Finding a space on My Space

I liked the fact that some libraries in the US have created My Space profiles especially the Animanga Club at Coshocton Public Library. These are 'friends' of ALA's My Space and this lends credibility to the idea of developing at My Space site for my library especially for Youth Activities as kids would probably tap into My Space more than they would the libraries website or a blog on its own. Having said that the article on NEWgrist about a museum on My Space, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, says that The Walker identifies itself as an 80 year old woman interested in community engagement and enrichment. when it promoted a show on the recently launched MySpace page the show sold out within days. Obviously not just youth are using MySpace in the US. The map on Le Monde showing use of different social networking services in different parts of the world indicates that in the Pacific MySpace is used less than Friendster and Rotorua Public library uses Bebo which doesn't rate at all in the Le stats. Perhaps this does not show the true picture in Australia.

Like my colleague Annetta I am very excited about social networking sites for use in libraries and I have found useful discussion to use to convince the IT department that we should be able to use it.
The article from the powerhousemuseum.com site outlines how museum's can benefit and it is not hard to related what is said to libraries.

At Auburn Library I can see the use of Flickr pools as a way of energising library patrons especially young people.

And I have been energised by as I have learnt about social networking and the possibilities for libraries has dawned on me. Thanks very much to the team at the State Library for the Web 2.0 project. I have really enjoyed participating once I sorted out when and where to access a PC to do it on.

On line magic

I found useful Powerpoint Presentations when I took a look at Slideshare and Thumbstacks, for example, How to do visual effects in Powerpoint. Its great that we can store and share so much online. I agree with Jalen who commented that Google Docs may make USBs less necessary although it does in some ways worry me that I am putting so much on to Google. Hope some unseen catastrophe does not wipe them out!

It will be useful in collaborating with committees with members in different libraries

Mashups

I managed to add this jigsaw to my blog after a chat with a colleague. I chose jigaw from Big Huge Labs because it was a quick option I thought. But I can see how I might use posters for instance for library uses. The jigsaw could be used as a quick to produce activity for kids in our After School Craft or Holiday craft programs at the library.

Discovering Podcasts

I looked went to various podcasts as suggested and moved on the discover the very professional ones from British Library and the ABC.

Exploring the podcasts linked on Library Success wiki prompted the question how is this different from what I learned in week 6 about videos online. I have every intention of going back and completing the adventure ....

On the Library Success wiki I looked at Curtin University of Technology Library and Information Service podcasted tutorials for students (chosen because it is Australian) and found tips for accessing the library technology very useful for my own information and also a model for what could be done in my library given the resources. Having a multicultural population often newly arrived in Australia with a need for specialist language skills, I could see how we could run a series of programs for Arab or Chinese speakers using current staff who are native speakers of these languages explaining different aspects of the library. Examples could be library etiquette including feeding children in the library, places to eat in the library and reasons for this, how to connect to the library's wireless network, what programs we run etc. I still haven't got a handle on how to actually do the podcast but at least I know where to go to find this information.

I also looked at Worthington Libraries Programs to Go http://worthingtonlibraries.org/programs2go/ kids postcast feed and was excited to see excellent performances of nursery rhymes podcast coupled with links to relevant books to borrow. Did they podcast during an actual library program I wonder. Could I download these versions for staff running preschool storytimes and baby bounce and rhymetime sessions instead of podcasting our own. Perhaps I can investigate funding for our own versions.

I have a gut feeling that the benefits would far out weigh the costs.

All aboard

I visited the Answer board Librarians wiki a couple of days a go and looked at the exemplary answers section. It seems a good idea to slam the answer boards and to have a wiki. looked at the questions typically asked on these boards. Many are folk type queries. It also makes one think how information in authoritative sources like dictionaries is gathered where the meanings of words is based on usage. However librarians job is about providing access to organised knowledge and organising knowledge.

I went back again and looked at the exemplary answers and noticed the websites that were listed to find pictures of marine life. I found some sites I did not know and I added them to my delicious account - the first I had added. Great sense of achievement and satisfaction followed!
How can we get IT to let library staff add a widget to our reference and personal work computers!

Then I looked at another answer to a question on finding interesting facts about countries of the world and as I did not know these sources also added them to my delicious account. Wow! I'm having fun. Asker's rating for this answer was five stars and a comment like mine:

"Wow, Wow! Thanks so much! This site is amazing! It has everything! This is much better than CIA! Everyone should check this out. This is exactly what I was looking for thank you!"

Obviously this librarian knows his stuff and we can all benefit.

A little back tracking

Asked a colleague to help with adding widgets and did a little back tracking today to add a widget for delicious to my blog so others can view my recommended websites. I edited my entry Food for thought to reflect this.

Technorati again

Feel better today. Went to Technorati again and searched bookmobile in advanced search - tags and found item on digital bookmobile which will host a handson interactive training event at public libraries in cities around US in August 2008. This is an interesting find. It maybe a cost effective way of giving the public training in using technology which specialist staff. Maybe an idea for country services as long as internet wireless services are available. The advanced s

When I searched my blog address I got no result but I have not put any labels on my posts - surprise, surprise! I will label this one and try again. I have not labelled my Flickr images - is this why I don't get a result when searching nswpln2008?

Technorati

A quick post - checked out Technorati and searched bookmobile by regular search and using advance search which gave me the option to search tags. More accurate searching results.

Food for thought

I have managed to add a widget to my blog with the help of a colleague - I guess the tortoise gets there in the end.

Doing the LibraryThing

And there's still more exciting stuff to come. My problem now is not that I can't find the time to do Web 2.0 but that I don't want to do anything else. The possibilities are becoming clearer to me and I want to spend more and more time doing them. del.ici.us is a great tool for storing all those easily forgotten or unorganised websites we all collect. The problem of course will be people tagging dross as well as gold and this where the library comes in I guess. It will be good for specialists e.g. children's librarians to share their findings this way instead of my email. Then you can just need to search when you need to and can add those websites as they appear in your emails. I like Sutherland Libraries list and cloud and look forward to exploring the idea further at my next session. I came across The LibraryThing when assessing Amblib library websites and now see how easy it would be for my library to add it to the new library catalogue for others to create their own library catalogues.

Mytube?

Wow I'm up to Week 6. I looked around Youtube and set up an account and looked at the video embedded in the lesson, without sound because I am working on a library public access computer without sound enabled. Have got the picture so to speak but will go back and try sound on another pc later. I searched Youtube for Mosman Library and drew a blank but found The Chaser's war on everything - Mosman Mosque which I remembered seeing on TV. I will try Mosman library website later.

I am excited about the possibilities of using video in the library for example videoing elderly people for oral histories for local studies and giving people access via our new catalogue. As a children's librarian, the uses of videoing kids doing book reviews for Children's Book Week are not lost on me - great stuff. The possibilities are endless.

However as far the adventure of embedding any video from Youtube is concerned I am a little at sea about copyright - there is so much to read and so little time. I will have to go back and read more in depth things I have just skimmed so far.

Lighting the wiki!

At last I have got the idea of skimming around the tutorial and picking out the key bits. I looked at the SJCPL subject guides wiki the Wisconsin Heritage wiki and the Mint Museums, North Carolina wiki.

The the first one seems to be the webpage for the library but as a wiki is amendable. Patrons would not realise that it can be altered I think. (Am I skimming too fast?)
The Wisconsin Heritage Wiki needs a password for members to go into and amend so the general public cannot change it.
More at my next session I think I have had enough for today.

RSS Feeds

This is my second go at blogging about my RSS experiences. I thought that by clicking on save that I could go back to the draft later and so I have to begin again today.
I can see how to save as draft now but not how to view next time.

Anyway....What do I like about and newsfeeds - obviously getting latest posts on favourite blogs and latest news in selected subjects is a good thing. My problem is the wealth of information out there is mind boggling and perhaps less is more sometimes. I initially created RSS feeds which are probably not the most important blogs time wise. Next session I searched for Children's Literature blogs which will be professionally useful and found Jacketflap which itself lists 700 blogs on the topic but the musings of this many Americans may not serve me best and so I searched for the SL of Victoria's Children's Literature Blog but failed to add it to my feeds. I was successful in adding Judith Ridge's blog and as this is an Australian blog I think I will keep it.
Libraries can keep informed on topics relevant to their field through rss.

Caterpillar book bins

Caterpillar book bins, originally uploaded by judy_drayton.

Hurrah I blogged my photograph from Flickr. I feel chuffed. Using photographs for Children's work in public libraries is essential. As they say one picture's worth a thousand words in getting a message across to those who do not yet know they need the message.

I know that I have really benefitted from Week 3 which has definitely been an adventure which has lasted more than a week, despite some frustrations with the obsolence of my camera's standard XD card. I will use the new found creative commons to search for photographs which I can safely use for our new children's services flier.

Getting it right

I found this on Flickr - Vinje's picture of the Tower of London has some rights reserved allowing me to use for non commercial purposes like doing this exercise for the Web 2.0 tutorial. I chose the picture because it has no people in it unlike my previous attempt - no ethical considerations. It is not the typical picture of the Tower since it is a detail and so doesn't look like a promotional picture for tourists.

Flickring around with Flickr

I love this picture of a nun using playstation I found it looking around creative commons. The photographer loves to photograph strangers in a public place. I find people fascinating too. It begs all sorts of questions though. There is so much to read about what can be done. I have forgotten to get the photographer's name to credit him so I must go and look again before I publish this post. I like the spirit of the lady in learning from the little girl. I can do this too.

I'm blogging - hurrah!

I have finally registered my blog! Now I want to upload a video from flickr and I think this is the way to do it.

The first five hours of Web 2.0

Booked a computer in the library to follow the Week 1 lesson plan. Have trouble opening different pages and the videos wont play. run through as much as I can - Is there something vital I am not finding out without the video playing. Times up!

Booked a computer at my local library and try again. I can open videos but I don't have head phones so I just read the screen and hope that I am not missing much.

I have a Gmail account - I think. Whoops I have forgotten my password or is it the gmail address. I try the possible combinations. I thought I chose my name and the same password as I had for my Yahoo account but no joy.
I'll start another just for this learning exercise. I keep getting the message that I should use only letters and numbers and isn't that what I am doing. Times up!

I try using the public access computers at work before the public comes in. I have another go at finding my gmail account. No luck. OK try again to make a new one. Ohhhhhhhh thats what they mean. Unlike Yahoo you don't type in @ gmail when you type in your choice of address. Try a password - too short then at last I have an address and password. This time I write it down but I won't forget this time.

Now for a blog. I decide on a name a follow the prompts to giving a title and url for my blog. Then I start to read some extraneous text and don't know how to finish registering. Times up!