I wish BCL had an ILL instructional video like this on our site!

Google Maps Street View

After ogling every nook and cranny of NYC up close & personal via Steet View, I can now look at my very own house. Google Maps finally added the whole Miami area! I am really glad that I wasn't out front in my underwear, watering the palm trees, when they cruised by my neighborhood.

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Amy the Audiobook Addict

As a long-time audiobook fiend, I am thrilled to be finally forced (thank you, TLC 2.0) to learn Overdrive. I guess I'd been procrastinating about it because I've been perfectly content thus far with Main Library's Books-On-CD collection for my listening pleasure. I've always liked to listen in my car during my daily commute to & from Hollwood to Ft. Lauderdale; I started out in the old cassette-deck days because I got hooked on the golden voice of George Guidall, my favorite reader. But now I see that I can also burn my very own CDs or transfer directly to my MP3 player - yea!
First, I took the Digital Media Tour, which I found to be amazingly detailed. If you cannot figure out how to access/use Overdrive after viewing that tutorial, you may as well give up on audiobooks... Next, I browsed and searched Overdrive in every possible way - by author, subject, immediate availablity, etc. Very very very easy to locate titles, but not many of the titles/authors I was seeking were included. I would have to say that the limited choice of books is the biggest drawback of Overdrive at the current time. I did select a couple of interesting titles: one is on HOLD and one is now Checked Out. (I don't think I would ever actually sit & listen at the computer, although I practiced using the Bookmark feature.) It was simple to download the Media Console, then simple to download my checked-out title, and subsequently totally simple to download it via the TRANSFER icon to my MP3!!! Listening to CDs in the car is great - but I only wish it was legal to listen on my scooter to audiobooks with headphones. And now let me leave y'all, and this great TLC 2.0 program, with a holiday audiobook video finale!

Facing Up to Facebook (I'm shy - no, really)

I joined Facebook with some trepidation, as illustrated by these weenie pics I've inserted. Where o where is that fine line between nice networking and intrusive interaction?!! But so far I am pleasantly suprised - no weirdness yet. In fact, I already had a FRIEND awaiting me when I did the initial log in; one of my stepsons had invited me to join several weeks ago but I had totally forgotton to reply, oops. That is because Facebook is like so many other 2.0 technologies: wonderful but waaaaaaay too time-consuming for a person with a job, 2.2 kids, 1.5 pets, etc. I see my sons on My Space almost every hour of every day, so it is easy to conclude that social networking is the exclusive domain of kids, teens, and single people. However, the work-oriented groups one can join in Facebook obviously have value due to the free exchange of ideas. How much I will actually use this as a professional communication tool (rather than just for big FUN) remains to be seen. I did join the group called No, I don’t look like a librarian because that name made me laugh; hopefully, I will find some amusing people there. I also added the Funwall application, so please give me a shout out there!