Thing 13 Blog Prompts

Well, as can be attested, I was unable to make the calendar function work. Nevertheless, I enjoyed looking at and using some of these on-line productivity tools.

1. I used the Google home page because I liked the graphic of the canoe (but I hated the little animals). Although I enjoyed looking at some recipes (I choose cooking as one of my interests), I probably will not make it my home page. I use my library home page and I am most comfortable with the links that it provides. I have the weather on my home page, but that's the only way it is personalized. The advertising and the "clutter" are what turn me off about these sites. If I had total control over my branch site, I would put in links to the local schools and newspapers--maybe DNR sites on fishing.

2. I did find the Backpack site to be useful. I liked the little training video about how it can be used. I think it would be good for planning the summer reading program. I could have links to the sites where we are buying items. I could write notes on the different activities we will be doing and the equipment needed for each day. I could also jot notes about who the entertainer will be and when they'll arrive (I always forget). I could keep track of participants and prizes so far. Maybe in the future, I can get participant's e-mail address so I can send out reminders and progress reports. Stikkit seems like it would be a useful site for keeping track of all those little details that can get lost in the shuffle. I know I end up with lots of little notes--mostly I remember to place holds or check on things that patrons ask me about, but I also tend to forget. It might be a good way of keeping track of some of the details of this job.

3. On-line calendars can be very useful. Sending out e-mail reminders of meetings would be great. If my Friends of the Library had computers, I wouldn't have to mail out the agenda. I'm sure many of the people in the book discussion have e-mail, so that would be good to have some contact with them. It also might be a good way to get the word out a little further if we have a visiting author. We have had some disappointing crowds for our authors. This would also go for the summer reading events, although usually we have a good showing for those.

4. Not sure if I need an on-line to do list. The one that I tried seemed a little cumbersome. There were separate pages for separate lists. The small one by my computer seems to work if I just want to remind myself to do some things.

5. I did try out Backpack (see #2).

6. I tried Spongecell. This seems like a good site for making a list of events. It also has a place to make e-mail contacts, so I may try this out for my book discussion group. Next time we meet, I'll ask if anyone wants an e-mail reminder and if they do, I'll put them in spongecell and see how that works. I tried Doodle, but my event seemed a little deadended. There didn't seem to be a place to send out e-mail. I also signed up for "Tadalist". This was the site that had separate pages for each list. I liked the Backpack site that seemed to have everything on one page.

All in all, Thing 13 was fun. It was very eye-opening in terms of resources available. I can see where these tools would be very useful for large projects.