I started using Good Reads when some of my librarian friends got me into it, and I've since lured my coworkers into the fun. I like it because it's a great way to keep track of the books I've read and enjoyed, and much neater than my paper reading log (though I'm very thankful to Joyce Saricks for giving it to me!). Also, of course, it's now the first place I go to look for titles I'll enjoy reading based on what my friends did or did not enjoy. But wow, LibraryThing is really fun! I didn't think I'd be that drawn in by it, but I love how much information it has on all the titles. Since I'm one of those people who has my nonfiction books arranged in Dewey order on my bookshelves, LibraryThing is going to help me legitimately catalog my books. And for me, the two sites have different purposes, besides wasting twice as much time: LibraryThing seems more concrete, and I'm going to use it specifically to catalog books that I own. Good Reads is for books I've read, but don't necessarily own. The jury's still out on whether I'm going to spring for the $25 lifetime membership...
As far as tagging goes, I have been quite negligent in tagging the posts in this blog, assuming that almost no one is reading. I definitely see their usefulness, however. And Technorati is one of those great tools that pulls the tagging function out of individual blogs and uses it to facilitate an ongoing conversation of bloggers.
Finally, del.icio.us, which I use regularly and enthusiastically. I started by exporting all of my browser bookmarks to my del.icio.us account, and as a result some of my tags are too general and kind of a mess. But all my links are in one place and it's great! I'm also working on a del.icio.us page for the library's "helpful links" page. It opens up a lot of options, not only for displaying the links on the website, but also for staff and members of the community to suggest links through del.icio.us. See: library links and my links.
I have found that assigning tags is rather an intuitive art, and it's usually necessary to apply a number of tags, ranging from general categories to the very specific, all for the ultimate purpose of findability. I especially enjoy that aspect of the social Web: namely, all the tools that people can use to catalog, formally or informally, information that they'd like to come back to or share with others.
Friday, August 10, 2007
tech training week 7--instant messaging
FPPL colleagues: has anyone signed on to Meebo yet? I like that it is a proxy for several popular IM services in one. I use Google chat occasionally in my email account, but that's about as far as it goes for me. Our new email client has a chat function that I can enable if there's interest in using it for internal communication.
Bloomingdale Public Library uses a Meebo widget on their website to provide chat reference. This would be very easy to implement if we were interested in providing another option for virtual reference in addition to our email form. It seems that there is a growing number of libraries using chat reference with varying levels of interest from patrons. I think this could be especially resonant with the younger generations who use chat and SMS in their daily lives.
On another note, when you're checking out the Meebo widget on the Bloomingdale website, take a look at how their site is set up... this fall, we're going to implement the same content management system they're using to design their website. What do you think?
Bloomingdale Public Library uses a Meebo widget on their website to provide chat reference. This would be very easy to implement if we were interested in providing another option for virtual reference in addition to our email form. It seems that there is a growing number of libraries using chat reference with varying levels of interest from patrons. I think this could be especially resonant with the younger generations who use chat and SMS in their daily lives.
On another note, when you're checking out the Meebo widget on the Bloomingdale website, take a look at how their site is set up... this fall, we're going to implement the same content management system they're using to design their website. What do you think?
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
social networking (week 6)
On social networking and libraries....
I think that whether we have a presence on various social networking sites or not, it's important for us to be informed about and open to them. Lots of libraries have MySpace pages--some of them are pretty cool, some of them are really boring. It doesn't seem like any of them see all that much action, but it says something to me about the library and its staff that they're on MySpace in the first place. It says that they're interested in meeting their communities where they stand; in finding ways to be relevant to their target populations. And I think that's an essential pursuit. Louise and I have discussed establishing a MySpace page for the library, which we will probably do eventually. On the new website, we will almost certainly have an RSS feed for library news, events and commentary. In my daily work life, I feel that I am a more valuable reference librarian to the whole of our population if I am well-versed in the variety of options people have for communicating electronically.
Sites like Facebook and MySpace are increasingly a primary means of social communication, and not just for "kids" either. I have MySpace and Facebook accounts, both of which I use regularly to communicate with friends and/or colleagues. Some might consider me a kid--compared to the average age of our profession--but none of us is getting any younger, and none of this is going away any time soon. I also use LinkedIn, a social networking site focused on professional contacts. They all have their merits for me. I have the most friends and family members on MySpace. And they are all actually friends--meaning people I know personally, bands I've seen play, and a select group of other organizations I support or identify with. Facebook is the most fun, and is easier to use than MySpace. And LinkedIn has a totally different purpose, based on professional contacts that you can vouch for and vice versa. Each of them has been valuable to me for keeping in touch with or finding people I wouldn't be in touch with otherwise, or simply for being an easy way to communicate with people I am related to or see regularly.
I think that whether we have a presence on various social networking sites or not, it's important for us to be informed about and open to them. Lots of libraries have MySpace pages--some of them are pretty cool, some of them are really boring. It doesn't seem like any of them see all that much action, but it says something to me about the library and its staff that they're on MySpace in the first place. It says that they're interested in meeting their communities where they stand; in finding ways to be relevant to their target populations. And I think that's an essential pursuit. Louise and I have discussed establishing a MySpace page for the library, which we will probably do eventually. On the new website, we will almost certainly have an RSS feed for library news, events and commentary. In my daily work life, I feel that I am a more valuable reference librarian to the whole of our population if I am well-versed in the variety of options people have for communicating electronically.
Sites like Facebook and MySpace are increasingly a primary means of social communication, and not just for "kids" either. I have MySpace and Facebook accounts, both of which I use regularly to communicate with friends and/or colleagues. Some might consider me a kid--compared to the average age of our profession--but none of us is getting any younger, and none of this is going away any time soon. I also use LinkedIn, a social networking site focused on professional contacts. They all have their merits for me. I have the most friends and family members on MySpace. And they are all actually friends--meaning people I know personally, bands I've seen play, and a select group of other organizations I support or identify with. Facebook is the most fun, and is easier to use than MySpace. And LinkedIn has a totally different purpose, based on professional contacts that you can vouch for and vice versa. Each of them has been valuable to me for keeping in touch with or finding people I wouldn't be in touch with otherwise, or simply for being an easy way to communicate with people I am related to or see regularly.
searching and browsing (week 5, belated)
Having heard good things about Dogpile, I decided to compare results from it and our ever-present Google in a search for "library 2.0." In the first 20 results for each, there were only 6 hits that the two search engines had in common. Of those 6 hits, only one was in the same position in both Dogpile and Google, and that was the first hit. Totally unscientific, but it seems to make a good case for trying multiple search engines. Some interesting tidbits: only Dogpile returned an entry on Wikipedia, Google returned the same link twice in the first 20 results, and Dogpile seemed to include more links to ads in their list of search results.
On another search engine note, I've discovered Sputter, which is kind of a one-stop-shop for search engines. It has a really attractive interface, too.
As far as browsing goes, I abandoned Explorer long ago. I'm a Mac user at home and began using Safari as soon as it was available. Then, as Firefox increased in popularity, I decided to try it out and really haven't looked back. It's a great browser. And I'm addicted to tabbed browsing. I always prefer to have links open in a new tab rather than a new window. I also enjoy having a tabbed homepage--here at work when I start up Firefox, my starting tabs are the staff wiki, my Gmail account (which I have synced with my work email address), and my Google notebook, which I use to keep track of my tasks. Anything else I do gets opened in new tabs.
And that concludes week 5.
On another search engine note, I've discovered Sputter, which is kind of a one-stop-shop for search engines. It has a really attractive interface, too.
As far as browsing goes, I abandoned Explorer long ago. I'm a Mac user at home and began using Safari as soon as it was available. Then, as Firefox increased in popularity, I decided to try it out and really haven't looked back. It's a great browser. And I'm addicted to tabbed browsing. I always prefer to have links open in a new tab rather than a new window. I also enjoy having a tabbed homepage--here at work when I start up Firefox, my starting tabs are the staff wiki, my Gmail account (which I have synced with my work email address), and my Google notebook, which I use to keep track of my tasks. Anything else I do gets opened in new tabs.
And that concludes week 5.
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