oh, delicious!! yum yum!!

this is one of the sites that i really like and can see some useful applications for, however i never really use my account or get around to setting one up for my frequently used reference links. oh well.

i like the portability factor. and often i will save something and remember one or two of the keywords. del.icio.us would make it easy to find it! del.icio.us could also be used an index for any training tools or documents, internal staff information. links would be easily organized and sortable using tags they are provided.

i enjoy clicking along from link to link to profile to see who else has tagged the same thing i have, and what else they have tagged.

ferguson wiki

this exercise was interesting from the other side. i had set up the wiki, created a few of the sample pages, and otherwise watched as people added information to the wiki.

as this group is filled with high achievers, some had created new pages, but grew frustrated when they were not appearing on the main page of the wiki. i quickly understood that a link had to be made to the new page, but i can understand that this isn't immediately clear. if you scroll down and look at the bottom of the page, you should see a link for show all pages. and this will shoe all the wiki pages that have been created. say you want to link to the newly created page, first edit the main page, type in the text and click on the link button. all the wiki pages are automatically populated and can be linked in just two seconds.

a bit tricky at first, but give it a shot... see if you can get it. and as i tell folks all the time, i know what i know from playing!

wild world of wikis

So I forgot to define wiki for the Learning 2.0 participants! I am not at all surprised that this group of librarians sought out the meaning on their own. Kudos to you high achievers.

whoa! what a wacky world!

okay. i might be running out of ws. i am a fan of the library success wiki and i use this tool quite frequently. i use it for ideas for services and implementation of things, as well as to catch up on what libraries are doing. it is a great way of putting yourself out there and sharing the great things you have been doing.

a new wiki i learned about is the library instruction wiki, a tool i am sure to use in the future. i am not a fan of reinventing the wheel and pick up great ideas from here and there. wikis are great tools that people can use for sharing and editing documents, internally and externally.
i use a wiki for my class instruction. it is an easy quick way to update pages and content, and then it is accessible to the public.

library = beta

I talk about Library 2.0 all the time. Heck, I am trying to create a Library 2.0 environment here. Having read some of the blog posts from IL 2007,my mantra has become Library 2.0 is user centered, not technology centered. Not only are we meeting our users in the spaces they inhabit (which could be Facebook or the local senior center), we are providing services that they are requesting. I think sometimes (and this is something I am interested in) is anticipating needs. For example, libraries started offering wifi before the trend caught on! Now even McDs has wifi! This service was available before the public could request it in droves. I went to a workshop at a library a few weeks ago and was shocked to learn they didn't have wifi. Perhaps there isn't a need within their community for wireless access. I see many business people using our wireless during the day, perhaps out of town visitors.

I also like to think of Library 2.0 in the backend of library services. There are many applications for staff use, such as podcasting staff meetings (which always are scheduled on my days off or mornings off), guest lectures, training sessions, etc. I am excited to see that wikis are being used to collect feedback on documents and share information with others.

I came into librarianship with the spirit of a constant beta, and do not accept traditionas a valid reason for continuing a service. As librarians, educators of a community we are to be evaluating, changing, evolving our services. Sometimes to adapt to the needs of our users, and sometimes out of a need. I think there is this fear of the technology, as it might render our positions useless in due time. Wasn't this the same argument for online catalogs? Is there a changing information culture? Oh yes, and we are part of it. We are in a unique position to understand how information needs exist in a rapidly changing world and witness the digital divide increasing.

Oh oh oh oh oh... LibraryThing!!

Sung to the tune of I will Survive...

at first i was afraid, i was overwhelmed
thinking 'bout how i could organize my library at home
but i spent many a saturday night alone trying to catalog
but i went online, and learned how to librarything

and so you see, you can too
organize your collection out of a zoo
i should've signed up many years ago, and saved myself some time
and so now i am going to sign up for a lifetime subscription....

- - - -

Song and dance aside, I really dig librarything. I have been using it for a while now, both personally and professionally. For my tech blog, I use librarything as a way of promoting some of the new computer book titles. It is very easy for me to add the titles and the little widget automatically updates. And who doesn't like to look at the covers, right?
One thing I struggle with is the updating my librarything. In the past few years, I have cut down on my book buying. I tend to buy more art books and coffee table books rather than the latest nonfiction. I try to use it as a tool for books that I would like to read, but sometimes that is a lost cause...

- - - -

Rollyo, not a fan

I found rollyo (which I thought was pronounced rolly-o) two thumbs down. I had to play with it when writing the learning 2.0 exercises and wanted to throw it against the floor, as if it was a consumer good in impossible packaging. I attempted to add the search bar to my blog, and it just does not look pretty. A few of my fellow L2 participants found it to be easy as pie and quick (so we can get the heck out of dodge to someplace warm).

So, I decided to make a technology themed blog entry. Helpful when I am looking for a blog entry I am trying to recall, or something on a specific topic. I enter in my websites, and say 'create' and then I am taken to a screen that looks exactly like the screen I saw before I started. Upon closer inspection, I realize that my newly created search engine is there, in tiny print. So easy you could miss it, and let me tell you, I did. And then the results took for-ever... I am STILL waiting.

I will have to visit Rollyo sometime in the future. For now, I will leave it. And guess what? Thats okay! I don't have to love every tool we learn about, and certainly wouldn't be able to find an application for each one. And thats okay! Library 2.0 is about responding for patron needs, not using all the myriad bits of technology that come along.

We Tube! You Tube!

Ooh, YouTube. Many a evenings have been spent exploring your offerings, laughing at the content, amazed at what people will share. I am so glad you were not around when I was in college; I would not have gotten a thing done.

However, I am adult now and much better at time management. There are lots of great videos on youtube related to libraries. Some possible applications: updates on renovation projects, or a monthly newsletter with book reviews and clips from programs, author talks and story times, tutorials for using databases, library tours, marketings and recruiting... and on and on!

I really like this video. It is a great little overview about web 2.0. And it was created by an anthropology department! So cool!