Rollyo.
I played around with Rollyo during the Web 2.0 workshop I took last year. I remember it being a cool concept, but I'm just not sure how often I would use it (and to be honest, I haven't used it since!). I attempted to use it during that workshop to gather information for my (then) upcoming San Diego trip by adding links to a bunch of information on the city, some attractions, visitors guides, the hotel's website, etc.
Rollyo could be pretty neat, since it allows you to search just the sites you want for information you need, but I almost think I would rather just save the sites to a favorites menu and go through them one-by-one than search them all together. Rollyo can be useful if you're looking for a particular item or specific information but you're not sure which site it might belong to -- if you've included it in the Rollyo search engine you've built, it would be easy to search for it and find it. But, a downfall of this would be if you have too many sites saved to the Rollyo search engine, you might have to still sort through pages of search results to find the exact information you're looking for.
A use for it within the library might be to create a "search engine" to just look through favorite sites for programs, storytimes, fingerplays, etc. It might also be useful for public computers for saving things like popular news sites, homework help sites, job search sites, etc., for the public to use. It would save them lots of time and would only search sites preselected by library staff for information.
It was fun to try out the program, but I think I'll stick with my favorites menu for now.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Thing 22
I had fun checking out the different online tools available for free throughout the course of this 23 Things experience. Some of my favorites really served no real-world purpose, but others were quite useful, such as the homework calendars, LibraryThing and Wikis. Overall, this was an enjoyable experience and I hope to spend more time working with the tools that I learned about in the 23 Things.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Thing 21
Student 2.0 Tools
Wow, those assignment calculators could serve to be very useful resources for students! I will talk to my department head about linking to them from our webpage (or from the teen webpage) -- what a great resource. I especially liked the PDF resources, from the Resource Project Calculator, that librarians and students can print out to help with all stages of the homework projects. This would be handy to promote to junior high and high school students. This site should really be promoted within the library and on the website to encourage students to take advantage of it. Teachers should also be informed of this site to help promote it to their students. It would be super easy and inexpensive to design bookmarks promoting this site and then have them available at the public desks for patrons to take (parents might see them and take them home for their teens). Definitely two sites worth checking out.
Wow, those assignment calculators could serve to be very useful resources for students! I will talk to my department head about linking to them from our webpage (or from the teen webpage) -- what a great resource. I especially liked the PDF resources, from the Resource Project Calculator, that librarians and students can print out to help with all stages of the homework projects. This would be handy to promote to junior high and high school students. This site should really be promoted within the library and on the website to encourage students to take advantage of it. Teachers should also be informed of this site to help promote it to their students. It would be super easy and inexpensive to design bookmarks promoting this site and then have them available at the public desks for patrons to take (parents might see them and take them home for their teens). Definitely two sites worth checking out.
Thing 20
Books 2.0
Reading in my library appears to be on the rise, and with series books especially, children read the first book (oftentimes, their school librarians are great at promoting first books to them), they get hooked and they come to us for additional series titles. Digital books are very popular among adults, but not so much among the children, although we recently saw a surge in our Playaway circulation stats because of a promotional bulletin board and display that we created in October (Playaways were very popular with the patrons once they saw them and we had a chance to promote them).
Some of the online resources listed in this Thing look and sound quite appealing. Of the Books on Your Phone section, the one I would be interested in is DailyLit. I do have an internet-enabled phone but would rather not eat up data time by reading books on it, plus the screen isn't *that* big. :)
In the Readers Advisory section, I have heard of What Should I Read Next? And What's Next? (and if not those two sites, then sites with very similar names). Isn't there a print reference material with the title What Should I Read Next? broken down by genre? In our children's department, some of us use the MCPL Series & Sequels site regularly. While it's not completely up-to-date, it is oftentimes VERY handy for looking up books within a series. I would be interested in trying out most of those Readers Advisory sites listed.
The Book Group & Book Review resources also seem like they would be useful, partly for work and partly for personal interest reading. I will have to explore them more in depth when free time allows. I read the description of the LibraVox site under the Audio Books section, and that sounds intriguing! What a cool idea -- to convert public domain works to audio book format and use volunteers as readers. While I'm not an audio book believer, I may just have to check out that site anyway.
Reading in my library appears to be on the rise, and with series books especially, children read the first book (oftentimes, their school librarians are great at promoting first books to them), they get hooked and they come to us for additional series titles. Digital books are very popular among adults, but not so much among the children, although we recently saw a surge in our Playaway circulation stats because of a promotional bulletin board and display that we created in October (Playaways were very popular with the patrons once they saw them and we had a chance to promote them).
Some of the online resources listed in this Thing look and sound quite appealing. Of the Books on Your Phone section, the one I would be interested in is DailyLit. I do have an internet-enabled phone but would rather not eat up data time by reading books on it, plus the screen isn't *that* big. :)
In the Readers Advisory section, I have heard of What Should I Read Next? And What's Next? (and if not those two sites, then sites with very similar names). Isn't there a print reference material with the title What Should I Read Next? broken down by genre? In our children's department, some of us use the MCPL Series & Sequels site regularly. While it's not completely up-to-date, it is oftentimes VERY handy for looking up books within a series. I would be interested in trying out most of those Readers Advisory sites listed.
The Book Group & Book Review resources also seem like they would be useful, partly for work and partly for personal interest reading. I will have to explore them more in depth when free time allows. I read the description of the LibraVox site under the Audio Books section, and that sounds intriguing! What a cool idea -- to convert public domain works to audio book format and use volunteers as readers. While I'm not an audio book believer, I may just have to check out that site anyway.
Thing 19
Other social networking sites.
I am not currently a member of any of these online communities (and most of them I had not even heard of prior to completing this Thing).
I took a peek at WebJunction, which I have heard of but don't believe I've ever actually visited, and it seems that it would be useful and beneficial to join that community. Despite being hesitant to register for any of the previous sites mentioned in the other Things, I will sign up for WebJunction in order to read and participate in the content offered. It would be a site that would serve a purpose for me as an information professional.
As far as the additional social networking sites listed, I checked out BakeSpace and thought it was a neat, fun site full of interesting recipes. I probably won't join it, but it was fun to explore a little (and right on the homepage, I found a nice little peppermint marshmallow recipe that I will have to try out).
I am not currently a member of any of these online communities (and most of them I had not even heard of prior to completing this Thing).
I took a peek at WebJunction, which I have heard of but don't believe I've ever actually visited, and it seems that it would be useful and beneficial to join that community. Despite being hesitant to register for any of the previous sites mentioned in the other Things, I will sign up for WebJunction in order to read and participate in the content offered. It would be a site that would serve a purpose for me as an information professional.
As far as the additional social networking sites listed, I checked out BakeSpace and thought it was a neat, fun site full of interesting recipes. I probably won't join it, but it was fun to explore a little (and right on the homepage, I found a nice little peppermint marshmallow recipe that I will have to try out).
Thing 18
Facebook & MySpace: Social Networking
I am a regular Facebook user (used to have a MySpace account but have since converted to f/b). On f/b I am part of several groups including one for staff of the library where I work. The point of that group was to be for us to share information with each other, but so far it's never been used for anything until a few days ago when I posted some photos from our recent staff in-service day & library director's retirement celebration. I have created a group on f/b for students that used to attend the grammar school that my brother and I went to (Orchard Hill Farm School in IL, which, sadly, has since closed). It was a small private school on a farm, complete with horses, sheep and a goat, and multiple grades together in single classrooms. I created the group so that those of us who went there during the school's history could connect and share news with each other. At first, the only members were my brother and I, but we've since grown to 128 members. Aside from these two groups, there other groups I belong on f/b, as well.
I think f/b may be the fastest growing social network because it is so easy to join and navigate. And teens and young adults (there are a few of my much younger cousins & kids I used to babysit who are still in grade school and junior high that are on f/b -- inappropriate in my eyes) can add friends and share information with each other very quickly. They can quickly and easily post pictures, news & silly information, play games, and join groups to make them feel like they belong. I think they like the sense of community and fitting in with others. Plus, for some I think it's a popularity game -- unfortunately (some people have hundreds and thousands of so-called "friends" on f/b).
At times, I think f/b's reputation is deserved, but not all the time. When people treat or use it inappropriately, certainly it's going to get a bad reputation. But the site is also awesome for connecting people with old friends, family members, etc. I have reconnected with several of my old grammar school friends via the OHFS group, and that is very cool. I'm also able to keep in touch with cousins that I don't regularly see and I get to see pictures of their kids and I share them with my parents. Another great thing about f/b is the promotion of events, business and organizations. Our youth services department page at work is regularly updated with program information and photos from recent programs. We also have our youth blog linked to the f/b page, so blog updates such as book reviews, are posted to the f/b page. Very cool.
I am a regular Facebook user (used to have a MySpace account but have since converted to f/b). On f/b I am part of several groups including one for staff of the library where I work. The point of that group was to be for us to share information with each other, but so far it's never been used for anything until a few days ago when I posted some photos from our recent staff in-service day & library director's retirement celebration. I have created a group on f/b for students that used to attend the grammar school that my brother and I went to (Orchard Hill Farm School in IL, which, sadly, has since closed). It was a small private school on a farm, complete with horses, sheep and a goat, and multiple grades together in single classrooms. I created the group so that those of us who went there during the school's history could connect and share news with each other. At first, the only members were my brother and I, but we've since grown to 128 members. Aside from these two groups, there other groups I belong on f/b, as well.
I think f/b may be the fastest growing social network because it is so easy to join and navigate. And teens and young adults (there are a few of my much younger cousins & kids I used to babysit who are still in grade school and junior high that are on f/b -- inappropriate in my eyes) can add friends and share information with each other very quickly. They can quickly and easily post pictures, news & silly information, play games, and join groups to make them feel like they belong. I think they like the sense of community and fitting in with others. Plus, for some I think it's a popularity game -- unfortunately (some people have hundreds and thousands of so-called "friends" on f/b).
At times, I think f/b's reputation is deserved, but not all the time. When people treat or use it inappropriately, certainly it's going to get a bad reputation. But the site is also awesome for connecting people with old friends, family members, etc. I have reconnected with several of my old grammar school friends via the OHFS group, and that is very cool. I'm also able to keep in touch with cousins that I don't regularly see and I get to see pictures of their kids and I share them with my parents. Another great thing about f/b is the promotion of events, business and organizations. Our youth services department page at work is regularly updated with program information and photos from recent programs. We also have our youth blog linked to the f/b page, so blog updates such as book reviews, are posted to the f/b page. Very cool.
Thing 17
Podcasts.
Now here's something I'm unfamiliar with.
The podcasts I listened to where on the Education Podcast Network. I listened to two poetry readings and one about copycats from the Idiom of the Day. I liked the idiom one, but was not crazy about the poetry readings. I like poetry, but I was imagining those poems being read differently than they were. Still neat to be able to listen to these things rather than reading them though.
This thing hasn't inspired me to do any podcasting myself, but perhaps I will look more into them in the future. I would like to see what other kinds of podcasts are out there besides just the ones on the Education Network.
Now here's something I'm unfamiliar with.
The podcasts I listened to where on the Education Podcast Network. I listened to two poetry readings and one about copycats from the Idiom of the Day. I liked the idiom one, but was not crazy about the poetry readings. I like poetry, but I was imagining those poems being read differently than they were. Still neat to be able to listen to these things rather than reading them though.
This thing hasn't inspired me to do any podcasting myself, but perhaps I will look more into them in the future. I would like to see what other kinds of podcasts are out there besides just the ones on the Education Network.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Thing 16
YouTube.
The video links on the NEFLIN 23 Things blog makes me smile every time I see it (and it's been a while since the first time I've seen it). And now that Lane Smith's It's a Book! is out, that video makes me think of his book. YouTube is great for lots of things, if you can wade through the garbage (although sometimes the garbage is also entertaining). My brother used YouTube to figure out how to install our parents' new dishwasher a few years ago. And I've heard that people have used it to learn to cook turkeys and all kinds of other useful things. I myself looked up a "slime" recipe video on there this past summer so I knew how to make it for one of my summer programs.
Speaking of summer reading, for the last two years, my library has posted our YS summer reading promotional videos to YouTube. Check out the video I created for this past year's summer reading program (in which I play Count Bookula). We were so glad to be able to link our video from our website to YouTube so patrons could view it.
There are lots of other fun videos on YouTube. One of my favorites is this one (for a bit of library/blonde humor) and here's another favorite.
The video links on the NEFLIN 23 Things blog makes me smile every time I see it (and it's been a while since the first time I've seen it). And now that Lane Smith's It's a Book! is out, that video makes me think of his book. YouTube is great for lots of things, if you can wade through the garbage (although sometimes the garbage is also entertaining). My brother used YouTube to figure out how to install our parents' new dishwasher a few years ago. And I've heard that people have used it to learn to cook turkeys and all kinds of other useful things. I myself looked up a "slime" recipe video on there this past summer so I knew how to make it for one of my summer programs.
Speaking of summer reading, for the last two years, my library has posted our YS summer reading promotional videos to YouTube. Check out the video I created for this past year's summer reading program (in which I play Count Bookula). We were so glad to be able to link our video from our website to YouTube so patrons could view it.
There are lots of other fun videos on YouTube. One of my favorites is this one (for a bit of library/blonde humor) and here's another favorite.
Thing 14
Online Productivity Tools.
This was a fun thing to explore. I tried out the three customized homepages, but PageFlakes gave a message that it was being updated, so I wasn't able to actually view that one, so I really was only able to look at iGoogle and My Yahoo. I much prefer iGoogle. The interface has a clean, mature appearance, and I already use Google for Gmail and other features, such as the calendar, which takes me into the next topic of this post. Google Calendar is actually quite useful and simple to add and update. At work, we recently switched from mail hosted on the system's server to Gmail accounts, and so that also meant a switch from Outlook Calendar to Google Calendar. How NICE to be able to just view and edit the library's staff calendar right from an email account. For the most part, I really like Google Calendar -- it's a breeze to use.
As for the other gadgets mentioned in this Thing, I checked out the lists, but they both required registration, and again, I did not want to register for yet another service. Remember the Milk looked like it could be useful, but my cell phone already has a document/note function on it, so I often use that to create lists if I don't have paper or pencil handy. And I can access my email via my phone, so I will sometimes just email myself reminders, as well. I do prefer the old standby real paper & pencil kinds of notes, too, and often use those the most.
As for the PDF converters listed, I use PDFcreator both at home and at work for converting documents to PDFs. It's free to download, fast and simple to use. I did also check out the link to the Top 10 Productivity Websites listed and saw TinyURL listed at the very top. I've been using this site for years and years, and I love it. So simple to use, and it's a great way to package up a long URL into a tiny one that doesn't take up multiple lines in an email or an IM window.
Because it was listed in the Top 10 site above, I may check out the MyStickies site, even though it requires both registration and download. It sounds like a useful little tool that I wouldn't mind experimenting with -- and it might even be something that will come in handy when browsing websites. I oftentimes bookmark something and forget why (and even though tags would be useful to help me maybe remember why, I will not resort to using them any time soon, for reasons mentioned previously).
This was a fun thing to explore. I tried out the three customized homepages, but PageFlakes gave a message that it was being updated, so I wasn't able to actually view that one, so I really was only able to look at iGoogle and My Yahoo. I much prefer iGoogle. The interface has a clean, mature appearance, and I already use Google for Gmail and other features, such as the calendar, which takes me into the next topic of this post. Google Calendar is actually quite useful and simple to add and update. At work, we recently switched from mail hosted on the system's server to Gmail accounts, and so that also meant a switch from Outlook Calendar to Google Calendar. How NICE to be able to just view and edit the library's staff calendar right from an email account. For the most part, I really like Google Calendar -- it's a breeze to use.
As for the other gadgets mentioned in this Thing, I checked out the lists, but they both required registration, and again, I did not want to register for yet another service. Remember the Milk looked like it could be useful, but my cell phone already has a document/note function on it, so I often use that to create lists if I don't have paper or pencil handy. And I can access my email via my phone, so I will sometimes just email myself reminders, as well. I do prefer the old standby real paper & pencil kinds of notes, too, and often use those the most.
As for the PDF converters listed, I use PDFcreator both at home and at work for converting documents to PDFs. It's free to download, fast and simple to use. I did also check out the link to the Top 10 Productivity Websites listed and saw TinyURL listed at the very top. I've been using this site for years and years, and I love it. So simple to use, and it's a great way to package up a long URL into a tiny one that doesn't take up multiple lines in an email or an IM window.
Because it was listed in the Top 10 site above, I may check out the MyStickies site, even though it requires both registration and download. It sounds like a useful little tool that I wouldn't mind experimenting with -- and it might even be something that will come in handy when browsing websites. I oftentimes bookmark something and forget why (and even though tags would be useful to help me maybe remember why, I will not resort to using them any time soon, for reasons mentioned previously).
Thing 13
LibraryThing.
So it turns out that I actually have a LibraryThing account -- I joined when a fellow SLIS student talked me into it during class one day, but it doesn't appear that I've used it since. Like so many sites that sound fun and useful at first glance (or after hearing someone talk about them), I signed up and then promptly forgot about it. This is unfortunate, as the site has so much to offer! I do think it's a very useful site for libraries, librarians and readers in general.
For personal use, if someone is a voracious reader (sadly, I am not as of late with the stress and time-consuming nature of grad school), then using LibraryThing for personal use would be great. It's a neat way to see what others are reading and to find others who are reading/have read the same books, to find book reviews, or to find similar books or users with similar tastes. How many times have you just stumbled upon something cool like a news story, a new website, a great recipe or a nifty consumer product because you've seen it linked or mentioned on someone else's webpage, blog, etc.? Why should books be any different? If I click on one of my bookshelf books (The Shadow of the Wind, for instance), I can see other users who have that book on their shelves. And then I can click on one of those users and view their info & bookshelf and perhaps find another great book to read! Is it obvious that I really do love the idea of LibraryThing and all that it has to offer? Because I really do! :)
The LibraryThing widget is an awesome tool for a library's blog! I love the idea of being able to "display" books on a virtual shelf where readers can see the covers. It would be a fantastic way to highlight the library's new books or monthly or special book displays via the blog or just to show books that have recently been read or reviewed. There are so many great ways to use the widget, and I think libraries should really take advantage of this useful tool. The libraries that are incorporating teen reviews into their LibraryThing pages is another great way to get readers and library patrons involved with library and materials marketing. Also cool is the LibraryThing Local, which is a great way to refer patrons to literary events going on locally. What a truly great resource for libraries to provide to their patrons -- and all at no charge to the library (provided they are happy with a free, limited LT account)!
So it turns out that I actually have a LibraryThing account -- I joined when a fellow SLIS student talked me into it during class one day, but it doesn't appear that I've used it since. Like so many sites that sound fun and useful at first glance (or after hearing someone talk about them), I signed up and then promptly forgot about it. This is unfortunate, as the site has so much to offer! I do think it's a very useful site for libraries, librarians and readers in general.
For personal use, if someone is a voracious reader (sadly, I am not as of late with the stress and time-consuming nature of grad school), then using LibraryThing for personal use would be great. It's a neat way to see what others are reading and to find others who are reading/have read the same books, to find book reviews, or to find similar books or users with similar tastes. How many times have you just stumbled upon something cool like a news story, a new website, a great recipe or a nifty consumer product because you've seen it linked or mentioned on someone else's webpage, blog, etc.? Why should books be any different? If I click on one of my bookshelf books (The Shadow of the Wind, for instance), I can see other users who have that book on their shelves. And then I can click on one of those users and view their info & bookshelf and perhaps find another great book to read! Is it obvious that I really do love the idea of LibraryThing and all that it has to offer? Because I really do! :)
The LibraryThing widget is an awesome tool for a library's blog! I love the idea of being able to "display" books on a virtual shelf where readers can see the covers. It would be a fantastic way to highlight the library's new books or monthly or special book displays via the blog or just to show books that have recently been read or reviewed. There are so many great ways to use the widget, and I think libraries should really take advantage of this useful tool. The libraries that are incorporating teen reviews into their LibraryThing pages is another great way to get readers and library patrons involved with library and materials marketing. Also cool is the LibraryThing Local, which is a great way to refer patrons to literary events going on locally. What a truly great resource for libraries to provide to their patrons -- and all at no charge to the library (provided they are happy with a free, limited LT account)!
Thing 12
Thing 12 deals with Wikis, and since the Library 2.0 workshop I took last year covered wikis, I'm going to repost what I posted for that blog entry, with a few edits (I hope that's ok).
After learning about wikis this week in class, it is neat to think of all the different ways to use them. Whenever I had previously heard the term "wiki," I only thought of Wikipedia. But the list of wikis that was provided to us was pretty cool to check out in order to see the different organizations that are using wikis to share information and get people involved through editing and content contribution.
As mentioned in my discussion board post for class this week, there seem to be both positives and negatives associated with wikis. What worries me is that if you have a wiki for important information (such as a medical wiki), then anyone has the ability to edit content on the site, and who's to say that it's necessarily accurate? Though hopefully people using wikis to look up information would just use them as a starting point and then also refer to other (more reputable) sources such as reference books or hospital/organizational or health websites.
After learning about the different uses of wikis (and viewing the commoncraft how-to-wiki video), I created a wiki for my friends and I to use as a planning base for our upcoming vacation where we were able to post our flight information (since there were 2 groups of us flying in at different times), places of interest to visit, weather information, transportation links, etc. -- and it was actually lots of FUN to create this wiki! I think other possible uses of wikis could include similar things not related to library or educational organizations, such as: parents using wikis to plan things like parties for kids, sporting event banquets and fundraisers, family reunions, kids talking about their favorite books or writing fan fiction (I'm thinking Harry Potter and Twilight wikis here), workplace wikis (in which all employees could edit, among other things, content like helpful database links, websites of interest, general workplace questions), etc.
After learning about wikis this week in class, it is neat to think of all the different ways to use them. Whenever I had previously heard the term "wiki," I only thought of Wikipedia. But the list of wikis that was provided to us was pretty cool to check out in order to see the different organizations that are using wikis to share information and get people involved through editing and content contribution.
As mentioned in my discussion board post for class this week, there seem to be both positives and negatives associated with wikis. What worries me is that if you have a wiki for important information (such as a medical wiki), then anyone has the ability to edit content on the site, and who's to say that it's necessarily accurate? Though hopefully people using wikis to look up information would just use them as a starting point and then also refer to other (more reputable) sources such as reference books or hospital/organizational or health websites.
After learning about the different uses of wikis (and viewing the commoncraft how-to-wiki video), I created a wiki for my friends and I to use as a planning base for our upcoming vacation where we were able to post our flight information (since there were 2 groups of us flying in at different times), places of interest to visit, weather information, transportation links, etc. -- and it was actually lots of FUN to create this wiki! I think other possible uses of wikis could include similar things not related to library or educational organizations, such as: parents using wikis to plan things like parties for kids, sporting event banquets and fundraisers, family reunions, kids talking about their favorite books or writing fan fiction (I'm thinking Harry Potter and Twilight wikis here), workplace wikis (in which all employees could edit, among other things, content like helpful database links, websites of interest, general workplace questions), etc.
Thing 11
Social Media News Sites...
After looking at the sites linked through Thing 11 (Mixx, Newsvine, reddit and Digg), I think they might serve a purpose for home and professional use. These kinds of sites would be good for following popular stories that patrons or anyone else might inquire about. I think of all the sites, I liked the look and feel of Newsvine the best. It looked the most professional in terms of page layout and design. And I like that it was mostly news articles and not so much what the other sites appeared to be, which looked like message threads about anything and everything. Those kinds of sites I don't think would hold much use for the workplace, but a news-related site would. While looking at Newsvine, it was neat seeing the updated linked stories changing every few seconds (though it was also a tad bit distracting at the same time). I consider myself a fast reader, but I couldn't get through many of the little blurbs before they moved on down the line and a new one took the top spot. But still, it was my favorite of the sites.
As far as productivity enhancer vs productivity detractor, I think they could be a little of both. They could enhance productivity because with one website, you can get a quick feel for that news that is most important to those sharing to that site, which is useful if you need to keep up with headlines and popular news stories. But at the same time, some of the sites (I feel these would be reddit and digg), could be considered productivity detractors because the information on those seemed more like opinion pieces and message board threads than actual news stories. There were lots of things on those sites that didn't necessarily pertain to news at all, and the "headlines" on those sites are distracting and not necessarily informational.
I will admit that I tried to share a news story from another site to Newsvine, but it was prompting me to sign up for an account, which I did not want to do. I then tried reddit and Digg and got registration prompts for those, as well. So much for attempting to share. I just don't feel like I need another registration right now (or at least if I do, I should create a junky email account to use for those kinds of purposes). I did read a few of the news articles on Newsvine that I might have not otherwise looked at or seen on my regular news sites. So overall, this was an interesting Thing exercise.
After looking at the sites linked through Thing 11 (Mixx, Newsvine, reddit and Digg), I think they might serve a purpose for home and professional use. These kinds of sites would be good for following popular stories that patrons or anyone else might inquire about. I think of all the sites, I liked the look and feel of Newsvine the best. It looked the most professional in terms of page layout and design. And I like that it was mostly news articles and not so much what the other sites appeared to be, which looked like message threads about anything and everything. Those kinds of sites I don't think would hold much use for the workplace, but a news-related site would. While looking at Newsvine, it was neat seeing the updated linked stories changing every few seconds (though it was also a tad bit distracting at the same time). I consider myself a fast reader, but I couldn't get through many of the little blurbs before they moved on down the line and a new one took the top spot. But still, it was my favorite of the sites.
As far as productivity enhancer vs productivity detractor, I think they could be a little of both. They could enhance productivity because with one website, you can get a quick feel for that news that is most important to those sharing to that site, which is useful if you need to keep up with headlines and popular news stories. But at the same time, some of the sites (I feel these would be reddit and digg), could be considered productivity detractors because the information on those seemed more like opinion pieces and message board threads than actual news stories. There were lots of things on those sites that didn't necessarily pertain to news at all, and the "headlines" on those sites are distracting and not necessarily informational.
I will admit that I tried to share a news story from another site to Newsvine, but it was prompting me to sign up for an account, which I did not want to do. I then tried reddit and Digg and got registration prompts for those, as well. So much for attempting to share. I just don't feel like I need another registration right now (or at least if I do, I should create a junky email account to use for those kinds of purposes). I did read a few of the news articles on Newsvine that I might have not otherwise looked at or seen on my regular news sites. So overall, this was an interesting Thing exercise.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Thing 10
Ugh. Del.icio.us.
I first tried de.licio.us last year during a Library 2.0 workshop, and while I was at first impressed with it, I soon found it time-consuming and confusing. I guess what it boils down to is that I'm not a fan of tags because for me, it's one of those "once I start, where do I stop?" kinds of things. How few tags are too few and how many are too many? And do I really and truly need to use every possible term I can think of to tag webpages? Well, yes, I must, because it could happen that six months or a year down the road, I might not remember some of the terms that were important to me when I first tagged something, so will I be able to retrieve it? Maybe not. Overall, while the concept is nice, for someone like me, the use of de.licio.us is just plain frustrating.
I suppose it would certainly come in handy for finding (or sharing) webpages in the workplace. If you have a few people who repeatedly use the same sites for storytime ideas and themes, fingerplays and feltboards, or suggested and recommended books, for instance, having them tagged as such would helpful and would make them quick to find. Or pages concerning budgets, library news, intellectual freedom, etc., etc.
But I just think tagging is overwhelming. Not to mention, we've tagged our blog posts for our YS blog at work, and the tags just spill down the side of the page. Is it really necessary to tag a "meet the YS staff" blog post with the name of the staff member the post is highlighting? Probably not, especially if there will be no future posts featuring that person. With a department of 7, like mine, you now have 7 tags just hanging onto the side of the page, filling up space. It would make more sense to tag them with the term "interview" or "staff" or something where they could go under a general subject heading. There, all 7 are now contained under one tag. Simpler? Yes. But still time consuming, because you have to think about all these things first. And, for something like a blog, too many tags on the side of the page makes for a lot of scrolling and reading to find something that might be of interest.
So there are my thoughts on de.licio.us and tags.
I first tried de.licio.us last year during a Library 2.0 workshop, and while I was at first impressed with it, I soon found it time-consuming and confusing. I guess what it boils down to is that I'm not a fan of tags because for me, it's one of those "once I start, where do I stop?" kinds of things. How few tags are too few and how many are too many? And do I really and truly need to use every possible term I can think of to tag webpages? Well, yes, I must, because it could happen that six months or a year down the road, I might not remember some of the terms that were important to me when I first tagged something, so will I be able to retrieve it? Maybe not. Overall, while the concept is nice, for someone like me, the use of de.licio.us is just plain frustrating.
I suppose it would certainly come in handy for finding (or sharing) webpages in the workplace. If you have a few people who repeatedly use the same sites for storytime ideas and themes, fingerplays and feltboards, or suggested and recommended books, for instance, having them tagged as such would helpful and would make them quick to find. Or pages concerning budgets, library news, intellectual freedom, etc., etc.
But I just think tagging is overwhelming. Not to mention, we've tagged our blog posts for our YS blog at work, and the tags just spill down the side of the page. Is it really necessary to tag a "meet the YS staff" blog post with the name of the staff member the post is highlighting? Probably not, especially if there will be no future posts featuring that person. With a department of 7, like mine, you now have 7 tags just hanging onto the side of the page, filling up space. It would make more sense to tag them with the term "interview" or "staff" or something where they could go under a general subject heading. There, all 7 are now contained under one tag. Simpler? Yes. But still time consuming, because you have to think about all these things first. And, for something like a blog, too many tags on the side of the page makes for a lot of scrolling and reading to find something that might be of interest.
So there are my thoughts on de.licio.us and tags.
Thing 9
For Thing 9, I looked at both Slideshare and BigHugeLabs.
Slideshare is a neat way to share slideshows without emailing files or downloading files to your computer. I run our children's Lego club at the library, and each month I show a slideshow of images I've found that fit the month's theme. It's a real pain emailing the file to myself each month and then opening it on the (slow-as-molasses-in-January) laptop in our meeting room. How simple it would be to just email a link instead of a file! I may just have to try out Slideshare for Lego club at the end of this month. I would assume that clicking on a link and watching the show on the web would be faster than downloading the actual show. Slideshare would be particularly useful for the workplace when sharing slideshows with coworkers or those colleagues who are in different branches, towns or even states! It would be nice to not have to worry about whether everyone who you want to view a slideshow has the required program downloaded to their computers. With Slideshare, there is no downloading, so it allows everyone to view a show. Nice and simple. Just the way it should be.
The fun photo editing features on BigHugeLabs were fun to explore and play around with. This site would be good for personal use for manipulating and adding features, borders, colors, text, etc. to photos. I liked the different options available, such as popart, magazine cover and frames. What a lot of fun, creative options together on one site. Even though these might be fun for personal use, they could also serve a purpose in the workplace. Photos from programs or from around the library could be manipulated with frames or overlays and turned into new creative images for marketing programs or library features and materials. There are lots of possibilities for using the programs on BigHugeLabs that would actually come in handy for the library. The only downside to using this site would be having sufficient time to play around with and explore the different options for altering the photos. But if someone had the time and patience to work with it, there could be some really nice images created for marketing purposes using this site.
I will have to explore the databases at a later time as my Internet connection seems spotty today.
Slideshare is a neat way to share slideshows without emailing files or downloading files to your computer. I run our children's Lego club at the library, and each month I show a slideshow of images I've found that fit the month's theme. It's a real pain emailing the file to myself each month and then opening it on the (slow-as-molasses-in-January) laptop in our meeting room. How simple it would be to just email a link instead of a file! I may just have to try out Slideshare for Lego club at the end of this month. I would assume that clicking on a link and watching the show on the web would be faster than downloading the actual show. Slideshare would be particularly useful for the workplace when sharing slideshows with coworkers or those colleagues who are in different branches, towns or even states! It would be nice to not have to worry about whether everyone who you want to view a slideshow has the required program downloaded to their computers. With Slideshare, there is no downloading, so it allows everyone to view a show. Nice and simple. Just the way it should be.
The fun photo editing features on BigHugeLabs were fun to explore and play around with. This site would be good for personal use for manipulating and adding features, borders, colors, text, etc. to photos. I liked the different options available, such as popart, magazine cover and frames. What a lot of fun, creative options together on one site. Even though these might be fun for personal use, they could also serve a purpose in the workplace. Photos from programs or from around the library could be manipulated with frames or overlays and turned into new creative images for marketing programs or library features and materials. There are lots of possibilities for using the programs on BigHugeLabs that would actually come in handy for the library. The only downside to using this site would be having sufficient time to play around with and explore the different options for altering the photos. But if someone had the time and patience to work with it, there could be some really nice images created for marketing purposes using this site.
I will have to explore the databases at a later time as my Internet connection seems spotty today.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Thing 8
Web communication & instant messaging tools.
While I am an avid user of both instant and text messaging in my personal life, I've never used either in a professional setting.
The articles about SMS and instant messaging were really eye-opening. It was surprising to read about the librarian that had to get permission to use instant messaging at her library because it was blocked. Instant messaging for reference work seems like a great concept! And we all know that instant gratification is what is expected these days when it comes to information. With that in mind, I would be interested in trying out instant messaging for reference work -- it would be so useful in our youth services department because I would bet there are kids out there who need homework help but don't have access to the library because they don't have a ride or just need an answer right away, and instant messaging with a librarian or reference assistant would be a great way to get the help they need.
It would also be a positive way to promote the library!, though some might argue that a physical library isn't needed if instant messaging reference questions is available. One thing that might be troubling for instant message reference work would be how busy the library or reference desk might be at any one time. Sometimes, we are so busy at the YS ref desk that there might be a queue five people long waiting for help (photocopying, computer questions, reference desk, readers advisory, phone call, etc.), and we have only one person staffed at our YS ref desk at any given time. So throw instant messaging reference work into the mix, and that might really make things confusing. In theory though, it's a great idea, and I would love to be able to try it out at the library sometime!
The SMS messaging is a little trickier. I don't know how useful a 160-character answer can be for someone that has an in-depth question, but if a simple question was asked that required ready reference material or just a quick little answer (country population, dates, names, physical addresses & phone numbers, etc.), then SMS applications might be useful. It would be good for people on the go. But with today's smart phones, I wonder if there would be as great a need for this kind of service as there might have been 5 years ago when the article on SMS was written.
While I am an avid user of both instant and text messaging in my personal life, I've never used either in a professional setting.
The articles about SMS and instant messaging were really eye-opening. It was surprising to read about the librarian that had to get permission to use instant messaging at her library because it was blocked. Instant messaging for reference work seems like a great concept! And we all know that instant gratification is what is expected these days when it comes to information. With that in mind, I would be interested in trying out instant messaging for reference work -- it would be so useful in our youth services department because I would bet there are kids out there who need homework help but don't have access to the library because they don't have a ride or just need an answer right away, and instant messaging with a librarian or reference assistant would be a great way to get the help they need.
It would also be a positive way to promote the library!, though some might argue that a physical library isn't needed if instant messaging reference questions is available. One thing that might be troubling for instant message reference work would be how busy the library or reference desk might be at any one time. Sometimes, we are so busy at the YS ref desk that there might be a queue five people long waiting for help (photocopying, computer questions, reference desk, readers advisory, phone call, etc.), and we have only one person staffed at our YS ref desk at any given time. So throw instant messaging reference work into the mix, and that might really make things confusing. In theory though, it's a great idea, and I would love to be able to try it out at the library sometime!
The SMS messaging is a little trickier. I don't know how useful a 160-character answer can be for someone that has an in-depth question, but if a simple question was asked that required ready reference material or just a quick little answer (country population, dates, names, physical addresses & phone numbers, etc.), then SMS applications might be useful. It would be good for people on the go. But with today's smart phones, I wonder if there would be as great a need for this kind of service as there might have been 5 years ago when the article on SMS was written.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Thing 7
Online Image Generators can apparently be LOTS of fun! I came across this little gem on The Generator Blog. My coworkers and I were cracking up. Oh, fun times! This particular application would really serve no use in the library world (that I could imagine anyway), but I'm sure some of the other image generators would prove more useful! :)
Erin is doing the Ugly Dance!
Erin is doing the Ugly Dance!
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Thing 6
Spelling things with flickr! This is cool! I've always wanted one of those pictures with my last name spelled out like this...
As far as usefulness in the workplace - I'm not so sure how useful this would be for my library. Sharing photos online, however, is very useful for promoting programming or the library itself. I like the idea of highlighting certain parts of the collection, maybe a special collection or an underused area, new books, audio books, etc., so that patrons can see them on the website and maybe come in to check out the items in person. I brought this idea up at a meeting a few months ago, so it will be interesting to see if anything actually happens with it. Libraries could link a Facebook (or flickr) account to their website to promote programs and areas.
As far as usefulness in the workplace - I'm not so sure how useful this would be for my library. Sharing photos online, however, is very useful for promoting programming or the library itself. I like the idea of highlighting certain parts of the collection, maybe a special collection or an underused area, new books, audio books, etc., so that patrons can see them on the website and maybe come in to check out the items in person. I brought this idea up at a meeting a few months ago, so it will be interesting to see if anything actually happens with it. Libraries could link a Facebook (or flickr) account to their website to promote programs and areas.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Thing 5
Ahh. Flickr. So I've had a Flickr account for some years now, but with the exception of last year's addition of my "townhouse in progress" photos, it's been stagnant for at least a few of them. With the advent of Myspace (my account there is also stagnant and should really just be deleted) and then Facebook, I kind of let my Flickr account fall to the wayside. It was just easier to upload pictures to a site that all my friends and many of my family members were already using daily.
Flickr is pretty cool though. It's nice to be able to join the different groups/communities on there. I'll admit to not having looked at the site in quite some time, but I did like it when I actually used it. As far as using it for the library, I used to think it would be a cool thing (we actually covered Flickr in my Library 2.0 workshop that I took a year or so ago, and I linked my Flickr photostream to that blog). But now that my library's YS department has its own Facebook page, we just upload all our program pictures to that, for the same reasons I do it for my person page. It's just easier. But that's not to knock Flickr. I've seen photostreams from several libraries that use it. When I was looking for information on Lego Clubs in the library, I happened upon a few Flickr pages that featured children's programming, so it's definitely useful. I think the only drawback would be having to link it to Facebook or something.
That being said, I'll post my Flickr photostream here anyway. The first pictures are of my townhouse, right after I bought it when my family and I started doing all the renovations. It looks quite different now (but my "after" pictures are all on Facebook), and the later photos are from some of my visits to other states, etc...
Flickr is pretty cool though. It's nice to be able to join the different groups/communities on there. I'll admit to not having looked at the site in quite some time, but I did like it when I actually used it. As far as using it for the library, I used to think it would be a cool thing (we actually covered Flickr in my Library 2.0 workshop that I took a year or so ago, and I linked my Flickr photostream to that blog). But now that my library's YS department has its own Facebook page, we just upload all our program pictures to that, for the same reasons I do it for my person page. It's just easier. But that's not to knock Flickr. I've seen photostreams from several libraries that use it. When I was looking for information on Lego Clubs in the library, I happened upon a few Flickr pages that featured children's programming, so it's definitely useful. I think the only drawback would be having to link it to Facebook or something.
That being said, I'll post my Flickr photostream here anyway. The first pictures are of my townhouse, right after I bought it when my family and I started doing all the renovations. It looks quite different now (but my "after" pictures are all on Facebook), and the later photos are from some of my visits to other states, etc...
Monday, October 4, 2010
Thing 4
The requirement for Thing 4 was to subscribe to at least three feeds from different blogs or news sources. I realized I was already subscribed to the youth services department blog at work and to a blog for another class (LIS 661). So I subscribed to the blogs of two of my co-students and also to the Unshelved comic and the Fox News National Headlines. I'm sure trying to keep up with just these few blogs and news feeds will keep me rather busy!
I decided to use the Google Reader to organize and subscribe to the feeds. I like that it was extremely easy to use (and the step-by-step directions were very clear). The good part of having all the news feeds on one page is the simplicity of it all! Things I might be interested in reading are all right there, together! How easy is that? It will certainly save time since different pages/sites won't have to be loaded up every time I'd like to read something.
For my professional life, RSS feeds would be useful for subscribing to blogs relative to the workplace -- having all the updated information available with a single mouse click would save a lot of time from searching for updates on other sites that are related to the workplace.
For the news feeds I added, it was super simple! I just copied the link for the Unshelved comic into the Google Reader "add a subscription" box. And for FoxNews, I found an RSS Feeds link at the bottom of the homepage, clicked that, then clicked the feed I was interested in (I chose National Headlines), clicked on the Google button, and that was that! Super simple. Now it's just a matter of remembering to read them all! :)
I decided to use the Google Reader to organize and subscribe to the feeds. I like that it was extremely easy to use (and the step-by-step directions were very clear). The good part of having all the news feeds on one page is the simplicity of it all! Things I might be interested in reading are all right there, together! How easy is that? It will certainly save time since different pages/sites won't have to be loaded up every time I'd like to read something.
For my professional life, RSS feeds would be useful for subscribing to blogs relative to the workplace -- having all the updated information available with a single mouse click would save a lot of time from searching for updates on other sites that are related to the workplace.
For the news feeds I added, it was super simple! I just copied the link for the Unshelved comic into the Google Reader "add a subscription" box. And for FoxNews, I found an RSS Feeds link at the bottom of the homepage, clicked that, then clicked the feed I was interested in (I chose National Headlines), clicked on the Google button, and that was that! Super simple. Now it's just a matter of remembering to read them all! :)
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Thing 3
Thing 3 deals with searching Technorati.com and another blog search engine using the same search terms and comparing results. For my second blog search engine, I used Google Blog Search. An initial comparison of the two engines makes me favor Google over Technorati. The layout and user interface are much cleaner on Google, and the ads that are present on Technorati really distract from the overall look of the page. I felt that Technorati looked like a much cheaper site, maybe even bordering on spammy. Google's site was more professional and clean, and I preferred it based on initial impression.
I searched for "board games" in both engines. Technorati returned 251 results in blogs and 153 results in posts. Google Blog search returned over 1 million. Wow. WOW! What a huge difference. I wonder what accounts for such a gigantic variance in the result numbers between the two search engines. I liked the way the results were returned on both sites. Technorati showed a screenshot of each blog next to a short sentence from the blog. Google showed a typical Google results listing of text with a headline linked above a snippet of the actual blog entry. The included images on the Technorati search were appealing, though I am still drawn to the clean page on Google. Maybe I'm just biased since Google is my main search engine of choice in everyday life. Yes, I find something I like and stick with it although in this case it would probably be good to venture out and see what other search engines have to offer...
Features of Google Blog Search that I like: ability to arrange/filter results by last update and the advanced blog search and preference options to really pinpoint what you're looking for. I find myself extremely turned off and distracted by the ads on the Technorati site almost to the point that I don't even want to explore it anymore.
I suppose one of the positive aspects of Technorati, as far as the results go, is that fewer results means less time spent going through them all to really find what you're looking for. A million results for "board games" on Google Blog Search is definitely overwhelming to say the least while 251 is a much more manageable number. Overall, however, Google Blog Search gets my vote for the best of the two based on its cleaner look and interface. For anyone familiar with Google, the Blog Search page looks quite similar, and that brings a sense of comfort and reliability without the distracting ads and colors used by Technorati.
I searched for "board games" in both engines. Technorati returned 251 results in blogs and 153 results in posts. Google Blog search returned over 1 million. Wow. WOW! What a huge difference. I wonder what accounts for such a gigantic variance in the result numbers between the two search engines. I liked the way the results were returned on both sites. Technorati showed a screenshot of each blog next to a short sentence from the blog. Google showed a typical Google results listing of text with a headline linked above a snippet of the actual blog entry. The included images on the Technorati search were appealing, though I am still drawn to the clean page on Google. Maybe I'm just biased since Google is my main search engine of choice in everyday life. Yes, I find something I like and stick with it although in this case it would probably be good to venture out and see what other search engines have to offer...
Features of Google Blog Search that I like: ability to arrange/filter results by last update and the advanced blog search and preference options to really pinpoint what you're looking for. I find myself extremely turned off and distracted by the ads on the Technorati site almost to the point that I don't even want to explore it anymore.
I suppose one of the positive aspects of Technorati, as far as the results go, is that fewer results means less time spent going through them all to really find what you're looking for. A million results for "board games" on Google Blog Search is definitely overwhelming to say the least while 251 is a much more manageable number. Overall, however, Google Blog Search gets my vote for the best of the two based on its cleaner look and interface. For anyone familiar with Google, the Blog Search page looks quite similar, and that brings a sense of comfort and reliability without the distracting ads and colors used by Technorati.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Thing 2
* Why are you participating in 23 Things @ NEFLIN? What do you hope to learn?
I am participating in 23 Things as a requirement for my LIS 635 Reference course. By completing the 23 Things, I hope to learn more information about Library 2.0 as well as additional tips and examples of ways to incorporate L2 techniques and changes into my professional career.
* How has the Internet and the vast resource it can be affected your use of time at work and/or at home?
When I first used the Internet in 1996, I was simply amazed at the wonder if it all. How incredible and unbelievable it was when my brother and I first "chatted" together for a few minutes with someone from Oregon! I didn't believe my brother when he said we were actually typing to someone who lived halfway across the country and that that person was instantly receiving our messages and responding to them. But it turns out he wasn't kidding, and thanks to the wonder of the Internet, I've since made some real-life (not just online) friends in many states across the country.
Nowadays, with the endless amounts of information and websites available online, I feel almost overwhelmed when searching for information on specific topics of interest. The public web is overwrought with information -- some good, some bad -- and every now and then I feel as though I'm drowning in a sea of websites and conflicting "facts."
That's certainly not to say the Internet doesn't serve an incredible purpose for me, both at home and at work. I use it on an almost-daily basis, for even on days when I'm too busy to actually surf the web or log into Facebook or my other daily sites, I still check my personal email, whether on my work computer, my personal laptop, or my cell phone. It's amazing how the Internet has completely changed my personal habits and routines. When I first moved into my townhouse, I went without my own Internet connection for several months, during which time I used unreliable unprotected network signals that my laptop picked up (and usually dropped after several minutes). I felt slightly lost, but at the same time, I found other ways to manage my time -- books! :-)
At work, I use the internet daily, for tasks that include such things as checking email and looking up information for storytimes and additional programs, and using our book vendors' websites to look up book information and reviews when doing collection development (including both ordering and weeding). And, of course, I use the Internet when working the service desk -- aside from our online card catalog, Amazon is extremely helpful for looking up books for patrons, and I make use of websites that list information on series books and databases for kids who need information for class reports.
The Internet has certainly changed the way I (and probably the vast majority of people who have regular access to it) use and spend my time and the way I look up information. Overwhelming? Certainly! But useful all the while.
* Where are you in your knowledge and use of Web 2.0 tools? How about your library?
I completed an online workshop last year on Web 2.0 tools, and it was interesting seeing the various kinds of resources available that could benefit libraries. My children's department at work has a Facebook page and a blog. The library as a whole has a Twitter account. I would love to have some kind of additional photo-sharing account (such as Flickr) for not just posting photos from programs, but for marketing parts of the library that people might not know about. We have a rather large collection of quilting books. How many people really know about all these great resources? What about our Playaways? Our private study rooms? It would be nice to have a Flickr account, or some other such means of sharing photos to highlight these areas and resources that we offer to our patrons. Within the last few years, we started creating videos to show at the schools when we make our yearly visits in May to promote our youth summer reading program, and we now have a YouTube account to which we post these videos.
So, while I'm quite familiar with using some of these well-known and common resources, it was interesting to learn about other resources in the Web 2.0 workshop last year. The point of the workshop was to familiarize its participants with different forms of Web 2.0 tools available for use on the professional level, and while I played around with many of them as requirements for the course, very few additional ones, aside from the ones mentioned above, actually stuck with me. Though I'm sure with additional practice and use of the other sources, my coworkers (and other library staff) and I would find more use for them.
I am participating in 23 Things as a requirement for my LIS 635 Reference course. By completing the 23 Things, I hope to learn more information about Library 2.0 as well as additional tips and examples of ways to incorporate L2 techniques and changes into my professional career.
* How has the Internet and the vast resource it can be affected your use of time at work and/or at home?
When I first used the Internet in 1996, I was simply amazed at the wonder if it all. How incredible and unbelievable it was when my brother and I first "chatted" together for a few minutes with someone from Oregon! I didn't believe my brother when he said we were actually typing to someone who lived halfway across the country and that that person was instantly receiving our messages and responding to them. But it turns out he wasn't kidding, and thanks to the wonder of the Internet, I've since made some real-life (not just online) friends in many states across the country.
Nowadays, with the endless amounts of information and websites available online, I feel almost overwhelmed when searching for information on specific topics of interest. The public web is overwrought with information -- some good, some bad -- and every now and then I feel as though I'm drowning in a sea of websites and conflicting "facts."
That's certainly not to say the Internet doesn't serve an incredible purpose for me, both at home and at work. I use it on an almost-daily basis, for even on days when I'm too busy to actually surf the web or log into Facebook or my other daily sites, I still check my personal email, whether on my work computer, my personal laptop, or my cell phone. It's amazing how the Internet has completely changed my personal habits and routines. When I first moved into my townhouse, I went without my own Internet connection for several months, during which time I used unreliable unprotected network signals that my laptop picked up (and usually dropped after several minutes). I felt slightly lost, but at the same time, I found other ways to manage my time -- books! :-)
At work, I use the internet daily, for tasks that include such things as checking email and looking up information for storytimes and additional programs, and using our book vendors' websites to look up book information and reviews when doing collection development (including both ordering and weeding). And, of course, I use the Internet when working the service desk -- aside from our online card catalog, Amazon is extremely helpful for looking up books for patrons, and I make use of websites that list information on series books and databases for kids who need information for class reports.
The Internet has certainly changed the way I (and probably the vast majority of people who have regular access to it) use and spend my time and the way I look up information. Overwhelming? Certainly! But useful all the while.
* Where are you in your knowledge and use of Web 2.0 tools? How about your library?
I completed an online workshop last year on Web 2.0 tools, and it was interesting seeing the various kinds of resources available that could benefit libraries. My children's department at work has a Facebook page and a blog. The library as a whole has a Twitter account. I would love to have some kind of additional photo-sharing account (such as Flickr) for not just posting photos from programs, but for marketing parts of the library that people might not know about. We have a rather large collection of quilting books. How many people really know about all these great resources? What about our Playaways? Our private study rooms? It would be nice to have a Flickr account, or some other such means of sharing photos to highlight these areas and resources that we offer to our patrons. Within the last few years, we started creating videos to show at the schools when we make our yearly visits in May to promote our youth summer reading program, and we now have a YouTube account to which we post these videos.
So, while I'm quite familiar with using some of these well-known and common resources, it was interesting to learn about other resources in the Web 2.0 workshop last year. The point of the workshop was to familiarize its participants with different forms of Web 2.0 tools available for use on the professional level, and while I played around with many of them as requirements for the course, very few additional ones, aside from the ones mentioned above, actually stuck with me. Though I'm sure with additional practice and use of the other sources, my coworkers (and other library staff) and I would find more use for them.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Thing 1
First post in yet another blog, this one for LIS 635 as I work to complete my "23 Things" blog requirements for the course. Thing 1 suggested that I make a simple post in the new blog, so here goes nothing. Setting up this blog was simple, as I've had blogs for two other classes. I'm also able to post to one for the children's department at work, but I keep forgetting to contribute to that one - thank goodness for team blogging although it makes me feel guilty that my coworker's been doing all the work for that one these last couple weeks (sorry, Cari!).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)