Saturday, May 10, 2008

Week 12: Social Networks etc

I can see a use for social networking for our library. However, I feel it would require a lot of thought and co-ordinating to get the maximum use of these resources without doubling up. We are a small Council/Library so people and resources are limited.

Once this is achieved however it could be very exciting! I imagine putting news/events out there and getting feedback. We could get our subject lists going, people could add what they have found useful in the library to them for other users. It wouldn't be dependent on staff only to put in material and the potential for links is enormous. Links to information and other people!

I see it as unrealistic at the moment to have a completely paperless environment as we still have members and volunteers who are not online. Hence my concern with doubling up. Worth looking into though.

Week 11: Online Applications

As the library staff basically have access to all relevant documents to the library via a central server, I don't see a great need for the use of Google doc. No duplication of material need occur.

Google doc could come in handy for part-timers who wish to contribute to a document as they would be able to access it without having to be at the workplace!

I can also see its use when collaborating with people outside of the library network.

I would like to use ta-da list for myself as I am a bit of a list junky. It would certainly help organise stuff!

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Week 10: Mashups


Here is my mashup calendar (not my kitty but very cute!) Having trouble thinking of where mashups could be useful for our library. Closest thing would be the voicestream idea. We do have a small collection of audio tapes of reminiscences from the local community. could be interesting to match these with the photographic images we have available.

Monday, May 5, 2008

Week9: Podcasts and audio

I can see a use for podcasting particularly relevant to our Local Studies Collection. Our Local Studies Librarian usually gives a talk to aid people in sourcing information about people who lived in the area. Wouldn't it be great if people could follow a self-paced lesson on the use of the resources available in our Local Studies Collection!

I'm gob-smacked by the amount of energy these libraries have to take on all this technology. When do they have time?

Week 8:Answer Boards

The best tag line from Answer Board Libarians I thought was : Libraries - because you NEED to KNOW! It's my understanding that we are here to service the community's information needs and to me this tag succinctly reflects that ideal.

Not sure how useful specifically to our library would it be in 'slamming the boards'. For our profession and libraries in general, I think it is good to remind people we are out there. The benefit would be that we are taking our services to people who may not normally consider libraries as an option for information. (sounds incredible but look at membership numbers against population in your area!)

Having an answer board on our own website could be useful especially if we get some good feedback on people's thoughts about the collection. It feels a bit like doubling up though as we already have avenues set up for suggestions and feedback. Ask a Libarian is also available.

Week 7 cont... Librarything

Right, that was a long session! I have done the basics but not had a really good look at librarything. It would be interesting if libraries started using this as their catalogue instead of their inhouse ones.

Not sure how much I would use this home library. I borrow most of my books from the local library which gives me access to a history of what I have read. Grouping by tagging could be useful if I want to locate something I have read previously and can't remember the title.

Don't really need to know what else is out there of similar writing at the moment as I haven't got through all on offer at my library yet! However, here is my online library with a sample of what I like to read.

Friday, May 2, 2008

Week 7: Tagging etc...

I can see a use for tagging for our students who do projects. Sometimes the staff find they are repeating the same exercise over again when students from the same class come in with their assignments looking for information. If we had access to the same bookmark, we could add useful sites and tag them as we found information. With the social bookmarking, others may be able to do the hard work for us!