Friday, November 2, 2007

The Boyz and I!


Here's where I was last Sat, Oct 29th. Just hangin' with The Boyz! Their new Motown hits album will be out Nov 13th.

Monday, October 15, 2007

comments about another blog (otherwise known as Thing #5)

To complete Thing #2 I read Are You Dreaming? by Michael Stephens which I found as a link from the HPL Learning 2.0 Blog. It recommended Jennifer Macaulay's Life as I Know It blog which contains a bibiliography of articles about Library 2.0 including Michael's article.

I found Michael's post refreshing. The whole idea of global thinking appeals to me & I think that Michael's concept of dreaming can enable this seed to grow. I think it does pay to stop & think of the interconnectedness of all of our services at Halifax Public Libraries & how they resonant (or if they do) in our community. After all, we're a public library and without the public - well,...

Also, I have heard & read on & off since about 1991 from individuals questioning the validity of libraries & books with the flourishing Internet community. Would we still be necessary or relevant? Well, with the great success of our IT classes, computer availability, savvy staff, great website, etc. why shouldn't we be on the cutting edge of learning on the net? Seems like an obvious connection to me. Life long learning is our mandate & this is another way to extend our connection to our patrons.

Friday, October 5, 2007

My Dog Dilly

This is Dilly my Border Terrier who is 6 yrs old. Her full name is Dill Pickle, Chocolate, Cheese Black after my family's favourite foods. You can call her Dill.

Here I Go!

Well, I'm off on the quest to complete all 23 things in the Learning 2.0 Challenge! This is actually thing #3. After doing thing # 1 (http://hpllearning.blogspot.com/2007/07/learning-20-guidelines.html) reading about what blogs are, checking out the page & reading the Guidelines, I did #2 (http://www.techsource.ala.org/blog/2006/02/are-you-dreaming.html) & read Michael Stephens' Are You Dreaming Blog.

This is a wonderful training tool for someone like me he is a real neophyte when it comes to the Web & technology & is also a staff member that loves training opportunities. I think the ability to have discussions on a blog as opposed to e-mail, e-mail, e-mail will be lots of fun. Most importantly, I can see real practical applications in my job as Regional Adult Programming Facilitator. This will, I hope, be a way for staff to exchange ideas about programs & "chat" about what works & doesn't. Right now, I have tons of program evaluations in my WP files which are useful for me to refer to but aren't helpful to anyone else unless they ask about a particular program. Blogging would be a way for us to draw attention to programs we really think other staff should know about - successful & not-so-succesful (but happily most are excellent!). This will enable us to target possible branches & match programs that might do very well & conversely, allow us to pass info on about those that might not be successful. One of the patrons who filled out the recent seniors' survey wrote, "drop unsuccessful programs". Well our goal is to only hold successful events - this is a great step in that direction. Besides, it's wonderful to feel more connected when you work in a system as large as ours with as many staff. I have the opportunity in my position to communicate with lots of different staff at different levels - it's one of the reasons that I love my job. Blogging opens discussion up to everybody!