Thing 15: Twitter

I watched the Twitter video and found this inadvertently hilarious line (to me, anyway): "Life happens between blog posts and email!" Really?! Thank heavens my unrecorded moments are in fact, valid! :) But of course the goal of Twitter is to leave NO unrecorded moments--everything is of broadcast value. It reminds me of that documentary about Madonna (Truth or Dare, 1991), and Warren Beatty's acerbic crack (or words to this effect): "Why would you want to do anything off-camera?"

Anyway, given my snarky remarks, you no doubt guess that I won't be Twittering. My life just isn't interesting enough to tweet about, I fear. I mean, who cares if I'm having coffee or doing laundry? I do know many Congresspersons are doing this now, which makes me wonder, why the heck are they wasting my money doing THAT when they should be solving our economic crisis? But I digress.

Other than politicos, the only person I know who Twitters is a woman in my Youth & Media Literacy class, and I think she's doing it as a class project. I could see that this might be useful as a way for libraries and/or other institutions to give quick updates to interested folks, as Noel is doing on the YA page. Her clientele is definitely among the target audience for "tweets"!

Thing 14: IM/Meebo

I had no trouble setting up the instant messaging account--my only difficulty was that no one was online available to chat when I was!

I've used the IM feature of Facebook many times, and it indicates which of my friends are online when I am--I'm assuming this IM system has the same kind of feature.

I could see this being useful for libraries as a reference tool--that is, IF they could spare the staff and time to have someone available for IM reference.

Thing 13: LIbrary Thing

This was not my first encounter with LibraryThing; in one of my GSLIS classes we explored this as a database structure and had to "reverse-engineer" it and make one of those awful IT diagrams with squares and triangles. NOT my favorite project!

I use a similar book-cataloging program on Facebook (the name escapes me at the moment), but I like LibraryThing too. I did like the feature where one could click on the title and access alot of information, including tag clouds. LibraryThing could be a useful way to keep track of a reading list--but, like anything else, one has to keep up with it, and that's the challenge. TIME and the lack thereof.

I used to keep a paper list (how antique is that?!) but I eventually abandoned it as being just TOO compulsive. But hey, I'm almost a librarian---OCD is a professional attribute, isn't it? :)

Fantasy Books

Another booktalk vetted by 4th graders....

The Fairy-Tale Detectives (Sisters Grimm series) by Michael Buckley
When their parents disappear, sisters Daphne and Sabrina go to live with their Granny Relda in Ferryport Landing. They know things are weird when Granny serves them emerald-green meatballs for dinner! The girls learn that they’re descended from the famous storytelling Brothers Grimm, and that Ferryport Landing is a magical town filled with “Everafters”—characters straight from fairy tales! When Granny goes missing, the sisters and their new magical friends must solve the mystery.

Gregor the Overlander (Book 1 in the Underland Chronicles) by Suzanne Collins
Action-packed fantasy! Gregor’s 2 year old sister Boots crawls into a laundry room air vent. When he goes after her, the two are sucked into the Underland, an underground world of translucent humans, giant talking cockroaches, and other nightmarish creatures. Gregor changes from terrified to terrific as he leads the battle against an army of invading rats!

The Dragon of Never-Was by Ann Downer Theodora accompanies her father to Scotland, where he examines a large, mysterious scale from an unknown creature. Based on her experiences in Hatching Magic, Downer’s first book, Theodora suspects a dragon! While befriending a local boy and finding mysterious clues, Theodora begins to learn about her own considerable magical powers.

Well Witched by Frances Hardinge
When Ryan, Josh and Chelle get stranded without bus fare, Josh has the bright idea to gather coins from an old wishing well. Their actions disturb the ancient spirit of the well, who grants them the power to make other people’s wishes—good and evil--come true. Things spiral out of control when Josh becomes drawn to the destructive side of power. Suspenseful and creepy, but not for the faint of heart.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
When Meg Murry’s brilliant physicist father disappears, she and her brother Charles must go on a dangerous quest to find him. Helping them in their journey is Mrs. Whatsit, who looks like a tramp but is actually an unearthly creature who can read Meg’s thoughts. She tells the children of the mysterious tesseract, a sort of “wrinkle” in space and time. It’s through this wrinkle that Meg and her companions must travel in order to reach the fifth dimension, where Mr. Murry is imprisoned. However, they must dodge the shadow of an evil power that is darkening the universe, one planet at a time. Will they get there in time?

The Squampkin Patch: a Nasselrogt Adventure by J.T. Petty
Milton and Chloe, the Nasselrogt kids, find mysterious squampkins (squash/pumpkins) growing near the house where they’re hiding after running away from an evil orphanage/zipper factory. Goofy action, comedy and adventure that will delight fans of Roald Dahl or the Lemony Snicket series.

The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians series) by Rick Riordan
Percy thinks he’s just another kid with a mean stepfather, but learns that he’s actually the son of a Greek god! Mount Olympus is now on the 600th floor of the Empire State Building, while the entrance to Hades is in Los Angeles. Percy embarks on a quest to solve a feud between Zeus, Hades and Poseidon. If you enjoy mythology and fast-paced action, this is the book for you!

100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson
After Henry’s parents are kidnapped, he moves in with his uncle and aunt in a small Kansas town. When his bedroom wall begins to crumble, he discovers 100 cupboard doors hidden in the plaster. Each cupboard opens to a very different place—none of them in Kansas! Henry and his cousins are catapulted into different worlds, some of them very sinister indeed. Will they be trapped in one of the cupboard’s worlds forever?

For more fantasy books, check out our website at http://www.lagrangelibrary.org/
Click on Youth Services, then on Recommended Book List

Thing 12: Social Bookmarking

Magically del.icio.us!

I thought this was a fun assignment. It's kind of a portable "favorites" page, which I could see coming in handy, though most of the sites I visit are easily accessible by "googling".

As far as privacy concerns, I don't think I'd post anything I didn't want the world to see, just as on any other internet site.

I'm ready & willing to try the network feature if someone sends me their user name! Mine's ProtoLibrarian.