Sunday, May 18, 2008

Wrap Up

Well, here I am at the end.

I have really enjoyed this Web 2.0 journey.I have learnt many new applications and tools, many of which I will apply in my personal life and hopefully will have the opportunity to implement in my work place as well.

Thanks to the NSWPLN Learning 2.0 team for setting all this up and giving us feedback on our blogs.

I now know more than I did 12 weeks ago and that's part of Lifelong learning.

Balatro

Social Networks - Week 12

I have heard Of Facebook and MySpace but it has never interested me personally to participate on them, let alone imagining the idea of Libraries being a part of them.

This topic has been interesting and it has given me knowledge of the uses Social Networking can have from a library perspective. Looking at Le Monde, I learnt of other Social Networking brands around the world.It was interesting to see the distribution around the world and that Australia is in sync with the US in using MySpace.

Coshocton Public Library's MySpace for their Animanga Club impressed me as it is a way of Marketing the Library's Youth services in the technology that the youth of today are accessing.It makes the library a cool and happening place. This is what I also thought of Rotorua Public library's Bebo site aimed at the teens and youths.
It was interactive as well as educational by promoting facts in a cool way.I loved the various comments left- eg "I never expected the library to have a Bebo site" so it reaches out to people in the community who may never venture inside a library in the traditional way.

Maybe this is what my library and others could do, especially if budgets are tight and resources limited is to have a virtual Youth Zone area by setting up a Social Networking site.

American Library Association’s MySpace page was very informative and I liked the way it markets itself and libraries and I saw amongst its 5000+ friends , many other libraries.

Second Life- I have actually ventured on to Second Life and while I think it's an interesting concept, I think I'd rather be in the real world and not the virtual.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Online applications and Tools - Week 11

Google Docs, Zoho , Zamzar, Slideshare and Thumbstacks - I feel I can name drop now..

Lots to look at in this lesson- these were all new to me, I had never heard of them before now. I think it's great that these applications are free and could be of great use in the library both for staff and users.

Using Google Docs or Zoho would enable me to stop what I do currently, ie send docs by e-mail shown in the Youtube video or else I save to a USB and bring to work and transfer to my work PC. It would be great for staff at different branches to utilise this application to collaborate on a document as it would be more time efficient.Zoho even has the ability to be in different languages.

It is great for me too as able to access my documents from a PC anywhere in the world.

From a customer perspective- they would not need to bring a USB to save documents on and they would then not be interested in buying one at the Library. Also we charge for using MS Word on our PC's, if this is a free application - do we charge?
Less revenue for the Library- the question is ..Do we tell them ?

Zamzar will be of use to my daughter who is forever downloading videos and music in different formats and always looking for converters. She'll be surprised her mother is au fait with Zamzar. Here I go namedropping again..

With Slideshare and Thumbstacks, I can see uses such as staff training in library software,as well as presentations by guest speakers and library promotion.They look professional and staff and customers could access any time.

I have done my document to the team at State Library using Google Doc - I hope it gets there travelling thru the ether ie the internet.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Mashups - Week 10

This weeks topic is Mashups and not of the potato kind !

It's been interesting - have visited 'London: a life in Google maps' and enjoyed the many layers that can be visited virtually. From my library's perspective, a use could be mashing a site with old historic places of interest and significance from a Local History perspective. I have looked at the Public library finder site and think that it is a great idea, as it links to the library's website and has the street address.

Keir Clarke has an interesting site with his starviewer and I have enjoyed clicking on the different galaxies around us. Quite relaxing and pondering if there is life out there !!

Have had fun making up my own Mashups with Big Huge Labs. I really love this site and the creative things we could do with it in the Library - promotional cards, calendars with library buildings and themes , historical and significant sites etc- Oh, the endless possibilities..........

Here is my MASHED POTATO !! D'OH !!




Saturday, May 3, 2008

Podcasts - Week 9

Podcasts- Enjoyed this session for selfish reasons - I have been wanting to learn about Podcasts so that I can download to my Ipod and listen to shows at my leisure, broadcasts I miss due to work.

Found the British library podcast took forever to download and this was on my home PC. Would be heaps slower on the work one !! The ABC has a good range of subjects with feeds to subscribe to.Looked at Mt Kisco Library feeds and they have an interesting range of topics including their Halloween feed and interview with a choreographer.

The possibilities for my library are author talks, children's storytime, interviews with local personalities/ people of note, how to use catalogues, HSC lectures and marketing upcoming events at the library.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Answer boards - Week 8

Love the term "Slamming the boards" and I agree it's a great way to promote ourselves out there in the community. I am inspired to have a go - many teenagers are not aware of libraries and what we can offer in terms of answering reference questions and our resources,so this is a great way to announce our presence on the sites where they hang out.

Love the tag lines and sigs on the Answer Board Librarian's Wiki.

I think there is a role in "slamming the boards" at my library.It's a great way for customers to reveal their gripes or otherwise in terms of our customer service, services and resources provided, activities and maybe even ranking the staff :)

Del.icio.us, tagging, LibraryThing and Technorati - Week 7

This week I have learnt wonderful new topics. I had previously heard of them but had not ever used them or knew what they were.

Del/icio.us- this is a great idea and very timely for me as I travel to the central library in my work and use whichever PC is vacant, however I can't bookmark my sites as I change desks and PC's each time depending on availability. I now will be setting up my sites and links for work in del.icio.us

With tagging I like the idea of it looking like a cloud, so unstructured.Have looked at Sutherland libraries tag cloud- very extensive. I like the informality of tagging and how you can personalise the tags for your own use.

LibraryThing - I can see the uses for this in the library, particularly with Reader's advisory and Bookclub.

Technorati- wonderful discovery.I like reading blogs so this is a wonderful way to search for them on particular topics of interest to me.

Friday, April 25, 2008

YouTube and Google video- Week 6

Fun, fun, fun are YouTube and Google video. Have enjoyed both and catching up with music videos from my youth. They are a wonderful way to pass the time, and the variety on them is incredible. Both are easy to use and found that on Google many are linked back to YouTube.

Discovered Mosman library has its author talks available, and this is one valuable way to use it -for marketing author talks and making it available to a wider audience.Also special events in the library can be taped and posted -Book week, Library and Information week so that the community can see what is happening in their library.

One of my favourite videos is of the "Harry Potter Puppet Pals in the Mysterious Ticking Noise". Enjoy !!



Searched on "Lego" in YouTube and found "Super Lego Mario (Level 2).Incredible to find so many new uses for Lego!!!

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Wiki's - Week 5

I have enjoyed learning about Wiki's, as I have made use of Wikipedia many times. I find the entries give me a good overview of a subject .

I have enjoyed looking at Wookiepedia and the Book Lovers Wiki at Princeton Public library. I can see the many possible uses in the library, as it is a great way to share and collaborate information on Reader's advisory, Book clubs, collection development as well as writing library policy and manuals for circulation and reference.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

RSS feeds-week 4


I have enjoyed this week's adventure with RSS feeds as it has been great to learn something new.

I am always on the internet reading the news sites and finding information everyday to find out what is happening in the world around me and now I can have it all fed to me! With RSS it's great that it is on one site.

I have enjoyed setting up my feeds on Bloglines and have started with ABC news, BBC news, Quotes of the day and Library news and was very happy to be able to set up the photo of the day from the Powerhouse museum. I have posted a picture here so that you see the photo of the day. It is the interior of the museum and is meant to show the architecture. I like the simple lines and colours

I think the possibilities are endless for libraries - it's a great way for librarians to keep up to date with information and news from around the world, also it saves time searching for the latest information if it is pushed to you instead.

From the library marketing point of view it could be used to promote author talks, new resources, holiday activities and promotions to the time poor consumer and also has the advantage of being environmentally friendly.

I can now boast I am au fait with RSS feeds to the child units.....

Balatro

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Adventures with Flickr- Week 3




Wow- Flickr is one amazing site and fairly easy to use. Thousands and thousands of photos. I have had fun browsing but as you start searching, each link leads to another and another and I find I have used up a lot of time in just looking at lots of beautiful photos. The hardest part was deciding what I wanted a photo of, to put on this blog.


The possibilities are endless for libraries as to the uses Flickr could be used for ie Local History, special events and promotional activities.


The picture I have chosen is one of a Jester.Nobody knows the person behind the mask .There is an air of mystery. I love the strong orange colours and the texture of the costume.However due to difficulties as others have stated,I have been unable to upload the picture from flickr,so have provided the link instead.



I'm really enjoying this blogging now. Really getting the hang of it now. I can talk blogging to all the kids in the library now and they'll think I'm an even cooler librarian!! Yee hah ~!!


Saturday, March 8, 2008

My first ever blog !!

Here I am - finally getting started in my journey of Web 2.0.

It has taken me a while to get started as I have found the most difficult thing so far was thinking of a name for my blog. What's in a name you say - well, I wanted it to represent me or else one of the facets of me .

This may sound silly , but if I am going to be in cyberspace I may as well have a bit of me in the name.

I am looking forward to my e-learning and have so far watched the Youtube video and Stephen Fry.

So stick with me as I continue on this journey over the next few weeks and we'll have a laugh together.

Balatro