iPhone more popular than Kindle

“It’s official: The iPhone is more popular than Amazon.com’s Kindle. And not just in the obvious categories like listening to music, browsing the Web or the other applications where Kindle barely competes. Now, the iPhone is also muscling into Amazon’s home turf: reading books.”

From “iPhone Steals Lead Over Kindle” by Andy Greenberg and James Erik Abels in Forbes.

Thank You, Jeeves

Thank you, Jeeves, (Wodehouse, P. G.) for giving me the incentive to download the Audiobook. It’s really a staged adaptation, banjo and all, and iPod compatible. And just the kind of humorous diversion I needed.

Downloading the OverDrive Media Console application was pretty straightforward. I added the Zune application for my husband, John, who has a Zune. I’m still transfering my iTunes account from my laptop to our new desktop computer, which has much more capability. There aren’t very many iPod compatible items I’m interested in, but hopefully that collection will grow. I also downloaded ImmersionPlus Spanish and a video: 25 Years of Improv Comedy.

I’m really glad I did this. Our old computer was so clunky that I stuck to downloading an occasional eBook (mostly cookbooks), but now I look forward to downloading more audiobooks. And I do feel I’ll be better able to assist patrons.

A Day at the Farmer’s Market

Still figuring out the editing and saving process…how not to lose clarity between the two…a continuing discovery process!

Imbee and SpanishPod

I would recommend imbee to parents and teachers of elementary and middle school youth. It’s a social network site designed specifically for kids. It’s a great way for teachers and/or parents to explore social networking with kids, and to reinforce safe and smart use of the sites before youth want and need more independence online.

I’m working on my Spanish with SpanishPod. I think it would be great if all the language sites (Livemocha, Mango Languages and the Pods) could integrate an interactive, real time, audio tool for two-way conversation into their sites.

Apps for grant writing

A short while ago another grant possibility landed in my email. A wise person would have ignored it. I did not. What really caught my attention with the grant is that the project (which would be well-funded) needs to be driven by youth. Every day that I walk into the Loft, I am reminded of just how transformative youth-led projects can be.

So I am now immersed in collaborative grant writing with a group of high school students, the literacy coordinator, and the community service coordinator at ETHS. We adults have had a number of meetings, but last Thursday we met with the students. I asked them a few questions and, 1 1/2 hours later, we were all sorry to have to end the conversation. The adults that were present were all blown away by the students’ ideas and talents. Now we have an incredibly exciting, collaborative project underway, grant or not.

I created a google doc for our 19-page collaborative grant-writing process.

Happy Birthday Hattie!

Wikis

I added Lulu’s to the library wiki.

There are so many wonderful, collaborative uses of wikis.

Nice link to homeschooling resources on this library wiki.

Thing #15

I am most interested in the discussion of Library 4.0, connecting the digital with the sensual, absorbing library 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0, merging 3D reality with drawing, dance, music and drama. And coffee, and a rustle of pages, comfortable chairs…

Regarding 2.0,  I think that it’s somewhat like reading; it becomes such a habit that you don’t really think about it per say, you’re too busy doing, and continuing to learn.

For a humorous take on the new status quo, see Lord of the Memes.

The following ppt from Michael Stephens was in my google reader, and I enjoyed it.

The Hyperlinked Library: Trends, Tools & Transparency by Michael Stephens

time.con.suming

Del.icio.us – Thing #13

I find del.icio.us very useful for my research. By following tags, I discover new sites that are potentially really useful. It can take considerable time to follow a trail, a thread…

For quick and dirty reference questions, I think the hierarchical structure of web links neatly categorized really helps.

Twitter

What I found on Twitter by doing a search of the Evanston Public Library was a comment that someone posted about enjoying the music he ripped from the Evanston Public Library CD collection…

Twitter’s advantages are its “real time” updates and its simplicity.

I like YALSA’s use of Twitterfeed to automatically generate tweets from its blog posts – no extra work, but additional marketing; and the City of Case Grande Public Library’s use of twitterfeed to post new titles to its Twitter profile that link back to the library’s catalog (using the library’s RSS feed for new titles).

Personally, though, I like downtime.