Reflection

Well, I think I have learned a lot about new things. Before I started I did not even know what most of the Things even were. I had heard about several such as Facebook, Instant Messaging, Flickr, Twitter, and YouTube , but were not that familiar with them. At the beginning it was a little challenging getting started due to the number of sites to visit, setting up accounts, passwords etc. It was a little confusing as well. Information overload set in, but I was able to work through it.

Of the 23 Things my least favorite was Instant Messaging. I don't think I will use this due to having to be a the computer to use it effectively. My favorites were YouTube, Facebook and Podcasts. It was fun on Facebook to find a neighborhood friend who I went to school with. YouTube was fun and I tended to gravitate to the humor approach of learning. Libraries are funny places and humor is a great way to learn. I would like our library to use video more to promote. Long live humor.

Through this process I learned that I can learn new things even though I have been a librarian over 23 years. Change is good, I keep telling myself. I will use the Blog Reader to keep up to date with new things. I plan on using Flickr Mashups when I can on promotional materials at the library. I will expand Facebook to spread the word about our Book Discussion Group and see if I can even have an account for just our group. And maybe a Ning account for our Book Discussion group as well. I want o eventually have all my personal books on LibraryThing and I will use it for readers advisory and also as a source to select future books for reading at our SE Book Discussion Group.

The real challenge for completing this was to work it in around a busy schedule. Having to work at the reference desk most of my time, does limit it. But I think it has been of great benefit for me to complete this. I will try to continue the learning process by going back and actually using the different things to make my job more effective. And another benefit is that I am not alone and I can use the resource of other librarians who have completed it also, to share with and learn.

I am looking forward to the Next 23 Things. I'm sure there will be new things coming up.