Thing #17

WOW colors, who knew? The Sandbox was actually kind of fun and not TOO! complicated. There is potential because it is a restricted blog (if staff doesn't reveal the password). It could be used by staff in the same way that we use OceanNet, for communication. Of course it would be just one more thing to check everyday......certainly more colorful that OceanNet.

Thing #16

Wikis are "knowledge sharing tools"...but many can be updated by anyone. Depending on the source this can make for very unreliable information. Wikipedia for example is information that is sometimes unreliable BUT many times it has a list of sources that will take you to a very reliable site. Library Success, which requires registration to add information, actually is quite useful and qualifies as a "best practices" site. It has very useful information on subjects that interest librarians such as collection development, training etc and bibliographies for pursuing the topic more fully.

Thing #15

Comments on "Into a new world of librarianship".

The author starts with a definition of Librarian 2.0: a stategy guide for helping users find information, gather knowledge and create content. Although I may be Librarian 1.0 (or on a good day Librarian 1 1/2.0) I think of myself as a stategy guide for helping users find information.......... To get to Librarian 2.0 we just add technology and stir. We have always based planning and proposals for services, materials and outreach on user needs. The trick of it is to assess user needs. This is never easy and always the most difficult part of providing services. If technology makes it easier to assess needs lets use it. But lets not buy technology for the sake of technology. This I agree with completely. Funds are always tight so lets make sure the investment in technology is based on user need.

I found all of the articles interesting and some actually "thought provoking".

Thing #14

If you are into blogging this is the place to be. It you go to the political section you can have access to many blogs without going to each media site. I wasn't all that impressed with the search function. I don't think that I will use Technorati all that much.

Thing #13

The way that the Nashville Public Library and TCNJ used del.icio.us is the way we have traditionally used "link to a topic" on our home page. If you click on "college" on Nashville's page you go to a list of sites about financial aid etc. For students/teens it might be easier to get to than our method. One plus for del.icio.us bookmarking is not being tied to one PC. But it also could be a excellent tool for research. "Tags" or subject headings helps you organize the sites and in a much easier way than the folders in favorites. The sharing aspect is also nice if you are doing research, it could save you time by looking at other researchers finds. I found the Ytube explanation of del.icio.us much easier to undertand than the 8 minnute explanation from Otter.

Thing #2

I seemed to have missed #2 the first time around. For me the easiest of the 7 1/2 Habits is number 7, teaching and mentoring. The hardest is number 4, having confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner.

Thing #12 WorldCat

I used the book Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich which actually had very little information under the tabs. It gave a brief summary of the plot and a few subject headings. There were no reviews or table of contents. For tech savvy patrons this could be a good resource. They can put in the title, check if OCL owns it, read a review etc.

For I.L.L. use it might save time. If you use WorldCat for the search you can check our holdings and Amazon.com at the same time for bibliographic information.