Thing 16: Wikis

For a while I have been trying to think how we can use technology- namely wikis- to make things run more easily and effectively. One way- I thought we use a wiki as our home page at the reference desk. We could have the ref desk schedule/calendar/and notices (ie window is broken, be on the lookout for x, police called on x date) on there. We could have links to our delicious account, and link out to another RA wiki.

As for the recommended wikis to review: I really liked the concept behind The Book Lovers Wiki, from Princeton Public Library. It looks like they had their public participate in reviewing books from the summer reading program. This is great for many reasons: SRP is a great way to introduce this concept- and it can be carried through the year- and it is a way of gathering some statistical data. Sure- circ stats are better- but here you get to read what your patrons think about the books. It looks like Princeton Public Library leans more towards nonfiction than fiction.

I have started a RA wiki for San Clemente. I hope that we can make it public, and maybe it will be become something like the Princeton Public Library's wiki.

Thing 15: Views on 2.0

I read Into a new world of librarianship and To a temporary place in time... both had really interesting things to say about the how web 2.0 affects library 2.0.

I think what it comes down to is that we are humans, in a world that requires service. If you cannot provide the service in a way that the public demands, they will go elsewhere. If you provide services that the public needs, but cannot connect with the public- what good are your services?

Although 2.0 is tech heavy- I think it really goes beyond technology and straight in customer service. If someone comes to the ref desk, and asks a basic tech question that cannot be answered, what is the likelihood that they will return?

2.0 ideology has an ingrained sense of being fluid, flexible, and aware.

Thing 14: Technorati

I'm starting to feel like that skit from "In Living Color"- with my past hated it/loved it comments. But I again loved it! I think technorati is the love child of delicious. I had the same thrill of browsing, sorting, etc.

I tried searching crafting, librarians, and reader's advisory. You can choose from Quick View, Posts, Blogs, Videos, or Photos. I went straight to Blogs and had a great time with this. It was interesting to see how many "fans" some popular library bloggers - such as libraryman have - also interesting to see how they are ranked according to authority.

The only thing that bugged me was that the website itself kept having error messages. When I hit reload it worked fine.

I'm looking forward to playing with this some more!

Thing 13: Delicious

Wow it has certainly been quite some time since I have posted.

I absolutely love del.icio.us. I had heard of it prior to 23 things, but I never really explored it. I love the idea of having your set of favorites being portable- sharable- etc. Also love the little tool you can download to make adding to your del.icio.us so much easier.

In creating the account for the San Clemente Library- I wanted to see what other libraries are doing with del.icio.us. I came across the San Mateo Library's account, and really liked how they use Dewey to organize everything. It makes browsing so much easier. They also had some great links that I used for our account too.

Also fun is to browse the del.icio.us pics on the homepage. You can come across some great websites you may not hear of otherwise. It's also neat to do some searches- such as "foreign languages" and see what comes up. I found some great links for free podcasts- even tried one in German.

Try it yourself and see what you come up with!

Thing 12: Rollyo

(Call me weird but I like just trying to say "rollyo". It allows me to channel the gansta rapper from within.)

Ok- so I made a roll- in an effort to aggregate some travel websites. The result....I didn't quite "get it". I saw that you can enter up to 25 sites, and so I tried to enter as many as I could. The result was...a bit overwhelming. I went back to the drawing board- to the directions of this exercise- and tried one of the examples. I tried the free image search- which only included 3 websites. This took me back to my prior job as a Library Assistant at an art college- where I would get reference questions such as "can you show me a picture of a diseased eye?"

The upshot- I like the idea of the potential of this tool better than the reality. Maybe I'm not quite understanding its power completely...

Thing 11: LibraryThing

LibraryThing: I entered the books for the Adult Book Group. In playing with LibraryThing, I've found it to be a nice Reader's Advisory Tool. It's a nice way of seeing what other people are reading who may have read your book. Admittedly, I have a bit of anxiety when it comes to recommending children's books. I like Novelist, but the "book suggestor" tab is a nice alternate.

Here's my catalog:

Thing 10: Image Generator

This is too much fun!!! This is proof- learning can be fun! For those who would like to experiment with this online image generator- just click on the link below the animated "me"! For those who may not know me- I'm not actually bald- but I do like a little Daft Punk every now and then!

Create Your Own PaloozaHead - Visit Lollapalooza.com