Week 12 Blog 11

I'm a little confused..do you need to register to be able to access Facebook? I'd really like to have a look at the British Library entry but I'm not really that interested in having an account..maybe I'm getting old .....Facebook is just something that has never interested me.

In terms of the library applications it could possible bring a particular library or libraries to more people... people that may not have thought about going to a library will be reminded that their suburb actually has one if they see it on a social networking site. It never ceases to amaze me how many people who read a lot don't use their public library, why wouldn't you want to read books, listen to CDs etc for free.

I've loved the course!!!!

Thanks SLNSW

xoxox

Week 11, Blog 10

Like most people that have left a comment about the possibilities of online application tools I am amazed.I 'm really excited by the fact that people now have no excuse to not save their work to something. Actually, the collaborative nature of Google docs reminds me of a wiki, certain people have access and they can change things in the document.

Week 10 Blog 9

Fern leaf: Leura Cascades, Blue Mountains a la Andy Warhol.

I took the photo of the fern leaf over the Easter weekend and then used Big Huge Labs-Warholizer to create the image.

I had a lot of fun playing around with Big Huge Labs. In terms of applications for libraries I'm not exactly sure. I have been thinking about this for a few days. Libraries certainly could produce some nice looking calendars etc. such as the NSWSL has done. Google maps is handy...but I am still a little confused about the applications for us ...I'll have to check out some other blogs.

Week 9 Blog 8

I've been a Radio National podcast addict for about a year. I especially like listening to the Book Show which keeps me up to date with new publications plus it's great to hear authors talking about their work. I recently heard one with Geraldine Brooks talking about her new book which we currently have 30 reservations on ( me included). It feels nice to be able to talk about books with customers...only if there isn't a queue at the circ desk of course!

In terms of library usage the obvious answer for libraries would be to podcast their author talks.That way they don't need to get permission from everyone attending to be filmed. I've noticed that some American libraries are podcasting their story time sessions. Some of the ones I 've heard weren't that great in terms of sound quality. I think half the fun of story time is seeing the pictures and interacting with the story teller and the other children.

Week 8 Blog 7

'Slamming the boards", it is a really good way of letting people out in cyberspace know exactly how brilliant librarians, assistants and technicians can be!!! The responses by the public to the answers that they received were REALLY positive.
Some people think that libraries are outmoded and out dated institutions I think this sort of thing ('Slamming the boards') just reinforces the fact that everything can't just be found on Google and libraries have a place in 21st century society... well at least that's what I think...hopefully I'm not spending years a TAFE to be out of a job in the next decade.

In terms of reviewing our collection, it would be interseting to see what people make of a particular collectione eg teens revewing the YF collection etc.

Week 7 Blog 6

I really like what Cleveland Public Library has done, they have some interesting sites in their del.icio.us account. I especially like the way they have put it into different subjects. The Sutherland Shire example looks a little messy, but still a good idea !

It's really interesting to see how popular some sites are and I have found a couple of good ones that I probably would not have discovered otherwise. I think adding new posts to my del.icio.us account could become quite addictive. It is a handy way of accessing bookmarks anywhere...my problem is remembering all my user names and passwords.

Week 6 Blog 5

I really like the idea of using You Tube or Google Video to showcase oral histories. I'm just wondering if most people would want to have their life stories up on the Internet! If I was an elderly person wanting to tell my story I would have no qualms about spilling the beans about my life to say a State Library or some kind of archive but I'm not sure about the Internet. Maybe it's just me being paranoid...

Mosman Library is certainly an inspiration.They are all over Flickr and they also have author talks posted on Google Video. Hopefully our library can be as good as Mosman!!

Week 5 Blog 4

Reader's Advisory has an interesting wiki called Wetpaint. It's a good way of library professionals keeping in touch and working collaboratively in providing customers with useful Reader's Advisory assistance. I have also heard other staff members talk about an ILL wiki which they find very useful.

Wikipedia is really handy and I use it just to get the basics on someone / something but I would not recommend it to my customers as an authoritative source.The article about German Wikipedia being "more accurate, thorough, up-to-date and easy to read".
Was quite a surprise!

I terms of applications for public libraries. They could be used for book reviews by patrons or just in keeping patrons up to date with the latest events etc at the library.

I really like the collaborative nature of wikis.

Blog 3 Week 4

For some reason I had trouble creating my Bloglines account using my Hotmail address, in the end I created a Gmail account which allowed me to create the account.

I have chosen some news related RSS feeds.The BBC feed is great.I have also subscribed to some book related ones eg NY Times book review.The Shifted Librarian blog is also interesting.

At first I wasn't sure how useful RSS could be to libraries till I checked some of the American library sites and realised that you can use RSS to notify patrons of new book arrivals according to genre for example .Also patrons can be notified of events at the library. It certainly saves on paper!

Week 3 - Blog 2

I have chosen a picture of a monastic library in the Czech Republic. I am not a religious person but for some reason I am fascinated by monastic libraries. I wonder what those medieval scribes would think of a 21st Century library?

Strahov Monastery

First Blog

My first blog ever!

I never though I'd have one of these.

I must say blogs have not really ever interested me and all the ones I have ever looked at seemed to be basically people prattling on about stuff that did not interest me.This all changed yesterday when I started this course.Des Plaines Library blog caught my attention and I quite enjoyed reading it.

I think blogs can be useful for libraries that want to publish book reviews by librarians, things happening in the library etc....as with all things on the internet there are some good/useful and entertaining blogs out there, it is just a matter of finding them.

In terms of Life Long Learning , I really enjoy it and hope to be learning new things till the day I die.Anyhting that helps me perform my job better is GREAT!

I am really looking forward to this learning experience.