I think that our Orange Seed is a great way to share ideas and suggestions as well as solve problems together with fellow staff system wide. This is a easy way to brain storm with a group of people and to get feedback on ideas and solutions. Orlando Memory demonstrates how OCLS is part of the community and visa versa, because the community is our reason for being here. I haven't added anything to OM yet because I am newer to Orlando and I haven't thought of anything fun to add to the website-but I intend to. As far as the new strategic plan...it has a tremendous impact on me and the work that I do here because it means I must continue to improve my skills, learn, and evolve with our library in order to keep up with the community that we serve. I will need to continue to attend classes and webinars, and update my skills to better assist our patrons. I do feel that we are already a progressive institution that strives to accommodate the needs of our customers, but we will need to continue to stay on top of all of the advances in technology and communication to remain one of the best libraries in the country.

To be continued...

This week I feel as though there just is not enough time to really play in the adventure exercises but this assignment was a lot of fun (even though farecast didn't have my home town airport for the airfare trends), and it showed me once again, just how much information (and fun stuff ) is out there for everyone. I will definitely be using Pan Images and I'm cooked. As far as what I think applies to OCLS....We could use the StandoutJobs.com in our Netlinks for employment, Biznik would be perfect for all of the patrons that come in looking for information/help on starting their own small business, the genealogy links My heritage and Geni are both free which our patrons would use, and .Docstoc could replace the database we used to use for legal forms. I'm sure that Vufind would be useful to the library but I honestly had trouble working my way through it. Like I said I really enjoyed this assignment and it was also very infomative.

Organizational Change...

It's what we're all about, we have to keep up with the demands of our patrons/community. We are keeping up, and our patrons appreciate it. In our Mission Statement we talk of a "changing community" which is why our "services" need to keep evolving, and when the statement mentions "continuous inovation" that equates with being up to speed with the newest technologies out there. Our patrons love the library and the services that we offer. What we offer our community enriches their lives, makes their lives easier, saves them money and saves them time. This is where the the Davinci article comes into play, because we offer our customers more than information, we also give them an experience. We are already aware of the suggestions that this article makes. We have secret shoppers to "evaluate the library experience", and as an organization we are always "embracing new information technologies" and Orlando Memory touches on this article as well. I think that we are already doing a lot of what this article suggests libraries will need to do in the future to keep folks coming through their doors. The music/theatre performance rooms are a great idea that I'm sure would do well, but Orlando just can't afford any new expenditures right now. Something for the future maybe, a very cool idea. And the USB bracelets-very very clever! Willie Rules!

Assignment #4

I really enjoyed this weeks assignment and it amazes me how we can share news that isn't even news yet, and have a voice in society without even leaving the comfort of your home. The podcasts alone make me realize just how fast we are cruising through the 21st century and what incredible advances we have made, and will be able to make with the Internet making it possible to share information thousands of miles in just seconds. The Shibuya Universities seem like a really incredible idea, and I checked out another podcast based on where we'll be in 2020 about design and our ecosystem and that was really impressive too. I don't personally think that I'll be using liveleak but I would definitely use answerbag and askbille for fun. The other sources Google Scholar and Library Spot have OCLS written all over them. They are perfect sites that we can direct our patrons to! We are basically a business that relies on open source information. It is what we are all about, and obviously with the world moving at warp speed because of advances in technology...we strive to keep up with these advances and offer our patrons free information that is easily accessible, even from home. I think OCLS is definitely on board with open source information already, it is what we offer to assist our patrons every day.

Jammin'

This week's assignment was really enjoyable. It's funny, when I see the kids playing Wii games I think the Wii system would be a lot of fun, and it is good to get these kids doing something somewhat physical seeing as no one knows what kickball or hide and seek are anymore..yea yeah...I know just dated myself again, but the Youtube general concensus was that it really isn't much of a workout. I do agree if you put more into it you'll probably get more out, and I think it would be a great starting point for someone like me who hasn't been working out for a while. The fun of the activity would make you feel like you're not even working out, therfore you get the results from having fun, which in turn would motivate you to continue to excercise. You know what I mean? It's all good! I really liked the Cardio Coach and the Youtube pilates video was very cool because it touched on the "form while doing the exercise," Wii fitess had received complaints about not stressing this enough in their excercise games. Nikeplus...do I dare ask ..how much does it cost? I didn't see the price mentioned anywhere in the link that we went to. Doesn't matter, I seriously doubt that I'll be running anytime soon, yeah I know it can be used for walking, but for the price I imagine it cost I think it would be more cost effective to use a pedometer and my MP3 from 2.0 :) But as always,I really enjoyed the lesson and it was very educational.

I found my way back!!!

Yippeeeeee! I can't believe this is still active and I can jump back in for our 2.1 blogging!!! This should be good!!