Thing 13 - LibraryThing

LibraryThing is pretty darn cool. It's tons of fun adding and rating books in your library. I do wish the design and function of the site was a bit more elegant. I found it a bit difficult to find friends, and it took me forever to figure out how to write a review! It's not particularly intuitive in that respect. I also wish you could use the search box in your home page to search for and add books. It doesn't really help me much to search my own library, and I don't anticipate that being a feature I would use all that much even if I had a much larger compilation of books.

As it is I think LibraryThing is a great tool for librarians and staff to use internally. Staff could easily see the books their co-workers are reading and discuss them through the forums. It could be a really useful way to connect with other libraries and book enthusiasts for reader's advisory and book trend purposes. I don't think LibraryThing would be ideal for sharing with the public in it's current state. It could be a bit confusing for patrons who are unfamiliar with the application. I do like the idea of importing the reviews and suggestion features from LibraryThing into our pac. That would give our patron's access to the really helpful features without all the details.

So basically I think LibraryThing is a really nice tool for keeping track of the books you read and own. I also like the community aspect of being able to share books and make recommendations. It could use a little tweaking, but so far so good!

Thing 11, Tagging and Delicious!

I first tried using Delicious 2 or so years ago, and was super confused at first. I used it for a while to archive some favorite websites so I could find them easily when I was away from my own computer. I didn't use it again until recently when a friend of mine moved away, now we have a special Delicious that we can both log into and use to share links. With tags it's super easy to sort and search for links by subject. Because links are basically ranked by how many people tag them, it's really simple to find helpful website on any topic. Tagging a link in Delicious can be just as easy as adding a favorite to your browser. All you have to do is install a Delicious application in Firefox or IE, then all you do is push a button to tag a website.

The thing about tagging / labeling that bugs me is that some sites use commas and some don't. Flickr and delicious don't, but Blogger does. This creates a bit of a learning curve, especially if you're using multiple sites and applications that all tag and label things differently. I think no commas could be standard, with quotation marks for multi word phrases. With delicious you just smush words together or use an underscore if you need more than one in a tag. For example, say you wanted to tag a picture in flickr, a blog post, and a website with the labels hot dogs and chicago. In flickr you would type in; "hot dogs" chicago. In Blogger you would say; hot dogs, chicago. And in Delicious you would write; hotdogs chicago or hot_dogs chicago. Why can't this be standardized?!

Delicious could be a great research tool for Committees. Since many Committees and Task forces are charged to investigate procedures and products used by other libraries and companies, Delicious could be used to organize helpful links. Delicious might also be a great tool for the reference desk. Librarians could create a Delicious account containing helpful for frequent reference topics. For patrons who can't physically make it into the library a compilation of links would be a great resource.

Thing 10, WIKIs!

So this thing 10, Setting Up a Wiki, is the first thing that I've never actually had any experience with. I've used wikipedia, and the MCPL wiki of course, for research/info purposes, but never worked on one myself. I loved the Common Craft wiki video. It was super easy to follow and I think the use of paper props will really help the less tech-savvy among us understand the concept. What's so great about a wiki is that you don't have to know html or css to create a really informational webpage. I edited the MCPL wiki, adding the story of my kitties, Mr. Darcy and Lizzie, to Jared's page about "The Merits of Cats." It was ridiculously easy. The hardest part was deciding what to edit, not how to edit it.

MCPL uses wikis for a lot of committee work, which works really well but I think we could do even more with them. Departments could post policies and discussions. I think it would also be excellent for compiling training procedures and workflows. Keeping track of information that changes or is adjusted frequently is so easy on wikis because editing them is so simple. Of course the open access aspect of wikis can also be a negative. If anyone can edit a wiki then anyone can spread incorrect information. I don't think that would be a problem internally but Managers and Supervisors would definitely need to be reviewing a wiki regularly to maintain accuracy.

Thing 9, Collaboration Tools

I love Google Docs for the convenience. The design is really clean and functional, and overall it's very easy to use. But sometimes find myself annoyed by the features it lacks, especially the size limit and limited selection of typefaces. It would be nice to have a version available with more advanced options. Like Google Docs Lite vs Google Docs Full.

Zoho seems pretty awesome. I liked that I didn't have to sign up, it's linked to Google so I can use my Google account to access all the Zoho products. And Zoho has so many different applications, it seems especially nice for poor young people who can't afford the full price of programs like Microsoft Word or Excel. Zoho Writer feels more like a full featured word processor than Google Docs, in both design and function. I really like the history feature that allows you to track changes. This type of application would be perfect for collaborative committee work or policy drafting. I could definitely see using it to share documents with co-workers. Especially if MCPL switched to gmail, it would be awesome to be able to use Google Docs to work on Circ documents from any library computer and with any co-workers so easily.

Thing 8 continued...

Hmm, so I really wouldn't recommend that flickrslidr I used in my last post. While it's easy to use and quite pretty, something about the code has made it impossible to edit my entry. Instead of using flickrslidr, use SlideFlickr. I found it using Phil's link to 50 Web 2.0 ways to tell a story. It has a nice clean design and good customization options. Like background color, size, and the option to add mp3 for sound. To me, SlideFlickr was a lot more appealing than PictureTrail. I like a lot of the features PictureTrail offers, but I really wish it would link with flickr so you wouldn't have to upload your pictures a second time. Also, there are a lot of really ugly animation options. Maybe I'm a design snob, but it kind of turned my off immediately to be honest.

I really like the idea of using slideshows for committee work or to document library programs. They could also be used as training aids, using pictures to document procedures and workflows.

Here's yet another slideshow, just because. Watch closely and you might catch another MCPL clerk!

Photo Slideshow, Thing 8

Lets see, I decided not to make a picturetrail slideshow simply because I didn't want to re-upload my pictures AGAIN. I attempted to make a flickr badge but for some reason I kept getting code errors from blogger. So instead I created a flickrslidr to show off my pictures from my trip to San Francisc. I also tried out the slideshow feature through BigHugeLabs, with the same pics.




Created with flickrSLiDR.

TwitterTime, Thing 7

Like a lot of the 'things' so far, I use Twitter in my personal life. I think of it sort of as a constant status update to keep friends up date on what I'm doing or feeling at any time. I created a special twitter just for my blog, check it out on my sidebar. I guess I could use it to keep co-workers posted about what I'm doing and where I am at any one time. 'In the drive up' or 'Working on Record sets' or 'At first floor desk' or 'Lunch time.' It would be quick and easy, but I'm not sure that much value would be gained by use at work. For me at least. I definitely see it as a cool communication tool for librarians to interact with contacts outside their libraries. It seems like a great tool for discussions on library topics, technology, events, etc.

Meebo though, I can definitely see how this could be really beneficial for programming or contact with other libraries or branches. Librarians could meet with colleagues remotely or create group chats for homework help. And the best thing about it is that you can use any IM provider. I would also love to see IM used inter-departmentally to communicate about busy service desks, cancelling holds, and other minor issues that could be handled quickly or efficiently through chat. It would also be a fantastic tool to contact a supervisor about a difficult patron without having to leave the desk or pick up the phone and risk upsetting the patron further. Or to contact a co-worker with a question while you're on the phone with a patron.