The biggest challenge during this 'course' was finding the time to complete the activities. Summer's a bad time for stuff like this - our gate count explodes, and there really is no time for thoughtful investigation of new information, unless you are in a really quiet spot for a good length of time. I didn't want to rush through this - I wanted to learn, and I think I did.
My least favorite thing was a tie between Digg and Twitter, but I think Digg would have to win if it came to a must choose. Digg is dumb in my opinion, and Twitter at least has some redeeming qualities. I definitely cannot see using Digg ever in the future. My favorite thing is Facebook. So useful, so intuitive, and so helpful for networking and contacts. I can see a library using this for younger generations to connect.
It's hard to say which technologies our library would use. What I do intend to do in the very near future is revisit a lot of these things and mess around and try to understand each of them better. That takes a commitment to reflect over the course of time what might work and what might not. I do think I will use the Flickr mashups in conjunction with the CC licenses to make cool flyers and advertisements. I would really love to develop an in house training session, over the course of many months, for everyone interested who didn't get a chance to participate or finish. I think if we put our heads together some good potential uses of the technology would surface. 23 things might get reduced to 10 or 12, but that's OK.
Onward and upward....
Friday, August 28, 2009
Podcast - Hook Line And Sinker
I like podcasts, even though I am not normally an auditory learner. I like when they are short and to the point, and maybe get me excited about learning something new by going to an event, reading a new book, or checking out a new website.
The podcasts residing on the LibSuccess.org site were pretty interesting for the most part. I LOVED the Boulder PL's teen podcast section - while the quality wasn't all that great, it was wonderful to hear the teens weigh in on current events, art exhibits, and more at their library. This could be a hit with our teens, if we could set up a podcast team and post it on the library website. The booktalks by adults were, well, only as good as the written preparation. I checked out some on books that I have read and ones that I have not. The booktalks for books I had not read actually got me interested in reading the book, or adding it to our collection. Then I checked out MedlinePlus's podcasts, and found them informative and accurate but boring. I think they should hire the guys who do RadioLab and have them make podcasts on medical topics! I found the audio quality OK on most of the ones I listened to, although the teens tended to 'eat' the mike a little too much, but that's OK.
I can see many possibilities for podcasts with our library. I would love to do something like the Lincoln City Libraries "Casting About" podcast - sort of like The View on books. And I did add it to my Google Reader subscriptions. You could perhaps get more people excited about coming to the library and checking out some interesting titles. Another use of podcasts would be advertisements for programs coming up - if you incorporated snippets of the performers or presenters, you might be able to whet more appetites and boost attendance. Something to think about to be sure.
I used to subscribe to a farm related podcast, but stopped because it became too much to keep up with. I might, however, revisit subscribing to podcasts if I find some consistently interesting ones and keeping the subscriptions to maybe two or three.
The podcasts residing on the LibSuccess.org site were pretty interesting for the most part. I LOVED the Boulder PL's teen podcast section - while the quality wasn't all that great, it was wonderful to hear the teens weigh in on current events, art exhibits, and more at their library. This could be a hit with our teens, if we could set up a podcast team and post it on the library website. The booktalks by adults were, well, only as good as the written preparation. I checked out some on books that I have read and ones that I have not. The booktalks for books I had not read actually got me interested in reading the book, or adding it to our collection. Then I checked out MedlinePlus's podcasts, and found them informative and accurate but boring. I think they should hire the guys who do RadioLab and have them make podcasts on medical topics! I found the audio quality OK on most of the ones I listened to, although the teens tended to 'eat' the mike a little too much, but that's OK.
I can see many possibilities for podcasts with our library. I would love to do something like the Lincoln City Libraries "Casting About" podcast - sort of like The View on books. And I did add it to my Google Reader subscriptions. You could perhaps get more people excited about coming to the library and checking out some interesting titles. Another use of podcasts would be advertisements for programs coming up - if you incorporated snippets of the performers or presenters, you might be able to whet more appetites and boost attendance. Something to think about to be sure.
I used to subscribe to a farm related podcast, but stopped because it became too much to keep up with. I might, however, revisit subscribing to podcasts if I find some consistently interesting ones and keeping the subscriptions to maybe two or three.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Developing 23 Things For My Library
There are many of the technologies presented that could prove to be beneficial to my library. What I would develop to help the staff get comfortable using some of these technologies would be a series of specific exercises,from which a staff member could choose, connected to each "thing" involving scenarios that relate to the community which we serve, . Then I would have everyone share their results, and discuss why they would or would not like to see any particular "thing" incorporated into our resources/offerings. I would encourage generous and honest input of pros and cons for each 'thing'. For a particular 'thing' which everyone likes, I would probably have our library create an internal test pilot program, so we could play and succeed and fail safely. ;-)
I think I would also choose different articles and videos for some of the technologies than what were included here.
I think I would also choose different articles and videos for some of the technologies than what were included here.
As The LibWorm Turns
I found uneven results through my searches within LibWorm. I think the site could be vastly improved with a more robust, advanced search feature that employs Boolean terms. It seemed to me that there were a lot of hits from sites/blogs in the UK.
On my first phrase search, I entered "chick lit" and got a lot of blogs. Some of those went to the entire blog itself and did not narrow it down to the particular posting within the blog, which is totally unuseful. Perhaps that is a function of how the blog is set up. There was already one dead link within the first 5 hits. Lots of book reviews of course, and I definitely needed to put the phrase in quotations.
I did like the subject area and category sections. There was a mixed bag of results, which is kind of fun. Under Young Adults, I got a hit for a conservative blogger complaining about Obama's health care policy-proposal, so I am not quite sure how that fits into the scheme of library related RSS feeds. There were lots of foreign language feeds that came up under "Public Libraries"; it would be nice to be able to filter those out. I especially liked the Medical category and subject areas - very interesting stuff. And, I found an amusing blog in the Personal blog section that I think I will follow!
I am not so sure how useful the tags are; some of the terms within the clouds are just way too broad. I did click on "copyright" and got some pretty interesting feeds, and that term alone might yield some good results.
What LibWorm needs is more refinement, with an Advanced Search and filters. Fun site to visit, but watch your time!
On my first phrase search, I entered "chick lit" and got a lot of blogs. Some of those went to the entire blog itself and did not narrow it down to the particular posting within the blog, which is totally unuseful. Perhaps that is a function of how the blog is set up. There was already one dead link within the first 5 hits. Lots of book reviews of course, and I definitely needed to put the phrase in quotations.
I did like the subject area and category sections. There was a mixed bag of results, which is kind of fun. Under Young Adults, I got a hit for a conservative blogger complaining about Obama's health care policy-proposal, so I am not quite sure how that fits into the scheme of library related RSS feeds. There were lots of foreign language feeds that came up under "Public Libraries"; it would be nice to be able to filter those out. I especially liked the Medical category and subject areas - very interesting stuff. And, I found an amusing blog in the Personal blog section that I think I will follow!
I am not so sure how useful the tags are; some of the terms within the clouds are just way too broad. I did click on "copyright" and got some pretty interesting feeds, and that term alone might yield some good results.
What LibWorm needs is more refinement, with an Advanced Search and filters. Fun site to visit, but watch your time!
Monday, August 17, 2009
Wiki Wiki Wiki
I finally was able to figure out how to enter text into my Wiki page, thanks to Jesse. Thanks, Jesse!! Turned out I had to click on the EasyEdit button once, then close it out, then click on it again before I could access the text box.
Anyway, I am not a huge fan of wikis. I used one in a group project during library school, and while I could appreciate having an online document available at any time, I did not like that we could not save previous versions. It bothered me that we couldn't go back to what we had originally written, especially if we had changed things extensively. I thought the wiki that we used was very intuitive and easy to use, but I just have a preference for having a 'paper trail', so to speak.
I do use Wikipedia for current cultural things - especially celebrity ephemera that I just do not pay attention to on a regular basis. I decided to test Wikipedia's accuracy on a serious subject, and searched ADHD. The page had 14 sections, and there were at least 500 revisions to it. I found all of the information I read was pretty accurate and balanced, which is a good thing. There were 43 discussion forums, and that was interesting to see. I think from this I can conclude that Wikipedia's powers that be are being fairly vigilant about accuracy on stuff that matters, and that is good. I wouldn't recommend that a student use this as his/her major source for information, but it is a good place to start, even just to get ideas on what to research.
The explanation of wikis on the North Texas 23 Things says, "Some libraries use internal wikis to manage their policies and procedures." This is an example, to me, where a paper trail is important. If there is a 'history' section like in Wikipedia, perhaps this would work.
But I do love the name, Wiki!
Anyway, I am not a huge fan of wikis. I used one in a group project during library school, and while I could appreciate having an online document available at any time, I did not like that we could not save previous versions. It bothered me that we couldn't go back to what we had originally written, especially if we had changed things extensively. I thought the wiki that we used was very intuitive and easy to use, but I just have a preference for having a 'paper trail', so to speak.
I do use Wikipedia for current cultural things - especially celebrity ephemera that I just do not pay attention to on a regular basis. I decided to test Wikipedia's accuracy on a serious subject, and searched ADHD. The page had 14 sections, and there were at least 500 revisions to it. I found all of the information I read was pretty accurate and balanced, which is a good thing. There were 43 discussion forums, and that was interesting to see. I think from this I can conclude that Wikipedia's powers that be are being fairly vigilant about accuracy on stuff that matters, and that is good. I wouldn't recommend that a student use this as his/her major source for information, but it is a good place to start, even just to get ideas on what to research.
The explanation of wikis on the North Texas 23 Things says, "Some libraries use internal wikis to manage their policies and procedures." This is an example, to me, where a paper trail is important. If there is a 'history' section like in Wikipedia, perhaps this would work.
But I do love the name, Wiki!
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Libraries On YouTube
I concentrated on videos resulting from a search of "library event", which brought up 3,370 results. One was a promotional video for a fundraiser involving Chef Martin Yan, urging people to buy tickets as proceeds benefited the library. Another was a video of a past event at a public library, involving a knitting group and a visit by the Guinness world record holder for speed knitting. Then I went to the videos showing gaming events at various libraries. These were decidedly very boring - no voice over, and some were several minutes of just a shot of Guitar Hero on a TV screen. I think the only people that visited those were the kids who had participated, just to see if they could spot themselves.
There's potential here for promotion of library events, promotion of the library as a place that has a diverse offering of presentations, concerts, etc.. There are many people that might come to see the library as a great place to visit as a result. I think a library could make a video, post it on YouTube, but also post it on their library site. There's lot of people that don't visit YouTube, so you would need to do both. I wonder to myself how libraries have handled getting permission from all of the people visible in a video to include them without "fuzzying" their face. When people arrive at an event, do they automatically receive a permission form, and how does a library identify those on a video that perhaps did not or would not give permission to have their faces shown? Posting on YouTube, after all, is a forum for world-wide exposure, and some people might not want that. I would be interested to hear how other libraries have handled this.
There's potential here for promotion of library events, promotion of the library as a place that has a diverse offering of presentations, concerts, etc.. There are many people that might come to see the library as a great place to visit as a result. I think a library could make a video, post it on YouTube, but also post it on their library site. There's lot of people that don't visit YouTube, so you would need to do both. I wonder to myself how libraries have handled getting permission from all of the people visible in a video to include them without "fuzzying" their face. When people arrive at an event, do they automatically receive a permission form, and how does a library identify those on a video that perhaps did not or would not give permission to have their faces shown? Posting on YouTube, after all, is a forum for world-wide exposure, and some people might not want that. I would be interested to hear how other libraries have handled this.
Google Docs
Based on the video, Google Docs looks to me like a very useful tool for large corporate environments. The fact that it is web-based might help with people who are very mobile and need to communicate this way. I am not sure of its application in smaller public libraries, however. I did like that I could save my document as a pdf, which I did. I did not like that the choices for fonts were so limited, however. And, I could not find an option that specifically said, "Share with Others." I did email the document to another of my email addresses, and it came through fine. If I had sent it as a word-like document the receiver could edit it - much like a wiki.
A co-worker of mine utilized Google Docs to send a proposed revision to a library policy, and what we really liked about it was that every receiver could insert their comments into the document without removing the original language, with the comments, name, and time clearly visible. This, to me, is what makes the features of Google Docs superior to some of the web-based wikis.
Keeping up with all of the changes through the googledocs blog, would to me, be mind-numbing. I would much rather have Google post changes in folders easily accessible from the Google Docs site, and not have to go to a separate blog.
The ability for the form responses to automatically fill in a spreadsheet appealed to me - this would be very efficient when dealing with a lot of co-workers' responses.
It might have been nice to read about examples of actual libraries using this feature, and what they think of it.
A co-worker of mine utilized Google Docs to send a proposed revision to a library policy, and what we really liked about it was that every receiver could insert their comments into the document without removing the original language, with the comments, name, and time clearly visible. This, to me, is what makes the features of Google Docs superior to some of the web-based wikis.
Keeping up with all of the changes through the googledocs blog, would to me, be mind-numbing. I would much rather have Google post changes in folders easily accessible from the Google Docs site, and not have to go to a separate blog.
The ability for the form responses to automatically fill in a spreadsheet appealed to me - this would be very efficient when dealing with a lot of co-workers' responses.
It might have been nice to read about examples of actual libraries using this feature, and what they think of it.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
LibraryThing
I am going to start this post and add to it as I get more time to investigate LibraryThing. It's pretty obvious that this is a 'rich' site, especially for book lovers. My initial reaction is that for a depository of books I much prefer GoodReads - simpler, and not so cluttered. But I can see there's more to LT than just bookshelves. To Be Continued...
OK. I am hooked. Library Thing is WAY COOL. I know that I will be visiting this site often. There's so much to see, and do. I am just going to have to put my blinders on, though, as it would be easy to get overwhelmed by all those things to see and do.
My comment about GoodReads being simpler and not so cluttered still stands. LibraryThing's collection/bookshelf abilities are much more robust. I don't think I have enough time to re-enter everything I have added to my GoodReads account, but if someone is looking for a more detailed way to catalog their books, LT would be a good choice. I found the connections to others' shelves very intriguing; I entered a book from a rather obscure mystery writer from Australia, and the next time I signed on, there were listings for others who have his books on their shelves. Cool.
I even signed up for the Early Reviewers program; too late for August, but I wanted to try it out for September. "I See Dead People's Books" was very interesting. Mark Twain is one of my favorites and I enjoyed reading the history of his collection, including the links to where some of it now resides. And I have been to his home in Hartford, which BTW, is a fascinating place with a great tour.
Librarians Who LibraryThing wasn't as interesting to me; I think it's just too big for the time I have to surf/wander around.
In the groups, I stumbled upon one called Book Mooching, and got a really good posting of how to do a hollowed out book - something for a teen program, maybe. I liked the author reviews, and the section on what people are reading - all very good stuff.
It took me awhile to find MARCThing; I had to search for it in help. I read the blog posting, but I have to admit that for this kind of tech stuff I need hands on demonstrations in order to understand what it actually does. It sounds useful, but I just can't say I totally understand it.
I found ISBN Check and ThingLang more easily, after I read on the NT23 blog that someone else was having trouble, and where they were. I read what they were, but I didn't get how you would go about using them, i.e. where the functions actually resided on LT. Maybe I will figure that out at a later time. They seemed very useful to me.
It would be fun for a library's staff to share their home libraries with each other. I am not sure how efficient it would be to LT in any way for a library's collection. I would love to attend a workshop where that is all laid out and explained, so I would have enough time to concentrate on it.
In the end, I think LT is a winner.
OK. I am hooked. Library Thing is WAY COOL. I know that I will be visiting this site often. There's so much to see, and do. I am just going to have to put my blinders on, though, as it would be easy to get overwhelmed by all those things to see and do.
My comment about GoodReads being simpler and not so cluttered still stands. LibraryThing's collection/bookshelf abilities are much more robust. I don't think I have enough time to re-enter everything I have added to my GoodReads account, but if someone is looking for a more detailed way to catalog their books, LT would be a good choice. I found the connections to others' shelves very intriguing; I entered a book from a rather obscure mystery writer from Australia, and the next time I signed on, there were listings for others who have his books on their shelves. Cool.
I even signed up for the Early Reviewers program; too late for August, but I wanted to try it out for September. "I See Dead People's Books" was very interesting. Mark Twain is one of my favorites and I enjoyed reading the history of his collection, including the links to where some of it now resides. And I have been to his home in Hartford, which BTW, is a fascinating place with a great tour.
Librarians Who LibraryThing wasn't as interesting to me; I think it's just too big for the time I have to surf/wander around.
In the groups, I stumbled upon one called Book Mooching, and got a really good posting of how to do a hollowed out book - something for a teen program, maybe. I liked the author reviews, and the section on what people are reading - all very good stuff.
It took me awhile to find MARCThing; I had to search for it in help. I read the blog posting, but I have to admit that for this kind of tech stuff I need hands on demonstrations in order to understand what it actually does. It sounds useful, but I just can't say I totally understand it.
I found ISBN Check and ThingLang more easily, after I read on the NT23 blog that someone else was having trouble, and where they were. I read what they were, but I didn't get how you would go about using them, i.e. where the functions actually resided on LT. Maybe I will figure that out at a later time. They seemed very useful to me.
It would be fun for a library's staff to share their home libraries with each other. I am not sure how efficient it would be to LT in any way for a library's collection. I would love to attend a workshop where that is all laid out and explained, so I would have enough time to concentrate on it.
In the end, I think LT is a winner.
Digg This - NOT!
Digg just did not appeal to me at all. It seems to me to be a site for people with a LOT of time on their hands, and I mean a LOT. College students, I am sure, would love it, as they can avoid studying and completing homework.
Lots of ephemera on this site, which is not necessarily bad, but surfing around looking at it is a huge time sink, and frankly, I don't have that kind of time to waste. I much prefer Google News as an aggregator. Yes, I will miss the obscure stuff, and Digg could find that for me. But I can't see myself accessing Digg more than once every couple of weeks, if that. I think I would just get tired of it. And I don't have any innate need to be 'popular', as Digg invites you to be.
And I am not quite sure how Digg fits into a public library setting - unless you could have one person dedicated to reading it every day to find interesting things to promote. Which is not going to happen, as we all know. Yes, I think maybe a small network of friends might benefit from sharing news things they find, but really it all seems like overkill to me. More Noise, Noise, Noise - another friendly curmudgeonly observation.
Lots of ephemera on this site, which is not necessarily bad, but surfing around looking at it is a huge time sink, and frankly, I don't have that kind of time to waste. I much prefer Google News as an aggregator. Yes, I will miss the obscure stuff, and Digg could find that for me. But I can't see myself accessing Digg more than once every couple of weeks, if that. I think I would just get tired of it. And I don't have any innate need to be 'popular', as Digg invites you to be.
And I am not quite sure how Digg fits into a public library setting - unless you could have one person dedicated to reading it every day to find interesting things to promote. Which is not going to happen, as we all know. Yes, I think maybe a small network of friends might benefit from sharing news things they find, but really it all seems like overkill to me. More Noise, Noise, Noise - another friendly curmudgeonly observation.
Delicious
I like the online aspect of bookmarking in terms of being able to 'carry' your bookmarks from computer to computer. I also like the idea of sharing bookmarks with colleagues - the video's example of teachers sharing sites they have found can easily be replicated in a library setting. So many times, I find myself asking a co-worker where I might best find some particular type of information, and the response is either an email, or having to write down the url or remember name of the site. I added the Fort Worth Public Library, KERA, and GoodReads to my bookmarks.
If you just create a network of people with whom you would like to share bookmarks, it could prove very useful in a work setting, any work setting. I also appreciated seeing a choice to make a bookmark private, as I thought originally that one would have to create two accounts - one for work and one for personal bookmarks.
This may be a tool I would use often, and I am going to think about that in the coming weeks. I am a member of GoodReads and constantly use that site to post reviews of books I have read, and share with friends. The online nature of the 'file' means I can access it anywhere if I want to refer to a particular book. The same thing applies to Delicious.
If you just create a network of people with whom you would like to share bookmarks, it could prove very useful in a work setting, any work setting. I also appreciated seeing a choice to make a bookmark private, as I thought originally that one would have to create two accounts - one for work and one for personal bookmarks.
This may be a tool I would use often, and I am going to think about that in the coming weeks. I am a member of GoodReads and constantly use that site to post reviews of books I have read, and share with friends. The online nature of the 'file' means I can access it anywhere if I want to refer to a particular book. The same thing applies to Delicious.
Twitter, Tweets, and All That Noise
I really do not like Twitter. I signed up a few months ago just to see what the fuss was about, and just abandoned my account within a couple of days, which from what I read is not unusual.
This whole notion of letting the whole world know every single thing you are thinking and doing at every moment of time is just nonsense. When Governor Rick Perry tweets that he just finished a sandwich at some shop in Austin, why should I care? Sure, the sandwich shop owner loves it, it's a free plug. But do we really need to know this stuff? No, we don't.
Ashton Kuchter has over a million Twitter friends. Why should I care? I don't. And in 140/160 characters, there's no chance for thoughtful reflection (a point observed by many), which to me negates the value of a post on some important issue right off the bat.
Twitter is all of these people all over the world trying to proclaim that they are worth noticing. I think there are far better and more interesting ways to do that, because, yes, people are worth noticing, but not in the way Twitter has become. Twitter is, to me, an orgy of narcissism.
Except for the really meaningful use of Twitter - reporting events as they happen. I appreciated that during the recent protests in Iran, the only news outlet not blocked was Twitter, because Twitter didn't have a single server site. So the news got out.
If Twitter could be used for this purpose, it deserves to stay. Or as a kind of reminder message service, e.g. "Be sure to stop by the library tonight for a fabulous cello concert!"
I just finished reading a book called The Knife of Never Letting Go, by Patrick Ness. The setting is a world of incessant noise - all the males can hear all of the other males' thoughts, besides what they actually say. Here is what a character has to say about it:
" 'Everything. That's what New World is. Informayshun [sic], all the time, never stopping, whether you want it or not. The Spackle knew it, evolved to live with it, but we weren't equipped for it. Not even close. And too much informayshun becomes just Noise. And it never, never stops.' " (p.391).
So there ya go. Noise, Noise, Noise. Why would I want that?
This whole notion of letting the whole world know every single thing you are thinking and doing at every moment of time is just nonsense. When Governor Rick Perry tweets that he just finished a sandwich at some shop in Austin, why should I care? Sure, the sandwich shop owner loves it, it's a free plug. But do we really need to know this stuff? No, we don't.
Ashton Kuchter has over a million Twitter friends. Why should I care? I don't. And in 140/160 characters, there's no chance for thoughtful reflection (a point observed by many), which to me negates the value of a post on some important issue right off the bat.
Twitter is all of these people all over the world trying to proclaim that they are worth noticing. I think there are far better and more interesting ways to do that, because, yes, people are worth noticing, but not in the way Twitter has become. Twitter is, to me, an orgy of narcissism.
Except for the really meaningful use of Twitter - reporting events as they happen. I appreciated that during the recent protests in Iran, the only news outlet not blocked was Twitter, because Twitter didn't have a single server site. So the news got out.
If Twitter could be used for this purpose, it deserves to stay. Or as a kind of reminder message service, e.g. "Be sure to stop by the library tonight for a fabulous cello concert!"
I just finished reading a book called The Knife of Never Letting Go, by Patrick Ness. The setting is a world of incessant noise - all the males can hear all of the other males' thoughts, besides what they actually say. Here is what a character has to say about it:
" 'Everything. That's what New World is. Informayshun [sic], all the time, never stopping, whether you want it or not. The Spackle knew it, evolved to live with it, but we weren't equipped for it. Not even close. And too much informayshun becomes just Noise. And it never, never stops.' " (p.391).
So there ya go. Noise, Noise, Noise. Why would I want that?
#11 - IM, Anyone?
I am not a big fan of IM as a tool in my personal life - I much prefer texting. I can see, though, how teens and tweens would like it, especially having many IM windows open at the same time.
I have used IM (specifically MSN Messenger) for group projects while in library school - that was very helpful when deadlines approached and we had to figure out who was doing what, and what kind of editing needed to be done, etc. I liked that you could see if a person in your group was online at any given time, and you could connect with them.
In the library setting, I see IM as an extremely useful tool, if you're in a library that would FULLY support it. I experienced the use of IM for reference questions as part of an assignment for a class, and was really disappointed. This was online chat, which to me is the same thing. It was obvious the librarian at the other end was also helping patrons at her desk in addition to my queries. That caused a lot of delay in getting answers to my question, and the librarian didn't have software to let me know that she was still searching or doing whatever. So I felt left out in the cold; in fact a couple of times I typed "Are you still there?" I tried to use online chat through UNT as well for questions. There were times when no one was there during the posted 'chat' hours, or I experienced the same 'dead air' feeling during a chat. But I did like the times when the librarian could send me a link to a site through the chat, and I could also get a transcript emailed to me especially if there were instructions given during the conversations. This would be extremely helpful in a lot of reference interviews when patrons are trying to find out the steps to access information through a database or other online portal - typing out the steps is much quicker than writing them out by hand. And I have a lot of patrons that need this stuff in writing. And I'm a fast typist.
A lot of people like the anonymity of IM transactions, especially students who don't want to look stupid in a face to face experience, and this is where IM could really work its magic. But for IM to work in a library setting, the library has to support it as a dedicated system - when someone IMs the librarian, it has to be equivalent to the patron standing in front of that person and getting the librarian's full attention. And the librarian has to have a way to tell the patron that he/she is still working on the answer, eliminating the dead air and feeling that you have been abandoned. In this age of continual budget cuts, I am skeptical that this will occur any time soon.
I have used IM (specifically MSN Messenger) for group projects while in library school - that was very helpful when deadlines approached and we had to figure out who was doing what, and what kind of editing needed to be done, etc. I liked that you could see if a person in your group was online at any given time, and you could connect with them.
In the library setting, I see IM as an extremely useful tool, if you're in a library that would FULLY support it. I experienced the use of IM for reference questions as part of an assignment for a class, and was really disappointed. This was online chat, which to me is the same thing. It was obvious the librarian at the other end was also helping patrons at her desk in addition to my queries. That caused a lot of delay in getting answers to my question, and the librarian didn't have software to let me know that she was still searching or doing whatever. So I felt left out in the cold; in fact a couple of times I typed "Are you still there?" I tried to use online chat through UNT as well for questions. There were times when no one was there during the posted 'chat' hours, or I experienced the same 'dead air' feeling during a chat. But I did like the times when the librarian could send me a link to a site through the chat, and I could also get a transcript emailed to me especially if there were instructions given during the conversations. This would be extremely helpful in a lot of reference interviews when patrons are trying to find out the steps to access information through a database or other online portal - typing out the steps is much quicker than writing them out by hand. And I have a lot of patrons that need this stuff in writing. And I'm a fast typist.
A lot of people like the anonymity of IM transactions, especially students who don't want to look stupid in a face to face experience, and this is where IM could really work its magic. But for IM to work in a library setting, the library has to support it as a dedicated system - when someone IMs the librarian, it has to be equivalent to the patron standing in front of that person and getting the librarian's full attention. And the librarian has to have a way to tell the patron that he/she is still working on the answer, eliminating the dead air and feeling that you have been abandoned. In this age of continual budget cuts, I am skeptical that this will occur any time soon.
More Facebook
I did all of the things in this 'thing', but on my personal Facebook page. I prefer to keep that page as private as possible.
My wall is still pretty plain, as I want to add meaningful things, not fluff or clutter.
I joined four groups: Autism Awareness, Diabetic Dogs, Historical Fiction Appreciation, and Depression Glass, and became a fan of YALSA. I am curious as to how much 'traffic' I will get on the groups - people contacting me, etc. It will be a good experiment.
And I finally found where all of the groups I joined are listed - on the Profile page. I was pretty proud of myself for finding it all by myself. :-)
My wall is still pretty plain, as I want to add meaningful things, not fluff or clutter.
I joined four groups: Autism Awareness, Diabetic Dogs, Historical Fiction Appreciation, and Depression Glass, and became a fan of YALSA. I am curious as to how much 'traffic' I will get on the groups - people contacting me, etc. It will be a good experiment.
And I finally found where all of the groups I joined are listed - on the Profile page. I was pretty proud of myself for finding it all by myself. :-)
Facebook Rules!
I recently created a Facebook account to keep tabs on my daughter's Facebook account. I didn't expect to like Facebook at all, did not expect that I would spend much time on it. But I am.
Lo and behold, I have come to LOVE Facebook. I found that I could see what was happening in my nieces' lives without having to wait for an email from one of my siblings. I found a friend I had not spoken to in years, and we are making plans to see each other again when I go up north this fall.
The interface of Facebook is pretty easy. I agree that you have to be more 'real' than on other social networking sites. However, it seems you can limit who sees your stuff a lot better than on MySpace, which by the way, I absolutely abhor.
I didn't fall for giving all of the personal information in the profile - who in their right mind would do that (young teenage kids who don't think, that's who). I didn't even, yet, provide a photo of myself, instead choosing to embed one from a trip to DisneyWorld that doesn't have me in it.
My greatest teacher to all of the ins and outs of Facebook are my daughter and my nieces. I have found myself asking them questions about this and that, each little detail they might have on their pages that I don't have, etc. I like that a private message posted on my page from a 'friend' also comes intact to the email account I provided. And no, I did not give my email password out. Duh.
I think Facebook, for families separated by distance (and that means a lot of families these days), can be a wonderful way to share in all that's happening in all of the lives - one stop photo and message center (better than Flickr for that purpose, in my mind).
There are some caveats; something I heard recently about photos being able to be seen by visitors other than friends, which seems like a software flaw. And as with all social networking sites, you have to watch what you post. I am not thrilled that some of the teenagers in my 'friends' list tend to latch onto forums and things that have titles which I find inappropriate for my page, but which show up in the highlights, but that's the nature of teenagers.
I don't know if I would use Facebook for professional networking - I think I would rather used LinkedIn for that.
Lo and behold, I have come to LOVE Facebook. I found that I could see what was happening in my nieces' lives without having to wait for an email from one of my siblings. I found a friend I had not spoken to in years, and we are making plans to see each other again when I go up north this fall.
The interface of Facebook is pretty easy. I agree that you have to be more 'real' than on other social networking sites. However, it seems you can limit who sees your stuff a lot better than on MySpace, which by the way, I absolutely abhor.
I didn't fall for giving all of the personal information in the profile - who in their right mind would do that (young teenage kids who don't think, that's who). I didn't even, yet, provide a photo of myself, instead choosing to embed one from a trip to DisneyWorld that doesn't have me in it.
My greatest teacher to all of the ins and outs of Facebook are my daughter and my nieces. I have found myself asking them questions about this and that, each little detail they might have on their pages that I don't have, etc. I like that a private message posted on my page from a 'friend' also comes intact to the email account I provided. And no, I did not give my email password out. Duh.
I think Facebook, for families separated by distance (and that means a lot of families these days), can be a wonderful way to share in all that's happening in all of the lives - one stop photo and message center (better than Flickr for that purpose, in my mind).
There are some caveats; something I heard recently about photos being able to be seen by visitors other than friends, which seems like a software flaw. And as with all social networking sites, you have to watch what you post. I am not thrilled that some of the teenagers in my 'friends' list tend to latch onto forums and things that have titles which I find inappropriate for my page, but which show up in the highlights, but that's the nature of teenagers.
I don't know if I would use Facebook for professional networking - I think I would rather used LinkedIn for that.
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