Library 287 V-Portfolio

Blogs are a great way to show off your stuff, so I thought I might use mine to show off my V-Portfolio now available for anytime viewing on Second Life at http://slurl.com/secondlife/SJSU%20SLIS/216/31/33

I've taken a lot of great photos of all my work done in Second Life and uploaded them to photobucket. You can get to my photobucket account at http://s267.photobucket.com/albums/ii286/mmaglio/

Here's a short run up of what is inside my v-portfolio.

There is an explanation of how my SL experience has helped me meet some of the Library Science programs required competencies. I have documented six of them:

B, D, H, I, L, and O.

B. compare the environments and organizational settings in which library and information professionals practice;

D. apply the fundamental principles of planning, management and marketing/advocacy;

H. demonstrate proficiency in the use of current information and communication technologies, and other related technologies, as they affect the resources and uses of libraries and other types of information providing entities;

I. use service concepts, principles and techniques that facilitate information access, relevance, and accuracy for individuals or groups of users;

L. understand the nature of research, research methods and research findings; retrieve, evaluate and synthesize scholarly and professional literature for informed decision-making by specific client groups;

O. contribute to the cultural, economic, educational and social well-being of our communities.

Here are a few shots from my v-portfolio that documents these competencies.

Competency D

This shot shows the book discussion that I held in SL. If you click on Brian Whites book it will take you to the URL where you can view his book electronically for free. Unfortunately if you aren't a San Jose Student or a San Jose Public Library card holder, you won't be able to access the book.

Competency B

This shot shows virtual reference desk experience I had. I compared it to my experirences with the real life reference desk.

Competencies L, H, and O.

Comp L was about the literature review I completed at the beginning of the course. If you click on Comp L you will be given a link to my completed paper located at http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=dgmmwkqz_20cmjz69d2&hl=en

Comp H talks about the ways in which everything in the portfolio is an example of how I have learned to use technology to provide library services.

Comp O discusses the information kiosk that is sitting below the three competencies. If you click on the kiosk you will be given information about groups in Second Life.

Competency I

This final shot shows competency I. It is a display of the presentation I gave on the service project I did to help the San Jose Tech Museum. This was a huge portion of the class and perhaps one of the projects that really helped me learn the most about what SL has to offer.

Lastly, I have a shot of me working on adding the cute white cats into my v-portfolio.

The reason I included them was because they kept me company while I was spending so many hours in world. I thought they would appreciate a place in my v-portfolio because I would probably have never bothered to take any breaks from sitting in front of the computer if they hadn't bugged me to feed them, brush them, play with them. I think virtual cats are a lot easier to take care of but real life cats are definitely a whole lot cuter.

Library 2.0 Thing 9

Rss Feeds
Which method of finding feeds did you find easiest to use? Which Search tool was the easiest for you? Which was more confusing? What kind of unuseful feeds did you find in your travels? Or what kind of unusual ones did you find? What other tools or ways did you find to locate newsfeeds?

TBC....
I think, just using bloglines and searching their site was easiest. I did add a few blogs from my friends myspace pages, and a few pages from livejournal of my other friends blogs. I liked the variety of feeds I found. You can get the news, and current news on such random topics of california quail. Weird.

Library 2.0 Thing 8

What do you like about RSS and newsreaders?
They are so easy to use and you don't have to go to ten different websites to get the information you want each day.

How do you think you might be able to use this technology in your work or personal life?
I can now, easily keep up with all my friends postings, and todays news. Yay

How can libraries use RSS or take advantage of this new technology?
Libraries can share important blogs with library patrons. They can suggest patrons go to certain blogs and can give them a taste of what there is to offer there, easily.

Library 2.0 Thing 7

I want to do a technology blog today on web design and the use of Firefox. Why the heck aren't more people using that web browser. IE has dominated so much of our life, but man, things look so much better on Firefox, or at least easier to work with. I thank my fellow coworker m. tominaga for talking me into taking LIBR 240 this semester. This is one of the coolest classes I've taken in the library science program. I get to make web pages and learn even more about internet applications. Very nice.

Library 2.0 Thing 6

Mashups are cool. Some librarians have done some cool things with them. I liked the "trading cards" kind of style that flickr offers. If you had a lot of time to get really into this stuff, you can do amazing things. For me however, I enjoyed reviewing and peaking into other peoples pages. I could probably create my own page using mashups if I spent some time uploading all these pictures I have on my computer. However, I'm spending most of my time working on school assignments and doing Library 2.0 on the side. Regardless, I think mashups are cool.

Library 2.0 Thing 5

My exploration of Flickr brought me to this cute picture. Mmmmm doesn't that snow look yummy. Cute!
The photographer is "northpolemama" and you can check out more of her great photos from this link http://www.flickr.com/photos/justcharlaine/360176825/

Library 2.0 Thing 4

I already registered my blog with the virtual services team. Boy, I'm definitely on my way to getting a new flash drive. Yay.

Library 2.0 Thing 3

Just a random post to say that work today was crazy. I miss our full time clerk who promoted to LA at the Hillview branch. Alas, I wish him well. I find myself in charge again in a pinch, when the bosses are sick, out to lunch, or off to a meeting. It's Almaden all over again. Funny thing, I like being in charge. Most of the time. :)

Library 2.0 Thing 2

7 and 1/2 habits of successful lifelong learners.

Of the 7 and 1/2 habits presented, I would have to say that the easiest for me is the first one, begin with the end in mind. I've always been good at setting goals for myself. While I may not always reach them quickly or even reach them at all, I find life to be much more satisfying if I have a goal to work on. It took me seven years to get my bachelors degree, and that was without taking off time between high school graduation and my college graduation. Because the goal of completeing my bachelors was always in the back of my mind I was able to keep plowing through the workload of college life. Now I'm doing the same with my Masters and hope to be done by the Fall of 2008. I started in the fall of 2005.

None of the 7 and 1/2 habits seem to be that hard for me as I have always seen myself as a lifelong learner. However, if I would have to pick one that takes the most effort is having confidence. It's so easy to say I can't. This is especially true for me when I'm trying to learn things such as new dances, or new sports. I lack confidence. However, I don't let it stop me from at least learning about the sport, or learning the dance moves.