Week 12: Wrap up; social networks and catch up

For some time now I have heard my sons talk about their Facebook accounts, who else they knew who had one and had a good laugh about what people put on them. They have shown me a couple but not theirs. I didn't ever consider signing up but can now see that this could be a good way to communicate. I just hope that we do not lose the art of verbal and personal communication.

After looking at The British Library and East Renfrewshire Council in Scotland on Facebook and Rotorua Public Library on Bebo I can see that Social networking sites offer a new means of publicising libraries to the community and allowing discussions on what they have to offer. The good part is that the only cost involved would be the time taken by staff to maintain the pages. Not sure though how I feel about Second Life.

All this new technology that has been introduced to us during the last 12 weeks has a usefulness in libraries but we mustn't forget that there are people who for varying reasons are unable to use a computer so we must consider their needs as well.

I have enjoyed the Learning 2.0 experience although there were times I didn't think I would finish by the deadline but here I am with a week to spare. I have learnt quite a lot over the time and know that I will be able to apply my newly acquired knowledge both at work and personally.

I have completed the feedback survey.

Many thanks to the NSWSL Learning 2.0 team who have supported us all the way through.

Week 11: Online applications and tools

My head is spinning. So many on line applications to choose from. Hasn't this technology come a long way since its beginning. I clicked on the Google Docs link and up it came with four of my documents. Don't ask me how, that is something I will have to put some thought into. They are all documents that were emailed to me and I replied to.

I have just received my first email from Zamzar. I converted a jpg file to a thumbnail. Must admit it is a bit fuzzy. Perhaps it wasn't a good choice. Now I have my second email. This time I converted a word doc to pdf format. This one looks good.

I can see endless opportunities for use of these online applications in the library. Finally an end to all the hassles of customers word processing and not being able to save the information or complaining that they can't open their files on USBs etc. If customers can save their files on Google Docs or Zoho it would be much easier for them and the staff and with no cost involved everyone will be happy. Also staff can collaborate with each other with work documents without sending endless emails or having to find time to get together particularly when it involves different branches.

I would find it very useful for my Genealogy information. I won't have to carry around a USB or send the documents to myself via email so as to access them wherever I am.

Slideshare and Thumbstacks would be very ueful for staff training, making information available to the customers either for library procedures or what is available in the library. Customers and staff can easily access this information and use it as many times as they like whenever it is convenient to them.

I have completed my Google doc. and will now send it. Hope it arrives at its destination.

Week10: Mashups

Warholized Winter Trees:



















From the family album:



I had a lot of fun this week. Google Maps has long been a favourite of mine. I am always consulting it whilst researching the family history. Google Earth is extraordinary. It is great to be able to pinpoint a house in a street. After visiting my son in London I was able to show my other son exactly where he lived and where we caught the bus, train etc. and also the places of interest nearby.

Big Huge Labs!! What a wonderful tool. I think I will go through all my old photos. What a great way to present them. I can see endless opportunities for its use in Libraries. From presentation of library information, displays and advertising. It makes everything more professional. There are just so many different ways it can be used from the serious to to the "just for fun". I enjoyed experimenting with the Warholizer until I finally found a result I was happy with.

Week 9: Podcasts and Audio

This session has been quite a revelation to me. Not having an iPod I didn't realise the extent of its usefulness. I assumed it was only for downloading music but after looking at the possibilities during these exercises I think I will put an iPod on my "wish list". After looking at the selection of podcasts from the British Library and the ABC I found that they covered a large range of subjects.

I can definitely see the advantage of podcasts and audios for the library. From training sessions, author talks, storytime, local history and general information. Promoting the library is also a possibility.

There would be a need though to advertise or promote the fact that they are available and how to access them. Also for them to be effective it would be necessary for the information to be kept up to date.

Week 8: Answer boards and social searching

I found this week very interesting. I have for years used Message Boards on Family History sites and have gained quite a lot of information from them as well as making contact with people who are researching either the same names or areas. I have discovered that most of the people on these sites are genuinely interested and provide good information and the best part is it is free.

I thought that the Yahoo!7 Answers and WikiAnswers were very good. I know that some of the questions seem ridiculous but we have to realise that for some people, for varying reasons, there is just no one to give them these answers. It is also good to have varied opinions as well.

I really liked the idea of "Slamming the Boards". What a wonderful way to promote our industry and let the people out there understand what we are really capable of. I thought the tag lines and signatures were good and I liked the fact that the answers can be rated as this can assist others who have the same query.


I believe that Answer Boards and Social Searching do have a place in the Library particularly in the Reference area.

Week 7: Tagging, folksonomies, delicious and LibraryThing

I created a del.icio.us account as well as one for LibraryThing. I had fun adding the items to both these lists and particularly being able to see how many other people have the same interests. My biggest problem was putting the links onto my Blog. This took considerable time, a lot of re reading of the instructions and trial and error.

I can see that LibraryThing could be used in libraries not only for Book Clubs but also for patrons to create lists of books they read and can give a rating. This would give both other patrons suggestions of items to borrow as well as library staff ideas for titles to suggest when asked to recommend books to read. A link could be included on the Library website for people to access it but perhaps a password or some control would be needed for items to be added.

I found Del.icio.us especially good. Like a personal "favourites" that can be accessed from any computer. Harping back to my genealogy I am often asked for Web addresses and have to email them from home. This way they are readily available. I also found it interesting after making my list of what I consider are the most useful genealogy sites which ones are the more popular. I plan to also add a list of reference books as this will be very useful when assisting people with family research. I can see that this would also be useful in a library situation particularly with the tags that are allocated as clients would be readily able to find information relevant to their query.

Copenhagen International Library Conference