#15 The terrible 2(.0)'s (Tea for two)

Reading about the 2.0's reminds me of a couple of recent conversations with colleagues.

A colleague and I were discussing the changing face of reference collections - where hard copy resources are being replaced with online sources. A quick look at our reference collection had us wondering how long a hard copy reference collection would remain.

At the moment we seem to be in a transition period - where hard copy and soft copy resources co-exist but don't necessarily complement each other - some patrons prefer one format over the other.

We have one patron who comes in once or twice a week with the crossword from the Saturday Age. He spends a few hours each day trawling through the reference collection looking for the solutions. (he is probably more familiar with the ref section than some of the staff are).

He will happily look up an answer in the hard copy of Britannica, but using the computer (even if it is to use the online Britannica) is, to him, only one step removed from cheating.

I've shown him google and the online databases but he's not interested. I'm sure he's not the only one that feels like that.

In five, ten, years time he may not have any choice - the ref collection may well be mainly online.

I mean consider today's reference resources compared with ten years ago. The online environment means that the library's collections, and how we access them, is constantly changing and evolving.

A recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald titled Internet a surprise boon for books
looked at longstanding predictions that the internet would crush the book publishing industry with digital readers and online sales of used books. It noted that people seemed to want to be able to download music online but that they still wanted to own a physical book (or borrow it from a library I guess).

Local schools still set projects which specify that students must use a mix of sources - online, hard copy, reference encyclopedias etc.

As people become more familiar with the Internet should library online catalogues look more like web based search engines?

A lot of people are familiar with searching using a search engine such as google, but they struggle with the library catalogue - perhaps because it isn't as 'intuitive' as the google interface?

If you misspell a word or term in google you get, at the top of the results, a 'did you mean " option. In most library catalogues if you make a spelling mistake -that's it, you don't get a match (and you don't get an alternate spelling option - at least not in the system we use)

Libraries are looking at ways of getting themselves more noticed in the online environment - applications such as blogs, myspace, are very attractive as ways of taking the library to the wider population.

The fact that some public libraries have started using LibraryThing for libraries to enhance their catalogue (and to provide a link between the library catalogue and LibraryThing) shows just how powerful and effective the web can be.

#14 technorati (Der Guten Tag Hop-Clop)

I've been having a look at technorati - I've managed to claim my blog (one of them) and create a watchlist - using one of my other personas.

Looking at the most popular searches on technorati - I recognised very few of the terms entered. The top search term was leopard (I'm guessing the new apple os, not the cat), next was noelia (no idea until I looked at the tags -now I wish I hadn't looked at the tags), third most poular search term was Mark Driscoll (once again no idea until i looked at the search results - he's an elder in the Mars Hill Church).

The three top favorited blogs are Boing Boing (cultural curiosities & interesting techie stuff), Blog tips to help you make money blogging (self explanatory), and Techcrunch (all things web & techie).

The three top blogs are Engadget (for gadgetaholics), Gizmodo the gadget guide (more gadgets) and Boing Boing.

Obviously I've been looking at technorati at the same time as the gadget freaks - I can see the usefulness of searching blogs for info on the leopard os - cos you'll get posts by users; but looking for blogposts on a church pastor? why? - if he's newsworthy (or even if he's not) I'd probably just google him - I doubt I'd think to use technorati for news of him.

I can see why the gadget blogs are favourites - there's some weird and wonderful stuff out there - and I like to read reviews from users of gadgets rather than professional reviewers - it's a sort of anonymous 'word of mouth' recommendation, to be supplemented by a third party review.

Perhaps we should organise for every participant to 'favourite' or search for the Victorian Public Libraries Learning 2.0 blog on a certain day/time.

Wouldn't it be cool to see a library blog in the top ten?

#13 Del.icio.us (A spoonful of sugar)

I've been using del.icio.us for a while now; mainly as a way of transferring my bookmarks from work to home and vice versa.


In a work context it could be very useful for bookmarking sites such as 20 favourite crime authors, or authors who write like Maeve Binchy.

I see it being used as a sort of list generator (in a way) where instead of having a printed list of Maeve Binchy read-a-likes the del.icio.us version would be dynamic, more up-to-date (updateable), and much cheaper to produce.

If we have a guest speaker or author event we could bookmark relevant and related sites on del.icio.us (author's homepage, websites on the topic, all sorts of things).

Since exploring with the PLCMCL2 account I've been somewhat sidetracked by the Nancy Pearl action figure pool party from Flickr (not strictly relevant, but fun all the same!)

#12 Rollyo (Merrily we roll along)

Rollyo.

I can see this having many uses in a public library.

Book reviews - by entering the search term (book title) into the Rollyo search engine it would search up to 25 book review websites for reviews - great for bookgroups and the like.

Limited only by 25 websites per searchroll you could set up searchrolls on current topics - such as study tips, or exam tips.

Current affairs/todays headlines - links to daily newspapers, and so on.

Could be extremely useful - am already planning how we can use it for our guest speakers and booktalks next year.

#11 Library Thing (Marian the Librarian)

I've been a fan of Library Thing for a while now and have been slowly cataloguing the "tapsister" collection onto it.

It's actually rather scary to see how many books I (allegedly according to Library Thing) own. It seems so much less when you see them on a bookshelf (or two, or three, or...)

Which is why, for the purpose of this exercise, I've started a new account just for my family history related titles.

My sister and I wrote the history of dad's family about 20 years ago and we are currently (still) updating it. When we first wrote it we had to photocopy photos into it as digital cameras (and scanners) were not readily available.

Now we can scan all the photos in and include them in the middle of the relevant text rather than having to stick a photo on a page of text and then photocopy it numerous times.

Relatives overseas can scan in family photos and email them to us for inclusion in the book rather than having to photocopy and post us a copy.

We can (and do) also upload photos to Flickr and ask the rellies worldwide if they can identify the people in the photos for us. We seem to have a lot of old photos that have the identity of the person written on the back.

Unfortunately it is usually just a one word identifier such as dad, mum, or Robert. (whose dad, whose mum, which Robert?).

We then get sidetracked (rather like this post!) into trying to date the photos using the clothing and hairstyles as a guide.

But back to Library Thing.

It is free for the first 200 books. After that it's us$10 for a year or us$25 for lifetime membership. Or if you're too cheap to pay, or too lazy to pay, you can set up multiple accounts eg: by genre: miffy_crime, miffy_travel, etc. It takes some keeping up with but it is definitely do-able.

There is a LibraryThing for libraries which explains why a library would want to join LibraryThing and links to a few libraries which have already joined.

The Bedford Public Library inTexas is one public library which is on LibraryThing. At the bottom of the catalogue record is a list of all the tags that have been applied to that title. So by clicking on a tag you can link to other titles that have that tag as well - way cool.

A rather easy way to get a list of 'who writes like' or 'if you enjoyed this book you might enjoy such n such' recommendations.

Could be useful...

#10 Image generator (The lollipop guild)

This post should really be titled A Librarian's Best Friend (playing into the whole Librarians love chocolate stereotype).

Image generators (such as these) would be fun to use in marketing library events and programs.

You could create some really cool and unique images that would stand out and catch the eye of the patron who maybe no longer sees the 'usual' notices and publicity type stuff.

#8 & #9 Bloglines/RSS feeds (Shuffle off to Buffalo)

No connection really but I saw 42nd Street last night.

Anthony Koutoufides played Gangster No. 1 - he had 3 lines (and 2 minutes of stage time) which is apparently enough to get him a higher program listing than Pia Morley who is on stage for a lot of the show and has several songs as well.

Who knew Kouta would be such a musical drawcard!

In learning 2.0 related posting mode I have set up my bloglines account (see link on left hand menu - headed Bloglines!)

Of all the tasks so far - this is the one that I could play happily with for the rest of the program - amazing number of blogs and feeds available on subjects I am interested in, subjects I'm not interested in, subjects I didn't know I was interested in, and bizarre mis-spellings.

Type in a word, search for feeds, and almost immediately a whole new world opens up. Personal blogs, professional organisations, links to podcasts - you name it , it's there.

I actually enjoy looking at the blog titles that people come up with - there is the simply descriptive (Barb B's learning 2.0 blog) and the catchy (Hey there's a dead guy in the living room).

By clicking on the links in my bloglines list I can choose how far back I want to check for new posts (hour, day, week, whatever) which allows, I guess, for 'binge bloglining' (sounds almost illegal doesn't it?)

Could be spending a lot of time here methinks....