Just got through Teen Read Week. What a great way to have a week fly. Mon-Tues-Wed had kids vote. 1100 of 1200 students voted. Of course my Library Club students did all the work, I just happen to be the great overseer. It's good to be the Librarian. One of my art teachers drew this wonderful poster of books with bite. Two vampire books growling. The kids went crazy. We were giving away fangs with each book checked out. We kept running out of fangs. I had only one student checking out books and returning them right away to get the fangs. Put a stop to this quickly, she was defeating the purpose. Friday we had a Jack-0-lantern carving contest and a "what scares you story contest" We had some great entries. We also had an essay contest for Hispanic History month and that was pretty successful also. The Hispanic essay winner received a CD/boom box and the pumpkin carver and scary story writer received movies (Iron Man and Jurassic Park). Overall, my week flew. May I'm not really growing old, I'm just really, neatly, busy!

Thing 23

Overall, this program helped me discover the holes in my progress in technology and also allowed me to expland on the applications. Will all these tools be applicable? Yes and No. Either way, I have to be aware of what my patrons are doing so that I can be of assistance. With this bit of expansion in knowledge of technology, I have been enabled to explain, show and lead and then allow my students to express themselves in ways that were definitely not possible ten years ago.

Thing 22

I am familiar with ebooks. You have the initial price and then each year you pay for upgrades. Not ludicrous when your library users are 98% impoverished and do not have access to computers at home. I don't know about audio books. I remember a woman on a plan saying that bound books were a thing of the past. Fortunately, there will always be people like me that enjoy the feel of a book in my hands. Besides, something will be lost mentally if people only use audio books. Reading is a took not only for information, but for expanding dendrites and other paths. Ebooks are enjoyable. I like the ones that you download into a small book like computer base so that you can make notes on the margins (like all good readers should!) No, I do not think e or audio books will ever completely replace the wonderful binding and weight of a book in my hand. Besides, a bound book is cheaper to replace than a computer when tossed or dropped.

Thing 21

Did not want to download podcast from Conan on School finance. This is the place my family and I use to download tunes and videos for my kids. I would use this as a research tool. Although I think I would prefer YouTube to upload stuff I wanted my students to free access.

Thing 20

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpcUxwpOQ_A

I loved it! This was LOL. YouTube is a tool that is changing culture around the world. To think that all these three minute or less, original videos are being uploaded constantly is boggling. I enjoyed many of the videos I saw, some informational, some funny, some definitely meant for particular people. Overall this tool will continue to change people as much as people change it. It brings me into the home of anyone that is willing to watch my video and comment on it. How personal can one get? This tool has really made the world a smaller place.

Thing 19

Interesting. I found some of my favorite Kurt Vonnegut books (oops, did I just age myself?) I like the thought processes expressed by some of the members and yes the reviews. I went through the whole review thing from the new Meyer book (New Moon). Yes, they did blow the plot, but overall, I will continue reading the book to the end. Yes, it is extremely popular with the 8th grade. I even bought a class set as it was in high demaind and I am sure I can get them to read the whole series based on the 1st book.