Adventure LibraryThing

LibraryThing is fab. I think I will probably use it to catalogue my own library, but I can see the folks in my bookclub getting into it once they know how it works. We meet once a month, but the added connection online would be good.

Added ten books with ease, and chose some alternate covers, and can see that I'll soon be addicted to it. I'm considering it for its networking possibilities in my volunteer job too. We read and review quite a lot of texts as part of what I do there, so the reviewing and sharing and seeing what other things are out there is very appealing.


Adding the widget stumped me as I could not work out which kind of Blogger gadget to choose. The HTML one, which seemed invisible to me, caught the eye of my colleague Elli, and now the widget is in.

Checked out Shelfari and Gurulib, but LibraryThing seems to have more features, and I'm happy to stick with it. A friend of mine also uses Goodreads, which is similar.

Discover Technorati

Searched the keyword 'bookmobile' on the front page of Technorati and received 190 hits. Tried it again as a keyword in the Advanced serach feature and received the same 190 hits. When I searched blogs tagged with 'bookmobile', only 49 hits came back, however they seemed more relevant than many in the list of 190.

Explore del.icio.us

Although I already have a del.icio.us account, I decided to make some much needed improvements, and add a whole bunch of new tags. I have been operating on the lazy, bare minimum number, and a bit more tagging will go a long way to making searching quicker.
I already have the toolbar icons, for both IE and Firefox (which has an add-on to show you your most recently accessed bookmarks).

Any kind of collaboration could benefit from a tool such as del.icio.us. Online study groups, any kind of remote learning, common interest groups, could easily share their resource findings, gathered together and bookmarked on a common site. Being able to trawl through other resources tagged with the words relevant to your interest could be one way to assist your own research.

I think SLQ could put its Netlinks into del.icio.us, as an alternative to integrating them into the catalogue.

Discover del.icio.us

I have had a del.icio.us account for about a year now, and I use it to indulge my sad habit of reading fan fiction online into the wee hours. I also use it to bookmark useful resources which I need in my volunteer job, in my life outside library land. Haven't really explored the whole social networking angle of it at this stage, and tend to store and tag just for my own benefit. I refer to it on a daily basis, and can see just how useful it could be for a library.

From the examples given, I can see that libraries might tend to use del.icio.us to bookmark the websites or blogs of other libraries and museums, and RSS feed would help alert people to new posts, exhibitions, acquisitions, etc. Some libraries clearly use del.icio.us to bookmark useful Web 2.0 sites and blogs, and other useful online resources for use by staff and clients. I find the AskNow cloud very useful as a quick find tool for relevant resources while you are juggling clients on a shift. The tagging just helps to zero in on things quickly.

Explore RSS Feeds

Just added my fave 'Curious expeditions' feed to the blog, and Stephanie Meyer's site (that's for my many daughters). I think I prefer feeds to be embeded like this, rather than on a separate page. But if you subscribe to 20 feeds or more, then I guess it would be impossible to put them all in your blog, or on your i-Google page. Have just added some things to Google Reader. It does not have the ready-to-go popular suggestions/topics to choose from as Bloglines does, but then it is easy to search for whatever blogs and feeds you like via Google Blog.

Discover RSS Feeds

If this exercise has done nothing else, it has reinforced how much I am enjoying personalising everything I do online. I love the idea of being able to define the news or info you want to receive, and just leave out the rest. The currency is very appealing, and delivery via RSS feed seems so much neater and more sophisticated than the prospect of a gazillion emails, and , you can just look at them is you want to or not if you don't.



I realise that I already have and look at various RSS feeds, without really knowing it. Am still coming to grips with the variety of RSS feeds can arrive. Bloglines is fine, and I don't mind having them in my IE favourites, and I also quite like the odd feed added as a gadget to my i-google page. Haven't explored Google Reader at this stage, but it might suit me more than Bloglines because it is a click away. One of my good friends uses Bloglines to receive new recipes via RSS. She and I both like feeds about new books and movies. We also both have girl children, so some of our feeds are inevitably 'Twilight' blogs.....



I added various sites to my Bloglines list:

Librarians' Internet Index

The Shifted Librarian

librarian.net
Curious expeditions (my fave - beautiful libraries of the world)

OPAL training

ABC and BBC news feeds, and the Guardian and New York Times reviews of books.


At work, I can see how RSS could be useful for sending news of new available titles (great for selection), and useful websites (good for compiling links or finding and verifying info). These things already come to me, but arrive as an emailed list from time to time. I would definitely prefer the feed. Our library could and already does have an RSS option on a number of blogs. I think the exhibitions blog or something similar is a great way to engage and remind audiences about library activities. The summer reading club blog is also a nice little way to encourage participation from kids, wherever thay are.

Adventure Social Networking

I have to admit that Facebook and MySpace scare me a bit. Revealing even a little about myself makes me feel very exposed with these tools. I have a Facebook account, and belong to a nationwide volunteer organisation of women who, among other wonderful and worthwhile activities, love to chat. Adding a mere one friend from this group is like lighting an incendiary device. The viral speed of friend to friend connection is breathtaking. Not sure I'm comfortable with it yet. The familiarity is a little alarming. Still, it is kind of nice to see who is out there...

Explore Social Networking

In looking through the examples, I thought MySpace and Facebook had the most fuctionality. Great for adding links, sharing/advertising photos, videos, things about yourself such as the books you read or the movies you like. Ning was pretty good too, especially for a specific event or interest group. This is how I think libraries could use social networking most effectively - to support community groups and their interests, or to generate communication surrounding a particular event or exhibition or collection. Libraries could establish a MySpace or Facebook account, then seek and market to interest groups which pertain to some of their collections or upcoming events/exhibitions, either asking to link in some way to these groups, or try to attract these groups to their account/group. I just don't think Facebook or MySpace would be my first port of call if I had a reference query, but if I and a whole bunch of my Facebook or MySpace friends were interested in local history or dancing or creative writing or old cars, then I would certainly appreciate being connected to relevant upcoming library events or useful collections. Being able to talk online with others about it could be attractive too.

Twitter didn't impress me at all. In the example given, for the National Library of NZ, I didn't read anything that wasn't just conversational white noise. As a busy mother, I can't imagine having enough free time to just chatter away without any obvious purpose.

I decided to search 'libraries australia' in Facebook to see what popped up and found a group site called 'I DO NOT Support Australia Implementing MANDATORY Internet Censorship!!!'. This was an interesting usage from a library perspective. Checked MySpace too, and it didn't seem to have as much library group activity. It seems to have a younger, more social feel to it altogether. Less about discussion, more about showing your saucy photos from the weekend! MySpace does have some great artist/musician sites though.


I'm not convinced by the UQ use of Facebook. It didn't look really active. Would people really turn to Facebook for reference enquiries? I think not. I'd rather go to a library website, which would include loads of other features and information of interest. To me, social networking is about connection and communication, not research or reference or 'finding the answer'. I found the Libraries Australia Facebook site, but for me I'd prefer the standard website.

Conferences can be very ably supported by a social networking site, both in the planning and in review, for suggesting ideas and sharing memories.

Adventure Wikis

Just looked up my suburb, Ashgrove, in Wikipedia. There are many ways it could be improved. First and foremost, the history section is unreferenced, and very brief. Ashgrove has a local historical society, and I'm sure much more information is available, and able to be referenced. There are a number of historical houses in our suburb, but only one is mentioned in the article. Secondly, the photo at the top of the entry is actually the group of shops in the neighbouring suburb of Bardon. A bit of updating would certainly help here. I'm sure some of the images of early Ashgrove which reside in Picture Queensland or Picture Australia would help.

Explore Wikis

Just added a simple comment to the Sessions for 2009 page of the slq Library 2.0 wiki. Didn't feel I had anything to add to the wiki at this stage, so didn't apply to be a writer. I had a browse around other Wetpaint sites, and found a lot of them were a bit like teenage fan sites. Perhaps I should have looked further than music sites. Wish I was able to attend the Emerging Technology sessions, but they occur on a non-work day for me. Perhaps I'll suggest some alternative days, and the repeat of some sessions. I am enjoying the Common Craft videos - I find them clear and succinct, and appealing to a visual thinker.

Discover Wikis

Obviously, my first choice in the list of wikis was Book Lovers Wiki at the Princeton Public Library, and it was easy to see how this could work in a number of settings. Great to see it as a standard part of life in a public library, and you could use a wiki as an online bookclub if you were a group of social individuals, or students, or a bookshop, or reviewers for an organisation. It could be a way to promote a book, such as the 'One Book, One Brisbane', by encouraging people to read it and review or comment.

My next choice was the Wookieepedia. As you would expect, it is quite a complex wiki, with many features and entry points, and everything hyperlinked back to other parts of the wiki. I guess the sort of people who walk around with an encyclopedic knowledge of Star Wars are the sort of people who are very au fait with the web and spend a great deal of their lives online. The exactitude of the entries, and the level of detail was impressive. Perhaps a little more natural light wouldn't go astray, but I enjoyed the level of science fantasy enthusiasm!

The Mint Museums wiki seems to operate more like a standard website. Not as interactive, and the wiki pages sit on the site just like they would as part of the main website structure. I guess using a wiki just offers more flexibility to its contributors.

The Public Libraries NSW Marketing Group Wiki looked pretty useful. I think this kind of set-up could work really well across interest groups, and within an organsation, for staff to update each other and pool ideas and news. As a part-time worker, it could be very helpful indeed, as people who jobshare could list their daily wrap up/unfinished work in the wiki for their jobshare partner to read the next day and continue. All sorts of things in a library could be helped by a wiki. Procedures manual, tips for staff in dealing with clients, staff alerts, staff bookclub, weird reference queries, latest reference queries, upcoming deadlines, brainstorming public programme ideas, latest acquisitions.

Adventure Flickr

Now on Flickr are 14 images of State Library, which I took while wandering around the building for 20 minutes last week. Uploading them was easy. Just added the suggested tag, and there was a delay between tagging them and then being able to search that tag and locate the images. Here's one I took of the teacups on the Queensland Terrace, and another looking down into the Knowledge Walk.

Explore Flickr

Over the Easter break we received a call from a dear friend who grew up on the Isle of Barra, in the Western Isles of Scotland. We visited his childhood home in 2006 and have fond memories of that beautiful place. Flickr had loads of photos of Barra - mostly holiday snaps. The most common image of Barra usually contains Kisimul Castle, which, remarkably, sits in the middle of the water at Castlebay, where the ferry docks. Here's a typical photo of Kisimul, and also a photo of Eoligarry where we stayed, right up the northern tip of the island.

Flickr

One lovely discovery I made in wading through the links associated with this exercise was a picture of my street, taken in the early years of the 20th century. It is held in the Brisbane City Council photo collection, and is on Picture Australia. Despite the fact that I have trawled through Picture Qld for this purpose on more than one occasion, it never occurred to me to look in PA or BCC as well. Wouldn't mind an enlargement, to see if the house peeking in from the side of the image is mine! Flickr is a whole universe of imagery. At home, I use Picasa Web Albums, and I confess to not yet being completely comfortable with the idea of our family photos being quite so public. I feel that I'm likely to go so far as tagging my own photos, but probably wouldn't comment on other people's. This is probably a lack of time thing, as much as anything. Can't imagine having enough time to do that, although it might depend on the subject of the photo. The Library of Congress initiative to put difficult to identify photos onto Flickr is great. You never know who is out there who could provide information about them.

Technorati

One could easily get lost in Technorati for days, browsing through the blog universe in search of everything and nothing. Blogs about libraries were not difficult to find, especially with the advanced search. A tag search for 'libraries' rather than a search for blogs about libraries was more successful, and I found the little box with related tags in it helpful. I also discovered that a 'shifted librarian' is 'someone who is working to make libraries more portable' - ie. taking the information to a person, rather than having them come to it. (http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/).

Getting started

I have been waiting for the opportunity to try some Web 2.0 tools at work for a long time, and am delighted to have a legitimate excuse to puddle around. At Christmas I created a blog for my family, so I am fairly familiar with Blogger, but am looking forward to delving into RSS feeds and heading for the optional Adventures. I already use delicious and library thing, but have not used Zoho. My family uses Picase web albums, but I would like to investigate Flickr. So there is lots ot go on with. I think blogging is an excellent way to disseminate offer and seek opinion on any topic, and to share knowledge and experience with others. As a music librarian, blogs help me to verify song lyrics and song sources, and as a home pc user, blogs help me to troubleshoot unusual hardware/software issues. Blogs can be a creative adjunct to almost any programmed library activity, to commemorate an event, accompany an exhibition or help staff to pool ideas.