Google Doc'ing

I like the idea of using Google docs. I've used similar document share-things before and they are very handy when a group is working on one large project. But I have yet to use it for all the documents I have on my flash drive. Something about having my drive as one place for all my things. Logic tells me that Google docs would be much more convenient, but emotionally, I want to have things on a drive. Why is that? Is it because I'm afraid of the possibility of things getting lost on the Internet? (I'm one that doesn't worry too much about hackers.) Things I used to depend on being there on the Internet seem to disappear with regularity, though that seems more about people redesigning their web pages than the thing actually disappearing. I'll try to get the courage to take that emotional step to start my next project on Google docs. Help me!

IM'ing

It's great to be back with Project Play, though as usual, I'm at least a week behind. I did manage to get myself a meebo account and get the widget on my blog as the rest of the office here did it, but I never finished the assignment. So, here I am.

Being the unimaginative worker bee that I am, I have no idea how this could be used in a library setting, though David Lee King's idea of embedding it in the failed search page of a catalog is quite smart. That could be extrapolated to include failed database searches, and ask ref pages as well.

Now off to see if I can get Week 2 done!

Finale

Thank heavens for Project Play! Learning some of the tools now available like blogging and LibraryThing has helped me feel prepared for what's coming next. (Isn't there always something else right around the corner, just when you feel caught up?)

We are already using some of these tools at MPL. Our MadReads book review blog is a great addition to our web site, and it's fun to track how many holds are placed on books we've reviewed. I would love to see us add tags to our catalog as a way to improve access to it for our patrons. I haven't begun to use any of these in my personal life, but may try del.icio.us for those pesky online recipes. I would love to have a family blog - especially with family photos, but I'm sure 90% of my technotard (I'm one of them!) family would read it and not add to it.

Looking forward to Semester 2. Happy Holidays!

Wiki Week

I finally made it to Week 9, one day before we're supposed to be done. Wiki's seem somewhat useful for me, in the same way those word processing/sharing sites work when more than one person are working on a written document.

I found the examples given of libraries that are using wikis a little confusing....I couldn't quite figure out what aspect of each page was the wiki, and how it was being used. (Could be that if I had more time to look at them, I could figure it out....I'm a bit rushed today.) I know we here at MPL are thinking of using it for circulation policies, problems and updates. I'm not quite sure how the Reference department could use it. But I'll keep thinking.

d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s

Okay, as much as I can appreciate all these fab Web 2.0 things, how can one person, library even, use all these? It's difficult enough keeping up with email.

Can one of you young librarians answer the oldster's age-old question: How do you find the time for all this? Since Project Play, I now have a blog, rss feeds, my own Library Thing, and a del.icio.us account. When I'm not doing PP, I only occasionally find time to check my rss feeds - only because I'm curious about my colleagues progress with PP. What do some of you youngsters do with all this? How many hours of the day are you spending on the web? (I mean personally, not for work.) Really, how do you envision our patrons using all this? Would del.icio.us substitute as the library's web page or reference page? Would rss feeds substitute for email updates? How would we use Library Thing? As our catalog? I'm not being critical here. I'm just trying to see how this all can be merged into the current library world. And substitute for something, instead of just adding another layer of things to manage.

Having said all that, I love tags! I think they, by using normal language vs. subject headings, provide better, or at least another, access to what's available in the catalog. (Sorry catalogers.) I find natural language so much more accessible.....at work I find myself using 'key word in title' much more than I use subject headings...just because it seems to find things using a more natural vocabulary. As far as I'm concerned, providing easier access to our offerings makes our job easier and makes patrons more independent and happy.

Tagging

Do you like how my photos have nothing to do with my entries?

For the longest time I've heard and wondered about d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s, and now I think I sort of have an idea. One suggestion I think I may use in my personal life is the recipe one.....keeping track of the overload of printout recipes has been daunting (and messy). I can now get rid of that ugly black binder shelved with my cookbooks!

Work-wise, I like the idea of using this for reader's advisory and book groups. Looking at some of the sights that Seminole County Library tagged gives some good examples. And I can see it as a great way to organize web sites like Menasha did. One comment, though. It seems like the list of tagged topics can get just as unwieldy as any old web page or list of favorites can. Is there no way to organize all the info out there that isn't unwieldy?

LibraryThang

I created my LibraryThing account and added my five books (books I owned, most signed by the author!! - well, sure, I used the tags wrong, but it's MY library.) We'll see if this is how you link to it! http://www.librarything.com/catalog/leereer I'm not sure how MPL could use this, but I know how I'm going to: any time I get a reader's advisor question, I'm logging onto Danbury Public Library and using those cloud links. I've been mostly disappointed in the results I get from Novelist and What to Read Next. The clouds are FABulous. When I looked for the tags for the book I am reading right now (Ten Days in the Hills), the suggestions were just perfect....books I've already read, or want to read and seem to related in many ways to the novel. Has that worked for anyone else?

Now I have a new, unrelated question: How do you get rid of a photo you've pasted into your blog that you don't want? I suppose if this is difficult, it means I'm learning something. Peace.