Facebook

I'm in love with Facebook. It lets me stay in touch with friends and family, even chat online. I've also made contact with and even met new library friends, and have even done some work over Facebook through messages and our walls! I love Word Twist, too - love it very much!! That said, FB can be a huge time-waster, it's important to remember to look away now and again. The temptation to spend time coming up with the perfect status update or "liking" everyone else's updates, or reading and playing for hours on end cannot be denied. I think FB is here to stay, and I think it will be a valuable communication tool, both personally and for work.

Twitter

My Twitter username is librarygirl, in case y'all want to follow me. I do think there is a major use for Twitter in the library world. I am following some librarians who are working on some interesting things. I've also used Twitter at conferences, to provide information about what I'm learning and to hear more about what other people are learning. I even found out how to selectively add my Tweets as status updates to my Facebook page, in case I want to share the same thought with those different circles.

Audiobooks

I have never liked audiobooks - the readers never read fast enough, or read things in ways that irritate me. I'm kind of interested in Playaways, because they actually let you change the speed of the reading. Anyway, I am interested in digital audiobooks, even with all the irritations, but I have an iPod, and the selection of books for the iPod is still pretty small. I am thinking about downloading some books for my next plane trip - have a few of those coming up.

Podcasting

I think the main thing I learned about podcasting is that there are an awful lot of people who like to hear themselves talk, and want other people to hear that too. Podcasts seems to be quite popular for talking about all the ways life is wrong and should be the way you want it to be. That said, there are also a large number of blogs that are useful and interesting. I added a management podcast to my Google reader. I can think of ways TCCL could use podcasting - we could podcast about library events, or present some of our programs. I'm not convinced we would get a lot of listeners, so it might be more trouble than it's worth, but I might be surprised.

Winston is Easily Fooled

Okay, I'm hoping this works. Love YouTube, but it is a huge time-waster. Still, there have been some great library uses, and I'd love to see some of our great programs there! Maybe have a childrens librarian demonstrate the craft from their program or tell a story?

I'm Cooked!

Okay, I'm going to have to spend more time on the Web!! I looked at the site called I'm Cooked - it is a site of cooking videos submitted by anyone - they actually show you how to cook - now anyone can have their own cooking show. Just glancing around, I saw several recipes I want to try, and I love being able to watch someone else go through the process! This is really awesome. Do think it might become a resource librarians could mention to people looking for cookbooks or cooking help!

Google Docs

I've tried Google Docs before in order to share spreadsheets, and I love the way it works. It really does make it so much easier when everyone can access and edit the data in one place, rather than everyone working on their own PC and then trying to compile the data! I don't see the same benefit in documents, but I'm sure it would also have its uses there.

One interesting thing might be that the use of these web-based apps would actually encourage people to collaborate when they might not have thought of doing that otherwise. If so, that would be an interesting change with all kinds of implications!

Since the first time I used Google Docs, I've thought of even more ways to use it, again, mostly the spreadsheets - we're capturing vendor information there now. However, with Microsoft SharePoint coming soon, I would expect most of my shared documents will move there - feels a bit safer to me.

Wikis, part 2

I did add my information to the TCCL wiki. I think the interesting thing about wikis is getting people to participate. You can either require it, as is the case here, or you can create a wiki that people will want to contribute to because they can see the benefit to themselves or others. I would love a floating collection wiki for all Innovative Interfaces libraries, to encourage posting of best practices, things gone right and wrong, and ideas and procedures.

Wikis!

I definitely love the idea of wikis, though I think people need to be careful. Wikis work best when you really do want lots of people to add, delete, and change information. For this reason, things like policies and procedures may be better off as regular ol' web pages. But wikis are great when you do want wider participation in a topic. I love the Floating Collection wiki we have set up, even though it isn't getting much use - I think that's the other tricky part, getting people to read and contribute.

I can think of lots of uses for wikis - am considering a cataloging wiki for TCCL where we can discuss various cataloging issues and work in a shared space to reach consensus.

Library 2.0

To me, Library 2.0 means using technology to try to keep libraries fresh, relevant, and useful. Library 2.0 is something that should happen in addition to 1.0 services like reference work, readers advisory, and story times. I also think that Library 2.0 needs to be constantly changing, letting go of old technologies when they're passe, and staying out front with new technologies. This means that librarians need the time to read about and learn to use new technologies and a willingness to open their mind to how those tools can improve customer experiences at our libraries. The most important thing seems to be that we need to become aware that technology is an incredible tool we can use to help connect our customers to the information and entertainment that they want and need. When the tools change, so must we!

Technorati

I think the unfortunate lesson here is that there are an awful lot of blogs out there that I have NO interest in reading ever. It is a good thing to be able to search for blogs though, as that is where a lot of interesting work is being written. This is particularly true about cataloging - I just don't think you can avoid the blogosphere anymore, even though you have to be so careful about accepting the information out there!

Delicious

I really do think Delicious has potential. I can dump anything here, and tag it in a way that will make it easy for me to find later. I can see using Delicious to gather together cataloging information, tagged appropriately by subject for later reference. I can also see using this personally on whatever topic I like - scuba diving certification, good places for hiking, just about anything - even a place for random sites that I really like and might want to look at again.

I do think this could be very useful as part of a project, to gather related information in a place that is easy to get to AND searchable. It also really is useful that it's web-based, so I can access it no matter which computer (or phone) I have. As long as they stick around, that is.