#23 - Is this really the end? Or just the beginning ...

This has been a great learning experience and I am just amazed at what technological tools are available on the internet for everyone to use! It was a great idea to get us all to set up a Blog and record our thoughts on it. One of the best tech tools from this program is Del.icio.us, which I use every day now at work and at home. It is such a simple and effective tool, especially with the tagging ability. I can locate my favourite websites so quickly now.

I would have to say that I loved the concept of the Online Applications and will be using these on a regular basis. The photo editing and storage websites are fantastic, especially Picasa, and the image generators were fun. Already we are using Picasa at our branch to store our library photos, and we have placed them on the web for others to access.

The Wikis and LibraryThing are going to be useful for finding book reviews, and I am gradually entering in books I am reading and have read so that I can call them up when recommending them to our patrons. I am delighted that Yarra Plenty now has their own Book Wiki, and if we all contribute to it on a regular basis, it should be a good resource for staff.

Now that I have finished the 23 Things, I am going to go back over each 'thing' that I have learnt and refine each one and decide if I will keep up its use or discard it. One example is Rollyo, which I want to build up and refine and keep for easy access on the Information Desk. I will probably refine and retain those RSS feeds which will be of most use at work.

Thank you all for the opportunity to complete this program and I hope that there will be more of this type of thing in the future!

Yay, I have finished - finito - fini - beendet - terminado - geëindigd

#22 - Audiobooks (or "The end is in sight ")

From the alternative audiobook site, World Ebook Fair I listened to a few different titles namely, Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Kubla Khan; The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen and Rudyard Kipling's Danny Deever. It's very simple to download a title and listen to it, although the sound quality wasn't too good. I suspect that was due to my speakers and headphones at home. Sadly I didn't receive an MP3 player for Christmas, but for those who have one, it is a great way to listen to your favourite books whilst on the move. You can even listen through your speakers whilst working away on something else at your computer. This piece of technology is definitely a winner and will be here for the long term. Will it take over the printed version of the book? Only time will tell.

#21 - Podcasts, Smodcasts!

Podcasts are very handy, among other things, for catching up on radio interviews that you have missed. Because I have just finished reading the biography of Alan Jones I wanted to hear him broadcasting on his show on the Sydney radio station 2GB, so a quick search on Podcast.net gave me the link. I am also going to create a RSS feed from my favourite morning radio show in Melbourne because I am never in the car long enough to hear it all.

I have created a RSS feed on my Bloglines to a podcast called Teenlibrarian which has some interesting articles about young people in libraries. I can see how Podcasts could be used in a library situation, for example as an instruction guide when learning new programs.

#20 - You too can YouTube

I am familiar already with the YouTube site and it is fun to look at; it is great to be able to search on the subject you are after. Of course there is a lot of time-wasting stuff on it, as well as a lot of useful stuff. I'm not sure that I can see a use for it in a library situation other than perhaps using it for a demonstration video for self-issues maybe? Anyway, I found a cute little commercial to post on my blog, for the exercise. It's better if you have sound enabled.

#19 - Discovering Web 2.0 tools

Wayfaring is an interesting website (www.wayfaring.com) and already I can see a way we can utilise it in the library. As you can see from my amateur map, I have marked various places in Eltham that our borrowers tend to ask directions to on a regular basis. If we had a few of these printed out, we could just hand one out whenever we are asked directions. On the example map the balloons had labels, but I haven't managed to work out yet how to do this. I can label them, but you can only see it on the computer, they don't print out, which isn't very useful when you want to hand out the map. You can also draw a route from one point to another, which I have done on my map (see the blue line). The map can be zoomed in and out, and if you click on one of the balloons, it will give you more information about that site. So give it a try and see what you think - comments are welcome!

# 18 - Web-based Applications

I have decided to explore Google's web-based applications, rather than Zoho Writer (although I did have a look at their site) because I already have an account with Google.

The advantages I see with web-based applications is that you don't need to purchase and update regular software programs, such as Word and Excel. It will be so useful to be able to access your documents from any PC connected to the internet. [Wow, I have just had to save this document and close it down and now I am on a different computer and have just retrieved this same document, it's great! The possibilities are endless!]

It's great that you don't have to worry about carrying around floppy disks or USB sticks, and this could be great for our patrons. I notice this has an automatic save function, so this document is being saved in the background. It has many of the features we are used to with Microsoft Word.

#17 - Playing around with PBWiki

This was a bit of fun - I accessed the PLCMC Learning 2.0 Wiki and added my blog to the Favourite Blogs page. I then added a post to Favourite Vacations and thought why not have a go at making my own wiki.

So, just for the exercise, I have made a Food wiki using PBWiki and would invite everyone to contribute a recipe for sharing. The link is at http://libraryfifty.pbwiki.com/Food and the password is eltham. It's a great way to share those favourite recipes.

#16 - So what's in a wiki?

It's difficult to accept the idea of a website that anyone is allowed to add to or edit; it's like a bulletin board where everyone can have their say and the comments are there for everyone to read. I like the idea, but perhaps with a bit more control by the owner of the wiki.

It would be great for Yarra Plenty to have a Book Review Wiki where patrons and staff can add their recommendations and reviews. We could do a similar format to Amazon, which displays the book cover, and offers a synopsis with reviews of the item.

A Community Wiki would be welcomed by our local community groups. They could advertise their meetings, fetes, classes, etc. and individuals could use our wiki to advertise items for sale, services on offer, or accommodation to rent. The wiki could be an extension of our community notice board.

We could also have a wiki for when we are negotiating a new Enterprise Bargaining Agreement, ensuring everyone is kept up to date with what is currently being negotiated, and they could add their comments. A wiki could be used in the same way for our Consultative Committee. Perhaps other committees could use a wiki to display the minutes of meetings, allowing for feedback from other staff.
http://www.imagechef.com/ic/final.jsp

#15 On Library 2.0 & Web 2.0

Some of the ideas expressed in the articles mentioned in the Discovery Resources were very interesting. I agree libraries need to shift direction to keep up with patrons' expectations. More computers are needed to encourage patrons to keep coming to the library and at the same time we need to make computers easier to use for those people who are new to them.

We need to simplify searching on our catalogue; access to our homepage should be straightforward, without all the different library card numbers for logging in; printing should be logical and staff need to be able to offer patrons basic assistance with programs such as Word, Excel, etc. Federated searching will be popular with both the public and staff.

Providing patrons with what they want, e.g. Photoshop, ATO software, chat sites, internet phones, scanners, etc. would encourage patrons to use the library as a place for research and socialising.

Another way to make the library experience more enjoyable is to simplify the way patrons find items in the collection. Dewey is too complicated for the average library user, and although it keeps library staff in a job, patrons would find a system like tagging much easier to follow.

Definitely, libraries are going to be so different in the next 5 - 10 years from now, but we have to keep a fine balance between guiding and pushing the direction we are headed. We have to keep slightly ahead of patrons' wishes, but not too far ahead that the library experience is too difficult.

#14 Getting not-so-technical with Technorati

I have been playing with the Technorati website and managed to open an account. As you can see, I have added a little box to my blog so you can automatically add my blog to your Technorati Favourites (go on, give it a go).

After doing a search on Technorati for the term Learning 2.0, I received some 26,000 hits on Blog Posts; 116 in Tags and only 31 in the Blog Directory. Upon investigation it appears the hits in the Blog Directory were more relevant to my search.

I managed to claim my blog and create a watchlist and I created some tags also, but I can't say I am excited about Technorati. Perhaps next time I can't find something on a particular subject at the Information Desk, I can utilise Technorati tags and see how well it goes. I will keep you posted.

#13. Tagging, folksomonies & social bookmarking in Del.icio.us

It took me a while to appreciate this particular technology, but when I realised I could bookmark all my favourite websites and access them from anywhere, I was sold! Being an avid collector of favourite websites, particularly at home, I have hundreds of sites inside lots of folders and often forget where I have saved them. Often some websites can be saved in more than one folder. Once I tag all my favourite websites through Del.icio.us I will be able to find them easily. I will be able to share my favourites between work and home, and it will be especially useful when we have new images installed on our work computers and our favourites are lost.

Del.icio.us will be a fantastic tool at the Reference desk, it will be so much quicker to find websites that we have saved by doing a search using the tags. It's a pretty nifty tool.