Netlibrary and Final thoughts

The ebooks I thought I might like to read were the ones about the Berenstain Bears (I have a 20mth old neice who might like them!) and one on researching family history which is an interest of mine.
At this stage I still prefer reading books in hardcopy rather than online as I can't get as comfortable in front of a computer as I can in a chair or in bed.


The program has tested me - I thought I could work my way round websites quite well - with new technology and pushing my boundaries. I have enjoyed doing web 2.0 and some things I will definitely go back to in order to remember what to do. It has enabled me to see what all the fuss is about when people join YouTube and Bebo. I am still not a total web 2.0 person I think I fall half way between the web and paper book formats.
I now just have to keep using these resources so that I can keep up with all the kids in the Library.
Congratulations team on all the hard work you have put into reading everyones blogs and answering questions.

Podcasts

Podcasts could be used when we have special author talks in the library. You could have a librarian talking about the requirements for membership or other library activities. Podcast.net is good- I have put the rss into my bloglines account for Sunnyvale Public Library but have not been able to listen to a podcast yet.
Will do some more playing later in this area.
On to the NetLibrary!

Youtube

What to say about youtube.....It is a good site if you just want to play around. I don't think you should post anything that becomes evidence in a court case - how could a person get a fair trial if the entire world has already seen the evidence. There are some videos which are just dangerous because people will try and imitate what has happened, other videos have the cute factor and yet others that will be informative.


I chose this video because I love tigers and this is showing how interest could be raised for conservation.

Web 2.0 tools

Biblio.com is a hard to find booklovers dream! Being able to find those out of print books in nz and being able to order them is great. You can also search the world - it does give money in nz dollars as well as the original site. Customers borrow books from the library and then want their own copy - they ask us where they can find info. Being able to give customers another place to source those hard to find books plus the contact details in nz gives another string to our bow.
The fact that you can get the site to let you know when the book comes in is good. , you can search for specifics or just browse.

Zoho writer
If only everyone knew the world of Zoho writer. All those customers who come into the library and can't open their documents or have been sent something they can't open. It would be bliss
The ability to save this in different versions would be great - I'm not sure I'm quite ready to publish HTML files but now I know this exists I will definitely have fun playing.

Pity that I can't publish the above straight to my blog - unfortunately I've run out of time. In it's original form its looks so pretty!

Wikis

The Library wikis look good. We could use wikis to get customer feedback on new databases, get the top 50 books suggested by customers, websites that link to authors.

I like being able to connect to other sites with booklists - it helps not having to reinvent the wheel!

Customers could also let us know where that really special bit of local history is. You could put pictures up and ask who,what ,when about it. People could have discussions about who those people are in a picture - people could add their 2 cents worth.

For some information we would need to know who the authority is - for other stuff anyone could have access. I think it needs to be thought through to make sure that people do not take as gospel information that we provide access to.

I added my blog to favourite blogs on pbwiki http://acllearn.pbwiki.com/Favourite-blogs

Wikis got the once over lightly treatment but it will be good to go back when I have more time to play.

http://acllearn.pbwiki.com/Favourite-blogs

Web 2 .0 and Librarian 2.0

I find myself agreeing with Rick Anderson, University of Nevada,Reno Libraries that people do not need to physically enter a library to have access to its resources. We have found this with the upgrades in ACL's website that more and more people are using resources online eg databases, reserving books. They are time starved and anything they can do when they want is a bonus. the Library has become "virtual" and is now open 24 hours.

I am half way to becoming what Michael Stephens calls a Librarian 2.0 - I still prefer using book and electronic resources but know that others prefer just electronic. I am neither a baby boomer or a gen y.

Technorati

I think technorati is good but would probably find searching the blog directory the best way of searching. Doing a keyword search for Learning 2.0 would be good if you wanted to know what others are doing in this sector. It was not for those who wanted a general overview - you would probablu get this from the blog directory. You will know that you will find what you are looking for.

The interesting piece of information on there today wa that JK Rowling sold a book for 2million pounds - it was auctioned for her charity and will never be published!

Tagging Del.icio.us

Del.icio.us is definitely delicious! To be able to locate that particular website that you were sure you could access through ACL website but it has disappeared would be great. It will be good for us time starved librarians who need a good site for a particular topic but have yet to find a good one. Adding to a "collective brain" through tagging means that people know what sites others know about and don't have to start from scratch.
Being able to access your bookmarks through this is also a good idea- I've often wondered how to take bookmarked sites from the workroom computer to the Akozone Homework Centre computers. You are usually trying to remember what site it is at the busiest time of the day and not finding it. Also with the Pharos computers not saving overnight using del.icio.us would mean that you don't lose that great site you were using the night before.

Library thing plus Rollyo

Well I have emerged from Library thing - I think! It would be good for those who want a list of books that they want to buy or want to know what they have already got.

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/sarahbb I don't think I would use it at present as I do not have my own computer. I found it really easy to use and add books to my catalog.



Rollyo - this will be good for remembering all those websites that customers want on a particular subject. Also for kids doing projects so that you didn't need to do a google search all the time. http://rollyo.com/friendly_dragon_sara/

This runs along the same idea as the library "Fitch" but the fitch I think would be easier to use as it gives search terms as well. Rollyo does not seem to allow you to add search terms which is ok if you know how a website works but not so good if you don't.



Finally getting to week 6 stuff - all these things are great but am finding I am time starved or computer starved.

Week 5 Fun things Part 1

Well, you could spend hours creating posters with this http://wigflip.com/automotivator/ but some of us actually have work to do. Ae all the generators are really exciting and a site that allows you to do celtic cross stitch patterns is great http://www.celticxstitch.ie/cgi-bin/stitches.cgi There are some sites that I can't even imagine going into but I am just a conservative librarian so who's surprised!

My brain scan is above and I don't know if I should be worried or not. Does this mean I never let my thoughts out or is something stopping me from letting others knowing what I think. Here is the site see what it does for you! http://brainscannr.com/

I am now about to enter the world of Library thing. You may never see me again!

News Feeds ctd plus item 7

The new technology I looked at was the "Kindle" e-book reader from Amazon which has just come out. Apparently the name comes from kindling a persons interest in reading(http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,139777/article.html). I don't know that it would make me want to use one. I am still an "oldie" I prefer using hardcopy books but for those people whose lives are ruled by technology then this would keep them reading! This is always a good thing. This reader looks a great deal smaller than the ones I saw years ago. This makes it easier to curl up with an e-book!

News feeds would be good for those who need to be kept up to date on issues. People in marketing or business, those who need to be kept up to date with technology. I personally found looking for RSS feeds easier than looking for news feeds. Having said that I found searching through Topix.net the easiest of the sites. It seemed to be more self explanotory than the other sites.

The new technology I looked at was the "Kindle" e-book reader from Amazon that has just come out.

RSS Feeds and News Feeds

RSS is great - you can keep up to date with news without having to search for a needle in a haystack(searching the net can sometimes feel like this!). I will just have to remember to check bloglines plus remember the correct passwords!
Having said it is great - what is not so great is having to log into bloglines to get the information. It would be good if you just receive an email possibly once a week to say when new info is available.
Libraries could take advantage of this by having links to the catalogue when new titles come into a persons saved search. You could let people know what great new services we offer or events that would be coming up.
Here is my link for my bloglines account - don't know if it will work but have a go.
http://www.bloglines.com/blog/friendly dragon sarah

News Feeds seem to be a bit more problematic. I haven't found them as easy to use as RSS. It may just take my brain time to get used to how they work.

Flickr week 3ish

Well I have finally looked at Flickr and created a trading card. I also enjoyed looking at Montagr where I created a montage with tiger pictures. I did not see how to save my montage though - this may have been a brain block.
I also looked at Mappr which looks quite good - being able to put actual photos of sites on a map would have a great many applications.

Thing 4 part2

I am about to enter the world of facebook - I found this the easiest site to navigate . Being able to take a site tour before you joined meant that you could see what you were getting into. I don't think that I will use any of these sites again although myspace was good for the music. It makes more sense for those who have computers at home or who need to be connected every day. I don't but at least now I know what all the fuss is about.

Now on to flickr etc...

Thing 4 Part 1

I am about to enter the world of Bebo and find out what all the fuss is about - I have found it frustrating trying to work out what to do by myself. After creating a bebo page I finally found how to ask to be a friend of ACL's page - sarahb4213 wants to be your friend. It would have been helpful for more instructions on the Bebo site telling us how to become friends etc - I must be an oldie - definitely not of this generation!



I have had a look around but can't really see what all the fuss is about - would probably be more interested if all my friends were there as well.



Now about to voyage to Myspace - will let you know what I find! have finally got a myspace account - it did help that I put in a correct email address! I don't know that I will use it all that much but it looks good for getting audio and video clips. I think it will be like the general web - you can spend hours doing nothing on here! Hopefully I have added a link to Faith Hill's myspace page and here is a link to her video 'Breathe" which is great! http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1182127

I have found the help pages - my brain must have been fogged up when I originally looked at the site. They are marvellous!
I have found that it is easier to do the exercises when I am not interrupted - not so easy during school holidays at work!

Thought I should post this so you can see that I have actually been doing something!

Part 2 will be about my adventures in Facebook

First time blogger

Well this is a first - learning how to blog. My brain seems to need a blogging switch turned on and it's taking a bit of time to load! Will be easier once i'm more used to it.