“Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose.” Tennessee Williams

I came to Facebook rather late but I have jumped in with both feet. Now that I use the system I have become a proponent of it. However it does have its doubters. The two biggest questions I get is “fine, I made an account now what?” and “what is it for?”. I find it is useful for the basic reason of connecting with old friends seeing what they are up to and catching a glimpse of their life. Now I will say that is the obvious reason. I mean that is what it was originally for. Some people call it something slightly different, networking. I do like the connecting of friends but the question always comes up “why not just use email?”. Well for two basic reasons, I rarely email just to catch up. I usually have a question or I need to give some info out. I can throw a pun out into the Facebook universe and people can just “like it” without having to say anything. This is nice because you get to say “hey I like your thought, joke, idea…. but I have nothing to add to it.” I just well like the statement. I do have a second reason I really like Facebook. It is something called crowd sourcing. This is just a quick way of saying that I am going to ask a whole lot of people for information. Let’s say I run out of ideas for the blog or I am working on a class and I just can’t seem to pull it together, well I can ask all my friends, contacts, what I should write. Because they are all at different point in their life and have different experience I may well get a take from them that I would never think of. In a local way I can get quick information as well. Not too long ago we were hanging out at the house. I was on my computer (I know big surprise right?) and the house began to shake. There was a sound like thunder but it was a clear night. Frankly we were freaked out. It sounded like the world was about to end. So I quickly jumped on Facebook and asked did anyone else hear the noise and feel the rumble. I quickly got responses from all the people that live in my town that they saw a low flying jet go over. Quick information that I normally would have to email all the people that were local and hope they checked their email regularly. I use it for many things from events I am part of to just a quick way to acknowledge an old friend’s birthday. I hope this answers the why or at least my why. Maybe you should give it a try by jumping in with both feet.

One other thing I should mention is that there is a book I recommend for understanding the basics. It is FACEBOOK ME! By Dave Awl but don’t wait too long to get this book because sites like Facebook can change radically in 6 months.

"Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence." Robert Frost

I love audio books. They are great in the car or while cooking. Many times in the wee cooking hours of the big turkey day I will listen while I cook. We have tons of audio books at the library and I have listened to most of them. We also have access to e-zone. E-Zone is an online catalog of audio books that is free for our patrons. It works well and has lots of titles. Unfortunately most are for nonipod users this is changing however. The other day I wanted to listen to Redwall by Brian Jacques on my iPod and could not find a compatible version. I could have grabbed the CD version and copied it to my computer but that takes a lot of time. So instead I tried a nice offer by a company called Audible. They are also an audio book site that is mainly for listening through iPods or iTunes. Their Thanksgiving deal is one free book of a selection of titles till Thanksgiving. Even if you only grab one title and never use it again I would say it’s worth it. Also they do not require a credit card to try the freebie. My recommendation is simple look through our online selection and if we don’t have it try Audible as a possible second but don’t think too long because it ends November 26, 2009, at 11:59 PM.

“When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes.” Desiderius Erasmus

Note: Before I begin I just want to say I have not tried the service yet but I figured I would post about it and if someone else has used it they could comment on their experience.
Not too long ago we had a yard sale to reclaim some space. After we left a message on Craigslist for people to come and claim the rest of it. Finally I boxed up the detritus and carted it off for donation. As I did I noticed how many books were still in the pile. Now I must say I have tried offloading unwanted books on places like eBay, with no real luck, and instead I just do the donation thing. However in the future I may give Cash4books a try. The site pays you for your books, that is if they want them. All you do is pop over to the site type in the ISBN numbers from your books and hit enter. If they are interested it will tell you how much they will buy them for. I looked around my office for some test subjects and every book I typed in was rejected. So I walked into the library and grabbed a fairly new book off the shelf. Finally I got one. They would pay me a whopping $1.73 for a Fairly new book. Now I agree that does not seem like a great deal but we have a ton of books at home that we go through from book sales, friends castoffs or just curb pickups and this might be a deal to recoup some of the cost. Once they identify books and they give you a price you need to sign up and then agree to their terms. Finally you print out an invoice and a shipping label. They pay for all of the shipping. I liked this hassle free approach. You box them up and they pay you by either check or the service Paypal. So in future just before you donate all your books you may want to try the service at least once.

“Shane. Shane. Come back!”, “Shane,” Brandon De Wilde as Joey Starrett

Welcome back,
The classes are done and the real research begins. To access the new worksheet for the Gaggle of Googles class click here. It went along with a one time lecture style class about all the extra parts of Google like Google Sites and Notebook. Most of the tools are underused and are quite excellent. From today I will be trying to deliver a lot more news and tech info. If anyone has any good suggestions please let me know with an email. The new calendar for January and February classes will be out very soon. I will write about it here. You can also sign up for an email alert here. If you are a library fanatic and really want to stay on top of what is going on at the library try our new Twitter feed. We also have quite a few blogs discussing all different parts of the library from Culture Matters, a blog discussing the fantastic programs that are available, to the Special Collections blog called Notes for Bibliophiles. The RIFLI Birthday Stories are amazing. They showcase ESL student writings and photographs. A blog / book discussion group exists in the form of Club de Lectura en Español de la Biblioteca Pública de Providence. It is a group discussing books in Spanish that meets the last Thursday of every month at South Providence. There are more blogs cropping up all the time so check the blog page when you get a chance. Thanks to everyone who has been checking in and reminding me to get on with more information.

Shane

P.S. Sorry about the qoute but I really could not help myself.

“Child! Do not throw this book about; refrain from the unholy pleasure of cutting all the pictures out.” Hilaire Belloc

A while back I traveled up to the Eric Carle museum to see an exhibit of art from children’s books and it was wonderful. Children’s art is one of those things that it always inspiring being sometimes realistic and surreal but mostly just awesome. Now Lookybook, a site devoted to showing off picture books will become a favorite of parents and librarians alike. First of all it is easy to use. You may need to download a plug-in but after that it is just a matter of finding the book you want to look through. Once a book is found just click on the pages and they turn back or forward. If you register you can save a lot of your searches by creating bookshelves. Also becoming a member allows you to comment on books and add your two cents. If you see a book you must have there is a buy button and it will refer you to an online store. They have the basic web 2.0 stuff like being able to show off your book picks but I like the if you like this then you will also like feature even better. I think they describe it best with a line from their site “Think of Lookybook as the test track for picture books.” Now this will not replace reading a book to a kid but it is nice to be able to preview the book first before buying it or just be able to look through some great illustrations. Give this a try.

"...apply this rule of thumb: If the statement makes you consider filing a lawsuit, I was kidding.” Dave Barry

When I was kid I never read much unless it was a book about information or facts. Finally one of my favorites is now a website as well. It is called rule of thumb. We all use them to one degree or another. You know the type, when going to an airport the rule of thumb is to give at least 1 hour to get through security and onto the plane. Oh and an extra hour for international flights. These are things we all talk about and rarely see written down. The site is just as good as the books and in some ways surpasses them. It allows for ratings and has some of the usual basics of today’s websites like a tag cloud. Also each rule seems to really inspire conversation and debate. Signup is free and easy. If you want to know the rule of thumb for taking care of cats to baking give this one a try.

“The pleasure of all reading is doubled when one lives with another who shares the same books.” Katherine Mansfield

I have heard that the Internet is stopping people from reading books. I think the people at Goodreads would disagree. Goodreads is social networking site for discussing books. Many of my friends are using this site and they are finding they read even more. The reason is simple, the members of this site love to read and discuss them. The problem is one of time. It is increasingly harder to find a time to meet and talk about books like at a traditional book club meeting. This site takes advantage of that weakness. You can discuss a certain book with friends or open it up to the whole book reading community and discuss it in depth. Yes, you are missing the person in the room with you but you are still having the same cerebral experience. They have other features as well like the ability to create a profile and show off what you have read, are going to read, and what you are reading at this moment. The only thing I would change is the email notification to once a day. When I first started using this site I felt like I was drowning in my friends choices of books. If you are reader and want to be part of a book discussion then give this a try.