Now this is one I can really relate to - love the concept and it seems really simple. I can think of lots of uses for this one - Noosa Library using one for their Book Clubs seems just so practical. I like the idea of being able to find similar books by other authors instead of just browsing through shelves of books. Recommendations and review by other readers seems a great idea and I would be happy to add my own review on some books.
I have tried to post a LibraryThing 'chiclet' into this blog, but at present time have not succeeded - will keep trying though.
http://www.librarything.com/home/Stephie20
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Del.icio.us - tagging
I have created a Del.icio.us account and added some new and all of my old bookmarks to it. I liked some of the suggestions for new bookmarks as shows on the Test Drive links and added those also. I have yet to establish whether this way of bookmarking or adding favourites is more efficient or easier to use.
I like the idea of being able to access my own personal bookmarks from any computer, anywhere. Not that I can think of many times I might want to, but the potential is there.
At the moment I am overwhelmed by the amount of information I am trying to absorb with all of these test drives, but at the same time - fascinated. I will pursue all of test drives over time and try and become more familiar with them and use the potential more fully. As a casual library assistant, my personal input for programs and ideas within my library system is a little more limited but these test drives give me incentive to think of appropriate uses for them all.
http://delicious.com
I like the idea of being able to access my own personal bookmarks from any computer, anywhere. Not that I can think of many times I might want to, but the potential is there.
At the moment I am overwhelmed by the amount of information I am trying to absorb with all of these test drives, but at the same time - fascinated. I will pursue all of test drives over time and try and become more familiar with them and use the potential more fully. As a casual library assistant, my personal input for programs and ideas within my library system is a little more limited but these test drives give me incentive to think of appropriate uses for them all.
http://delicious.com
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
RSS feeds
I have had a blogline account for some time - since we did some OPAL training through our library on blogs & wikis. I checked the bloglines quite regularly for some time and then other things in life took over and I forgot about it. Having refreshed my memory I have now chosen some of the same feeds eg 'quote of the day', dictionary 'word of the day' - these are a bit of fun and could even be educational! I added opal training and a news feed and kept in a few that were already there.
I have kept a couple of librarian and library blogs and will look for more. These could well have information which could be used to advantage in our library system. Also I added a Courier Mail breaking news blog and Courier Mail technology blog. I'll see how I go with these and add and delete as the mood takes me.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Bitten the Bullet!
Well, I've done it - joined a social networking site - Facebook. Mind you, I haven't actually done anything much with it yet - just joined. I am a pretty private person and the thought of putting me out there is a little scary, but it's there.
I have done a small search for friends and have come up with a couple of my nieces and my nephew. This will be a really good way to communicate with them as they are all interstate and have busy lives. I will keep looking for old school friends and workmates once I have my Facebook page up to scratch.
My son spends time on Facebook whilst studying and this interaction between students and friends gives much needed support while completing assignments. Also a little light relief on occasions when the subject matter is less than academic. I can see that there would be uses for this type of social interaction through the libraries, whether it be a subject based page, or calling for information from a library technician on the spot.
Perhaps areas like genealogy and heritage could make use of social networking as they are more specific and there are people working in the library, both paid and volunteers, who could be the contact point for these interest groups.
I have done a small search for friends and have come up with a couple of my nieces and my nephew. This will be a really good way to communicate with them as they are all interstate and have busy lives. I will keep looking for old school friends and workmates once I have my Facebook page up to scratch.
My son spends time on Facebook whilst studying and this interaction between students and friends gives much needed support while completing assignments. Also a little light relief on occasions when the subject matter is less than academic. I can see that there would be uses for this type of social interaction through the libraries, whether it be a subject based page, or calling for information from a library technician on the spot.
Perhaps areas like genealogy and heritage could make use of social networking as they are more specific and there are people working in the library, both paid and volunteers, who could be the contact point for these interest groups.
Wiki - local area
I searched my local area wiki and found it was good in some areas and not so informative in others. I registered a username to be able to edit but will do some more research before committing pen to paper. This is something I will pursue in more detail at a later date.
Wikis!!!
When I watched the video on wikis with the camping trip between friends it all made sense and I thought 'great', on a small scale I could see lots of uses for this type of communication e.g. for a committee of a social group like a musical ensemble trying to organise a concert. Instead of emailing each other with various ideas, all they have to do is set up a wiki and everyone can see what each other is thinking and changes to plans could be made more quickly and easily.
Over a period of weeks, I probably looked at all the wikis listed - some didn't seem to operate in a 'wiki' form, but others like 'Library Success: A best practices wiki' I could relate to straight away and could see that if I registered with them, I could get involved with them quite easily.
Some others appeared to be on a much larger scale and I didn't feel they were quite so user friendly for me, e.g. Montana history wiki - seemed to be for information only and not for input. Maybe I missed something here.
I could see a wiki being useful say, in the heritage section of branches of the same library system. Those working within the heritage area could communicate with all personnel doing the same type of work or research in a much more effective and efficient manner. The same applies to areas like youth services, community outreach services, genealogy etc.
Over a period of weeks, I probably looked at all the wikis listed - some didn't seem to operate in a 'wiki' form, but others like 'Library Success: A best practices wiki' I could relate to straight away and could see that if I registered with them, I could get involved with them quite easily.
Some others appeared to be on a much larger scale and I didn't feel they were quite so user friendly for me, e.g. Montana history wiki - seemed to be for information only and not for input. Maybe I missed something here.
I could see a wiki being useful say, in the heritage section of branches of the same library system. Those working within the heritage area could communicate with all personnel doing the same type of work or research in a much more effective and efficient manner. The same applies to areas like youth services, community outreach services, genealogy etc.
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