10 Random Things about ME!

1. My height is only average. I seem taller because of my towering ego.

2. I have never won the Iditarod or the lottery, for similar reasons. However, I would love to win a prize in Learn & Play! If I win, I promise to keep my acceptance speech to under five minutes.

3. Many of you know my real name and have speculated that my middle initial, L, is for largesse, the name you recognize from Flickr, Twitter, Digg, LibraryThing, Delicious, and marquees everywhere. It's not true.

4. I have selected @jimbodino to write my authorized biography. He will do this on Twitter, in 140 characters or less.

5. Over the years, I have learned to appreciate a person who can carry his/her own luggage as well as mine.

6. I have a valid driver's license and am fully capable of driving myself should the need ever arise.

7. I am way too old now for those crazy stunts, so don't even try to persuade me.

8. It's true! Avoiding the paparazzi is a simple matter of going without makeup. When I go around without makeup, only my most ardent canine fan recognizes me.

9. I would like to thank my parents and all of my ancestors for my genetic material.

10. Most of all, I would like to thank you, for reading my blog. You are one of my favorite people!

Photo by disneymike.

I'll meet you there: Thing #23

I do not exaggerate: Learn & Play has been the most fun I've had at work in years!

Plus, I have learned so many things (or Things) and have found ways to apply them already in my personal life. For example, I now have a pro Flickr account so that I can more easily share photos with my widely-scattered family. I have also created a private blog so that these same family members can keep up with the central Ohio branch of the family tree. As for my own reading, Bloglines has really streamlined my work. All of my updates, in one place!

One of the best things has been Twitter. I love reading what everyone is doing and saying. It's like being part of a huge conversation, where I can participate however much I want. As Jimmer has said, it's a great way to reconnect and stay connected.

How can I apply what I've learned to work? I like to think that I am better ready to meet the customer where he or she is right now. If the customer needs really basic help, like how to create an email account, no problem, I've been doing that all along. But if the customer wants to learn about blogging, wikis, social bookmarking, podcasts, or downloadable books, hey, I can help with those things, too!

Would I participate in more discovery exercises given the chance? Absolutely! How else can I be prepared to help the customer as new "Things" evolve? Bottom line is, I want to be able to tell the customer: wherever you are, I will meet you there.

Photo by netwalker.

Downloadable: Thing #22

MOLDI, the Mid-Ohio Library Digital Initiative, can be a fun place to browse for free, downloadable books, movies, and music.

Keyword searching worked pretty well when I tried to find a recording of The Swan, from the Carnival, by Saint-Saens. I immediately located this recording which I will have to download and play soon: PROKOFIEV: Peter and the Wolf / BRITTEN: Young Person's Guide to Orchestra / SAINT-SAENS: Carnival.

I had a little more trouble with my book and movie searches. I found Great expectations by Charles Dickens, in both print and audio. However, when I used the browse title search for the book The Marshal's own case, I got bizarre titles like Developing your own psychic powers and Complete kit to selling your own home. Advanced search worked much better. Author (or "creator") searches worked well. I'll try a classic book or two that I found.

For movies, I enjoyed browsing categories like Thriller and Classic Mystery. I found Dressed to kill, for example, a Sherlock Holmes mystery starring Basil Rathbone. Keyword search failed me, though, when I tried searching for more movies with Basil Rathbone or Sherlock Holmes; no results at all, even though some movies are there and available. The advanced search features were otherwise useful, though I would have liked to be able to limit by rating. I'm not sure I want to watch a movie on my computer at home, but I may have to try one, just to see what it's like!

I appreciated the “If you like this title, then you’ll love…” feature which often points the way to more items I may want to investigate. Looks like I'll be busy exploring!

Photo by oskay.

Podcasts: Thing #21

I explored podfeed.net and listened to a few podcasts about libraries, music, books, and science. I did not find much that captured my attention. Maybe I just need to explore some more.

I like the idea of the podcast reviews, with the star rating system, except that I found myself uninterested in some podcasts that others thought were really great. The lists of top-rated and most-played were helpful, too.

I found the tags useful, but with no advanced search features, I had trouble combining terms. For instance, are there any podcasts about science books? The basic search seems to default to OR, e.g., science OR books.

I added a feed to my Bloglines account for a podcast from Los Angeles Public Library, ALOUD at Central Library.

Photo by JadePhotography.

The late, great Buddy Holly and Thing #20

I could get lost in YouTube, spending hours looking at video clips! I really enjoyed looking at some old clips, like this one of Buddy Holly on the Ed Sullivan show in 1958. I also learned how to be a ninja and how to waltz and how to clean my bathtub. All kinds of great stuff!

While YouTube is a lot of fun, I'm not sure how libraries would use it. Maybe we could do video clips for patrons explaining basic things about the library, like how to get a card, in foreign languages.

YouTube might also be useful for staff. Learn & Play videos have certainly been a big hit!

Thing #19: Digg it!

I found Digg through CML's Tool Box. What a fascinating site! Every time I visit, I find new intriguing stories, photos, and videos. I get so absorbed that I can hardly take time to write about Digg!

For example, today I found out about an mysterious explosion that occurred in 1908 which was 1,000 times more powerful than Hiroshima's. I also learned about how to avoid "annoying body glitches" like eye twitches and hiccups.

With Digg, I mark the items of most interest to me by "digging" them. Other users digg, too, and stories move to the top of the ranks by popularity. I can set up my profile so that only subjects of interest to me show up.

The social networking aspects of the site are intriguing, but so far I have no Digg "friends" with whom to share content of interest. Anyone interested? My profile name is largesse.

Photo by Pif the Mighty.