Week 7, Thing 16 Wikis

I explored the wikis cited under Discovery Resources. The format is easy to follow, similar to encyclopedia content. I thought the Bull Run Library wiki was amazing in that a single patron is compiling it!! The New Orleans Conference wiki is one whose application could be adapted for library conferences or for our staff day. Wikis have been used by CCPL for a few years now (ex: On the Same Page). Wikis are a neat communication tool in that they are easy to access and are good for group discussion. A drawback is that authenticity cannot always be verified making them unacceptable in some areas of cite referencing.

Week 6, Thing 15 Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and Future of Libraries

In this high-tech, fast-paced world libraries need to keep up with evolving technologies. Customer demands are placing new challenges in obtaining information. The articles I read were "Into a New World of Librarianship" by Michael Stephens, which said the library is 'human'. This means it is a socially and emotionally engaging center for learning.
The second article was "Away From the Icebergs" by Rick Anderson. In this he outlined three icebergs, or potential disasters, if libraries continue their current path. We should not hold on to "just in case collections," we need to promote reliance on user education (teach patrons the technology), and we need to develop a "come to us" model of library service. This means we need to bring our services to the people, not having them come into a building for us.
The third article was "To Better Bibliographic Services" by John Riemer. This article was over my head, but did cite that we need to avoid duplications of records and spoke of an "Open WorldCat" project.
So, libraries need to become trend-setters and help the public to keep up with quickly-changing technology. This means they must embrace Web 2.0 tools of reading/writing webstyle and providing useful websites.

Week 6, Thing 14 Explore Technorati

I explored Technorati and learned that it's the leading search tool and authority for blogs. I found out that Blogger is captured through Technorati. It picks up tags when it spiders your site. I then searched Technorati for Library 2.0, which then yielded the three ways to search. The blog post had 23,373 results. Tags had 318 results, and the Blog Directory also had 318 results. I found these by doing an advanced search. I still find this site confusing.
When I searched the Top Blogs, Top Favorited Blog, and Top Searches it seems like you can get to the same information, but there is a lot of clutter to navigate.
I never was able to upload the Technorati Tour videocast.

Week 6, Thing 13 Tagging Del.icio.us

I have tried on 2 separate days (July 16 and 18) to get into the Del.icio.us tutorial only to have the computer screen show that the 12 minute presentation is unavailable. Tagging seems to be an "unstructured, free form" association of keywords to find online content. Flickr and Library Thing were pointed out as being 2 forms of tagging. I checked out Del.icio.us URL, saw its social bookmarking listings, and pulled up the Shifted Librarian site showing user descriptions and commonly used tags. I could see personal use for tagging when looking for particular pictures in photo albums by using keyword descriptions to find certain shots.

Week 5, Thing 12 Rollyo

Rollyo was fun and a site that I plan to use!! I created an account for myself and created a Broadway Shows search roll. For our 30th wedding anniversary next year, Wayne and I were thinking of taking the family to NYC to see either Grease or Mary Poppins. I plugged in ticketmaster.com and rollyo added other addresses. Justbuytickets.com was very informative. I learned that Grease is considered "Hot Broadway" with mega-hefty ticket prices. Mary Poppins is classified as a "Broadway Event" with ticket prices more suited to our kid-in-college budget.

Week 5, Thing 11 Library Thing / Favorite Books

I set up an account with LibraryThing and entered eight of my favorite titles. You can view them here: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/scavey. I thought the site was easy to use. It could be of great benefit to the many patrons who frequently ask us if we keep a record of the books they've read. Teaching this skill to the customers could have them manage their own reading history.

Week 5, Thing 10 Online Image Generator

Since I'm not an artist, this was a pretty fun activity. I played around with two image generators. See my blog for the sketch-generated penguin image. It looks like a pencil drawing.
I also went to www.meez.com and created Corkette. You can see her moving image and read her bio on my blog. She is singing because I love to sing (but if you read her bio then you already knew that).