LibraryThing

I like this idea! I now have a way of creating my own catalogue, an idea that has always appealed to me!

Interestingly, one of my recently read titles was not located on Amazon, I added the National Library of Australia as a search location, but with no success as the search timed out twice. So I added the book manually, just like cataloguing at work minus the tag information!

Click this link to view my LibraryThing catalogue.

Technorati

I know I've said it before but it still amazes me that people have time to create blogs on such a variety of topics, this was particularly obvious when I looked at "Blogger Central" and selected the "popular" page on Technorati.

When I searched for "bookmobile" as a keyword search 207 results were located. When I used the same search term but selected the tagged advanced search option I retrieved 37 results, many of which were the same results as found during the keyword search. I'm presuming this is because the blogs have included the tag "bookmobile". I was particularly intrigued by The Camel Bookmobile of Kenya, books delivered by camel!

I also have not had much luck when searching Technorati for "nswpln2008". By doing a keyword search only one result appeared, it's a person's blog who is also completing this course! There was no retrieval of Flikr images as predicted. Did I do something incorrectly?

Del.icio.us Social Bookmarking

I've just discovered Del.icio.us and I'm impressed! I've used it to create a list of websites related to Tasmania. This link on on the left on this page.

I like the idea of having transportable bookmarks for work. When I travel between different library branches or even computer terminals it would be of great benefit to have access to my bookmarks. It would also save the need for each staff member to be shown how to save their bookmarks into their networked server folder each time the computers are replaced.

I think this tool would be of great benefit with relation to reference work. I can envisage Del.icio.us being used at our reference desks to aid staff with access to appropriate websites for those "curly" reference questions.

YouTube & Google Video

The variety of what is available on these sites is truly amazing. It seems that you can find a video about anything.

I knew that Mosman Library hosts author talks regularly but I didn't know that they were available on Goggle Video for "all the world to see". A wonderful idea to further promote the library service.

I like the idea of a virtual tour around the library being available on the library website. It would be an informative way to introduce people to what services are available in a non threatening manner.

We have recently been talking about trying to make a child friendly brochure to teach them how to search and locate resources in the library. Perhaps a video would be an appropriate introduction, particularly when school classes visit.

I think that videos could also be used as staff instruction tools. They could be embedded in the Policies and Procedures manual (wiki of course!) to show new staff how to perform certain tasks, often visual aids are easier to comprehend than a written description, particularly with regard to a physical task.

I was interested to note that when I searched both YouTube and Google Video for "library public Australia" very little was returned. When I broadened the search and just used "library public" many more results were displayed, almost all from the USA.

Wiki Applications within Libraries

I really like the idea of using a wiki for the library policy and procedures manual. It should be available on the staff intranet site for all staff to access, edit and add to. If this were to occur I feel that it would be updated more regularly and would therefore be a more useful tool to train staff as the policies and procedures included would be current. Its ease of access would also encourage more uniformity between different staff members and branches as the same version of the policy and procedures manual would be accessible to all.

Wookieepedia

I love Wookieepedia! I've always enjoyed the Star Wars films and books but I never new people had so much time that they could create something as all encompassing as this! It seems that every aspect (to my mind anyway!) has a "Featured Article" - there are 354 of them! For example, the life of the character Mara Jade Skywalker, has been compiled from all sources to form a complete biography, many pages long.

Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki

I appreciate the idea of the Library Success: A best practices wiki. The idea of globally sharing information and ideas related "the library world" is inspiring. Because of the area in which I work, I clicked on Programs for Kids & Teens and then progressed to the EZ Library Program Directory created by the Mid-Hudson Library System. This wiki has so many ideas that can be searched in a variety of ways (Topic, Audience, Program Type, Cost). I will certainly be using it as a source for programme ideas at work.