Social networking

Social networking sites, such as Facebook, could be used by the library as an additional link from the existing Library webpage. It would provide customers with the opportunity to provide feedback on our services.

Additionally, as social networking sites appeal to youth it may be a way of getting more non-users interested in library services. It might provide some "ownership" to youth, but would need to be moderated by staff.

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Online applications and tools

At our library we provide a number of public internet access PCs for use by our customers, and one PC with Microsoft Office applications. Lots of times, our customers want to be able to use both the internet and word processing facilities. The online document software is a way of providing this to customers on our public access internet PCs.

There have been times when I have wanted to publish a pdf document and have the document in Microsoft Word format. On these occassions the only staff member who could do this work was the one with licensed software. Using Zamzar, I could do this myself in a more timely manner.

The photo editing software, Picnik, might be useful to increase the number of PCs where staff are able to edit photos. In particular, if we involved volunteers in this work, this may prove useful.

Mashups

There are lots of ways that mashups could be used in my library. Voicethreads is a way to "value add" to Local Studies images - it combines oral history with images. Another idea for promoting activities is to create a calendar of events (like the one on this blog site). The tools on Bighuge labs can be used creatively by Childrens services staff also - to feature activities the library runs etc.

Podcasts

My Library could use podcasts to show Author talk content and other programs we run, such as HSC seminars, legal talks and to promote exisiting services, such as storytelling and children's activities. I like the way that Worthington Public Library have organised their podcasts into groupings by audience - children, young adult and adults. They have also categorised the content within those groupings, or you can just browse all podcasts.

I particularly like the idea of using podcasts for booktalks - to summarise what a book is about, as a recommendation. Many people could contribute content to this and grow the collection of podcasts. It would make giving a recommendation to clients easy too.

In my opinion, the use of podcasts for user education is better suited to academic libraries, rather than public libraries. However, staff education /training could be another use for podcasts in public libraries.

Testing links

click here for nswpln OR
click here for the time worldwide

"Slamming the boards"

Basically "Slamming the boards" is reference work online - so of course there could be a role for my library in this area. It would probably be a good way to interact with young adult users, in particular. Again, it comes down to the staff resources available to provide the service. There are a number of ideas that could be implemented from the Learning 2.0 program, it is just a matter of prioritising them.

del.icio.us

del.icio.us could easily be used for bookmarking research sites. It has the addvantage of being able to be maintained by all the library staff, co-operatively. The tool is very easy-to-use too, so all the staff would pick it up quickly. As it said in the Learning program, who better to "categorise" web sites than library staff!

Videos

This weeks topic seems very relevant to use in libraries! I think the Mosman Library's videos of Author Evenings are great. At my library we have author talks also - this is something we could easily adopt. Local History and in particluar, Oral Histories, are another area that should be explored. The only limitation seems to be finding enough time to implement some of the ideas from this week's topic.

Wikis

The Book Lovers Wiki at the Princeton Public Library is neat. I like that it gives the customers reviews of titles the library holds and that the customer just links directly from the title to the library catalogue to see if it is available etc. From a customer perspective, it certainly is a value-added service. It makes the library web page more like amazon.com!

RSS Feeds

RSS Feeds demystified at last! I just didn't find the time before to find out, so this program has been useful in focusing my attention. I can see how they might be applied to public libraries - to get information out there to the end- user. In particular for things like regular newsletter content...

The sites I selected for RSS feeds include PC Magazine - new product reviews (because I usually browse these in hardcopy); ABC News - Just in (for breaking news); LibraryBytes; PowerHouse Museuem - photo of the day; and Bloglines -News.

What I like personally about RSS and newsreaders is that they can save me time in keeping up-to-date with areas of interest.

Cat reads newspaper

Cats love to read which makes them ideal companions for library staff!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/saltyseamist/245157755/

This is a picture of Lottie the cat. My owner is keen to learn about Web 2.0 by creating my blogspot. The whole idea of social networking is an area unfamiliar to my owner and she wants to explore its possibilities for use by her library. The program is a great way to do this in a non-threatening manner. We both believe in lifelong learning. In particular, I like to learn new ways to manipulate my owner, whereas she tends to concentrate on learning new technologies. Stay tuned for more about our journey...