Tell me it's not really over. . .

Is it over already? Thanks, Caitlin and Matt, you've done an excellent job with this course. The instructions were easy enough for technophobes like me to follow, and the assignments were interesting without being too onerous. I was really amazed at how easy it was to set up a blog. And, as a direct result of this course, I'm addicted to RSS feeds on my Google page. I'm constantly updated on everything and it just makes me feel so smart.

The most rewarding part of this course? Well, there's learning new stuff and feeling more confident about trying new technologies, but what's really great is that it added to my ongoing life goal of embarrassing my kids. Having a mother with a blog is NOT cool. And a mother who threatens to put those cute naked baby pictures up on flickr. . .

The most interesting part of this course has to be the opportunity to peek at my colleagues' blogs. All the ones I had a chance to look at were interesting and some were fascinating. I feel that I got to know a few people a little better, got some great reading suggestions, and of course got to see pictures of everyone's pets!

I'd like to keep this blog going as a place to put news and tips about government information. I can sense a hunger out there! Not really, but when I have information that seems useful to info desk staff in general, I'll try to put it up.

Thank you Caitlin and Matt! It's been a slice!

Flickr

I love looking at photos, my own and other people's, so what could be better than Flickr? BTW Matt, looks like you had a fabulous Caribbean vacation! I've only uploaded a few of my own photos so far, but intend to put them all up so I have a backup in case my computer crashes.
And yes, gov docs librarians are on flickr too. The group Best.Titles.Ever has some interesting pics

Facebook: you know you're over forty when. . .

I've had a Facebook account for a while, but have to admit I don't check it very often. As far as I can tell, the absolute best use of Facebook is to spy on your kids, and when I log in that's usually the reason. I've learned quite a bit, too. I'm kind of fascinated with Facebook groups, and think there's a lot of potential there for sharing information. A page I really like is Government Information: From Local to Global
. Check it out, all you gov docs fans! (That's just me, right?) Groups can be a great tool for political organization; if you haven't already, I urge you all to join Demand that Virgin Radio Remove Sexist Advertisements

You know you're over forty when you can't bring yourself to use it as a verb.

Social Bookmarking

As an introvert with hermit-like tendencies, I've been put off by the very name "social" bookmarking. However, I've become keen on delicious (would somebody tell them it's all one word) and Library Thing. I think they appeal to the snoop in me - peeking in on what other people are reading or surfing. It's like browsing the host's bookshelf when you go to a party - not the height of good manners, but irresistible nonetheless.

I've put the Government Weblinks that are on our website on delicious as well at http://delicious.com/Gov_sites_list_OPL . A couple of other interesting collections of government bookmarks on delicious are http://freegovinfo.info/delicious and http://delicious.com/MSUGovDoc. Both of these contain mostly U.S. sites, but can be a good place to look for government sites relating to current events.

I really like the San Mateo Public Library delicious site. It would be great if we could do something like that at OPL (no pressure, Matt). It's interesting and kind of ironic, though, that their list is so useful because they've essentially. . . catalogued it. Tags are great, but once you have a big enough number of items, you have to impose some kind of control on the tags in order to find things, which brings us right back to controlled vocabularies and other traditional library stuff. The San Mateo site is, as you say, a good blending of the new & traditional.

Memo to my boss: it's Matt and Caitlin's fault

I enjoyed this week's exercise on RSS feeds. I already had a couple on my iGoogle page, but this is the first time I've signed up for Google Reader, and it's much easier to add them than I'd realized. I had lots of fun looking for feeds to add to my page, and now I notice that lots of web sites I look at have RSS feeds, so I can add those too. Of course, now that I have this Google Reader thing, I have to keep up with all my feeds. So first thing in the morning I check my email, then just take 5 minutes to check what's new with my "feeds". . . okay, 10 minutes. . . wait, some of those were really interesting, maybe it's been 20 minutes. . . and they're all work-related, well, maybe not all, but most of them. . . so it's 10:00 and I haven't actually done any work yet. . . but blame Matt & Caitlin, they led me down this road. . .

Wikis: Gov Docs on the Cutting Edge

I admit to a prejudice against wikis, but only because for years the only one I knew was Wikipedia, and I spent so much time gritting my teeth while watching my kids use it as the ultimate research authority for their projects (the shoemaker's children go barefoot. . . ) This course, however, is making me appreciate the potential of wikis. Library Success is one of the best library ones I've seen. And believe it or not, even the stodgy realm of Government Documents librarianship boasts some interesting Web 2.0 experiments. For Canadian information, have a look at CLA's Access to Government Information Interest Group Blog . A couple of interesting American ones are the GODORT wiki from ALA's Government Documents Roundtable, and the Free Government Information blog. There's lots of informative stuff on this blog, but my favourite part is their list of Best Titles Ever! Yes, a government agency actually published something called "LUSTline" (Leaky Underground Storage Tanks, of course). My personal favourite is the "Index of Blank Forms" - it doesn't get more civil service than that. And there's representation from Canada with (cringe) "Child Maltreatment: A "What-To-Do" Guide for Professionals" . Seriously, you couldn't make this stuff up. . .

Week 2 - Lifelong Learning

Well, I'm a little behind in these assignments (already!), and I just listened to the 71/2 Habits presentation right after having listened to Barack Obama's inaugural address. For eloquence and inspiration, I'll take Barack any day. The presentation was a little bit oversimplified, but could serve as a good basic introduction. I thought the first few slides just emphasized that, really, everyone is a lifelong learner.