Wrap up; Social Networks and Catch Up

Possibilities for using social networking for our library:

As was suggested in the article you have Research, marketing, sales, support and development. His ideas were usefull.

From the linked examples I thought that the "Communities of practice" idea is great. and also how the brittish library have used facebook.

Being a member of facebook myself and knowing of all the things you can do with it - inviting people to events, messages writing on other member's wall. you could apply these functions to the library setting with relative ease and it's another way of reaching the public and "marketing" our services.

Anyway, that's all I have. Just quickly wanted to say that I have really enjyed participating in Web 2.0. and the best part is that I will actually use these tools both in the workplace and out of it.

Alli. :)

Online applications and other tools

So many tools!!!! Where do you start. totally agree with Superchicken77. I need to wrap my head around these too before I can think of how they can be applied to users.

Most of the applications for these tools that I can think of are in the staff setting to make our jobs easier and more organised.
e.g. writeboard would be great for working on the library newsletter. Great tool for group projects. Tada list and Omnidrive and zamzar also look like they could be useful in the workplace. Plus all the other tools.

How could google docs be used in the library?
I think that I will need to use the program a bit more to know the extent to which it could be used in the workplace, however, some things you might be able to use it for could be Newsletter - like writeboard. Meeting minutes. Collaborating with other team members on projects that require reports to council. things like that. Also power point slides may be useful to staff members when doing presentations in the library - eg local studies. this will probably depend on how much time the staff member has though.

Mashups

This is such a kool tool. Can't wait to have some more fun with this one. So how could we use this tool in our libraries. the maps is an obvious one. Calander, motivator, trading card, guess the title, You could even use the magazine cover tool for the library newsletter. These could all be used in ways that would promote the library and it's services.

Podcasts and Vodcasts

There are so many ways that this tool could be used for our clients and staff. For example you could:

- Record author talks for those people who were unable to attend or missed out because of numbers. - Record childrens stories (like denver library)
- Have a page with podcasts of answers to frequently asked questions.
- Create tutorials for how to use the library
- Give people virtual tours of the library using a vodcast.
- Create training vodcasts for library staff.
- Reviews of items in the collection
- Readers advisory
- interviews

I really like what cheschire public library has done getting local teenagers that use the library involved in their podcasts.

It will be interesting to see how our library will use this technology.

Answer Boards and Social Searching

Yes, I think that there is a role for my library in "slamming the boards", I think that all public libraries have a role in this. It's a great way of going outside of the confines of the library walls and take our services to the user. Also a great way of promoting libraries in general and how they can help people find out the information that they need.

In what ways might our patrons like to rate and/or review our collection or services provided?

In a way that is easy to find and use for both rating and writing reviews and looking up the reviews and ratings of other library patrons.
It also will depend on the users as being a public library we have a diverse user community. The older people may prefer something that is not internet based but the younger patrons up to around the age of 50-60 would prefer to rate and review online using these types of services available on the internet.

Adventure in Library Thing!

This is very cool tool. There is so much that you can do with it! Love that you can ad those widgets to your blog. My blog looks a bit more interesting now :). When I have a bit more time up my sleeve I will be able to add more books to my catalogue and have more fun with the program. Really like the talk and group options because they give the opportunity to groups of people to discuss books etc who otherwise would not normally be able to meet up for like a bookclub. The Local tab is a good idea too.
Can the Library use this tool? I think that there is potential for the library to use it for the purposes of book clubs etc. Obviously they wouldn't put all their books on the catalogue but they could make a catalogue of interesting reads or genres with a few selected authors that groups could discuss?? Just an idea.

P.s. this week took a bit longer but I had fun.

Del.icio.us!

As someone who uses favourites all the time on my own PC, I think that it is a fantastic idea to have the ability to bookmark your fave sites and be able to look at them from any computer with access to the internet.
I also think that the social networking factor that has been incorporated into this tool is a great idea.

- There is great potential for this tool in aiding the reference librarians at the information desk, especially with regard to the social networking capabilities of the tool. Libraries could pool their knowledge and the sites that they find and link them to their delicious accounts. - I really liked the way that Cleveland Public Library have organised the links on their site.

- It could also aid the librarians in selection and acquisitions departments across different libraries to share the websites that they have found for particular online selection aids and the websites of book sellers and publishers.

http://del.icio.us/alli_7

P.s. Way better than favourites!