Thing # 24

There are three main reasons why I enjoyed the learning 2.0 program.

1. This program has given me a chance to explore tools that I had never heard of before, or tools that I seldom used.

2. It created a lot of involvement and interaction from the staff. Everyday, people were talking about what they liked / disliked about certain tools.

3. It really got me thinking about how web 2.0 tools can be applied to library services and programs. I've been opened up to new ideas thanks to reading other blogs and examples from other libraries.

Another positive about this program is that I discovered some tools that I will continue to use. Bloglines is something that I had never used, but I use it at home and will continue to use it. I like Library Thing and plan to keep on using that as well. The open office programs are pretty cool, and I plan on using those more in the future. The program itself was executed in a great way, so I can't really think of anything right now that could of been done differently. And yes, I would definitely do another discovery program like this again.

Thing #23

I first went to Podcast.net and did a search for "library news" and found the Library Channel podcast. It's geared more towards academic and research libraries, but there's some useful stuff there, plus there's 449 episodes. However, it looks like they haven't had a new one in about one year.

Next I went to Podfeed.net and did a search for "book reviews" and came up with a show called Book Reviews and Author Interview Podcasts done by a librarian in Kansas. This is the one that I added to my bloglines account.

While I was searching through the podcasts, I noticed libraries using podcasts to talk about library events, and other programs. So like YouTube, libraries could use podcasts to do book talks and other programs.

Thing # 22

This was my first time to really explore READS and MyLibraryDV. READs has some nice features, like the option to browse new titles and titles that are always available. I wanted to look for some learning Russian audiobooks, so I typed in "Russian" for a title keyword search and came back with seven items. So I was pleased that they had those titles.

I've never been into audiobooks that much, now maybe I'll try it. Just browsing through the classic titles, I noticed some that I'd like to hear that I've neglected reading.

I also noticed that the MyLibraryDV has all those Globe Trekker episodes from PBS which I like to watch.

These two programs are definitely good resources for any library.

Thing # 21

YouTube can be a pretty addicting site. YouTube is great because of the large number of video clips available. You can also find whole documentaries on the site which is great. The downside is of course the quality of the videos.

For libraries, I think one good way to use YouTube is to film book talks and post them to the library website. YouTube allows for user comments, so that could be one way for people to discuss the book remotely and after the event has taken place. This could also be used for any other library program as well.

Here's an example of a show done by the Billerica Public Library called "Library Lowdown." On this particular episode they discuss books on Antarctica.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bLWUNqERgQ

This is just one example, there are other videos done by other libraries with authors and much more.

Thing # 20

I chose to explore Lulu, the all-in-one self publishing website. Through Lulu, you can print, self-publish, and sell your book or CD. It seems like an ideal site for someone who just wants to print up a few copies of a book. They use a print-on-demand service, so they will only print a copy when someone orders the item. You can also get published through Lulu, which will get you an ISBN and distribution through Amazon.com and other retailers. Of course, all these services cost money. The cost might be worth it to someone who wants to avoid large set up costs, or to someone who doesn't want to print hundreds of books.

Besides the commercial side of the site, Lulu offers online community forums through groups, message boards, and a blog. This way, lulu users (or someone who is just interested in self-publishing) can interact and discuss issues and ideas.

I haven't used this service, so I can't really talk about any major downsides to it. I guess it's a little pricey, but I'm sure most of that is attributed to not printing things up in large quantities.
Other than that, I really enjoyed browsing through the books. There are tons of interesting books in the catalog. A lot these books may not be available anywhere else, so it's nice so many of them in one place.

For libraries, I can't see much of a use outside of it being a collection development tool. Lulu has a large catalog of self-published books that are probably only available from small presses or the creators themselves. So Lulu is helpful in that respect.

Thing #19

Wikipedia has a long list of social networking sites, many of which I didn't know of or didn't know were considered social networking.

As far as general social networking sites, a library could use it as a promotional tool, or a way to let patrons (especially teens) know about programs and such. The libraries that have myspace accounts seem to be doing just that. It's basically another way to let people know about their services and programs.

Out of all the social networking sites, I found Bookscope the most interesting. Its focus is on books and there's considerable less clutter on the pages, compared to the other sites. I liked how they had book discussions groups. So having book discussion groups via social networking sites is one more way libraries can use this tool.

Thing # 18

I had heard about Open Office before, but I never realized there were this many web office programs. I think it's great, and pretty easy to use so far.

One thing I really like about Google Docs is the Revision feature, which makes it easy to keep track of all the changes done on the document. It automatically keeps track, unlike Word's feature which you have to enable. I like that you can export the document as a word file, pdf file, or as html. I'm still trying to figure out how to change the page set-up, like changing the margins and such. I guess that really doesn't matter if you can export as a Word document and change it there. Also, you can save your documents online and access them without any kind of storage device.

Overall, I'm pleased with Google Docs, so much that I decided to publish this blog post with it.

Thing # 17

This library wiki project is a great idea. I found posting and editing to it fairly straight forward. I put up the instructions on using the offline mode.
http://lpls.pbwiki.com/Using+Offline+Mode

One reason I'm glad we're going to be putting all the manuals and instructions on the wiki is that it is has a search function. The search feature is pretty user-friendly. I like how it has each article listed with the highlighted search terms to the right.

As far as other uses for the library wiki, we could use it as a reader's advisory tool, or a tool for sharing programming and best practices.

Thing #16

Wikis are a good tool for people to use to collect and post helpful information on just about anything. I wouldn't use one as a source for a research project or paper, but that's not really its purpose in my opinion. I particularly liked the Library Success wiki and the Library Instruction wiki. These two sites are wonderful resources that allow users to contribute their best practices so that everyone has access to some great ideas on programming and more.


As far as applications within the library go, using it as a reader's advisory tool would be great. That way workers and patrons can contribute to the wiki, so it creates a way for everyone to get involved.

Thing # 15

I 'm glad that libraries are using Web 2.0 to expand their services and to create a more user friendly environment. It's nice to see that different integrated library systems are using web 2.0 technology, like the use of rss feeds, tags, and other user created metadata.

I identified with the article on better bibliographic services. I think that this is a great way to use web 2.0 technology in libraries. A library 2.0 catalog could link you to articles in the library's databases, user reviews, user created tags, and provide rss feeds for new books on the subject. Additionally, by using the concept of FRBR in OPACs users are able to find more books and sources since they are linked and grouped together in a more logical way. For instance, OCLC has a prototype catalog using FRBR called Fiction Finder. It's located here: http://fictionfinder.oclc.org/. It functions as a catalog and as a reader's advisory tool. You can search by characters, settings, genres, literary forms, and much more. It has much more bibliographic information than a normal catalog, and it links and groups similar books together in a more user friendly structure.

Even though library 2.0 encompasses much more than just improving bibliographic access methods, for me this is the most interesting element of library 2.0.

Thing # 14

There sure are a good deal of blogs out there. I searched for "Learning 2.0" in blogs and got 2,230 different hits for blogs that made posts mentioning that phrase. When searching under tags there were 274 different posts with that tag. Some of those posts looked similar to the learning 2.0 project that we're doing. Using the blog directory, there were 391 blogs on learning 2.0. So yes, the results are different, and if I were looking for blogs on "learning 2.0" it looked like the tag search gave me better results.

The Popular section in Technorati is interesting if you want to gauge what's popular with a certain segment of mainstream culture. For instance, there are popular music artists and celebrities making up some of the top searches category.
The favorite blogs category seem to center around technology, like the Boing Boing blog or the Techcrunch blog.

Overall, technorati is useful as a search engine. You just need to be specific about your searches to avoid getting too many results, since there are so many blogs out there now.

Thing # 13

Del.icio.us is another web 2.0 tool that I never explored before, so I was glad to look into it. The main use of Del.icio.us for me personally is the convenience of having my bookmarks accessible from any computer. I think I would prefer the tagging structure to what I use now on my computer.

For work, this would come in handy for quickly finding websites while doing reference, and also with reader's advisory. I would also think that Del.icio.us's tagging structure could be used in library OPACs as well.

Thing # 12

Rollyo is an interesting tool that could be used to cut out all the junk sites you might run into with a larger search engine. I like it, and it's something that would come in useful for someone doing research on a specific topic. For example, specific search engines on snails, wood carving, or anything subject-specific would come in handy for someone. I found it easy to create my rollyo. I just put some ready reference sites in there and created it. I didn't get too involved in it, so maybe I'll add more later.

http://rollyo.com/0067/ready_reference/

Thing # 11

I had always read or heard about LibraryThing, but I really never looked into it. I 'm glad because this will be a good way to keep up with books I want to read, or have read. I was using my Amazon wish list as a way to do this, so LibraryThing is MUCH better.

Here's my account: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/0067. I'm going to try to add more tags later. I've just been adding books that I recently read or want to read.

I can't remember where I read it, but there's a new article on libraries incorporating LibraryThing in their OPAC. Patrons are able to search by tags and read reviews from other patrons.

Thing # 10

I found this off the Generator Blog, here's the direct link: http://brainscannr.com/.

I'm not sure what this says about my brain.

Thing # 9

The bloglines search tool was easy to use, and I found a few library related blogs that I added. I did find that there are a ton of librarian blogs, where they talk about their experiences working behind the desk.

Feedster was down, but I did use the other search tools. I used Topix to add a news feed for items containing Linebaugh Library. I found a few more blogs that looked useful through Syndic8 and Technorati. I found that using the advanced search in most of these tools was necessary to narrow my results down. I found so many library blogs started by libraries as a way to update their patrons on news and resources. This is just one of the many ways libraries can use web 2.0 to their advantage.

Thing # 8

http://www.bloglines.com/public/0067

I've really enjoyed using bloglines so far. I set up a personal account last week, and it's made it so much easier to check websites and newsites. I like that there are no pop-up ads and that I only need to go to one website, instead of a whole bunch.

As for work, I started adding some library-related news blogs that will make it easier to stay up to date on new resources and technology. I also started adding blogs by the staff as well.

RSS feeds could be very useful for libraries by integrating the technology into their OPACs. Alerting patrons of new books by their favorite author, series, genre, or subject through RSS feeds would be great for libraries.