Thing #22 - What Did I Learn Today?

In the ALA TechSource piece, we are again reminded of the definition of Web 2.0:

"It is a model for library service that encourages constant and purposeful change, inviting user participation in the creation of both the physical and the virtual services they want, supported by consistently evaluating services."

In addition, at the beginning of this "Thing" it states that learning about Web 2.0 tools has been "changing, challenging, and exciting." This has truly been all of those things for me. I like having a goal when I am learning - to be forced, in a way, to learn. Though choosing to participate in this program has been completely voluntary on my part, I felt pushed by the format and the goal to progress and to finish. Change is hard for me, and that combined with my busy workload makes things that seem unnecessary things that I avoid. I think this is probably a common sentiment among many in the profession of education. We are constantly asked to do more, to keep up, to change...And that is not easy. I am so glad that I took on this challenge. Many who started with me fell by the wayside, so I think just finishing is a major accomplishment (especially after I accidentally deleted my entire blog). All that I learned is icing on my professional cake. I have learned so much. The most important thing that I learned is that there is so much out there in the Web 2.0 world that is exciting and useful - and that anyone can learn to use these things. The more experience one has with these tools, the less daunting they seem.

I was happy to find this site in the comments at the bottom of this "Thing":

http://explorediscoverplay.blogspot.com/

I wanted to continue my learning, and along comes Library 2.1! I also want to go back and work more with the tools we looked at in the "23 Things on a Stick" program. I am hoping that the site will be kept up so that we can refer to it over the summer. I would like to try some new things in our Media Center next year with some of these tools. For instance, I would like to add the assignment calculators to some of my presentations and use the "Introducing the Book" YouTube video that I found in some of my book talks.

There is so much out there to experience, read, and learn. I got hooked into an article I found at the LISNews site. It was called "Reading...A Topic of Controversy?" I read about their RIF story, read the original article, then read all of the reader comments, and that lead me to an awesome article by Therdora J. Kalikow, entitled, "Reading is Fundamental: It's Also Subversive." Kalikow, the President of the University of Maine, concludes, "Mothers are always right. Reading is dangerous. But not reading is even more dangerous." I am currently leading a massive reading initiative, and this will come in handy.

I also found this awesome video for National Library Week at The Shifted Librarian Site! Hilarious!

Thanks to all of you who set up this program! You rock!