Crossing the Finish line again.

Another Web2.0 done. On the whole I have enjoyed it and I have certainly learnt heaps. My favourites would have to be Goodreads, Zamzar and Facebook and these are the ones that I will probably use and promote the most. It was good to explore Twitter and the MP3 downloads, and I will at least know what I am talking about if I have to help anyone with them but I doubt that I will use them personally. All in all I thought it was a good range of topics covered.

Week 6 : Facebook - playing nicely with others

Okay it's time for me to fess up - I'm a fan of Facebook, I visit it everyday. In fact when I was away recently, and had no internet access, I think I suffered FB withdrawal. Yeah sure it's not perfect and I know lots of people are concerned about it's security. However if you take precautions like making your page only available to friends, and then only accepting friend requests from people you actually know, as in you've actually met them, then you should be okay. I find it a great way to keep up with all my friends and family who are scattered around the world.

I went and looked at The New York Public Library page and found it to be very similar to ours, with lots of what's happening, reading suggestions etc. One thing that I thought was a great idea that we may be able to use was their 'AskNYPL: Chat with a Librarian' feature. Another thing that caught my eye was one particular post thanking the people of NY for writing in to get some of the proposed $37 million budget cut restored so that they can open 5 days a week instead of only 3. Unbelievable, makes us realise how lucky we are. I think that FB is a great tool to use in keeping our patrons up-to-date with whats happening at Manukau libraries and they are also able to interact with us if they wish to.

Week 5 : Music files and mp3s

I went to Amazon.com. On the plus side:
1. I like the idea of samplers that showcase several artists of a similar music genre. I thought this a great promotional tool for new and upcoming artists. As I'm usually opposed to free downloads and artists losing out, this did help ease the guilt. As a customer it's also a good way to trial new tracks.
2. Also the site was very easy to navigate.
3. Another great feature was that there were customer reviews for most offerings.
On the minus side:
1. There was very little popular music available, chances are the track you are after is not part of the free downloads.
2. Also when I tried to download one of the samplers I found it appeared the free downloads are available only to people living in the US.
So not really useful to recommend to patrons. Personally I think I will stick to downloading the old fashioned way, from the CDs. Will probably pass these sorts of queries on to the younger members of the team, although I have made a list of the sites that I can refer to if I have to.

Week 4 : Books and social networking

Love it, love it, love it. Only problem is I keep going there for a quick peek and the next thing I know it's an hour later. Just too addictive! I would definitely recommend this site to book lovers. Also I can see how this could be a great tool for readers advisory, however one must be careful not to get too distracted. But for those "I think it's called ..." quests this site can be a great help. The reviews appear to actually be helpful, well the ones I looked at definitely were, rather than totally positive fan raves or else totally negative putdowns, IYKWIM. Still need to check out the 'Bookshelves' when I have more time, but it looks like it's easy to do and having a to-read option is great for those books you have recommended to you and then when you can't get it straight away you forget the details. This one's a definite keeper in that I know I will use it regularly from now on.

Week 3 : Twitter - micro-blogging at a glance

So I joined up on Twitter, very straight forward process to sign up, thank goodness as I was unable to watch the 'How to' clip on my work computer. I managed to leave a tweet,(Well I think I did), but I probably won't ever tweet again. Just not my scene I'm afraid. However for others, (like those that have a life worth twittering about), I can see that it would be a quick way to keep all up to date. Mind you, you wouldn't want to overdo the amount of tweets you are sending people as that would just get irritating and you will lose friends. Still a quick, efficient and painless way to keep patrons up-to-date with what is happening at our libraries.

Week 2 - Zamzar

What a great site! I found it to be very user friendly and so simple to use. I would recommend this to anyone who needed to convert a file. Also it was great to only need an email address. It's a pain when you have to sign up to use an application, especially one you don't use often, and then try to keep all the usernames and passwords straight. Only downside I can see in patrons using this application is, that with the converted file being sent to your email, they will have to pay to access it in the library. However it would definitely be of use to me at work and home. All in all it gets my vote.

We (b2.0) return. Week 1.

Hurrah, Web 2.0 returns. Personally I'm glad to see it back, I learnt so much last time and hopefully will this time too. My only real fear/problem is finding the time to complete the exercises, hence my late start at it, however as long as I get it done eh?
As for how a Public Library might use a blog, they could use it to;
1. Keep patrons up to date with events.
2. Book recommendations / reviews.
3. New and upcoming books.
4. Librarian ramblings / sharing their knowledge.
5. Share ideas and discuss issues.
6. Keep patrons informed of any changes or news happening in the library.
I think these are the sorts of things a patron would expect to see on a library blog but best of all, they can add their own comments and have their own say.