Lesson 11 Challenge

I had never heard of a Personal Learning Network until this lesson.  I do have several websites and resources that I often use for work, but I did not realize this constituted a PLN.

One website I enjoy visiting is, Early Word.  On this site, I find out about what books are popular in public libraries, what forthcoming titles are being released, what is the latest movie adaptation that may increase interest in the book, etc.  It is a fun and useful website.  The site also has weekly "GalleyChats" about upcoming book releases.

I also use the website, Stop You're Killing Me quite often.  This site is a must for Mystery lovers or for librarians that want to assist Mystery lovers.  Not only does the site list mystery series by author, they also have lists of Award winning mysteries, mysteries by main character or mysteries by the main character's occupation.

I also have a PLN is my non-work related online searching.  I am obsessed with knowing who was in a certain movie or television show, so I am constantly on The Internet Movie Database.  It is very important to realize that the potential murderess in the episode of Midsommer Murders that I am watching was also in that one episode of Doctor Who with the Daleks.

Lesson 10 Challenge

A patron visits your branch library and they only have $1.50 in their pocket.  They are trying to figure out if they can take the bus from your branch to the nearest McDonalds later today because they have an interview.  Practice using Google Maps directions and write in your blog about how easy/hard it would be to get to their interview by bus and about how much time it would take.

By using Google Map directions, I found out that the nearest McDonald's is 1.1 miles away from the Semmes Branch Library.  According to Google Maps, the patron would need to catch the 642 bus.  The bus stop is located across the street from the library, near the corner of Judson and Nacogdoches.
The buses run every 60 minutes, and it is a 5 minute ride to the McDonalds.

Lesson 9 Challenge

I enjoyed learning a little bit about coding and programming languages.  I can see spending some more time on some of the coding websites, just to familiarize myself more with how it works.  I used Google's Made with Code site to mix my own song.  Here is what my song looked like:

I could see using this more personally, rather than professionally. If staff were to become proficient, I could see offering basic coding classes for the public.

Lesson 8 Challenge

Imagine two situations where you are interacting with someone via Skype, Google Hangouts, or a Mondopad.

• Situation 1:  You are having a virtual meeting with a colleague at a nearby branch; discussing a potential collaborative program between the two branches.
• Situation 2: You are conducting a virtual reference interview with a patron; this is your first time meeting this patron, so you have no background information about their interests or likes.
• Use your imagination and write a brief paragraph explaining the details of both situations. (Explain the collaborative program and specify what the patron is searching for, etc.)

Then write about …

1. The benefits of having the meeting online rather than in person
2. Any challenges, inconveniences, or issues you encountered
3.  If you would meet online with this person again
4.  If you would meet with anyone else online, and who might that be
5. Would a traditional in person meeting have been better? Why?

Situation 1:  Currently, Semmes staff host a book club at the Senior Living Apartment complex near both Thousand Oaks and Semmes.  The activity director at the Senior Apartments would like to add additional library run programming to the branch.  Staff from Semmes and Thousand Oaks use Skype to discuss what type of programming they could offer the Senior residents.  Having the meeting online means that no one has to leave their branch and travel to another location, saving gas and time.  As long as there are no technical mishaps, the meeting should go smoothly online.  If the meeting involves a lot of demonstration, for example a craft activity, it might be better to hold the meeting in person.

Situation 2:  It would be beneficial to hold a reference interview via Skype, if the patron were unable to visit the branch in person, due to health issues, weather conditions, transportation concerns, etc.  This type of interaction would be pretty easy if the patron was just asking for books to be placed on hold. The success or failure of the interview would depend a great deal on how comfortable the library customer is with technology.  I could imagine a situation where most of the time with the customer was spent troubleshooting the technology being used, with less focus on the actual question the patron had.

Lesson 7 Challenge

404 Pages

Usually when I come across a 404 page, it is because I mistyped the URL.

Pottermore has a nice and spooky 404 page.

Disney World shows Stitch eating the page.

Lesson 6 Challenge

NoveList

I chose The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater as my NoveList guinea pig.  Here are the Appeal Factors I selected:

 This was too many factors, because the only book I got back from the search results was The Raven Boys.  So, I unchecked everything under the Subject heading and just went with Compelling Urban fantasy.  This time I got back 486 results.  That seemed like too many to sift through, so I added "schools".  This time I got a reasonable 29 results.

I use NoveList often for Reader's Advisory.  Library customers have such varied reading interests, I find NoveList very helpful when suggesting titles for a book I have never read or a genre that is not interesting to me.

Lesson 5 Challenge

I had signed up ages ago for a LearningExpress Library account, but like many patrons, I could not remember my password.  So the first thing I did was reset my password.  I then decided to explore the Career Center.  Once in the Career Center, I chose to "Learn More about a Career".  Under Homeland Security, I found a pdf of a book called 9 Steps to a Great Federal Job.  I figured this might be useful if I were ever to apply to work at the Library of Congress.  LearningExpress is fairly easy to navigate and has a great deal of useful information for patrons.  Many patrons have used it to help them prepare for career specific exams.