My Space (DCPL)

The DCPL My Space page is invigorating! The colors are vibrant but not overpowering. I read the blogs and learned a few interesting facts. The presentation was very informative and well done. This would be a great venue for "new lists." People are always asking for a list of new videos or new books this would be a good place to make these lists available and to publicize reading programs or upcoming events as Leslie has done with "Up River" and "Voices of Elmwood." Thanks for the good work My Space minions.

Podcasts, Smodcasts!

I checked out several podcast directories. The NPR podcast directory lists podcasts by topic or you can search by title or provider. There are 50 public radio stations partnering with NPR to provide podcasting.

I added a subscription to Google Reader for Cover to Cover, it is a National Public Radio book podcast featuring authors across the South. The authors "answer listener calls, respond to comment, give insight on their works and advise aspiring writers." It would be great to hear one of the Mossy Creek authors!

I read several of the beginning podcast instructions and even found an instructional video on You Tube. At some point I would like to try to create a podcast.

Technorati

Technorati tracks about 50 million blogs (wow)! New information is added just minutes after it is posted. I like the use of tags because it is plain language. Customers don't have to think about how to search a certain way just use plain language.

The various sections are categorized which makes locating information simpler. In the popular section it was surprising that Jennifer Garner beat out Jennifer Aniston in top searches. Although, I do like Jennifer Garner.

It would take a lot of time to explore this site adequately, but I do like the use of tags.

You Too Can You Tube

I think you could probably find a video on just about anything by typing in a keyword or if you know the title of the video that can be entered. There is also a way to browse the most viewed videos. Someone sent this You Tube video to me a while back and I checked to see if it was still there. It is adorable, a two and a half year old with vocal training, at least it seems like it.

I can see a site like this as a useful tool for brief training videos, in one of the previous posts an article mentioned sites should be user-friendly perhaps one click to information. Until that is possible brief training videos could be very useful.

Tagging, Folksomonies, & Social Bookmarking in Del.icio.us

I did not see any bookmarks in the PLCMCL2 account, but there were plenty of tags. The size of the tag reflects the popularity of the tag. Design and blog seemed to be the most popular tags. Clicking on the tag will give a list of links and the tags associated with the links.

This could definitely be a great tool for learning and research, the tags make it simple to find information for a particular category and the bookmarks can be accessed from anywhere.

Russell Palmer with Solinet did a Social Bookmarking workshop online about a year or so ago. He uses del.icio.us for any workshops he does and it is a good way to go back and review information or locate new information.

DCPL Staff Goes 2.0, Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and the Future of Libraries

Like it or not technology is here to stay, regardless of the customers who want the old card catalog back, although I haven't heard that in quite a while. The Internet is no longer "sites and search engines" but an "everything" network: work, education, entertainment and social networking.

The article "Into a New World of Librarianship" by Michael Stephens points out that all library planning should be user-centered. What do your customers need and want? Technology should not be implemented for technology's sake but should meet the needs of the customer. The services technology needs to be "user-friendly." One of the other articles proposed that if the services cannot be used without training - the services need to be fixed. One click information, wouldn't that be great?

Collaboration! Online Applications & Tools

Google.docs is a great way to create documents to access from any computer. I think I blogged earlier about suggesting it to customers as a way to have access to their documents from any computer since we don't allow flash drives, etc. at this time. It is also a good way to share documents with other users if you are working with a team.

Wikis has such a tropical sound. The wiki appears to be multi-functional, some of the sites listed contain conference information, book reviews, and our staff wiki has a variety of information. We could also use a wiki for our book discussion group, book reviews, news and events, photos, the list is probably endless.