Thing 18: Facebook and MySpace

I am enjoying my Facebook account because it allows me to network with many friends and acquaintances simultaneously. I have reconnected with old friends and am networking with new. I think that Facebook may be quite useful as a tool to promote library programs. I know of several people who use it to promote their work.

I experimented with Myspace several years ago and have recently inherited a Myspace page for my branch. I am ready to drop it because I do not like the feel of the Myspace layout and I also do not feel that it is as useful for networking.

I will be exploring ways to promote our library using Facebook.

Thing 17: Podcasts

I have enjoyed listening to podcasts of my favorite NPR radio programs for a couple of years. The beauty of podcasts is the ability to select the portion of the program you are interested in. I have also managed to transfer a podcast from my PC to my MP3 player. The potential applications of podcast for library use include book and program reviews.

Thing 16: YouTube

YouTube is amazing. YouTube is my first stop when I need instructional aid. Just yesterday, I watched a YouTube video describing how to upholster a chair.

I have posted a few videos on YouTube. Here is a video I posted this winter using our new water proof camera:

Thing 15: Rollyo

I am stumped, I really do not see how I could use this tool. As far as the library using this, we already use a federated search tool called power search which searches all our databases as well as the catalog. I just now took a look at our website and found the powersearch tool missing????

Thing 14: Online Productivity Tools

I enjoyed creating an 'igoogle' page, it's all so easy and fun. I can imagine using this as my homepage at home. I could create one for work but it would look vastly different with the library homepage, our intranet, wikipedia and worldcat links. As far as adding the sticky-notes or 'Remember the Milk' goes, these tools would be more useful if they had the ability to integrate all our other calendars. I have both an outlook and a yahoo calendar which do not integrate and one of the problems I run into is double booking. Calendar Hub appeared to be the tools which could integrate my existing calendars and to-do lists, yet it would not add on-to my igoogle page.

Zamzar is helpful and should probably be added to patron desktops to help with conversion form one format to another.

Thing 13- Library Thing

Last year when i was exploring the 23 or 43 things, I came across Library Thing and created an account. I thought is was quite clever yet i have not maintained my account. I think this cool could be quite handy if linked somehow to our catalog or to a patrons record allow patrons to automatically have a record of what they checked out. This tool, like so many others can fall by the wayside because it requires that we log into one more of our many e-accounts. Because of the additional hassle, this tool has for me, fallen by the wayside. There are many patrons who could benefit from such a tool but it needs to be streamlined into their records.

Thingy 11

Social Media
Last year I explored social media when dabbling in the 23 things. I found the rating system amusing yet I resist these mechanisms because they appear to create a layer of censorship through popularity. I resist the popular options as a rule therefore this tool is not effective for me. That said, I do see the value in gauging what is currently popular as guaged by the general public if only to allow library staff to direct programming and other services geared to public intrests and concerns. One of my favorite news aggregates is The Daily Beast which is an aggregation plus commentator blog. Another interesting news aggregate is The Drudge Report.. This site feeds AP reports as well as provide links to many popular columnists.

Thing 12: Wikis

I created a wiki for a branch I worked at a year ago. The purpose was to create an online version of our reference notebook. I also wanted to maintain a record for staff to monitor the hot topics of the day or week between staff rotations. I used PBWIKI which is a free wiki resource. What I liked is that the wiki was available from any computer. What I didn't like is that staff did not want to learn a new technology, there were ads of the wiki on the wiki AND there was no ability to edit the layout of the page.

What I learned is that for this type of social networking tool to work, there must be buy-in. Staff need to be willing to experiment and offer feedback as well as feel that there is a strong need for the tool. Evidently, none of these criteria were present.

In conclusion, I find that I like wiki's. I personally use Wikipedia for many of my reference needs. Otherwise, I find many other wiki's a bit superfluous. These are good tools to stay informed about an organization. For example, NEFLIN's wiki is useful for posting recent information but I cannot help but wonder whether simply posting the information on the homepage would better serve the purpose. I believe that we have an excess of electronic tools at this time to serve our experimental needs.