Week 7

I have something to confess. All this while, I have a bad image of wikis. The idea of anyone able to edit information, really proves that the information can be unreliable. I have heard many stories that teachers disallow students to use wikipedia as an information source. Because of that, when possible I will try to avoid wikis. Couple of years ago, I was dealing with a reference question, I searched every where and the best answer was found in wikipedia. Even after that, I am still not convinced until now. After reading and browsing through the wikis, I can see the potential in a library situation.

I really like the core competencies wiki. The idea of putting trouble shooting information in one place is really helpful especially when training new staff. Occasionally, one will forget to inform other staff about changes. For example: Please do not use docket rolls from the printers in the self check machines. Even though there might look and feel the same.

St. Joseph County Public Library's Subject Guides is interesting but I was quite disappointed in the amount of information on the wiki. I would expect a bit more. Previously I have friends that did their research project on subject guides. I suppose with wikis, researcher can now do an online subject guides. I like the layout is easy to navigate around. Overall, if the guides can include more detail information such as notes and bibliography, I think it will be better than the traditional pathfinders.

My favourite is the Book Lovers Wiki. I never thought you could have a wiki book review. This is amazing. The index to the reviews are useful when you just wish to browse through only fiction books for example. The search box is visible and the layout is neat and user friendly. I love the idea of having a summer reading club for adults. At the moment, my library only offers reading for kids 12 years and under. We have book clubs for adults. A reading club with incentives such as book vouchers can be very attractive.

Library success for libraries will be a dream come true for libraries wishes to set up wikis. I love the table of contents and it covers basically everything you need to know. The confirmation of e-mail address makes it more authoritative, I suppose.. I will definitely recommend this site.

Week 6 continued

LibraryThing was a bit scary at first. I did the tour and after that find it relatively easy to navigate. Nevertheless when another staff member asked for help, I was blank. Blame it on "senior moments".

I managed to set up at account, http://www.librarything.com/catalog/siong.ng. What I like best is the "similar libraries" feature enables searches for other people who share many books with my library. Back to "senior moments" topic, couple of weeks, I attended the LIANZA Epic training. Looking back at the notes, this website was mentioned there.

Rollyo was more complicated to set up. I had to navigate between two windows. Trying to read the instructions while doing it. I am not sure whether I will use this website again as I am not convinced how relevant it will be for my job. At present, my work subscribed to Fitch, has a similar function and it is not widely use among staff. I have an account and managed to create a search roll in my blog.

Week 6

Tagging and more tagging. I explored del.icio.us -pretty cool name. I am a fan of bookmarks but at times I can't remember where and what name I saved it under. Perhaps del.icio.us will be useful because of the tags and notes. I loved the amount of links already there especially all those free craft patterns. I created an account which was pretty straight forward but the only problem I have is that I used SlimBrowser not Internet Explorer at home. The other advantage is also able to share relevant websites with your family and friends. For example: if you are really into craft, you could send them the website address and they can explore it themselves. Check this out http://del.icio.us/craftmadness

I don't fancy technorati. The interface is awful. I hate the colour. Overall it doesn't attract me. I read all the eOCLC newsletters. The most scary part is the "To a temporary place in time" article. Web 2.0 is off putting enough now we have to worry about Web 3.0. My favourite is "Into a new world of librarianship" where it ends with the following "Librarian 2.0 also listens to staff and users when planning, tells the stories of successes and failures, learns from both, celebrates those successes, allows staff time to play and learn, and never stops dreaming about the best library services." Is important that librarians never be content with their services but aim to provide more to the community.

Week 5

Greetings. Fun and more fun. The week's project was a bit challenging. I selected a number of generators to try. My favourites are:

Chalkboard Message Generator
DoppelMe Avatar Generator
Flickr


I don't like Random Fortune Generator (I don't find it funny) Letter James (not very user friendly), WebsiteRibbon Generator (took me ages to figure it and it is not that great)
Not sure what's next, this is really addictive, worst than coffee. Bye for now.


From:
Floppy Chilly-Elf (according to Santa's little helpers' name generator )

RSS continued

Setting a RSS feed wasn't hard at all. After all the online guided tours, a new user such as me found no complications at all. I thought to myself, let's try something more exciting. I logged into Australia and New Zealand Reference Centre, and found out that the database has such service. Unfortunately, I have no such luck this time. I tried many ways and each time there is an error message. Being a librarian, I even consulted the Help file. Any successful attempts, please let me know.