It's over!

Well, we have come to the end of the 23Things!   I must say I have enjoyed most of it with only a few frustrating moments.  Now when I hear people talking about "tweets" or "hashtags" I won't feel as so out of date.
I especially enjoyed using "Wordle" which I had no idea existed and aslo the TED talks - a ton of interesting things there ion any subject imagineable.  I think I might actually continue to use twitter and the blog.  At the beginning of this project, I thought maybe I was too old to learn all these new "tricks", but I have discovered it's never too late to learn more about technology.  A lot of "seniors" who come to the library confess a sort of "fear" of computers, the internet, etc., but I can now tell them it's an adventure that can be a lot of fun.  Bring it on!

A really great read - "Calling Me Home" by Julie Kibler. Dorrie, a black single mom who owns her own hair salon, is asked by Isabelle (one of her elderly customers) to drop everything and drive her form her home in Texas to a funeral near ...Cincinati. As they drive, Isabelle confesses her longest kept secret - as a willful teen in 1930s Kentucky, she fell deeply in love with Robert Prewitt, the son of her family's black housekeeper. As we hear her story, we also are witness to the social conditions in the South at that time - a beautiful and poignant story, well written and unforgettable.

 

 

I have been "scooping and tweeting" all morning - I'm actually quite tired!!  Seriously, I have discovered that you can find information on just about anything out there in the "wired" world.  Lots of interesting topics, and some surprising ones too!

I just listened to a very interesting TED Talk - given by Ron McCallum, chair of the United Nations Committee on the rights of Persons with Disabilities.  His talk is titled "How technology allowed me to read", which is quite a timely subject for our libraries as we will all be receiving adaptive workstations in the near future.  Mr. McCallum, who has been blind from birth, remembers his mother reading to him and explaining that he would never be able to read for  himself..  He then talks about all the advances in technology have changed the lives of blind persons - from the introduction of Braille, to tape recorders, to computers with speech synthesizers, to machines that scan books and read them out loud through a computer, and to all the new programs a people can have access to on their iphones.  Mr. McCallum also  mentioned  that the early books on tape and Braille books were done by volunteers who gave thousands of hours of their time to help blind people read.

 



Blogging time again!  I found this short video about the importance of exposing children to reading and libraries at an early age, and how advantageous it is to their future success in school and life.  This video was produced for the American Library Association.

 

 

 

Okay, so now we have Wordle.  Cool way to do posters!

Cats can Read

Well, this week it's get an image and add to your blog, so here goes!!
Is he looking for ideas or just passing judgement on other cats' behaviors?

 

Author

Elaine Vigneault Bogart is a bad kitty who reads

Just created my Reading List on Vision - it was interesting to look at titles and see what other people's comments were.  The person I chose to follow is in Saskatchewan!  I don't know if all this  technology is improving my mind or cluttering it, but I have to admit I am learning!  and I guess that's the whole point of this exercise........

Another first for me today!  I set up a Twitter account and posted my first tweet.  Although I was a bit leery at first, it wasn't bad at all and I didn't run into any major difficulties.  I guess you CAN teach an old dog new tricks!
I wonder if we'll get the big snowstorm tomorrow - I kind of hope we do - I am a lover of snow and all things winter.

I'm going to try post a short a book review each month so here goes!

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.  This is classed as a Young Adult Book but I would recommend it to anyone, It is set in 1939 Nazi Germany - Death has never been busier and will become busier still.  Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside Munich who scratches out a meager existence by stealing  when she encounters something she can't resist - books.  With the help of her accordion-playing foster father she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbours in bomb shelters during air-raids, as well as with the Jewish man hiding in her basement.  Narrated by Death, this book gives us a different but still haunting and stark picture of the holocaust, and the reality of life for the young people of Nazi Germany.
This book has been made into a movie which was released late last year.

New Library Blogger

Just created a blog for the first time!  I have been with the library for 22 years and still loving it.  Technology is certainly starting to play a big part in library services and I am looking forward to becoming more techno-savvy!

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