ChoiceBooks

CSS's Choice Books covers a wide variety of topics.  I would primarily use these lists for storytime programs and class visits.  I'll be adding the "2nd Grade Visits" list to my file for we have second grade classes visiting the library every spring and fall.  Another use for the lists would be as collection development guides though availability would an issue with the older titles.

A Quick Take on Reading Suggestion Engines

One of the reasons I wanted to take the CSS Tech Challenge was to to find out about new tools available on the web, so I appreciate the link to Joye Valenza's post, "Reading Suggestion Engines: Your Next Read" on School Libray Journal's Neverending Search blog.  I took a very quick look at these sites and the following are my quick impressions.  I plugged in random titles, both children's and adult, and met with varying degrees of success.

BookSeer - fun for a quick look, Amazon suggestions only at this time.

Scholastic's Teacher Book Wizard - a good feature is the ability generate lists of similar titles with the same reading level or to change the reading level.

JacketFlap - I did not have much success using this and did not feel it was worth the time to figure it out.

Yournextread.com - visual book recommendations which will appeal to kids but they also seem to basically come from Amazon.  Oddly I got suggestions for Very Hungry Caterpillar but none for Dinosaurs before Dark.

What Should I Read Next - Quick.  I got a nice long list for Maze of Bones and not just for other titles in the series.  On the other hand when I put in Murder on the Orient Express some strange suggestions came up - Gone with the Wind??

Database of Award Winning Children's Literature - it is easy to set the parameters (genre and gender are particularly helpful) which helps narrow down the list.  Because the books are "award winning" most of the popular titles that kids request will not come up.  However, this is great for parents who want their children to read quality literature.

WhichBook.net - an interesting perspective but not particularly practical for a quick search.

Young Adult Books in Series and Sequels Wiki - a great help.  It seems that everything is a trilogy or quartet now, so it's hard to keep up.

TasteKid - I put in Agatha Christie's Poirot and got some very, very strange suggestions (Siddartha? Chronicles of Narnia? Streetcar Named Desire?).  Twilight generated Chronicles of Narnia (again?), Pride and Prejudice, Harry Potter, The DaVinci Code, Angels and Demons, and Memoirs of a Geisha in addition to other books in the series.

Gnooks - author searches only.  Love the literature map!

Some sites were more useful than others but when it comes to making book suggestions, librarians are much better at it than computers. 

More Photos - Redux

Blogger had a major meltdown last week and one of my posts from May 11 is missing.  (Should it return, I will delete this post.)

I tried out Picnik. Adding text to a photo is something I have not done before. I can definitely see using this in the future.

                                     

 

I also uploaded the photos to my Flickr photostream and tagged them. Warning, if you click on my photostream you will see many, many photos of knitting (with some cats and family thrown in). I belong to Ravelry (sort of a Facebook for knitters) and my photos for that site are hosted on Flickr. Gee, I'm such a stereotypical librarian - I have 2 cats and I knit (at least I don't have the bun). I have the Flickr uploader on my desktop which makes it easy to add photos.

Well, I think I have completed the challenges for this week. It's been fun.



                                  

Social Cataloging

I've had a Library Thing account since 2007 though I have not been active lately.  I have piles of knitting books to add.  I will probably be close to the limit of 200 once I add them all and will have to consider upgrading my account.  The "social" part of Library Thing that I enjoy most is seeing how many other members own the same books.  One title I have in my library is only owned by one other person, while other titles are owned by over a thousand.  Since my collection is limited to knitting books, I find the varying numbers interesting.  Click here if you don't mind looking at pages of knitting books.

I have used Library Thing at work.  I would add titles of books I have read in storytime to a Library Thing account.  I then added the Library Thing widget to my blog so that parents and others could find out more about the books.  (The library's catalog did not display book covers.)  I have added the widget to this blog to show how easy it is to do - just copy and paste.  [Edited 6/10/11 - I removed the Library Thing widget since the tech challenge is over and the books are not relevant to this blog.]

Photos

I work part-time for the Hamilton Township Public Library in Mercer County.  This morning I managed to take a couple of pictures of the Children's Room before the library opened.  The calm before the storm.  We had two sessions of Toddler Time and two class visits this morning.  While my colleague was doing her Toddler Time programs, I had a grand time reading silly books and telling the story, "The Wonderful Pot," to second graders.  The room was not so tidy when I finished work at 1 p.m.



All set up for Toddler Time - this week the theme is Monkeys!

Uploading the photos was easy and I don't have to remember to change the picture size.  Blogger makes them fit.



Notes

I managed to add a background photo to this blog.  It took a couple of tries because I keep forgetting to make my photos smaller before uploading them or sending them.  Some day this concept will stick.  I also did some major cropping.  The photo is literally of my planning notes for this summer's Family Story Time series. 

Learning Again - 2.0 Four Years Later

This blog was originally started as part of a Tech Challenge presented by the Central Jersey Regional Library Cooperative a few years ago. Although I have done many of the things listed, there is always something new to learn which is why I decided to take the CSS Tech Challenge. I'm looking forward to exploring what's new in Web 2.0.

I find it interesting how I use 2.0 now compared to how I used it a few years ago. Blogs were a big deal in 2007 but I had thought that perhaps their time had passed. Everyone seems to be micro blogging now. However, I realized that I have 68 subscriptions in my Google Reader so I guess blogging is still a vital part of 2.0. So far I have managed to avoid Twitter but that's because my family does not tweet. We spend our time on Facebook instead. Facebook's appeal is not just the status updates but the wealth of family photos that have been uploaded as well.

Although I have two other blogs, they have been as neglected as this one. I can see the appeal of Twitter and Facebook in that posting is fast and easy. For me, blog posts take more time and effort because they seem more permanent. I will try to be a better blogger and post more often (at least for the next four weeks).