Week Three: Online Meetings

This week, learning about online meetings I found very facinating. A while back I had decided to try and do some online college courses, and I got the feel of this in our virtual classroom. So, when I viewed the Iluminar Archive,hosted by Rhonda Machlan, it was very easy for me to understand it and follow along.
I may not be in charge of interlibrary loan materials at my branch, but it was good to learn how to assist my patrons, and also get an idea of what all goes into that process. It will also help me personally, to search for materials I may want for myself.
My favorite thing I learned about Iluminar was how customizable it is for each library. Being able to personalize the page to suit your library I thought was very neat. It is amazing to see how technology advances, and I know that soon our job as librarians will be simplified as the patrons begin to do things on their own.
Amazingly enough, I also found the time to view a live meeting called "Children of Terror" on OPAL. It was an interview with Inge Auerbacher and Bozenna Urbanowicz Gilbride, two survivors from concentration camps. Their stories were very powerful, and extremely sad. I never was much into history, but two eras really facinated me, the Holocaust, and The Salem Witch Trials. I have read so many books, fiction and non-fiction, on those times. My Grandmother, Oma as I called her, was a young child during the reign of Hitler, and she was able to recall some of the tragedies that happened at that time, and passed them on to me and my sister, which I believe is what began my interest in the Holocaust. I loved being able to hear those two ladies stories, and I look forward to reading the book.
All in all, this week went really well for me, each week brings on new challenges, some easy and some hard, but, it just makes me even more excited to learn something new next week!