Now if we only had the salaries to go with our 'hipness'.
http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/217821/it-s-hip-be-a-librarian
Friday, August 28, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Wiki's
I think wikis definitely have a use in library land. The examples given in the blog post are excellent. In addition to those, I can think of a couple ways to use a wiki. Almost every reference department I've ever worked in has those little recipe cards of answers to frequently asked questions from patrons. These are usually of local flavor, so there may not be a website that gives the answer. If there were a website, then delicious might be more appropriate to use. Anyway, a reference department wiki could be created and all of the staff members could be adding little tidbits of this type of information as questions come up at the desk. Here at the State Library, one of the questions we get is for information on the "Think...why die?" signs that are posted beside highways throughout the state. We have information on how that was started, so it could be put into a wiki instead of my "good to know" folder that I keep in my email.
Another idea that has been floating around the State Library is creating a wiki of SD authors. First we have to define what a SD author is: were they born here, do they live and write here now, etc. It would be a quick way to keep track of SD authors and people could add more as they come across them.
Wouldn't it be cool to create a family wiki? If one had tech savvy family members, rather than send emails out on occasion, the family could be posting activities and updates on the wiki. This would eliminate having to bookmark and read everyone's family blog, although that would be easy too with RSS. But then there is also Facebook.... So many possibilities. One just has to experiment to see which 2.0 tool will work the best for each project or idea.
Another idea that has been floating around the State Library is creating a wiki of SD authors. First we have to define what a SD author is: were they born here, do they live and write here now, etc. It would be a quick way to keep track of SD authors and people could add more as they come across them.
Wouldn't it be cool to create a family wiki? If one had tech savvy family members, rather than send emails out on occasion, the family could be posting activities and updates on the wiki. This would eliminate having to bookmark and read everyone's family blog, although that would be easy too with RSS. But then there is also Facebook.... So many possibilities. One just has to experiment to see which 2.0 tool will work the best for each project or idea.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Delicious....mmmmmm
I've had a delicious account for a while (since June '08 according to my first saved URL), and I do find it useful. I've not saved any URL's for a while and I've got a list that I need to add. I just have not done it. My delicious URL is http://delicious.com/bkstand/ Not too exciting, I know, but there you have it.
Here is what I am excited about, though. The State Library website is being totally redesigned and we are hopefully going to be incorporating a delicious page into that. It will be so great to have URL's handy that the research staff uses often, as well as government publications websites, library development links for librarians throughout the state, etc etc etc. There will be so many great uses for this for the State Library.
That's about it. I do like the tagging feature and I learned a couple new things by reading the article that was linked from the 2.0 blog, so I'll have to give those a whirl at some point too.
Here is what I am excited about, though. The State Library website is being totally redesigned and we are hopefully going to be incorporating a delicious page into that. It will be so great to have URL's handy that the research staff uses often, as well as government publications websites, library development links for librarians throughout the state, etc etc etc. There will be so many great uses for this for the State Library.
That's about it. I do like the tagging feature and I learned a couple new things by reading the article that was linked from the 2.0 blog, so I'll have to give those a whirl at some point too.
Tools list...
ResourceShelf is a great site to subscribe via your Bloglines or Google Reader account. Here is a neat list of useful resources.
http://www.resourceshelf.com/2009/08/17/resources-of-the-week-useful-10-tools-i-love/
http://www.resourceshelf.com/2009/08/17/resources-of-the-week-useful-10-tools-i-love/
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
I've had a Facebook account for probably six months or so. I never really thought I'd create one, but got a wild hair one day. Within days, I heard from a high school classmate who has been in Jersey for over 20 years, and I've been able to make contact with a few other high school and college classmates as well. That part has been cool. I'm still exploring adding photos and such, but need to find more time to concentrate on that.
What I've found a bit disappointing is that most of the people I've "friended" either just play the games (which are fun, don't get me wrong) or don't bother posting at all. I like to comment on posts and see if people comment on posts of mine. It's just another way of communicating and keeping in touch. Can you "unfriend" someone and not have them know it? I'll have to figure that out, because that is probably what I'll do in some cases.
If I had to choose Facebook or Twitter, I would pick Facebook, just because it is more fun. I can't really think of any component that I would use in my job. I've become a "fan" of some library associations and college related groups. A co-worker and I recently did some polling of other state library agencies that use chat and we also asked about other 2.0 tools that they used. Most of those we chatted with said they had or have had a Facebook page, but saw it as a tool they could live without. But that is what challenges like this are good for because you never know if something will be useful until you try it.
What I've found a bit disappointing is that most of the people I've "friended" either just play the games (which are fun, don't get me wrong) or don't bother posting at all. I like to comment on posts and see if people comment on posts of mine. It's just another way of communicating and keeping in touch. Can you "unfriend" someone and not have them know it? I'll have to figure that out, because that is probably what I'll do in some cases.
If I had to choose Facebook or Twitter, I would pick Facebook, just because it is more fun. I can't really think of any component that I would use in my job. I've become a "fan" of some library associations and college related groups. A co-worker and I recently did some polling of other state library agencies that use chat and we also asked about other 2.0 tools that they used. Most of those we chatted with said they had or have had a Facebook page, but saw it as a tool they could live without. But that is what challenges like this are good for because you never know if something will be useful until you try it.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Goodbye Twitter
I made the not too difficult decision to delete my Twitter account. I probably would never have created one in the first place had I not had to have an account for an online conference I was attending. I find I much prefer to update my Facebook page or my blog, and now I have one less username/password to remember. Hurrah! I think I'll be saying goodbye to Ning soon too. :-)
BTW, for those of you book lovers out there, I am currently almost finished with The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I highly recommend. It is a fast, delightful read.
BTW, for those of you book lovers out there, I am currently almost finished with The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I highly recommend. It is a fast, delightful read.
Office Tools/Google Docs
I am familiar with several of these tools, having been introduced to Google Docs through work projects earlier this year. One of the things I've done in Google Docs is create a spreadsheet of books that the State Library was discarding. It was easy to then copy the link and send the list to various listservs without having to worry about compatibility with others' MS Word versions.
Other things I've used on the web-based productivity applications list are Doodle and SurveyMonkey. Doodle was great in helping to organize meetings. Possible attendees can put in what dates/times don't work for them and it makes selecting a date/time for a meeting so much easier than emailing or calling everyone. I used SurveyMonkey to put together the SD Library Association conference attendee survey. An email link as well as a web link are created, so that when the conference is over, I can email the survey link to all of the attendees and the web link can also be placed on the SDLA website. A free account only allows 10 questions, but this was just enough. It will be so much easier to compile responses now, rather than have to re-key everything from paper copies to create a master response document. I found a similar feature to create surveys in Google Docs - Forms option.
I will be exploring a calendar option, mainly for the sole purpose of organizing family and friend birthdays! No longer do we have to write those on a wall calendar from one year to the next. Great stuff!
Other things I've used on the web-based productivity applications list are Doodle and SurveyMonkey. Doodle was great in helping to organize meetings. Possible attendees can put in what dates/times don't work for them and it makes selecting a date/time for a meeting so much easier than emailing or calling everyone. I used SurveyMonkey to put together the SD Library Association conference attendee survey. An email link as well as a web link are created, so that when the conference is over, I can email the survey link to all of the attendees and the web link can also be placed on the SDLA website. A free account only allows 10 questions, but this was just enough. It will be so much easier to compile responses now, rather than have to re-key everything from paper copies to create a master response document. I found a similar feature to create surveys in Google Docs - Forms option.
I will be exploring a calendar option, mainly for the sole purpose of organizing family and friend birthdays! No longer do we have to write those on a wall calendar from one year to the next. Great stuff!
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