What are Library Thing and GoodReads good for? Helping find "read-a-likes." You can see who's reading what and then see what else they are reading and enjoying. It's a great discovery tool. I think that's where the most benefit would be for libraries who use Library Thing. It would be to help steer readers toward more books they might like.
I do think it's neat that Library Thing wants to work with libraries, but I think it's pretty questionable to input a ton of time and trust into what is basically a vendor who might or might not have staying power and/or library interests at heart. It's just something for libraries to think about (especially considering I keep reading about how small libraries should use Library Thing for a catalog.) If a library used Library Thing, would that data be exportable or in any way useful outside of the Library Thing website construct? MARC records move between catalogs pretty smoothly really. What about Library Thing entries?
p.s. you can view my GoodReads list here. I haven't updated it in a while - who has time to read while working and going to grad school?
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Task 13 - Personal productivitiy tools
Now these are some products I can get behind! I remember reading about Backpack when it was first coming out. I think services like that; things that handle many different kinds of calendars, tasks, to do lists, budgets, etc. are incredible. Many of these sites 23 things has us look at (My Yahoo, iGoogle) make use of widgets. Widgets are part of why a website I recently designed uses Wordpress. I can find a Wordpress widget for pretty much anything I want to do. And I don't have to speak code. And widgets look neat. And do cool stuff. :)
I remember when some people who shall remain nameless weren't supposed to go to gmail and check their email while at work. However, they all just set up iGoogle pages and set their email up as one of the little widgets and presto - they'd worked around the block. (p.s. this is what every high school kid in the world does with school - and probably library - internet filters. They work around. They aren't dumb.)
Again, I seem stuck in rut of believeing these sites would mostly be helpful for staff, but not so much for the public at large. However, you could set up a really library centric customized iGoogle page or the like and have it be the homepage for each public computer (maybe?). It would be a neat way to organize important stuff and send people in whatever direction they need to go on the web.
The 23 Things blog mentions PDF creation software. I use this ALL OF THE TIME to turn MS Publisher files into something everone else can read. I also posted up some library policies in PDF form because, believe it or not, not everyone has Word so posting them up in an exclusively Microsoft Word accessible format seemed icky. ANYWAY, I was really thrilled to find that the new MS Office 2007 products have a built in PDF creator. Now if only my workplace was operating Office 2007...instead of Office 2000. Ouch.
p.s. I run Windows Vista on my home computer. It has the cutest little desktop sidebar ever and it includes a tiny little yellow sticky note right there on the desktop that I can type on. It makes me extraordinarily happy. The only downside? I never close my Firefox and Word windows, so I rarely to never see my desktop...oops!
I remember when some people who shall remain nameless weren't supposed to go to gmail and check their email while at work. However, they all just set up iGoogle pages and set their email up as one of the little widgets and presto - they'd worked around the block. (p.s. this is what every high school kid in the world does with school - and probably library - internet filters. They work around. They aren't dumb.)
Again, I seem stuck in rut of believeing these sites would mostly be helpful for staff, but not so much for the public at large. However, you could set up a really library centric customized iGoogle page or the like and have it be the homepage for each public computer (maybe?). It would be a neat way to organize important stuff and send people in whatever direction they need to go on the web.
The 23 Things blog mentions PDF creation software. I use this ALL OF THE TIME to turn MS Publisher files into something everone else can read. I also posted up some library policies in PDF form because, believe it or not, not everyone has Word so posting them up in an exclusively Microsoft Word accessible format seemed icky. ANYWAY, I was really thrilled to find that the new MS Office 2007 products have a built in PDF creator. Now if only my workplace was operating Office 2007...instead of Office 2000. Ouch.
p.s. I run Windows Vista on my home computer. It has the cutest little desktop sidebar ever and it includes a tiny little yellow sticky note right there on the desktop that I can type on. It makes me extraordinarily happy. The only downside? I never close my Firefox and Word windows, so I rarely to never see my desktop...oops!
Task 12 - Digg, etc.
Digg is really just a giant water cooler discussion. People who surf the internet for news and entertainment can use Digg to make sure they are knowledgable about the same information that the other web surfers are chatting about. It's like a popularity contest for news/info.
Why should the library care? Because if masses of people are talking about a subject, someone's bound to come into the library with a request for more info about it or to look up something related to it. It's a librarian's job to know what's happening day to day and to be prepared to field questions/requests related to the news of the day (week, etc.)
Digg and things like it make it really easy to see what the internet world is interested in. However, it's important to remember that a large segment of your library population probably is not busy surfing the web for water-cooler conversation; Digg and the like are not necessarily entirely representative of your actual library population.
Why should the library care? Because if masses of people are talking about a subject, someone's bound to come into the library with a request for more info about it or to look up something related to it. It's a librarian's job to know what's happening day to day and to be prepared to field questions/requests related to the news of the day (week, etc.)
Digg and things like it make it really easy to see what the internet world is interested in. However, it's important to remember that a large segment of your library population probably is not busy surfing the web for water-cooler conversation; Digg and the like are not necessarily entirely representative of your actual library population.
Task 11 - Tagging & Del.icio.us
Maybe I'm just a grumpy-grump, but I actually don't think Del.icio.us is really THAT helpful when libraries are trying to serve their populations. I do think it's super handy for staff to use to keep track of their links on their own computers.
It is a great thing to tell your patrons about (because, let's face it, most of the folks using a public library computer don't have the luxury of a computer at home). You could show them Del.icio.us and they could log in every time and have their "bookmarks" there for them. They don't usually get to use a "bookmarks" type set up on a public computer.
I used del.icio.us for about a second and a half. Then I just went back to my RSS feeds and browser favorites.
p.s. Tags are strange. I think because I've used libraries for so long, the lack of standards is hard for me. Should tags be singular? Plural? broad? specific? I think the concept is good, but it actually stresses me out to pick tags for pictures/blog posts/etc.
It is a great thing to tell your patrons about (because, let's face it, most of the folks using a public library computer don't have the luxury of a computer at home). You could show them Del.icio.us and they could log in every time and have their "bookmarks" there for them. They don't usually get to use a "bookmarks" type set up on a public computer.
I used del.icio.us for about a second and a half. Then I just went back to my RSS feeds and browser favorites.
p.s. Tags are strange. I think because I've used libraries for so long, the lack of standards is hard for me. Should tags be singular? Plural? broad? specific? I think the concept is good, but it actually stresses me out to pick tags for pictures/blog posts/etc.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Task 10 - Wikis
Wikis are cool. Shhhhh...don't tell anyone...but one of the first places I go to learn about something new is Wikipedia. I go there, learn some of the lingo about any given topic, and then can go out and find "good" resources for "real" research.
I am proud to say I'm a small, infrequent contributor to the Library Success wiki (find it at www.libsuccess.org) It's fun stuff. I love practical, real world advice about libraries. For the purpose of 23 Things, I logged in and edited one small piece of info on the "Weeding Library collections" page.
One of the things I wish existed (either at libsuccess.org or somewhere else) is a giant clearinghouse of library policies. I have a project coming up this semester where I have to contribute to a library wiki....maybe that's a starting point!
I don't think every single library in the world needs a wiki. However, they are VERY powerful tools. Another project idea: (and some places have things that approximate this) is a town history wiki that includes historical information about buildings in town organized by address. (the Davis, CA wiki has something like I'm imagining at http://daviswiki.org/Historic_Places) It would be useful for homeowners, homebuyers, historians, real estate agents, city officials, etc. Right now you have to dig through dusty old city directories in the archives to find out who lived at your address before you. If (you or) someone entered info into the homes wiki, it would be there for the world to see! People could post up information about the address at which they grew up, or the address they live in now. It would be a sort of big knowledge managment project regarding home history.
So that's my dream. BIG project - but harnessing the power of an entire townspeople could certainly make it (or some version of it) a reality!
I am proud to say I'm a small, infrequent contributor to the Library Success wiki (find it at www.libsuccess.org) It's fun stuff. I love practical, real world advice about libraries. For the purpose of 23 Things, I logged in and edited one small piece of info on the "Weeding Library collections" page.
One of the things I wish existed (either at libsuccess.org or somewhere else) is a giant clearinghouse of library policies. I have a project coming up this semester where I have to contribute to a library wiki....maybe that's a starting point!
I don't think every single library in the world needs a wiki. However, they are VERY powerful tools. Another project idea: (and some places have things that approximate this) is a town history wiki that includes historical information about buildings in town organized by address. (the Davis, CA wiki has something like I'm imagining at http://daviswiki.org/Historic_Places) It would be useful for homeowners, homebuyers, historians, real estate agents, city officials, etc. Right now you have to dig through dusty old city directories in the archives to find out who lived at your address before you. If (you or) someone entered info into the homes wiki, it would be there for the world to see! People could post up information about the address at which they grew up, or the address they live in now. It would be a sort of big knowledge managment project regarding home history.
So that's my dream. BIG project - but harnessing the power of an entire townspeople could certainly make it (or some version of it) a reality!
Task 9 - Collaboration!
I've used Google docs to help make group papers and assignments work in school. However, the most use I got out of collaborative or shared documents was when I was trying to put together a guest list for my wedding; I was able to share the spreadsheet with names and addresses with various family members and collect all kinds of contact information. It was great.
In honor of that, you can click here to see a really horrid list of music we considered using at our wedding. (What's funny is we ended up playing no music at all at our wedding...but I enjoyed making the list of terrible lovey songs anyway!) Click here for the Google Doc published as a webpage.
Google Docs vs. Zoho - Zoho seems more like Office 2007 with it's tabbed menu setup. It just looks smoother. I know from experience that trying to use Google Docs for the editing and then switching the document to MS Word can be challenging. It appears that Zoho's exporting process is much easier and user friendly. It was pretty intuitive.
I think Google Docs and the like are FANTASTIC for the workplace. I think about the tiresome task of emailing different versions of documents back and forth. It's crazy! I can't think of an application right off the bat that would apply to patrons, but I'm sure there are some. It would be great if you were doing a newsletter or something that community members regularly contributed to. They could log right into a shared document and post up this month's contribution, etc.
I guess the negative side to all of this collaborative-ness is that you could end up working with a sour apple who wreaks havoc on your work (intentionally or otherwise). That would be bad.
In honor of that, you can click here to see a really horrid list of music we considered using at our wedding. (What's funny is we ended up playing no music at all at our wedding...but I enjoyed making the list of terrible lovey songs anyway!) Click here for the Google Doc published as a webpage.
Google Docs vs. Zoho - Zoho seems more like Office 2007 with it's tabbed menu setup. It just looks smoother. I know from experience that trying to use Google Docs for the editing and then switching the document to MS Word can be challenging. It appears that Zoho's exporting process is much easier and user friendly. It was pretty intuitive.
I think Google Docs and the like are FANTASTIC for the workplace. I think about the tiresome task of emailing different versions of documents back and forth. It's crazy! I can't think of an application right off the bat that would apply to patrons, but I'm sure there are some. It would be great if you were doing a newsletter or something that community members regularly contributed to. They could log right into a shared document and post up this month's contribution, etc.
I guess the negative side to all of this collaborative-ness is that you could end up working with a sour apple who wreaks havoc on your work (intentionally or otherwise). That would be bad.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Task 8 - Sharing photos
Here I am trying out a slide show! These pics are from my trip to TX/NM over Memorial Day weekend.
The library website implications are huge. Think how this could jazz up your site. It could even profile new things/events/areas in your library.
The library website implications are huge. Think how this could jazz up your site. It could even profile new things/events/areas in your library.
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