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.