Thursday, April 30, 2009
#22 Audio Books
Thursday, March 12, 2009
#21 Podcasting
As for library-related podcasts, I found This Week @ Your Library. It is Mitchell Memorial Library's way of keeping patrons informed of current events and happenings at their libraries. It might be an idea that TCCL could look into. In fact, most (or at least many) of the podcasts that are listed under "library" are libraries informing their patrons of their events. While I do think the idea is innovative, I do not really think it is an efficient way of conveying news. Mostly I think the TCCL website is more striaght-forward and practical for such a thing.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
#20 Youtube
A Doctor Who fan living in England, this guy often posts his own episodes and parodies of said TV show. He also hosts numerous original skits and video blogs. Here is one of my favorites:
As for library applications, we could always use it to embed instructional videos. Not exactly sure what we would be needing to instruct patrons online for, but if we did we could use Youtube.
#19 Web 2.0
#18 Google Docs
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
#17 Wiki-ing
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Wikis
Well, quite honestly, I could easily see a library wiki being exactly the type of thing I described in my last post. Take Princeton Public Libraries' wiki for instance. While it does seem a little bare around the edges, it does have an ongoing series of reviews of books, apparantly by customers who had taken part in their Summer Reading Program. This would be a great vehicle for people to peruse their libraries materials and see what is worthwhile reading. It would also give librarians the chance to see what is liked by customers. Another interesting wiki is that of St. Joseph County Public Library. Edited solely by librarians, it has an easily understandable format that provides pertinent information to customers. From the most current biographies, to genealogical data, to local scholarships, this wiki has a lot of information neatly organized for quick access.
In my opinion, TCCL could easily benefit from a wiki or two. While our current way of conveying information to public is pretty good, I must admit that the latter of the above wikis was a whole lot easier to understand and wade through than ours. While I suppose that is partially due to the fact that we have a whole lot more information, i.e., we are a larger system, I think is mostly due to the innate convenience of the "Wikipedia"-esque layout. Personally, I think it would be convenient, and a little cool, to take advantage of both of the above wiki designs. Having one wiki where librarians edit info about their library, its events, and other news and another where customers write reviews, recommend titles, and discuss ideas would be a major improvement on OPAC.
Library 2.0
Among the several definitions tossed about, I think that the clearest would be that the concept Library 2.0 denotes a restructuring of libraries to take full advantage of current technologies and people's ideas. Using OPAC in ways similar to Amazon, where people can leave reviews, rate books, or constuct recommendations for others would be a prime example. Such a user-centered system would allow people to wade through the library catalog with a better idea of what they are looking at without forcing librarians to construct every tedious detail. It would also give librarians a good indication of what is truly popular without necessarily having to look at raw data, such as number of total checkouts of a particular item. Such two-way communication between users and librarians would facilitate better service. Most likely, such a system could also be adapted to provide better feedback on library events and classes.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Technorati
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Delicious
Overall, I could easily see myself using this as a way to keep track of websites. I tend to be a temperamental in my reading. I usually find a dozen sites on one subject, try to read it all, lose interest, and then get a different fixation. With this website, I could keep track of what I have discovered so that, when I do eventually get that particular craze back, I can get back to where i left off.
While I admit that at first I had my doubts as to the usefulness of this search engine, once I tried it I no longer had doubts. You can interpret that as you wish. However, I will say that I did manage to put together at least one decent search on philosophy. Since it concentrated on online philosophical encyclopedias, I get a lot of scholarly, well-reasoned information on the thing I searched on. Before, with an unspecific engine like google, I usually only found someone's personal, uneducated rantings.
library thing
Thankfully, I already have a Library Thing account. Unfortunately, the books I have listed on there are not books thatI have, but books that I have read. I'm going to have to go back and edit it.
Exploring the Blogosphere
Thursday, February 12, 2009
RSS feeds
Technology
Ok, I'm taking the term "anything-related" a little loosely, but I love homestarrunner.com. For those first visiting said website, one should start here. Its lead character is, ironically, not Homestarrunner, but Strong Bad. He is much like me in that he is a lying prankster who thinks that he is better than everyone else. Coupled with his trusty companion, the Cheat, they form a team that reaks havoc and hilarity across their small world. One usually sees their adventures and capers played out in the Strong Bad Emails. The following are some of my favorites: Dragon, Little Animal, Stunt Double, Caffeine, Dangeresque 3, Your Funeral, and More Armies.
In addition to Strong Bad and Homestarrunner, this site hosts a number of other characters who take part in a wide variety of toons, ranging from mysteries, to folk tales, to Halloween specials. Overall, the site presents a wide variety of comedy with seemingly endless cartoons. Enjoy.
Picasa's Pictures (Thing #6)
Wow. While I knew events like the Aurora Borealis happened on other planets, I had no idea that they occurred on the moon.
A Nice Sunset.
I'm going to have to start getting what few pictures I have on there.