# 23 Just the beginning

It is time to evaluate our findings, collaborate and collectively decide how the web 2.0 tools can best serve our purpose in the field of library and information practice.
There is an interesting article in Incite, vol. 28 Issue 11, Nov 2007. p39 "EBLIP and Library 2.0- Friend or Foe comparing the two ends of the spectrum in library innovation." EBLIP stands for Evidence based library and information practice.
These are apparently the two major trends in library practice at present, so we owe it to ourselves to consider both. Papers on the later concept may be viewed at :

http://www.eblip4.unc.edu/


So much to read... so much to think about ... so much to do

This is just the beginning.

# 22 Audiobooks

NetLibrary looks really useful providing high quality e Audiobooks for libraries. It's a must I would say, for public libraries with no fines and no overdues. I have downloaded a number of audio books from itunes at home, for which I paid dearly for the priviledge. In fact, I listened to Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan just recently, to check the functionality, quality and desirability of a book in this format. It was Ian McEwan reading the story himself and well worth the experiment. EBooks also appeal to me, although I have yet to access one from an ipod. I have listened to parts of books from the computer terminal but I can't sit still long enough to gain any great benefit using this method. These are all services I feel the library must supply in the near future.

# 21 Podcasts

I'm addicted to podcasts, I listen to them on the way to work, while walking, riding my exercise bike and cooking the dinner. The book show, The movie show, Denton, arts programs and even State library of Victoria conferences. My ipod connects in my car so I can have it with me always. In a library context I can imagine that user education could be produced in this format. It would be excellent if the customers could access podcasts from the public pcs. I'm planning to investigate some of the directories from home as at present I predominantly rely on itunes.

# 20 Youtube

I suppose this technology could be used for user education but I'm not sure what other use it could be internally for libraries. It would be wonderful to give the public access to it in our libraries. At home I was pleased to be able to watch my son playing guitar on a video via Youtube and many videos of varying quality that my sons have become attached to.

#19 web 2.0 tools

There are just so many web awards that I couldn't chose one.
My favourites are http://www.biblio.com/ used to search for out of print books,
www.docs.google.com/a/ a fabulous communication and collaboration tool including docs.google.com, and http://del.icio.us/ which I am still trying to tame.

I was particularly interested in John Riemer's comment in "To better bibliographic services", that the features of Amazon and Google, which are of interest to customers "ought to be incorporated into the services of libraries" and that the "options libraries present their users should extend beyond the options managed and under the control of individual institutions"

The web awards give many technological ideas to be considered when planning for the future of library services and how we can change our mindset to incorporate the web 2.0 technologies to benefit our customers and ourselves.

# 18 online productivity

Online productivity is such a useful concept and I don't mind undermining Microsoft at the same time, their monopoly is unethical in my humble opinion. I created a document in Zoho Writer as suggested but on discovering Google docs, I developed some real enthusiasm for the concept. I shall investigate Google docs in some depth at home. There just isn't the available time to look at anything of real interest at work.

# 17 sandbox wiki

I added an entry to vacations and then added my blog to pb wiki, but gained little inspiration from this exercise. I'd like to use more clearly library oriented wikis to help evaluate their potential value to library services.

# 16 wikis

We are all familiar with the way wikis operate through Wikipedia, so the concept isn't new to us. In the library context, I liked the Princeton Public Library Book Lovers wiki and can see that working well in any public library, forming an online community. The Australian Catholic University wiki for information services discussed in Peter Blake's paper "Using a wiki for information services: principles and practicalities", appears to havepotential in a public library service.

#15 Web 2.0

As a people focused librarian I tend to focus on customer needs and staff needs in relation to library services. Technology is just a tool to be used for this purpose. The concept of Library 2.0 translates for me into how the expanding web technologies involve library services in relation to customer needs and expectations. But what of the librarian's role in this? The article "Into a new world of librarianship" by Michael Stephens is one I can relate to. Stephens claims that 'the library is human and a place people can engage at an emotional and social level; thus the term librarian 2.0 evolves. He lists a number of traits he sees as important for librarian 2.0 which include; planning for users, embracing web 2.0 tools, controlling technolust, making good but fast decisions, being a trend spotter and getting content. We mustn't let the technology rule or overwhelm us but must analyse the best means to offer library customers access to the technology. We must also utilise the new technologies to promote our services, involve customers in library services, streamline operations and maximise collaborative ventures.

# 14 Technorati

I did a search for library 2.0 in Technorati and got 41429 results. I then wondered if I really wanted that many opinions on Library 2.0. It is interesting to know that there is a search engine for blogs to add to my body of general knowledge and in case a customer asks me about it, but I would prefer to be seaching for authoritive articles in reviewed professional journals when I have an interest in a subject, particularly when it relates to my profession.

# 13 del.icio.us

I did admit to having too many favourites in a previous posting, so I was pleased to learn about this social bookmarking tool. With great enthusiasm I have imported hundreds of bookmarks into del.icio.us and now seem to being doing my phd on reordering, deleting and updating them. This tool opens up a wonderful world of related bookmarks and has brought to my attention many useful articles on library services. It will be very useful in sharing bookmarks with colleagues and add to our information overload to some degree. The answer as usual I believe to be in our ability to analyse, organise and share information in a professional and collaborative manner. Perhaps this whole blog exercise could have been improved if we had arranged for small groups of librarians to analyse each question, organise a response collaboratively, and then share the information with the broader team, instead of so many individual librarians working away like a cottage industry, each doing every question. Just a thought. If this project was to be organised in this way, I would have chosen del.icio.us as my question. But I am very grateful just the same to have the opportunity to participate in the total exercise.

#12 Rollyo

Well what a really useful tool for reference this will be once we learn to maximise its potential. This will take a bit of teamwork and coordination but may help to streamline and standardise our quality of reference service via the internet if used wisely. Here is an example of my search for the Ballet Russe in myRollyo Search engine Twinkletoes :)


http://rollyo.com/search.html?q=BALLET+RUSSE&sid=320323

#11 LibraryThing

This is a great little tool providing an online cataloguer which answers the question we often get. How do I catalog my home library?I think it will be useful for the baby boomers who are of course just so well read, they will retire and read, read , read..... but they won't remember what they have read and they can record it all for themselves on LibraryThing as a little reminder.

www.librarything.com/catalog/blogabout

#10 image generator

www.imagegenerator.org

The above link was chosen by our team as we believe in the wisdom of Confucious. I checked through the other exercises on image generators and can't really imagine having the time to play with these ideas outside worktime, as the younger generation Y do. They seem to have a compulsion to compare and communicate via facebook on a regular basis developing networks and constantly updating their computer knowledge on how to create flashy presentations. I do feel that it is a bit of a time waster just the same.
An article of interest on Facebook can be found athttp://www.theage.com.au/news/web/facebook-gets-on-with-business/2007/10/09/1191695837750.html

# 9 finding feeds

I found Bloglines the easiest tool for finding feeds. I mainly find feeds by visiting sites I visit regularly but eratically, and attempting to systematically organise the flow of information with varying degrees of success. I have the same problem with my favourites and podcasts of which I have far too many. But for those interested, it is worth visiting the ABC site for the podcast of the Bookshow on the 17th of Sept., which discusses the concept of literary blogging..."to blog or not to blog" Susan Wyndam who creates the book blog for the Sydney Morning Herald and is senior writer on books, comments on citizen journalism and if book blogging will destroy critical literary culture as it is, or whether blogging will invigorate the debate on books.

#8 rss

What a time consuming exercise. The establishment of the account is simple but deciding on feeds is not so easy. The tempation is to overload with information which I probably have done. I will re-evaluate after having read the feeds for a while and having done some more thorough searching for appropriate feeds.

http://www.bloglines.com/public/blogabout

more technology

The discussion generated by the web 2 exercises, their frustrations and challenges has opened lines of communication previously untapped. Different people have been able to demonstrate their strengths and support others through their knowledge. It has become a team building exercise to some extent.

# 7 blog about technology

Internet filtering in libraries continues to be a technological issue under debate. ALIA is currently drafting a background briefing document regarding both the technical and regulatory conciderations of internet filtering. NetAlert - Protecting Australian Families Online initiative proposed by the government is ill thought out and considered a waste of time and money by many, as it is very easy to get around such programs by many technologically savy users and freedom of information is challenged once you begin to restrict access to information.

# 5 flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/whiteroses/

I found this exercise more challenging than I expected.

Thing # 3

Setting up a blog for dummies lesson 1