Week Four: Photo Sharing

The New Derby Public Library Another View
Originally uploaded by T-Dawg1954

I created a Free Account in Flickr as t-dawg1954. I have been a member of Yahoo! since it began but, until now, I was unaware that Flickr is part of Yahoo! We have just recently opened a new public library so I started to create a “virtual” library tour. I hope to be able to get back to it eventually and flesh it out. Sadly, between work and other “vital” commitments I am not sure when I’ll actually be able to get back to work on it some more. I’m having a devil of a time trying to get caught up on these 23 Things Kansas lessons. I added the following tags to a picture of the new Derby Public Library posted on my Flkr page, to wit:

Derby Public Library
23 Things Kansas
Derby, KS

I watched Heather Braum’s walk through on how to set up Flickr’s blogging tool. After a couple of false starts I finally got my blog and Flikr page linked using this “handy little tool.” I added one of my images of the new Derby Public Library to my blog by clicking on the Blog This button (right above the picture). I am not sure who exactly took this photo but I know it was one of the DPL staff.

Week Three: Online Meetings

I know the assignment only required viewing one (1) archived webinar from any of the sources listed in this lesson.  I examined the archives at Infopeople, SirsiDynix, BCR, Wimba (WebJunction – Kansas) and Opal.  At Infopeople I looked at New Copyright Tools and Best Practices: Copyright Law Update 2010 a webinar originally presented by Mary Minow on Jan 14, 2010 from 12pm-1pm PST.  At SirsiDynix I viewed From Libraries to Lifebraries originally presented Feb 2, 2010 by Helene Blowers, Director of Digital Strategy, Columbus Metropolitan Library, Ohio.  I found Ms. Blower's examination of current trends suggesting that the imminent demise of print may be somewhat exaggerated very interesting.  At BCR I made a quick pass through The Future for Cataloging led by Linda Gonzalez on January 25, 2008.  I want to go back when I have more time and explore this session in more depth.   For a Wimba session I chose The Kansas Tax Form Webinar held on Friday, December 18, 2009.  Finally, at Opal I looked at their Archive of History and Genealogy Programs and more specifically at the archived session Genealogy: How to Write to the Courthouse presented by Christine Merseal of the Jefferson County Library in Missouri in November 2007.  I rather liked the various format options that most of the Opal webinars offered, to wit: Streaming audio, text chat, and presentation slides about Writing the Courthouse (Playback time: 55 minutes) MP3 audiorecording about Writing the Courthouse (16.8 MB file; playback time of 55 minutes) PowerPoint slides about Writing the Courthouse. I am planning on sitting in on the live Infopeople webinar Open Office: What Libraries Need to Know featuring Laura Solomon as speaker scheduled for Thursday, March 18, 2010 from 12pm-1pm PDT.  Of course, I will also being joining this project wrap-up webinars during the week of April 26-30.

Week Two: Online Communities

I had previously created a Facebook page at the insistence of my sister-in-law. Never the less, I went ahead and reviewed the step-by-step guide, Facebook 101 and the other recommended links and found a couple of useful tips that I had not known about when I originally set up my account. This is particularly true with respect to privacy settings. Based upon what I read during the course of this lesson I have know "locked" access to my Facebook page down as tight as I think possible by giving access to anything remotely sensitive to friends only. I sent friend request(s) to Janelle Mercer and Heather Braum the mentors for this session. I hope the links to their Facebook pages here worked. I have received confirmation from Janelle but not yet from Heather. I have written on several of my family members walls. The other night, quite by accident, I discovered the live chat function when I was working on this 23 Things Kansas assignment on Facebook. Suddenly a chat window popped open with my sister-in-law chatting me up and we exchange inanities for about fifteen minutes. Now I really need to find out how to hide the fact that I am online when I log into Facebook. I explored Mashable's Facebook Guide and found a lot of good information about using Facebook. I added myself as a fan to the State Library of Kansas Facebook page. While I was fooling around I also ended up adding myself as fans to to the I Love Pizza John's/Derby Kansas and the Derby Panther Football Facebook pages. Pizza John's in Derby has the best thin crust pizza on the planet. As I am a graduate of Derby High School, have had several nephews that played for the Panthers over the years and have a niece who is currently a DSH cheerleader I was already a fan before Facebook was ever dreamed of. I think I became a fan of 23 Things Kansas but it doesn't show up on my FB page fan list even though I do show up in the fans list on the 23 Things Kansas FB page. I joined the 23 Things Kansas Ning. Here is a link to my page: Terry Hamblin . I joined the Kansas Library Association FB group.

Week One: Blogging

What are your feelings (good and bad) concerning the tool of the week

I chose Blogger due to being somewhat familiar with it from a class I had. As far as blogs go Blogger is as good as any as far as I can tell.

Have you had any breakthroughs? Any failures? What have you learned from them?

I have not been able to figure out howto create text in Word and then copy and paste it into my blog. I have figured out a work around by using the ability to post via e-mail. I can create my text in Word, copy and paste it into an email and send it to my blog. I can then edit the blog post in the blogger edit post window.

Create links to resources, other people's blogs, or other useful sites on the web in order to connect your posts to the wider world (even if you're only linking back to the 23 Things blog!).

23 Things Kansas Blog

23Things Kansas Facebook Page

Ancestry.com

Terry Hamblin's Facebook Page

Most importantly, visit a few other participants' blogs and leave comments on their posts so you can start conversations.

About Me

            I am an attorney and CPA more or less retired from practice.  From 1987 to 2005 I lived in Lawrence, Kansas.  From 1987 – 1991 I worked for the state of Kansas in the Department of Revenue first as Director of Property Valuation then Director of Collections.  From 1991 - 2001 I worked as an Assistant Attorney General for the Kansas Attorney General in a number of capacities.

 

Since July 2005 I have been living on a farm, homesteaded in 1872 by my Great-great-great Grandfather, near Belle Plaine, Kansas about 12 miles south of Wichita.   The farm is the original homestead where my mother's family settled in and I am now the fifth generation to live in the 80+-year-old farmhouse.  Sadly, we had to tear down the original house, which sat next to the house I now live in, a few years back because it had become a fire hazard threatening the "new" house.  I don't farm the land as my mother's cousin handles that.  While I enjoy the rural lifestyle, Internet access is unfortunately limited to very poor dial up landlines hence I do not have it.  I have to go up to Derby every couple of days and use the broadband service at my folk's house or the library to get on the Internet.         

 

  I graduated from ESU in 1978 with a BSB in accounting and from Washburn Law School in 1980 with a JD.  I completed my MLS from ESU SLIM in Dec 2007.  In addition to the MLS I received an Archives Studies certificate and completed all requirements for a Legal Information Management certificate except the practicum.

 

I presently work at the Derby Public Library in Derby, KS in the circulation and collection development areas.