#15 On Library 2.0 and Web 2.0

Having just read 3 of the OCLC aricles on the topic of Web 2.0, and given that the branch library at which I work has just closed for a major redevelopment, I feel I have already reached a "...temporary place in time." We are being asked to embrace change as "...development cycle over the traditional notion of upgrades" and to rework library services "to meet the users in their space, as opposed to ours."

Rick Anderson's article Away from the "icebergs" certainly issues a challenge to "...throw our core principles and values overboard" as we "...row our library boat into the web 2.0 environment." He is advocating that libraries embrace major physical and mindset changes to make their services more user-centric. Hence, the icebergs we need to avoid are; relying on just in case print collections; relying on user education rather than easy to use programs with one-button commands; expecting our customers to come to us instead of integrating our library services in their preferred user environment, i.e. the Web.
Tom Storey asks us to consider how libraries will "...fit and thrive in the second coming of the web?" Since embarking on Learning 2.0, we have seen first-hand the "...simplicity, rich iteractivity, user intelligence, self-service, novel and remixed content" on offer via FlicKr, Blogger, Del.icio.us, YouTube etc. So, with apologies to my former lecturers and tutors in Library and Information Studies, we can't get hung up on libraries having to have authoritative control over catalogues. Our main aim should be to improve access for our users and if, for example, encouraging them to create tags on our catalogue achieves this then we should run with it.
I loved the quote from George Bishop: "Empowering the patrons will empower your library."

#14 Getting not-so-technical with Technorati

My discovery tour of Technorati, a leading search tool and authority for blogs, elicited mixed results. For some reason, the videocast wouldn't load so I had to rely on reading on-screen information and very impressive it is. The fact that the number of blogs doubles every 6 months leads me to ask how much of this increase is due to librarians furiously creating blogs to satisfy Learning 2.0 criteria? Although I feel I have already done my bit to expand the blogosphere, I'm not quite ready to have my blogs officially listed on Technorati.
I was impressed to read that the creators of Technorati have listened to feedback regarding their core service, taking steps to make it simpler and more intuitive for new users like me.
It was gratifying to see Library 2.0 up there with Jennifer Garner & BoingBoing, TreeHugger & other such ridiculously tagged blogs. My keyword Library 2.0 search in posts gave 4,971 results as compared with 458 blogs and 481 posts tagged by Library 2.0.

#13 Del.icio.us

At first I was sceptical of Del.icio.us because I feared that I was being asked to abandon Dewey altogether and replace it with the very unstructured and freeform tagging used by this site. After some exploration of the PLCMCL2 del.icio.us account, I appreciate just how useful the tag options are for acessing resources used throughout the course of Learning 2.0. I also like the idea of font size of tags within a tag cloud being a indicator of how popular a bookmark is. This makes it very visual and easy to understand.

Del.icio.us definitely has potential for library staff prividing advice to serious researchers. I have created an account for my husband so that he can access his bookmarks relevant to NASA and the space shuttle, no matter where he is.

#12 Roll your own search engine with Rollyo

OK, so I have explored another online search tool which let me create my search roll for websites which I know and trust. I'm not sure that this will be a tool which I will use although I did discover the Public Domain eBooks Search Engine which was very useful for Out of Print books. Another tool which I enjoyed using was Free Photos Search Engine which gave me access to lots of Flickr photos tagged with libraries.

#11 Library Thing

I am so excited by Library Thing now that I am the proud ownwer of a custom-built bookshelf which has taken my husband a year to complete. (Last year's Christmas present - all good things come to those who wait, apparently!) I can't wait to create a library-quality Catalogue for my book collection.
I am not surprised that 24% of LT participants are librarians. I can see the usefulness of LT tags in our libraries, allowing theme-based browsing etc on our OPACS.
Initially, I had problems creating an account, encountering a message about being unable to set cookies because the system clock was wrong. For anyone else with the same problem, turning off the firewall did the trick.

xs.to - Hosting - lucy-linus-snoopy_www-txt2pic-com.jpg

#11 Playing around with image generators

xs.to - Hosting - lucy-linus-snoopy_www-txt2pic-com.jpg

Phew, I did it. Challenges, not obstacles! I'm sure it's meant to get easier not more difficult.

#9 Finding feeds

Real Gabinete Portugues De Leitura Rio De Janeiro, Brazil (Possibly the most beautiful library of them all.)

I came across this picture on google blog search, one of the RSS search tools which we were encouraged to explore for this task. I was in awe as I scrolled through endless photos of libraries around the world, including our very own State Library of Victoria (one of the few libraries which actually had people using the library as opposed to checking out the library as a tourist is inclined to do.)http://www.curiousexpeditions.org/2007/09/a_librophiliacs_love_letter_1.html

I found the google blog search a very useful tool for finding RSS feeds.

Although I was already aware that our library databases had an alerts feature for journal subscriptions, I was unaware of the terminology RSS feed alerts. This may prove a very useful tool for some of our bibrary users engaged in serious research.