Thing # 19 Web 2.0 tools

I chose ma.gnolia to investigate. It would be nice to be able to share bookmarks with other library staff and even clients. I have a heap that I refer to when doing research; especially international, legal and taxation related sites. Web tools such as ma.gnolia could be very useful for creating groups, where we could share our contacts and resources among ourselves. It also allows for discussion and tagging of bookmarks.

Google Docs

I am getting scared now.... Is there anything that google isn't into?

This is better for me than Zoho just because it remembered my Google login automatically and I presume all Google applications will be linked somehow.

Thing # 18

I am writing this using Zoho Writer, not sure of the benefits to this yet, but I will play around with it a bit more.....

Wiki's - Things 16 and 17

Trying hard to catch up now as I am nearing the end of 23 Things!

I have been involved in the wiki that the LIS team developed at work so have been able to add content and play around a bit with that. I would have found it difficult to know where and how to start though if I hadn't been shown! I think there is great potential in wiki's for research tasks and in ongoing and closer collaboration with clients. It is a great way of sharing info while remaining flexible and current.

I recently discovered PBWiki and started a page on arty/crafty stuff. I haven't spent much more time on it, mainly because I haven't 'created' recently. It isn't as sophisticated as the wiki software we use at work, but is still fun to play with, and free :-) Like everything else Library 2.0-related, they seem to update it regularly and add new features.

I liked some the examples of library wiki's provided by Learning 2.0 and can see the benefits for public libraries especially. We have challenges such as confidentiality and the need to train/educate clients on how and why to use a wiki within our organisation. I can see some form of collaborative software being used more in our work in the future.

Things 13, 14 and 15

Technorati is useful as I often come across a web page or article that I would like to keep but I prefer not to keep printing them out.

Del-icio-us I am not so sure about, it isn't quite the same as the convenience of having your favourites in a browser and I can't see any benefit other than sharing your links with others. The tagging becomes important for this, so just creates more work, for little gain.....

Away from the 'icebergs'. I related best to the first article in the list of five that discuss Library 2.0 (apart from the boating analogy). It seems the most relevant to our library environment. The 'just in case collection' is definitely less of a priority, although we still have a responsibility to collect materials relating to taxation, especially internal publications. There are also many people who are still attached to print as a format and aren't ready to reserach or read online (I for one will find it hard to part with a 'physical' collection). User education is indeed an issue, due to limited resources and the wide range of services that users have access to. eLibrary tutorials and user friendly interfaces are esential to overcome this problem.

I loved the idea of Library 4.0 the neo-library: experience, in the last article (To a temporary place in time), Library as knowledge spa, art salon etc

M&M duels

Someone sent me this today and I thought it amusing so am sharing, in case anyone else is reading this ;-).

Things 10, 11 and 12

I love LibraryThing, although it would take too long to add all of my books. The image generators are fun but I can't see much point to them really, once the novelty wears off. I don't get Rollyo (or didn't try to), I think I am just over the 'register here' process. It is a real eye opener just how much 'stuff' is out there! Who creates it all and why??

RSS Feeds Thing #9

I set up a Bloglines account a while ago and find that I don't check my feeds very often. It is the same as other forms of technology in that it leads to info overload. The one thing it has been good for is keeping in touch with friends or colleagues who have their own blogs. It makes it easier for me to tell when they have posted.

I can see that in a work environment it would be good for current awareness (eg: feeds from the media and other Govt Departments: Parliament, Treasury, ABS etc). I would have to have Bloglines as my home page though or else I'd forget to check it each day! I did try setting up a Pageflakes account for the library with feeds etc but it takes too long to open and navigate around.

Anyway, moving along.....