Lesson 6 part 2 challenge

Social media can, as I mentioned, be negative quite easily. People might tag a picture of you that you don't like. It's easy to misunderstand someone's post and become angry (or happy) for no real reason. You might say something that you wish you hadn't--and people know quickly. It's also amazing how quickly something can move from a few friends to thousands of people.

Lesson 6 Part 1 challenge

It's interesting to think back to 2007 and the 23 ½ things at Queens Library which introduced me to some social media sites. I hadn't used Facebook before then, but it's become an important way for me to stay in contact with friends, family, and colleagues. I've used it in ways would never have expected (like meeting a friend for lunch when at a conference by just saying "is anyone near this corner and would like to meet for lunch?). It's fun to share photos and experiences. Of course, social media is also in some ways like having a diary--but knowing that it's going to be read every day by people you know and people you don't know. So, I share what I think will be interesting to my "friends" that I also wouldn't mind being read aloud at work.

Facebook is pretty much my social media "home". I say to much for Twitter and there's a little too much arguing there (at least among people I know). I don't take enough pictures for Flickr. I do keep a profile on LinkedIn, especially for conference speaking opportunities. 

Lesson 5 Challenge

Buffalo, Broadway, Great Wall, fishing in the Amazon! It was an interesting exercise to give people ideas of how to search. I got 100% on one of them, on the second try. Otherwise, more like 65%. I know that I can construct effective searches, but I tend to use quotation marks "Other than piranhas" and Boolean logic in the Google advanced search. What this reminded me, though, is that we can all learn more and that I could probably improve some basic search ideas. On the other hand, I think that some of my searches would be more effective than the keywords suggested by these exercises.

Lesson 3 Part 2 Challenge

LibGuides were new to me here. That's one thing I enjoy about libraries and about technology--there's always something new to learn (even if it's something other people have known for a long time). I've used LibGuides many times, both public and staff ones, especially the Guide for Learn (http://guides.mysapl.org/GED), for Staff Picks (http://guides.mysapl.org/staffpicks), and for Vital Records (http://guides.mysapl.org/vital_records).

How about a badge?

Lesson 3 Part 1 Challenge

I recently have used Learning Express Library, especially to look at resources available to adult learners, especially of basic skills. I hadn't used it much before, and was impressed with the variety of resources. The database I use the most often, both personally and when I worked directly with customers, is Reference USA. It's so powerful! I hadn't used the Image Collection before and found it a very useful addition to image searches on Google.

Lesson 2 Part 3 Challenge Outlook

And here's my signature file.

Lesson 2 Part 3 Challenge Word

Microsoft Word

I didn't make a flyer, but I did make a budget report for a library group at home last night. I used a lot of the new Word features, including my favorite, which is that it's so easy to save as a PDF.

Lesson 2 Part 2 Challenge 2

And here's the Millennium shortcut pinned to the taskbar.

Lesson 2 Part 2 Challenge 1

So, there's my snipping image. I've used it before, but remember my delight on finding it!

Lesson 1 Part 3 Challenge

I thought it would be interesting to use my old 23 things blog for this, though it was some years ago and at Queens Library. I used to have a daily blog (on another site, mostly about what it was like to move from Dallas to New York City). It was interesting to see the new look of Blogger and also to be reminded of so many things I didn't know about back in 2007. It wasn't long ago, but yet it was.

Adding blogs to follow was easy, though I did have to do a Google search to get a little more information before I saw how easy it was.