in clusters, so I can really only give the workshop to about 5 participants. I didn’t want to be over ambitious and assume that we would fill 5 sessions (for the week) so have just put something like ‘Starting April 16, call for more details”. If there is more interest, then we can open up another session. Of course I have to remember to advise staff to take a waiting list…..

More on African AIDS babies

Since my last post on the subject, I have been in touch with the organisers of this appeal and found more information on the internet. The Malawi project is huge. There are pictures of these cute little jumpers on the site. The march newsletter put out by Ken and Lyn Begley says that now 52 000 jumpers and beanies have either been delivered or on their way. That is massive. I wondered how many would be enough, but it turns out there are over 10 million AIDS orphans in Africa who have lost at least one parent to AIDS. Sometimes they have AIDS themselves. That means there is still a lot more knitting to do! I still haven't taken a photo of one I have made, but I will do it soon....

Blogging session with aliaVIC

Went to a blogging session last night that was organised by aliaVIC and run by Heather Blakey. She was quite good and a Wordpress fan. Her blog Soulfoodcafe is quite interesting. At the moment she is working for the Victorian Education Department to establish a Global Teacher/Student Resource. Apparently we can go through this and establish a blog that can build communities. Quite interesting. Will certainly look into it.

Have had a play with the page settings in blogger and hit a snag again. It won't give me the options to add page elements - I just keep going back to the dashboard. My friend however, is having a whiz of a time doing so as we speak......I must see if that activeX problem has resurrected itself.

African Aids Jumpers

I don't only dabble in web 2.0 and library stuff. Sometimes I like to take time out and do some craft things, although I have to admit it isn't often. At the moment I am knitting jumpers for babies in Africa that are born with Aids. Many of these babies are sent home from the hospital wrapped in newspaper for warmth. A Knitting Circle has been formed, with many volunteers either knitting the jumpers or even donating 8 ply wool. The jumpers are great and made in one piece, so simple for even the most challenged knitter. The pattern is on page 2 of this newsletter. The jumpers that I make are also delivered to people at Barongarook Lodge.

Since I started doing this, I have found out that 16 000 jumpers have been delivered! That is amazing! 7000 have been delievered to an orphanage in Blantyre, Malawi's main city, with some going to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Blantyre. Another 9000 were delivered in February to Zomba. On top of this, another 2000 went to a mission in Zambia and 1000 to South Africa. There is another 12 000 ready to go as soon as money is raised to send them.

That is such an awesome effort. I don't have a pic of a completed jumper, but will post one as soon as I finish the one i am doing.

More blog testing

OK, so I can bold and italicise or both - very easy to and it actually displays it as you type, without the need preview the post. This is normal font size, and I can change it to huge, large, back to normal, small and tiny. I can't see an underline button though. Can I underline using html code? testing Yes i can but I can't switch it off! Ok, so I could just press ctrl + u like Word...much easier to do that than editing the html. Clicking on the spell check button highlights words that isn't recognised, so they can be changed if they are wrong.

Now I will try to load an image. Obviously that worked.

Google Reader

Well, after how many hours I finally have Google Reader (GR) working. Having read extensively, it seemed that GR works best with Firefox. Ordinarily I would have thought this was the case (as I am using IE7), however my friend is also on IE7 and it was working wonderfully for her (evidenced by the screen dumps she kept sending me.....) My wonderful computer guru (aka partner) found that an activeX control was missing. GR is now loaded - yet to be tested.

The other thing I was unable to do was alter the colour settings of the template on my blog. I could change the actual template, but not the colours or fonts. Again my friend was able to. Turns out that java runtime was not installed. All to do with my firewall (which my friend also has, but I am NOT going there!) and now I can further customise the way my blog looks.

This now leads to further complications as I believe Firefox does not allow java applications to run and I think that some of the PCs at work only have Firefox installed. Still, I will cross that bridge later - I still need to get the instructions happening....

Bloglines

ok, so half an hour later i am now on bloglines. after 3 reboots google Reader still won't display, so I will have to admit defeat for now and find another way - Bloglines will have to be it. so far easy to use, had a couple of glitches trying to subscribe to my own feed for this blog, but then it worked so i think it could have been a bit of downtime on the part of Bloglines, given the strange database message i received.

all the feeds disappear once i clink on the original link in the left hand frame, unless I remember to click on 'keep as new' within the feed. there has to be another way......

back to it

botheration

i spoke too soon. i think there is something wrong with the settings on my computer. i CAN'T get google reader to display anything. am working in tandem with a friend over the phone and she is doing it but it wont work for me. hmm. she sent me a screen dump and i definitely don't have on my screen what she has on hers.....

knew it was too good to be true....

oh the joy!

Well, I did create a blog and I have to say it is as easy as they say. I want to run a series of blogging workshops for teens and thought I had better test it all out first. nothing worse than looking like a fool in front of teens.....