Thing 15 ~ Gaming

okay, like I need another thing to get me sucked into web-land more than I already am.....so this means Gaming is one of the last things JD needs to have in her life. I'm already immersed with blogging, reading news, sharing photos, email, IM and working with the public via computer based info searching during my day job. That said, I generally perused Puzzle Pirates, and Second Life, but I didn't go all crazy and look at them in depth. Partially because of time and partially because virtual reality or role playing games just aren't my thing. I do realize, however, that they are lots of other peoples thing...I can see how Second Life would be very appealing to teens who might not really know their 'place' in the world yet, and feel like they can be their true selves in some virtual land. A place where they won't be judged by others....while they find their way along in this big game of life.....heck I don't think I really found myself til about age 30. In some ways, I'm still figuring it out in varying degrees...growing, learning, trying new things...

PLA offered a few sessions on Gaming, none of which I attended due to other sessions that interested me a bit more, but I realize that Gaming is it's own entity in the world of web offerings. And a HUGE entity at that. Our branch library is on track to undergo a major transformation next year into 2010 and I will work with our Computer Services team of folks to help design a gaming/computing specific area just for teens, as the teen population makes up a great majority of Gamers out there. Right now we do not have seperate teen computers. I look forward to the day when we do, where teens can game to their hearts content and be welcomed into a public library setting of their own...

I will admit here that a colleague of mine did mention something to me the other day about a zoo game. So after the ever-popular Google search, I found this and that sucked me in for a lovely 20 or so minutes before I had to force myself to quit playing....a self intervention if you will. Finding my inner strength. All that good stuff ... Peace and happy gaming to you all..~jd

Thing 14 (and a brief PLA recap)

A few words about PLA. Exhilirating. Exciting. Exhausting. I can't believe the high feeling of learning and meeting people from all over the world, to the completely whipped feeling I had each night I came home from the conference (or from my 2nd job right after the conference). It's Sunday night and I had a 9 mile run this morning and am still just fatigued beyond words. That said the conference was completely amazing, and the decision to close the festivities with Paula Poundstone was awesome! I have loved her Wait! Wait! Don't Tell Me! appearances (ahem, she was on this week, and yes, the Podcast is a free download. Just do it.), and have actually loved her since my high school days.....she was completely hilarious, esp with a room full of librarians, and she played off the crowd in amazing ways :) Oh, and Paula has 9, NINE, cats. And my good friend Heidi just emailed this to me. For all you cat folks out there.... CLICK HERE. (Thanks YouTube). So thanks PLA. You kicked my butt, but in the best of ways...and I'm very much hoping to try new things, and experiment with what I've learned at work very soon....

LibraryThing is fun to play with, easy to use, and can be super useful to libraries, if those libraries allow their staff to use blogs and other 2.0 things on their website. I'm not trying to get fired, or reprimanded by my higher powers that be, but at press time , we the staff, are not allowed access (ie posting or linking via our website ) to such things in our system. Very sad. (fwiw, of course I understand the want to keep all of the library website safe & secure). The good news is I keep hearing we're getting closer to being able to link such useful resources to our library's website. I strongly believe patrons would really enjoy & benefit being able to tap into the library web site, and look up what the children's librarians are reading and recommending in terms of new titles, topics (ie potty training or going to the dentist), or popular themes that are constantly asked for (trains, dinosaurs, princess books, etc). Right now we share booklists by paper only. The standard 12 or 13 colors (brights, pastels, etc) for parents to select from via a brand new display on the wall in the kids room in our branch. The display and the handouts are both very nice. However, I still want access, like the rest of the world it seems, esp when it comes to library websites full of blogs & other 2.0 hotties, to putting these lists online somehow. LibraryThing would definitely be a great, and current, addition to the paper handouts...I will do my best to wait patiently......(man it's hard though, esp coming off of PLA).


So, I've added some titles to my bookshelf, some of my recent favorites, some of my old favs, and I hope to play around with this more as time goes on (in terms of adding my humble reviews to what I'm reading or have read). Both adult and children's books are on my list, at the moment, in completely random order. I'll do "the librarian thing" and organize them super soon....so happy week and, like a Finish line, I hope to get at least 3-5 Things done this week since the deadline of completion is fast approaching, and I *am* starting to feel like this is a race......~jd