Web 2.0 Library

I agree with much of what was written in these article, but one additional item I think should be included is the necessity of training and informing the staff. True, many of the new librarians have grown up in the post Donkey Kong era, and are quite comfortable with the technology, but to keep up with trends and to use new technology in an innovative, useful way still requires some degree of continuing education--not only learning the technology, but to apply it in a useful, library-enhancing way.

Libraries of the future, in order to remain relevant, will have to push themselves into people's consciences. There are so many distractions in peoples' lives, that libraries must compete for attention. If we are passive and wait for people to come to us, then we are doomed. We will always be repositories for a print collection (who wants to bring a laptop to the beach?) but we must try to embrace new technology, or at least the technology that people prefer, and remain relevant to peoples' needs.

I did have a bit of a problem with the "users add value" statement. It depends on the user and their qualifications. If you let morons "add" their input, it dilutes the purity and accuracy of information, so there does need to be professional monitoring to act as quality control agents.

Learn About Audiobooks

I could only look at Gutenberg because the library suspended our license for Netlibrary, and since I don't have a computer at home, I couldn't look at Overdrive, unfortunately.

Gutenberg is pretty nice--I've used it numerous times for people. Just the other day, someone needed the original tales of the Brothers Grimm (you know, not the Disney version, but the version where evil step-sisters lop off their heels to try and fit into dainty slippers!) and I found it for her on Gutenberg.

Granted, it only contains public domain titles, but still, it's great for history questions. One nice trick is if a book is heavy on the images, you can download the HTML version, and then the audiobook version, and you can read along. Pretty cool, huh! (I really need to get a life...)

Web 2.0 Tool--Clipmarks

I first came across Clipmarks when I was meandering through Firefox addons. As a librarian, I use this almost weekly--if someone just needs a part of a page, I just clip and print, saving a lot of wasted paper! The down side is that it must be installed on every computer you use, but it only takes a second to do it!

clipped from web.mit.edu On August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and surrounding areas. There were more than a thousand fatalities, billions of dollars in property losses, and tens of thousands of people were stranded and/or lost their homes. Despite a long history of flooding and dire predictions, all levels of government failed to act in a timely and organized manner, which further exacerbated the problems. In the past year, recovery efforts were slow and there was much discussion of topics such as race, class, government response, and how the nation as a whole should think about New Orleans and the Gulf Coast’s future.

MERLIN & Blogs/Feeds

I tried Feedster, but couldn't connect, so I'm hoping they're just doing some maintenance and will try them again.

I used Technorati, and was able to find a good library technology blog located at http://tametheweb.com/ and is authored by Michael Stephens. It has some good links about trends in technology that are of interest to librarians, but it also has the fun stuff, like Second Life (which I just can't get into--why not live the first life. It can get creepy. I found a Second Life memorial to the victims of the Virginia Tech shooting, complete with mourning avatars. I guess the next step is virtual funerals. Now you can mourn great aunt Mathilda in your underwear, with a beer in your hand.) A lot of the info (and presentations are available, too!) is directly related to what the Web 2.0 and 23 Things cover, so I strongly recommend checking out this blog if you like doing the 23 Things.

One thing that would be nice is if when you search a term, when it retrieves the relevant posts, if it would automatically highlight the search term. I performed a search on this blog for the term "koha" and it returned three posts. When you open each post, then you have to perform another search for the term within the post. A minor point, I know.

I used Topix, which visually reminded me of Yahoo. I did some searches, and the thing that struck me was the number of ads on the site. I did find some good info on libraries, including a great site which recommends Native American children's literature. Evidently, many of the popular titles are horribly inaccurate. The site is found at http://www.fremonttribune.com/articles/2007/11/05/opinion/columns/doc472eff4727836465640450.txt

Another article I found listed links to a couple libraries that use podcasts for book reviews--I really, really like this idea! The article is at http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6495177.html

Unfortunately, Feedster is still down. :-(

I tried Sydic8 and the first thing that struck me is how each entry resembles a catalog record, so it was really easy for me to find the info I needed. The ads were there, but much more subdued than Technorati. Through this site, I found a nice feed for what's new in science at the Library of Congress. http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/whatsnew/whatsnew.html

Easter Bunny Hates You

Enjoy!

Locating Podcasts

This is pretty neat. I used podcast.net to search for some items for which people ask, such as literature reviews, book reviews, political and historical information, etc.

I was pleasantly surprised to find some great resources, including dramatic readings and interpretations of Shakespeare and other authors, Jeff Shaara discussing his latest title, and a fabulous list of podcasts from Pritzker Military Library. It reminds me of C-SPAN's book talks. Some are quite professional and others are, well, like me...completely unpolished!

Of course, like my opinion of Wikipedia, I would vet the info before using it. Sometimes it's easy to tell if you should be extra wary. One podcast was titled Pod Casting at Its Worse which is either a clever or incredibly stupid title. Even if the site is professionally produced, that's still no guarantee the speakers are completely nuts, but if it's an author you recognize, then it can be pretty informative and entertaining.

One trick with podcast.net is to search under "Episodes" and type in your keywords. I looked for "suicide bombers" and while nothing appeared under the "Keyword" search, some great and relevant sites appeared under the "Episodes" sites. This is a quibble--it's difficult to find appropriate information because the casts are poorly tagged and labeled.

I also tried Podcastalley.com but wasn't as impressed, especially with the poor search options. Also, it will say how many MBs it is, but not the actual length of the broadcast.

Hey, did you know you could play more than one podcast at a time, and have the sound for both at the same time...I love all the voices in my head!!! :-)

YouTube

A fun site--you can really waste a lot of time there! It's pretty easy to search, and it makes you realize people want more than their "15 minutes" of fame. I think new bands could use this to advertise themselves, but there are so many videos, the possibility of being "discovered" is remote.

Libraries could use it for tutorial purposes, either for staff or customers. Of course the speakers must be enabled and headphones available.

I saw this fun video at the 2007 Computers in Libraries--how to use a book...

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