melody's blog

The World Cafe

Greetings for the Pegasus Conference  in Seattle. I wanted to share The World Café today.  The following principles are great to help facilitate meaningful communication in your place of work.  World Café is a global network of leaders, consultants, and others committed to positive whole system change. They excel in creating great spaces for meaningful communication in the work place. This is a research-based and field-tested set of diverse principles that can help people in diverse settings develop their capacity to collaborate more effectively to shape their common futures.  An innovative yet simple process, based on these design principles, for hosting effective strategic conversations about “questions that matter.”

*Clarify the context
*Create hospitable space
*Explore questions that matter
*Encourage each person’s contribution
*Cross-pollinate and connect diverse perspectives
*Listen together for patterns, insights, and deeper questions
*Harvest and share collective discoveries

Last updated: November 6, 2007 - 12:20pm by melody

Miracles of Social Networking

When I was in Seattle the last week of September starting my MLIS graduate program with fellow SPLAT! members Dylan and Anna I lost my wallet. I quickly canceled my cards and tried to remain calm, cool and collected. This was not a perfect
time to panic. I lost my wallet on a Wednesday and was flying back to Boise on Friday. I had a sinking feeling that I would not be let on the plane without photo ID, which of course was in my wallet. I called the campus lost and found every hour on the hour without any word. Anna and Dylan were such great friends during the whole ordeal. Then on Thursday night I checked my Facebook account and *insert miracle music here* a girl had found my wallet on campus. She thought about taking my wallet to lost and found but thought she would have better luck getting the wallet to me if I was on Facebook and she was right. That next day she brought my wallet to my class and I was able to fly home that evening. Social networking can connect people in the most wonderful ways.

Last updated: October 9, 2007 - 12:34pm by melody

LIS ZEN: Search Library Blogs

I just came across a great site called http://liszen.com/,
which is a Library & Information Science Search Engine. This
site is a custom search engine and allows you to search over 700
library blogs. And yes I ran a search and came across our very
own SPLAT! Blog. You can even add your own library blog to this
site. You can refine your search to just search for individual, special library, academic, or school library blogs.

Last updated: October 9, 2007 - 11:52am by melody

MP3 players, E Audiobooks ect...

A couple of weeks ago I received a Creative Zen because Idaho libraries will have subscriptions to NetLibrary and OverDrive, two great sites to get E Audiobooks. I wanted to share my trials of tribulations with MP3 players. Last Christmas I asked for an Ipod Nano because I heard Ada Community Library had Net Library. After getting my lovely new pink Ipod I discovered that Ipods and any other Mac products are not compatible with NetLibrary or Overdrive. So before you get a new MP3 players check out this site to make sure your future or current MP3 player is compatible:
After I charged my Creative Zen I was so excited to discover that Daniel Pinkwater had a new book called The Neddiad through Net Library. I downloaded the book to my computer without any problems and got in on my Zen without a hitch. Thus, I was lolled into a false sense of security. I listened to the first hour of my book and then turned off my Zen to take a break. Being an avid Ipod user I just assumed that my Zen would have the same resume feature. WRONG! I had to fast foward back to get back to my place. On many MP3 players you have to manually bookmark your place. While I was fast forwarding the Zen froze. So I had to read the owners manual to see how to reset the player. By the time I got back to my player the entire battery had been drained! So I had to recharge it. I then had to get a small safety pen and push the tiny reset button. Argh! After that first day with my plethora of trials and tribulations I have learned to love my Zen. I can now multitask and listen to a book. How exciting! I am happy to help anyone who is trying to figure their new MP3 player. Remember always read the directions first, take deep breaths and above all else do not be afraid to try out this wonderful new service!
Enjoy!
Melody Sky 

Last updated: September 26, 2007 - 6:08pm by melody