Adding a picture

I add pictures all the time to our teen blog. I find that it makes it more interesting. Who wants to read a bunch of text online with no pictures? And now, here is a picture of one of the edible sea creatures our tweens made this summer. Kind of makes you hungry, doesn't it?

That is a Twinkie covered in chocolate frosting, with blue Twizzlers on the back, and pretzels for legs. Yum!

IE vs. Firefox? Coke vs. Pepsi?

We have Internet Explorer and Firefox on our public computers in our library; I also have both at home. Honestly I don't prefer one over the other. They both get me where I want to go. Our users are so often so used to seeing Internet Explorer, that they often are wary of Firefox and don't really understand what it is. I tell them it is just another way to get to the Internet and that they should give it a try. Like Coke and Pepsi, they both give you the same general thing, just with a slightly different flavor. It is worth trying both and seeing which you prefer.

Wiki

OK, so I am pretty far behind, but I am trying to catch up. Here is a link to my wiki:
http://ourkitchenremodel.pbworks.com/
We have been doing a kitchen remodel this summer and it has been really time consuming!

Anyway, I have used PBWiki a lot in the past and it is pretty simple. I think I am using it correctly but it has been awhile since I played with it. We used it a lot in grad school and it was a great way to work on group projects.

Presenters at workshops have also provided us with wikis as a place to share ideas after the workshop is done, which I have found super helpful too.

I'm not sure how many people would be interested in a wiki about my kitchen, but it was all I had on my mind at the moment :)

RSS Feeds and Delicious

RSS Feeds and Delicious were two things I have heard about often, but never really tried myself. Mostly I haven't tried them because I didn't understand what they were or how they would help me.

After trying them out, RSS Feeds are still a little overwhelming for me. I mean, it is great to have everything in one place, but it almost seems like too much in one place. Do I really need to follow more blogs than I already do? But it will be nice to check one place for updates instead of daily or multiple times a day checking every blog.

I think I will personally start using Delicious personally to bookmark articles I see at work and want to read at home. It would also be useful as a place to bookmark homework helping sites for kids at the library. It would be easy to update and change. You could add sites for specific assignments rather easily. This is something I would like to look into in the fall.

So Many Cool Things, But How Do We Get Them to Use Them?

OK, here is something I've been trying to figure out. I go to technology for libraries workshops and I learn about all of these cool sites, but how do I get my teens to use them? I have brought in laptops to our Teen Advisory Board meetings and I have had special events during Teen Tech Week to showcase animoto, tumblr, pandora and other sites. They may play around with them at the moment, but then, they don't seem to stick with them.

I feel that me telling them about a great new site or a cool new way to find out about what's going on at the library (like Twitter) doesn't work as well as meeting them where they already are. Yet at the same time, I want to expose them to new sites, just in hopes that maybe something will stick.

Hello!

I am a young adult/youth services librarian at the Palos Heights Public Library and I have been in this position for almost 2 years. I am excited to learn about new ways to reach and serve patrons through this project although I am a bit overwhelmed with summer reading at work right now. I am just hoping to have enough time to devote to this class.

At my current job, we have an internal department blog. It is a helpful way to leave notes for all members of the department to see. It is used occasionally, but then again, we don't always have information we need everyone to know that cannot be shared verbally or through e-mail.

I was also able to start a Teen Blog this past year. I envisioned it as a place to post about upcoming programs and new materials, and as a place for teens to share reviews on books, tv, movies, games, local restaurants... It hasn't taken off as well as I hoped. We have had a few teen reviewers, but not many.

We also have a Twitter account for our department but it does not seem that many of our patrons are on Twitter. More are on Facebook. We have a library Facebook account at this time, but not one for our department.

I had a personal blog in the past, but do not update it anymore. Now I personally focus more on Facebook and Twitter.

I am looking forward to finding out about any new ideas I haven't tried along with finding out different ways to use tools.