Monday, July 30, 2007

Week 9, Thing 20

The only music video I know of that's filmed in library (I think).
YouTube is all the rage right now and I don't see why libraries shouldn't jump in too. Post a video tour of the library, post 30 seconds of a library story-time, it seems like a great way to advertise the library and it's much more exciting than a brochure or powerpoint presentation.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Week 8, Thing 19

Web 2.0 Awards - www.pandora.com

Pandora is automated music recommendation service created by the Music Genome Project.

This is the coolest thing!! I typed in Prefab Sprout and the next thing they played was Elvis Costello's Little Fool and then Morrissey's Kill Uncle -- and then the Beautiful South. I am so hooked on this. (Haven't heard some of these songs in years!) Try it, you'll like it!

Thing 18, con't.

Here are 10 Ways NonProfits Can Use Blogs:

(List taken from http://www.netsquared.org/blog/britt-bravo/10-ways-nonprofits-can-use-blogs)

1. To report back from an event or conference.

2. To involve staff and take advantage of their knowledge.

3. To involve volunteers and document their work.

4. To provide resources and information to constituents.

5. To provide resources and information from constituents.

6. To give constituents a place to voice their opinion.

7. To give constituents support.

8. To create the media coverage constituents want.

9. To give constituents the power and tools to create change.

10. To reach potential donors.

***I think this list can be applied to libraries as well.

Libraries can use blogs:

1. To report back from a training or conference.

2. To involve staff and take advantage of their knowledge (Wicomico's programming blog is a great example - staff can bounce ideas of each other!)

3. To involve volunteers - by providing a blog just for volunteers, library staff can keep them informed of changes in the library (if the CDs have been moved), holiday closings, special events etc.

4. To provide resources and information to staff - library personnel can blog about their favorite reference websites or great reads to tweens

5. To provide resources and information to patrons - a special blog just for teens would be a good way to get them involved at their library

6. To give patrons a place to voice their opinion - allow teens to blog about their favorite books!

7. To give staff support - a private blog for staff can help share good news stories!

8. To create media coverage - a public blog can help advertise special events and share photos of past events

9. To give patrons the power and tools to create change - patrons can list comments about special events

10. To reach potential donors - share with donors the "library's story" and show them that libraries are on the cutting edge of technology

Week 18, Thing 18

Hmmm...I really like GoogleDocs! The uses seem similar to a wiki being able to work collaboratively. I was able to publish a document to my blog - took me a little while to figure out how to do that. I can see this kind of thing being used to for committees to create meeting agendas and for staff to work together on a brochure of flier.

Monday, July 23, 2007

Week 7, Thing 17

Ok, it looks like my blog has been posted to the MarylandLibrariesSandbox. Wasn't too hard to add it. I know I need some more practice, but I think wikis have some useful applications. I think the more specific you make the wiki - the better outcome you'll have.

I remember reading that Penguin books starting a wiki - A Million Penguins - in an attempt for a community to write a novel. Neat idea, but that's a pretty broad concept. Wikis definitely need to stay focused - so appointing a wiki moderator (similar to a meeting moderator) might be a solution.

Week 7, Thing 16

Check out this video, "Wikis in Plain English" for more info on what wikis are and how they are used. I think wikis are neat way to gather input from people - esp. in terms of major projects that require lots of planning. Setting up a wiki for strategic planning or summer reading planning might be a good way to generate lots of ideas and discussion - without having to hold a meeting!

Library Success: a best practices wiki is a neat resource - some of the categories are more detailed than others, but it's definitely worth a look. I came across an interesting document "The Angry Customer" from the Memphis Public Library.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Week 6, Thing 15

I am excited about the ways Library 2.0 expands services to patrons. I think many patrons would be interested in setting up their own Library Thing account and wanting to learn how to post their photos to Flickr. These tools can also be used to attract new patrons too - think about students who prefer chat reference to visiting the reference desk.

I especially appreciate what Michael Stephens writes in his piece Into a New World of Librarianship:

"Technology is put to the test: Does it meet the users need in a new or improved way? Does it create a useful service for putting users together with the information and experience they seek? These are some of the questions this librarian asks when planning for technology. This librarian creates and nurtures a living, breathing technology plan."

But librarians have always asked those questions - whether it be about technology or collection development or programming or library outreach. So, I think we're in good shape to face Library 2.0 and Library 3.0, 4.0... :-)

Week 6, Thing 14

Although I had heard a lot about technorati before, this is the first time I've really used it. Not sure if I understand its importance - but the search results I found weren't that helpful. I need to look into this more...

Week 6, Thing 13

Del.icio.us seems like a great tool for reference staff to use. Since the reference desk may have more than one computer, staff can still access their favorite reference websites by using del.icio.us. Del.icio.us is also a great tool to tell students about too (if they don't know already!). Most students prefer to research online and del.icio.us can help them track the websites they've used - which will make writing those bibliographies a lot easier.

One thing I don't want people to forget that just because a website has been tagged by a number of users doesn't automatically make that website the best source out there. A lot of people are using these social bookmarking sites to increase the activity/traffic on their own websites by adding tags, etc. That way their website has a better chance of being found on a Google search.

Friday, July 6, 2007

Is Web 2.0 all its cracked up to be?

Andrew Keen doesn't think so. I haven't read his book "The Cult of the Amateur" yet - but check out this review from NY Times.

Week 5, con't.


Amy from WICO blogged about a South Park Generator, so I had to make one too!

Week 5, Thing 12

Here is my Rollyo list. I think this could be useful to put together some good websites for children/students to search without having them run into inappropriate sites. Or, maybe a great list of websites for local research. I can forsee lots of uses with this tool as well.

Google has a similar feature available - it's called "customized search engines." There is a directory of CSEs available as well.

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Week 5, Thing 11

LibraryThing is so fun! I can see so many uses for this - individual libraries can have an online "staff picks" list, teachers could use it too for their individual class book lists or for their summer reading book lists. Lots of potential here. This is a list of my favorite books I've read over the past few years:

Week 5, Thing 10

My yahoo avatar:
Yahoo! Avatars U.K. & Ireland

Week 4, Thing 9


Merlin is a great resource for MD libraries. I love that it has a state-wide training calendar! Just in case you haven't had a chance to see the website: http://merlin.lib.md.us/.








Now that I know the icons to look for, I think locating the the website address will be easy. With the astounding number of new blogs created each day, it's good to know that they are some search tools out there! I personally liked topix.net the best.








Week 4, Thing 8

First off I have to admit I do not have much experience with RSS feeds and appreciated the "RSS Feeds in Plain English" video! The feeds I subscribed to are work-related, so I am curious to see if the information I am getting will be useful for my job. I do worry about information-overload!

The Cincinnati Library has RSS feeds available for library news, library jobs, teens, kids - and more - http://www.cincinnatilibrary.org/feeds/. So does the Library of Congress, http://www.loc.gov/rss/. It would be interesting to see how many people subscribe to those feeds.

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Week 3, Thing 7

Hmmm, technology related post...I'm still waiting for someone to invent the transporter, so I could go anywhere in a blink of an eye. The Jetsons really spoiled me - I thought we'd have flying cars and robot maids by now!

Back to reality - the technology I really use the most is my webmail. I know that's not very exciting, but I love being able to check my email from any computer, at any time. The only problem I have with my webmail is that it's hard for me to send large emails - something like a powerpoint presentation or .wmv file. In those cases I use something called Mega Upload (http://www.megaupload.com/) - it's a free service that lets you send files (up to 500 MB). It's helped me out on more that one occasion.

Week 3, Thing 6 con't.


My creation
Originally uploaded by jmrday
I tried to make a trading card!

Week 3, Thing 6


Indiana Jones
Originally uploaded by jmrday

This headstone can be found at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Berlin.

Still trying to figure my way around Flickr. Wondering how libraries could benefit from mash-ups? I was thinking about the summer reading theme - reading road trip. Maybe a library could create a mash-up with photos of children and their cut-out of sneaks on vacation? Although I think tweens and teens are more into this stuff. Anyways, I love exploring this!