Gold stars to….

.. our first 5 finishers! As of minutes ago, the first 5 folks to complete all 10 things are:

• Nancy Berkowitz, Indian Lake Library
• Beth Disque, Birchwood Elementary School, Niskayuna SD
• Maria McShane, College of St Rose
• Guinevere Forshey, Crandall Public Library
• Mindy Holland, Pinewood Intermediate School, Mohanasen SD

They cover the spectrum of small & large public libraries, academic and K12 libraries. And each has a really interesting perspective on the future of libraries. Go read their posts!

Who will be in the next group of 5? Keep me busy with more gold star posts…..

Thing #10: Get Out Your Crystal Balls

Our topic this week is Future Trends. No new tech tools to learn this week. Instead, this is your chance to do some reading, thinking & discussing about how libraries are changing and where libraries are headed in the future. Many folks are predicting the demise of libraries (who needs a library, we have the Internet). While others see libraries serving new roles within our communities. There’s no doubt that libraries won’t survive “just because we’ve always had libraries.” They must continue to meet the changing needs of the library users. But how? What changes? What roles? What will your library look like in 2020?

Read more on the Thing #10 page.

Check your “things”!

We’re coming down to the last week! Thing 10 will be posted later this weekend.

Be sure to check your blogs to make sure you’ve written posts for all the “things”. You need responses to ALL of the 10 things to be entered in the iPad drawing and get full CE credit. 5 things = half CE credit.

And regardless of how many things you finished, the important thing is that everyone learned something new!

Thing #9: eBooks!

Thing #9 is eBooks.  And this week, I’m really out of my depth! Since I don’t work in a library anymore, my only experience with eBooks has been as a consumer. And consume them I do! I know many of you do have extensive experience and expertise in this area. So if anyone wants to write a guest post about eBooks for this blog,  let me know!   It would be great to have another ‘voice’ here.

Librarian by Day’s Favorite Tools

As a follow-up to our week of Productivity Tools, take a look a this series of posts by Bobbi Newman aka: Librarian by Day. These posts are her answer to the questions: “How do you do it all? And don’t you ever sleep?” Questions I’ve often thought of asking her and several other folks who seem to have 36 hours in their days instead of my 24!

Bobbi has written 4 out of the 10 posts so far, covering the tools she finds indispensable and lots of tips for managing time and staying organized. Take a few minutes to read these posts, I promise you, you’ll pick up some great tips.

*Photo: by ToniVC 

Want to keep learning this summer?

If you want to continue learning more “things” over the summer, here’s a terrific opportunity! The 23 Things for Professional Development program starts June 20 and just like our Learn with CDLC project, it’s a self-directed learning program.

23 Things is a self-directed course aimed at introducing you to a range of tools that could help your personal and professional development as a librarian, information professional or something else.

Some of the things they’re covering are the same as what you’ve been learning here and  would be a great chance to further explore those topics. And best of all, there are lots of new topics and opportunities to connect with colleagues all over the world.  This sounds like fun.  For news and updates, follow their tweets at @cpd23.

I’m going to try and join in. Who else is on board?

Getting to know YOU: Mr. Map-cuso!

Wow, who knew that our very own Jim Mancuso is a geography star. Mr Map-cuso was featured in A Fair Day for Educators today.

He calls himself Mr. Map-cuso, because he entertains  and teaches students with, well . . . maps!  Yup. He draws them, anywhere, anyplace, like 35-foot wide ones in a gym, or 60-foot wide ones on a parking lot or playground, or NORMAL sized ones in the classroom.  And he does it FREEHAND! Adding, as he draws, engaging stories about the creation, expansion and growth of our country. That’s Jim Mancuso.  Find him at:  www.makemapsmatter.com.  Go ahead! Get a “hands-and-feet-on experience.”

And since it’s Video Week – don’t miss the video of him in action. Talk about excited students. Great fun and great learning!

Who else has a secret life that you’d like to share? It would be fun to have some more “getting to know you” features!

Ustream of chicks at SSPL

Don’t go searching google for livestream of chicks, but do take a look at the Saratoga Springs Public Library ustream of their hatched chickens.  Thanks to Laura Clark for letting us know about this fun project.

Thing #8 is all about Video

It’s week 8! And we’re coming down the home stretch now. This week, get out your video cameras and put on your star-power, it’s video week! So head on over to the  Thing #8: Video page and have some fun.

Participants: 150. Posts: 900. Ideas: priceless!

Wondering about how many people are in this program? How many blog posts there are? Here are some stats for you.

• 150 registered registered participants
• Over 50 on the waiting list
• 125 people started their blogs
• And have written close to 900 blog posts
• 49 people have completed “Thing 6” (as of May 12)
• The project web site has been visited over 10,000 times
• And there are 189 comments on the web site, who knows how many comments on all of the blogs put together
• 25 people attended the brown bag lunch

But what can’t easily be measured are the connections people have made with each other and the ideas that are being shared as we write, read and comment on each other’s blog posts.  Great job everyone!