Thing 2

(I feel so Cat in the Hat--Thing 1, Thing 2...)
I watched the two videos and read the blogpost (I'll read the webpage later, but while thoughts were fresh...).
I guess I missed Library 1.0 altogether; maybe that's one reason I feel behind when it comes to L2. Although I got my library degree in the mid-90s, I was there the day they installed the first window-based computer in the graduate computer lab (where I spent lots of time as we didn't have a PC at home until AFTER I finished my degree--bad timing for me!). It doesn't seem that long ago to me, but in technology terms, that's like the switch from the Wright brothers powered flight to landing on the moon in less than 70 years.
Perhaps the shiftedlibrarian YouTube was the most telling. As you can see from how I write, I'm not particularly linear, and the start of that video brought back memories of grad school. The first paper I did on the computer--tragic! The fact that I got the "perfect" opening paragraph (all on the computer, of course!) only to have a power outage before I saved it... Well, after that first traumatic paper within my first month of grad school, by the end of the semester, I wondered how I ever did a paper by hand or on a typewriter (remember those?) as I was switching paragraphs around and restructuring my papers within an hour of when the papers were due! Though that simple act--composing on the computer--was so horrid at first, I adjusted fairly quickly (for me). Now, alas, it seems I don't have the luxury of a semester. By the time I've semi-mastered what I started to learn in September, there is at least one new generation (sometimes more) of that basic technology that I missed out on!

And things we need to rethink besides the Library's mission include (as the video said at the end) copyright and privacy--which is a little tough to impress upon kids who have never known life without a computer, the Internet, Google...especially ourselves. (see me looking in the mirror as I write this?)

I know I'm not saying anything new. But it helps to get a little perspective, to realize I'm not alone in feeling like I'm driving my 66 Mustang in the Indy 500, and to know that I might have a little more savvy than I thought because I could relate to most everything that was said/written in what I viewed (though the final video went a little faster than I could...).

Summer Reading Club

As I am not only "23ing" at this time, I'm going to include what I'm doing library-wise outside of the 23 things on this blog!
Summer Reading Club has begun! As school is still in for most of the kids who come to my library, it's not too insane...yet... If any of you would like to register (and we do have an adult program with adult prizes!), it's online at www. ci.hurst.lib.tx.us. Just sign up, read, and come to the library here at Hurst when you can! If you have kids, they do need to come in to pick up incentives (okay, so do adults, but...)--lots of fun for all June and July! Commercial announcement over now.

What I'm reading now:

Re-reading The Lightning Thief (as some of the programs this year are featuring Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series)--fun for kids and adults, too!

Listening to The Last Olympian (the last in Mr. Riordan's above-mentioned series)

Reading Suck It Up (trying to finish the Lone Star list!)

I'll be reading some actual adult books this summer, believe it or not!

Thing 1

My first blog entry...fascinating, right? It only took me about an hour to figure out how to post (thanks for your help, Janet!)