Google Maps

I love Google Maps for directions, but to be perfectly honest, even after the directions, I still had trouble making my own map, and am still not sure this URL will get you to it: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=113366608127395359696.0004853706f7ac7f91dd1&z=5. The embedding thing just didn't work at all.

I do think that Google Maps, especially the My Maps feature can be very helpful for providing directions, suggesting sightseeing or eating destinations, all kinds of things, just don't think it is quite as user friendly as it might be. But then again, maybe that's just me!

Screencasting

I love the idea of screencasting, if we can get people to use it. I think it might be very useful for the stuff that is a bit complicated, especially databases that might require a bit of instruction. I think I could use it for training in Acquisitions or Cataloging too - get the instruction while you see what you're supposed to be doing. This seems to really speak to the fact that some people are visual learners and need to see as well as hear what's going on. I also think just having these things is a big step forward, and is a great way to train our staff on a variety of topics.

Rollyo

Here's my searchroll: http://rollyo.com/ssimpso/movie_questions/. I don't know if I see any value to this exercise or not. Before I would switch to using my own search roll, I would definitely feel a need to spend a lot of time making sure I had all the sites I wanted to search. This would probably be most useful for things I want to search all the time and for which Google is inadequate because of the large number and low relevancy of my search results. I do think it might be useful to create a cataloging search roll or two, but ensuring the completeness would be a very time-consuming task, I think!