Thursday, July 31, 2008

The End

Well it has been an experience learning to use the web 2.0 tools though I still don't know what a widget is!

Its been a lot of hard work and I hope the library does use these tools in the future to take advantage of all this knowledge we have gained.

Thanks for all the support along the way from staff at SLNSW and this is goodbye.

Social networks

I have heard of Facebook and MySpace briefly but I have never been invited to join but I would be a good way for the clients to get to know each other and hear about new events happening in the library.

There could also be video clips of upcoming events used for marketing on the MySpace or Facebook page for the library and a forum for discussion about things happening in the library.

Photos of events could also be added to the page.

Having a Facebook or MySpace page means we could network with the community and get our the message out there.

I have seen Second Life on tv now and again and I'm amazed there are libraries in this 3-D world! It would be great if there were librarian avatars working in these libraries answering questions! I wonder if that will happen or already has!

I think Second Life Library Project is a great way for libraries to market their collections and upcoming events and train avatars along the way.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Google docs and others

Google docs is easy and great to use and its free especially if you don't have any other word processing facilities on your computer you are using. This is the case in the Library and the clients seem to be OK about using Google docs for their word processing needs.

They could be useful for the clients to use if we don't have any equivalent on our E-Resource computers in the Reading Rooms. I know there is also a spreadsheet online application which clients can use as well that can be helpful.

I haven't been very involved in any other online applications in my work but Google docs would be good if creating a new procedure for example and you wanted input from different members of your team about it or a Co-ordinator's opinion before it is completed.

If you were creating a presentation for staff or clients, some of these online applications would be very helpful and look good too such as Slideshare and Google docs.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Mashups

Mashups were fun and it would be great if we could create them for our new website to advertise events or exhibitions using big huge labs.

We could make this technology available for our clients to use as well to create posters and other options in the big huge labs

We could also use the mapping program and flickr to indicate important buildings like the Land Titles Office and other libraries in our vicinity such as Customs House Library.

Well, another week done and two to go and then its all over.

Mashups

Monday, July 21, 2008

Podcasts

Well I seen a few podcasts now and its great when you listen to them because the screens are very psychedelic! The ones from OCLS Podcasts were a good example!

The ABC was good as it was all under subject headings and then podcasts. The best was history.

Denver Public Library was great as I found an interview with Harry and The Potters but they were a band not the cast members of the Harry Potter movies. Oh well. I was a bit too hopeful!

Anyway I checked out Books quick and simple and listened to White giraffe which was a book review, Moraine Valley commmunity college with an introduction to their college and Worthington libraries : programs to go which was good as it had summer reading and programs for adults to do like career courses.

Podcasting could be used for book reviews, new exhibitions, introductions to the library and staff orientation to name a few that the library could use them for.

I did find the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes using Google which were several podcasts of the different stories which make up this book which was very good.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Answer boards

Answer boards is similiar to Askalibrarian and I think its a great service provided by the librarians involved.

In explemplary annswers section it was amazing the variety of questions asked by the public. My favourite was "a good book about marine animal" and it was rated 3 stars and it was very thorough answer and easy to follow.

"Librarians the ultimate search engines" is my favourite signature and there are also a lot of websites given for clients to find their local library so they can ask a librarian in person what their question is.

"Slamming the boards" would be great for our library where clients could come to ask questions and rate our answers and choose the best answer though this is a little bit like Askalibrarian

Monday, July 14, 2008

LibraryThing - my thoughts

I looked at our LibraryThing account and its great that you can see the covers of the books listed so you know what they look like if you are searching for that particular book

The list gives you all the information you need about the book and who is sharing these books with us

After I created an account I added five of my favourite books and the ones I'm reading now and then using the instructions in the website I added a widget to my blog and a search box too for good measure whatever a widget is!

Its great to be able to store your favourite books in LibraryThing for all to see and you to share with other people

Well, I've finally finished Week 8 and next week I'll do more

LibraryThing Again!

LibraryThing

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Technorati

Techonarti is great as all the posts, blogs, photos and videos are all in one place!

When I put in "bookmobile" the results were 1,317 and it brought up everything on Bookmobiles whether it was relevant or not so then I tried Advanced search.

You have Keyword to search in all blogs, blogs about and this blog URL. I tried them all and all blogs is basically the same as the search box but blogs about gives the option whether to have authority or not which is helpful when looking for reputable blogs to refer to and the results were 1,321.

These searches tended to be the same using both search and advanced search though in advanced search you could be very specific about what your terms were and where you want to find this information.

I tried a URL search for nswpln2008 but it wasn't our website and not much turned up when I tried the State Library of NSW but nswpln2008 looked good and had posts and photos and had tags to search which could lead you other blogs and other key posts and new stories to select and it was nice to see someone had gone to the trouble of setting it up on Techonarti and I hope we will be there soon.

Its good to know there's one place to go to see that many blogs in one place, at least as a starting point.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

del.icio.us

The tag cloud in Del.icio.us is really good because it keeps all the same tags together in a group with the tag names and then tags under those and tags under them like in a cloud as you see in Sutherland Shire Libraries tag cloud with the relevant tags in larger letters and bolder text and smaller and fainter text as you go down the list.

Cleveland Public Library's tags are good because they are broken down by subject, then related subjects and then their bookmarks which the general public can save for themselves. This is better set out and user-friendly and easy to use.

Del.icio.us would be good for libraries because they could tag websites which were relevant to subjects used by clients a lot which could be a one-stop shop for them to visit and add to their bookmarks and can be shared by all.

Clients could check here first as a starting point for their research on a topic using the tags to find a library's bookmarks and take it from there

Like the introductory video said, its a lot simplier to use Del.icio.us than the old way of bookmarking and takes a lot less time as I found once I got the hang of it!

The fact you can bundle the tags into is good as well not like the labels we use in www.blogger.com so you can have relevant tags under one heading and even look like a cloud!

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

YouTube

I have been on both Google Video and YouTube looking for videos for State Libraries, the British Library and Flinder's map and found them interesting even though Flinders Map is a bit childish for what I was expecting

Its a pity our State Library isn't on there but it was good to see the State Library of Queensland on this site

We love our NJ Libraries was good as it was by the clients not the staff and looked great. QandANJ: Now your library is open late night too! was good also like a drive-in except for information and I thought it was well done!

I found Worthington libraries - Just read which wasn't as good as the others but it was funny and was set to Michael Jackson's song Beat it.

Alberta's public libraries - celebrating 100 years was good and gave the whole history of the libraries themselves and the people living in this town were very serious about setting up a library when they started building the town

I checked out the Mosman Library and unfortunately chose the wrong link but after a Google search I found the right website. Its a great page and had webcasts of Authors doing book reviews and a virtual tour which was good too

The State Library of Queensland have several video clips of the new library being built on YouTube.

Library of Congress had an interactive videoclip on the Exhibition called Explorers of Early America which was great and very user-friendly and worth looking up!

Birmingham Public Book Reviews with the authors talking about their books and if you were interested in that book, it would be great to find out more using these video clips

Montana State University Rennne Library Tour was great as it showed both the buildings on the inside and outside and if you were interested in going to that university it would be a great help to see this to find yourself around

And lastly was PLCMC New employee orientation was the only staff orientation video I could find and consisted with the boss sitting and introducing the staff member to the library. I didn't find it very helpful but I couldn't find anything else.

An Introductory video for the State Library would be great for the library as well as a virtual tour as there are two buildings and it can be a bit confusing as to where to go for new clients.

A video clip of our latest exhibitions would be good so client knows whats on in the Exhibition Galleries and briefly what its about.

Staff orientations would be great to so all staff can become familiar with how the library works and can watch the video before starting their training programme.

It also might be good to have a video clip by our clients about the Library like We love NJ libraries to promote our services and how they use them.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

You Tube - Felix the Cat

I chose this video clip as I'm a felix the cat fan after my colleague curated an exhibition a couple of years back and this is my favourite on You Tube


You tube - The Final Problem!

This is Sherlock Holmes at his best and even though we all thought he was dead he is very much alive and Dr Moriarty very much dead!