#44 Economy

I just listened to the President's 1st 100 Days in office on TV - then went to CNN to vote and give him a grade. It will be interesting to find out later what a majority gave him for the grade.
NEXT DAY - 63% approve - 29% disapprove - 8% are unsure
One of the news media asked the president the following 4 questions on the first 100 days. What surprises you most, troubles you most, what enchants you most and what humbles you most. The answers were: more to contend with than he realized, lack of power on settling problems, the fine job our men and women are doing in service and I forgot what he said that humbled him most.

#37 Photo Tales

Make a Smilebox photobook

#35 Books 2.0

I remember attending a library meeting quite a few years ago, possibly close to 8 or 9 years, where the e-book was explained to us. I'm sure there are many more books to choose from today, but for me, Kindle, the hand held device would not be for me. My most likeable device is the MP3 where I can stick it inside my pocket and be involved in some other kind of work. I know of many people working in plants where they probably perform monotonous tasks that truly enjoy books on tape and that is fine. I belong to Library Thing and I am very satified with it. Shelfari would be very similiar and I will try that. Also, Good Reads would be much like Library Thing. As for children's books, Lookybook was closed because of a lack of resources. I really liked the Bedtime Stories. I just thought the Beatrice Potter "Peter Rabbit" was so timely with Easter upon us. As for What's Next, since 1982 when 56.9% among us were readers, it dropped to 54.0 by 1992, in 2002, it had dropped farther down yet to 46.7% but in 2008, reading, especially among 18 to 24 yrs. old had increased. Some books that may have increased reading would be Harry Potter series, Stephanie Meyer's series and Oprah Winfrey's books. Teachers, librarians, parents and civic leaders helped create a "buzz' around literature and maybe the economic times could have brought out more readers.

#34 Is it competition - Online answer sites

I read Answerbag. It can be either educational or conversational. I thought Folkstown sounded interesting but it was down. Just this evening at our library, I needed a map of our city and also one of the county. I found the county but had to go into google to find a city map. I hope it helped the gentleman. Talking about reference desks, I truly believe it is something that should not be given up. At our library, no certain person is assigned to that. I do ancestry.com and many people need to get a hands on start in this. Think how many times you have heard of a clothing store or any other store, for that matter, not having a clerk around when you need some assistance. It seems to be coming more to be an impersonable world around us. There is still something about the human touch that is important. We still want to connect with our users. Search and discovery is not getting easier. Reference librarians can perform more precice and knowledgeable searches. They are teachable moments. Searching gets more complicated due to fancy new tools. Tomorrow is called Slam the Boards Day but so far, I can think of nothing to ask. I liked the answer that it can also mean to slam two hardcover books together forcefully to shift the dust off the book. I surely hope not. We recently attended a meeting called Reference in the Electronic Age. Libraries having action websites containing links to Instant Messaging. The Rochester Library is capable of this but ours is not. They use a widget "Ask a Librarian."

#32 Google Maps

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#32 Google Maps

This was one step that was harder for me to get "right" but now it is one of my favorites. I have been to Grand Teton & Yellowstone many times. I love the sights in both. We stay in Jackson WY and I brought up the Bunnery Restaurant where we have had lunch. It is delicious food and always "too much" to eat. Right now, I seem to have lost my blue line but I will work on it more. At one time, I did have a video of Old Faithful that had music with it. I will be working to get it back. It was beautiful music.

#33 Travel 2.0

TripAdvisor.com is square in the middle of Travel 2.0 site. It is a social networking of real stories from real travelers and gets to the heart of the matter. You can post your own experiences like sharing a perfect day or weekend, even on a budget. It is fully interactive and expands via user-generated content. You can contribute words,images, reviews and travelogues. You are encouraged to add videos, travel wikis, mashups and blogs that enable comments which are also considered.
We have library patrons wanting to know which highway to take to a certain destination so that might be useful in our library. Some of my favorites were "Lost Girls" who were just tired of their jobs and decided to take a year long 35,000 mi. journey around the globe.
"Triporama" created a group homepage to discuss places to go and experiences to share. "Green Routes MN Grown", will find 1 of a kind places to eat, shop and sleep. In "Explore MN", I found Duluth to be a city of history for preservation of natural resources and wonders that make it such a special place. I tried the video out as well.