Podcasting opens up such a new world.
I enjoyed the podcasts from the Library Success wiki - Book Talks Plain & Simple - and could immediately see their use in a Public Library for all those RA questions when someone wants to know about a book. This quick little snippet/blurb neatly entraps you to want to listen to the rest of the book and you are left with the author/title info so you can immediately rush out and reserve the book.
What would be really good is a link to the podcast from within the library catalogue so that for every podcasted title you can listen to the blurb and decide from that (as well as cover info if you've got Syndetics) whether or not you want to borrow/reserve the item - you can do this at home, in the library, anywhere and everywhere - you don't have to have th eitem in your hand reading the blurb itself to decide what you think.
As an aside this could then reduce the size of bib records because you wouldn't need to add the blurb onto the record, just the podcast link. For the hearing impaired the transcript of the podcast could be linked to the record also reducing the size of the bib record (I personally find long detailed narrative descriptions within bib records to be highly annoying).
And the best thing? To have these podcasts available for download through Libraries Australia as an intrinsic cataloguing function - that way everyone gets to share.
The podcasts from ABC Radio National mean that if you miss a show or discussion down the street a few weeks later someone talks about "oh yes, I heard this on the radio and they said ............" you can go back and find it and listen to it. If you missed it on the day it doesn't mean you've missed it forever and it's so much nicer than reading the transcript which doesn't have the same feel as listening to the show "live".
What other benefits does podcasting have for libraries? Author talks - up there and available within days/hours/minutes/live! Combined with vodcasts this is such a huge area for expansion. I know some libraries are already doing and loading visuals to YouTube etc., this is certainly an area where we can expand, grow, learn, and develop some real skill and professionalism - beyonmd the home-movie feel.
Friday, March 28, 2008
GoogleMaps fun
As an aside to everything else I've been having fun with GoogleMaps lately and think it's kinda cool being able to create your own map and embed the results in your blog (or where ever). Here's one I prepared earlier.....
View Larger Map
It shows general directions from Grafton (me) to Salt Ash (my parents).
What's cool about this? Aside from the fact that it creates the html code for me (just cut and paste), it's an easy way to keep track of maps if & when I may need them again, and when blogs are shared it's a simple way of coordinating a trip where all collaborators can go in and view the suggested route/itinerary. I like it.
I don't really need a map from Grafton to Salt Ash (I could probably drive it blindfolded if I had to) but I'm using this aspect to keep track of the next planned Biblio Turismo run scheduled for May this year - bound to be fun!
View Larger Map
It shows general directions from Grafton (me) to Salt Ash (my parents).
What's cool about this? Aside from the fact that it creates the html code for me (just cut and paste), it's an easy way to keep track of maps if & when I may need them again, and when blogs are shared it's a simple way of coordinating a trip where all collaborators can go in and view the suggested route/itinerary. I like it.
I don't really need a map from Grafton to Salt Ash (I could probably drive it blindfolded if I had to) but I'm using this aspect to keep track of the next planned Biblio Turismo run scheduled for May this year - bound to be fun!
Monday, March 17, 2008
Week 8 - answerboards & social searching
Okay, now I'm a big believer in the role Libraries and Librarians (esp. Reference Librarians) can play on the AnswerBoards. Aside from the fact that it's a bucket load of fun it's a huge learning experience. I must admit that I have learned so much more in the last 6 months about using the Internet as a reference tool than I have in the last 5 years.
I have been Slamming since September 2007 - some months I get right into it for the whole day and answer as many questions as I can, other months I'll be lucky to answer 1. But the way I look at it, out there on those AnswerBoards are people who aren't coming into the library to ask their questions (in person or remotely) so therefore they are still my client base beacuse I never know from one question to the next just where that person is from and it may be that they are in fact one of my local constituents. But even if they weren't they are still asking questions and helping people find the answers to their questions is 1. what I do, 2. what I'm trained to do, and 3. what I'm jolly good at doing. So I tend to think that on the 10th of every month someone out there is getting the benefit of an experienced and qualified answer to their question - that, and they are being taken seriously, their question is valued.
On a side not, getting your answer chosen as 'Best Answer' is the absolute best buzz!!
Beyond all this though, Slam the Boards means I am part of an online community of like minded Librarians seeking to help as many people as we can around the world find answers and learn that Libraries are great places and Librarians are great people. WikiAnswers has recently come on board to give all registered Slam the Boards Librarians contributor status on WikiAnswers which further cements the quality of answer given and the validity of its contribution.
To further cement the value of the monthly Slam, the School of Information & Library Science at the University of North Carolina is taking on a study of Yahoo Answers to see whether or not the answers provided by and tagged by Librarians are being chosen 'Best Answer' over other answers provided - to see whether or not we are in fact providing value for service and being recognuised for it.
Current count there were 106 participating Libraries/Librarians - including 2 from Australia and 1 from New Zealand.
I have been Slamming since September 2007 - some months I get right into it for the whole day and answer as many questions as I can, other months I'll be lucky to answer 1. But the way I look at it, out there on those AnswerBoards are people who aren't coming into the library to ask their questions (in person or remotely) so therefore they are still my client base beacuse I never know from one question to the next just where that person is from and it may be that they are in fact one of my local constituents. But even if they weren't they are still asking questions and helping people find the answers to their questions is 1. what I do, 2. what I'm trained to do, and 3. what I'm jolly good at doing. So I tend to think that on the 10th of every month someone out there is getting the benefit of an experienced and qualified answer to their question - that, and they are being taken seriously, their question is valued.
On a side not, getting your answer chosen as 'Best Answer' is the absolute best buzz!!
Beyond all this though, Slam the Boards means I am part of an online community of like minded Librarians seeking to help as many people as we can around the world find answers and learn that Libraries are great places and Librarians are great people. WikiAnswers has recently come on board to give all registered Slam the Boards Librarians contributor status on WikiAnswers which further cements the quality of answer given and the validity of its contribution.
To further cement the value of the monthly Slam, the School of Information & Library Science at the University of North Carolina is taking on a study of Yahoo Answers to see whether or not the answers provided by and tagged by Librarians are being chosen 'Best Answer' over other answers provided - to see whether or not we are in fact providing value for service and being recognuised for it.
Current count there were 106 participating Libraries/Librarians - including 2 from Australia and 1 from New Zealand.
Week 7 - adventure - LibraryThing
I must admit to not using LibraryThing since I first joined oh so long ago. Looking at it again I can see its social value - at a glance you can see how many other people have your book, you can read comments, give it a star rating and really connect with other readers.
I've now linked my LibraryThing library to my blog.
Personally I prefer to use Shelfari . On a balance I see them both as pretty much the same. I guess I've just spent more time on Shelfari. As with Library Thing I can also link my Shelfari bookshelf to my blog (which I've done). After a while I go with the one that best suits me and tend to let the others fall by the wayside.
I know that some Library Management Systems (eg Spydus) are looking at linking to LibraryThing within their catalogues so that patrons, staff, etc can comment on and rate the collection but I think it is certainly worth looking at what the others can offer too.
I've now linked my LibraryThing library to my blog.
Personally I prefer to use Shelfari . On a balance I see them both as pretty much the same. I guess I've just spent more time on Shelfari. As with Library Thing I can also link my Shelfari bookshelf to my blog (which I've done). After a while I go with the one that best suits me and tend to let the others fall by the wayside.
I know that some Library Management Systems (eg Spydus) are looking at linking to LibraryThing within their catalogues so that patrons, staff, etc can comment on and rate the collection but I think it is certainly worth looking at what the others can offer too.
Week 7 - discover 2 - technorati
Okay, I found no difference between the results of a keyword search and the advanced search for "bookmobile" though it did take me a moment to realise there were 4 tabs to choose from - posts, blogs, photos, and videos. At first glance they all looked the same.
With the second search for "nswpln2008" I was initially put off by the fact that on the posts tab there were no hits at all what at first I took to mean 'no hits at all across all 4 tabs'. When I went back and did the search again I realised this was not the case: no posts, no blogs, no videos, but quite a few photos. This was a humble lesson in paying attention to the details and not assuming that just because the first search tab was empty that all the tabs were empty.
I've not used techorati much at all so may just need to play around with it a bit more to get the best out of it.
With the second search for "nswpln2008" I was initially put off by the fact that on the posts tab there were no hits at all what at first I took to mean 'no hits at all across all 4 tabs'. When I went back and did the search again I realised this was not the case: no posts, no blogs, no videos, but quite a few photos. This was a humble lesson in paying attention to the details and not assuming that just because the first search tab was empty that all the tabs were empty.
I've not used techorati much at all so may just need to play around with it a bit more to get the best out of it.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Week 7 - Explore
The instructions were simply and easy to use. Having joined del.icio.us some time ago it was good to go back in and really look at its usefulness and usability. So now my del.icio.us account is linked to my blog and the world has opened up in a whole new social way.
Week 7 - Tagging, folsonomies, del.icio.us, LibraryThing - discover
My big discovery was the careful planning and arrangement that had gone into Sutherland Library's tags - not a jumbled, haphazard array but neat and tidy and categorised. Shows how the sheer volume of tags can be controlled.
Also the choices - tag list, tag cloud, frequency tag list. You're not stuck with the one option, you can change it any time and rearrange it as well.
Also the choices - tag list, tag cloud, frequency tag list. You're not stuck with the one option, you can change it any time and rearrange it as well.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Week 6 - videos - adventure
Task: find a video I like and embed it into my blog........ Hmmmm. Decisions, decisions.
I did a bit of searching for this and that and something else and finally settled on my favourite reptile, the Eastern Water Dragon. I don't have any live footage of my own Dragon (only photos) and found the search for someone else's footage an education in itself. In the end I settled on this one - it's informative, the dragons are in a replicated natural environment and human intervention in the video was nil. (It sure beat the videos showing water dragons tethered on a woven leather leash so they wouldn't escape whilst the video was being shot - those I was horrified by.)
There were a couple of ways I could have shared this video but have found that the easiest by far is to move from the 'compose' tab to the 'edit html' tab and copy in the 'embed' data from the video page.
I did a bit of searching for this and that and something else and finally settled on my favourite reptile, the Eastern Water Dragon. I don't have any live footage of my own Dragon (only photos) and found the search for someone else's footage an education in itself. In the end I settled on this one - it's informative, the dragons are in a replicated natural environment and human intervention in the video was nil. (It sure beat the videos showing water dragons tethered on a woven leather leash so they wouldn't escape whilst the video was being shot - those I was horrified by.)
There were a couple of ways I could have shared this video but have found that the easiest by far is to move from the 'compose' tab to the 'edit html' tab and copy in the 'embed' data from the video page.
Week 6 - videos - explore
I have to say the time lapse photography of the Qld State Library's construction project reminded me of a Peter Gabriel videoclip. Yet I was also struck by what it achieves - in a short 2.02 minutes a building site goes from nothing to something. Here you can 'see' vision take shape.
Then the Staff orientation video from PLCMC showed a neat way of presenting a professional image which all and any staff could access from anywhere. In a Regional Library network this sort of 'distanceless' orientation process is a huge bonus. With training days so hard to organise across distances and time and staff here is an 'easy' way of ensuring that the same message gets to all staff within the overall library service. The possibilities here are endless.
And Video Coolness - yay. For me this would be the best - video footage of a book group in action. Discussions, laughter. coffee, digression. All the things that the best bookgroups are made of. Book reviews online and available via the library website - the coolest stuff in RA available!
Across ages and genres the possibilities are absolutely endless!
Then the Staff orientation video from PLCMC showed a neat way of presenting a professional image which all and any staff could access from anywhere. In a Regional Library network this sort of 'distanceless' orientation process is a huge bonus. With training days so hard to organise across distances and time and staff here is an 'easy' way of ensuring that the same message gets to all staff within the overall library service. The possibilities here are endless.
And Video Coolness - yay. For me this would be the best - video footage of a book group in action. Discussions, laughter. coffee, digression. All the things that the best bookgroups are made of. Book reviews online and available via the library website - the coolest stuff in RA available!
Across ages and genres the possibilities are absolutely endless!
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