# 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