I won’t have access to this blog for much longer, so if you want to follow me you can on my other blog.

http://runninglibrarianblog.wordpress.com/

It has all the same posts so you won’t miss out on anything.

Today I went on my first morning run in years. I have never been a morning person and therefore rarely ran in the morning. I’m also one of the few people you might encounter on the road who also does not listen to music or who will chat while running. I love nothing more than hearing my feet hit the ground. Today was another first for me, I brought along my dog Crosby. The jury is still out on whether he will be joining me again.

Possible running buddy…

**This post has been copied and pasted here from my other blog: http://runninglibrarianblog.wordpress.com/, it was faster, easier and without any issues, unlike the luck I have had trying to export and import from another blog.**

As the semester is coming to an end so will my blog here on UBC Blogs. I will maintain my blog here:

RunningLibrarianBlog
http://runninglibrarianblog.wordpress.com/

I was unable to add my polls to my blog here so, if you want to vote then please follow the link above. My other blog has links to videos of social media in the news; one story is about the Pope and the online betting which occurred before he was selected and the other was Tiger Woods announcing he is dating again via Facebook. The title of my blog points to the fact I am also a runner, I was able to create a race day countdown and a link to my upcoming race information. After much trial and error it looks as though I have been defeated by technology once again.

It has been great learning to maintain a blog; I no longer see it as an online journal which no one will read. Right now I have a few followers and hope to gain more over time but as with everything only time will tell. I have had many learning experiences while taking this class, one in particular which fall on me and me alone; now I must learn from said experience.

[polldaddy poll=7000438]

What is Hoot.me?
The Hoot.me app as a “knowledge” forum; I have the Hoot.me as a Facebook app but it does not have any library science classes or forums available at this time, it is geared more towards mathematics, engineering and sciences.

Can Facebook and its app be used to help students study rather than a means to avoid? I would have to say yes, but I would have said no until the being of last fall semester. As an undergraduate student I used Facebook for the same reasons many other students used it. To see what my friends were doing, where my favorite band would be playing and what events I might attend. After graduating Facebook became a place to connect with friends who had moved across the country or around the world for school and work. Facebook lost its appeal, at least to me, I kept in touch with the friends I wanted and we spoke on the phone rather than made status updates. As I have mentioned before I am a graduate student although I’m a distance learner which comes with its own issues; namely not being connected with other students as one might be if you are forced into a classroom on weekly basis. The program I am in does have a cohort and it requires you to attend a four day classroom session, which is helpful in making connections with other classmates.

I digress, the point of this post is to examine the use and usefulness of social media, in particular Facebook. From the cohort weekend a group chat was formed of four classmates including me, it was and is a great place to post question to each other about assignments or clarification about readings. At times it has also become a support group. The group worked well and this spring semester we added two others to the group chat, after the new additions it became clear the group was too big at six people. With the additional members meant more messages and question have gotten lost or completely overlook. On the other hand for Social Media and Library Professionals although group work is required, it has been done so by maintaining a distant relationship. My group has maintained contact for the two projects wither through Google Docs, email, or messages on Connect.

http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2011/10/using-facebook-hootme-as-a-study-tool284.html
http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/09/distractions-set-aside-facebook-as-a-study-tool/
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/social.media/08/10/7.sins.netiquette/index.html

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcN08Tg3PWw]

This post was originally going to be about social media and rural libraries in America, but it ultimately morphed into social media and senior citizens who use the libraries I currently work. Yes, I work in a rural library, which is also in an area well known as a good place for rural retirement. The retiree community seems to be divided into three camps, those who are comfortable with computers and using the internet, those who want nothing to do with either and those who have been “forced” into using social media by their children or grandchildren. The challenge becomes how to make social media more comfortable and accessible to the “forced” group to embrace population?

The “forced” group is pushed by the younger generations to adopt social media as a means to stay in touch with children and grandchildren who may live far away. The majority of their accounts are created while on holiday with family, or created remotely by family members. Often, individuals want to show other family members that they can use social media without help, which in time may happen, but initially is very difficult. Some individuals cannot even access their account, and come to the library seeking assistance to fix their problems. While we are more than happy to help them through the steps, it is library policy not to touch a personal laptop, phone or tablet. I understand and agree with the policy, nevertheless it has caused conflict with patrons who would like nothing more than to have you solve the problem and watch from the sideline; however taking over is a quick fix that does not allow the patron to learn.

I have noticed a trend during my time at the library: following holidays, particularly the winter holidays, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day, there is a significant increase in the number of social media questions relating to new accounts, or just how to use social media in general. Our library does offer free community classes in various computer topics, including social media, but these are often geared toward those who already have some experience with social media which does limit access for those who want to learn the basics of social media. The library system is now going to offer one on one session for patrons on the topic of their choice, so far patrons have requested time for social media and e-readers. From personal observations and interactions I feel it would be best for patrons to have one on one time when first exploring social media it will allow people to work at their own pace and in a more comfortable situation.

[polldaddy poll=7000381]

**This post is based on personal observations, not research.**

Press Release from Library of Congress

As of today there are twenty-five additional sound recordings being inducted into the National Recording Registry, the recording are “marked for preservation because of their cultural, artistic and historic importance to the nation’s aural legacy.” A recording can be considered for induction ten years after its release, so in a decade it is possible Nicki Minaj could be added… It should be noted the recordings do not come solely from the music industry.

This is a new addition to the Library of Congress, just eleven years of selection has taken place. It should be noted the first four years there were fifty inductees, although for the last seven years there have only been twenty-five per year.

The following is a complete list of the inductees since 2002:
National Registry Recoding List

I broke down and bought ahold school textbook for my library class and couldn’t be happier! As I alluded in my pervious post articles are fine to reason a computer or iPad. But if I’m required to reference the source for more than just a quote a textbook is more to my liking. Looks like illness sticking to old school textbooks for the foreseeable future.

This semester has been full of many first for me in my academic career. I have actually started using both Twitter and maintaining a blog and kept up with both of them, even though I have made only a hand full of posts; it is a huge step from the other times I created account and promptly forgot about or become bored even before my first post. For the first time ever I got my textbook as e-texbook, let’s just say it is extremely unlike this will occur again in the near future. Yes, the e-textbook is rather convenient in the idea of having it available at your fingertip on my iPad, but the app it runs on is less then user friendly. Said app will remain nameless but it is not user friendly at all! Simply put if you want to turn the page the user must go back to the table of contents in order to do so, which does not allow for smooth reading. Reading for enjoyment on a Kindle is one thing for classwork is a completely different story. Or maybe it is generational thinking book means classwork. Frankly I find I spend enough time at the computer or with iPad in hand completing classwork and keeping up with email, I want a break from the computer. Personally I find reading from a book easier if it the type of class which requires that I must constantly reference said book.

This semester has been full of many first for me in my academic career. I have actually started using both Twitter and maintaining a blog and kept up with both of them, even though I have made only a hand full of posts; it is a huge step from the other times I created account and promptly forgot about or become bored even before my first post. For the first time ever I got my textbook as e-texbook, let’s just say it is extremely unlike this will occur again in the near future. Yes, the e-textbook is rather convenient in the idea of having it available at your fingertip on my iPad, but the app it runs on is less then user friendly. Said app will remain nameless but it is not user friendly at all! Simply put if you want to turn the page the user must go back to the table of contents in order to do so, which does not allow for smooth reading. Reading for enjoyment on a Kindle is one thing for classwork is a completely different story. Or maybe it is generational thinking book means classwork. Frankly I find I spend enough time at the computer or with iPad in hand completing classwork and keeping up with email, I want a break from the computer. Personally I find reading from a book easier if it the type of class which requires that I must constantly reference said book.