Podcasting: Thing #21

I particularly like the idea of podcasts for news, social commentary, and interviews. I subscribed to a couple of podcasts with my Bloglines account. Starting out w/just a couple to see how I like them: The Mr. Nice Guy Show and The Amateur Traveler Podcast.

I had a hard time with the podcast directories. For example, when I looked at the “Storytelling” category on Podfeed, the podcasts were actually about legal matters (which is actually quite ironic!). However, I did better with PodcastAlley. I searched both “library” and “libraries” and found quite a few library systems who podcast in order to stay connected with their communities. One podcast that looks to have interesting info is the TeenLibrarian Podcast. I think I’ll subscribe to it also.

As far as suggestions for what CML could do with podcasting, I think it would be really cool to podcast our author visits. This seems like a great way to share conversations between authors, readers, and library staff. If podcasting is as easy as it appears, this extra feature could deliver something very unique to our customers without too much expended effort on our part.

Brooklyn Public Library Uses UPS to Transport Materials

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6608541.html                              

Interesting article. Brooklyn Public was able to cut their delivery time between branches down to 24 hours. They say this will help them reach their high circulation goals.

With the faster turnaround time, they have also increased the number of holds a customer can have, from 5…to 10!

Diversity in Graphic Novels

This topic came through on the ya-yaac listserv recently and I thought it was very interesting. I checked DP for the titles that various librarians recommended so that I’d have a feel for what we own should I ever get this question. Here’s what we’ve got:

Re-Gifters

 

Good as Lily

 

Plain Janes

 

Runaways

 

The Arrival by Shaun Tan (shelved in adult)

 

AYA

 

American Born Chinese

 

Kampung Boy 

You Tube

I did some exploring and searching on You Tube today and encountered a couple interesting videos that I can relate to work or libraries, or something other than the random wackiness that most of the vidoes fall under.

Since I was just scrolling around and not looking for anything in particular, I noticed some things I hadn’t before, like the links to “most viewed”, “most discussed”, and “top favorited”. If CML does eventually embrace more Web 2.0 technologies on our website, like tagging and sharing, I could see these also being fun to incorporate. Here are a couple examples:

• Looking for a good book? Log on to CML’s catalog and take a look at the top favorited books of CML customers and staff.
• Need a title for your book discussion group? Check out the most discussed books in CML’s catalog.

So, that’s my take on You Tube for libraries. (Aside from the obvious, and already ’standard’ practice of using You Tube to connect with teens, virtual library users, or those who have not yet discovered CML.)

And, I even took on libraryjoy‘s challenge and embedded a video below! This video was the first result when I searched ‘Columbus library’, and I think it’s a cool video/pop-up book commercial for the Columbus Library (Columbus, NE, that is)!

Power Tools

I was scrolling through the Power Tools page looking for something to blog about for Thing #19, and I noticed that OCLC’s World Cat is promoted here. Good! World Cat makes such great information available and I think it’s an often-overlooked resource.

A couple of posts back I wrote about the new ways that OCLC plans on incorporating Web 2.0 technologies into their database. Things like tagging, reviews, list creation and list sharing to name a few. These are definitely “power tools” because they are giving over some of the power to the user, and with that power the user is able to put these web sites to work for himself.

I’d like to see CML apply some of these power tools and widgets in the near future. Customers (and staff) would certainly make use of tagging, reviews, and lists. Having a “currently checked-out” widget would be fun as well as useful–sort of an extra reminder of what materials you have checked out!

Anyway, since World Cat wasn’t a new discovery for me, I am exploring TechCrunch for Thing #19. Wow, there are blog posts about a ton of tech things that I am not familiar with! But, I think I will start subscribing to its blog feeds. I could learn more about Web 2.0, and I like the humor within the posts. Like this one, about the top Google searches during the Presidential Debates. Or, this one, which uses twitter feeds to illustrate the destruction of Bloglines!

And the award goes to…

Thing #18 is to explore the Web 2.0 Awards and select a tool to explore. I found quite a few that interested me, at least at first, (and, suprisingly, a fair amount I am already familiar with). A few of the professionally-geared web tools I like are:

• VuFind – an online catalog designed specifically for libraries; like Aquabrowser; clients appear to be mostly university libraries.
• confabb – info on best conferences all over U.S.; search by category or speaker; share and discuss. This seems to have the potential to assist professionals with career development and networking within your desired field.
• upcoming – get info on upcoming events in your area or in a city you plan to visit; search; narrow by date; narrow by category; create an account (with your yahoo login) so that you can keep track of events you are interested in; add friends so you can share events; add events. This site could definitely be useful to CML as an external way of promoting our events and activities. (Westerville Public library is using it to advertise their storytimes.) A site like this could help to get the word out about library programs to people who do not regularly visit the library or our web site.

And, for fun, I like these:

• threadless – combo social/sharing site and online t-shirt shop; browse the hundreds of t-shirts that are for sale, or if you’ve got a great t-shirt design or slogan, submit it; templates are provided for idea submissions; over a 7-day period ideas are rated and commented on; if your design is chosen to be produced, you win cash, a threadless gift certificate, and a little bit of fame!
• yourminis - cool customizable widgets for blog, web site and desktop.
• yelp – guides and reviews to shopping, restaurants, and entertainment in cities around the U.S.; narrow search results by those with the highest rating, most reviewed, category, $$, and more.

Thing #17 – Google Docs

Thanks for the introduction to Google Docs! I am really impressed with what I’ve discovered so far. I used Google Docs to create a document outlining what I found/liked as I played around with it. I also created a Google presentation for the experience as well (just for fun).

I can see many situations in which Google Docs would benefit the user(s). A few that come to mind are:

1. Students working on a project or presentation. No longer will one person be assigned the (awful) task of editing and collating all the work and research into one document. Students who each have to create several slides for a presentation can share a Google presentation with each other and not worry about which copy is the most up-to-date.
2. Colleagues collaborating on a project, article, presentation (for the same reasons as above).
3. A simple, guided process for creating a form.
4. A couple, family, or business partners who need access to a spreadsheet to create a budget.

Libraries, and in particular, CML, could certainly make use of Google Docs.

• To streamline the process of attaching documents to email, editing and revising, and sending back.
• Employees and their managers could use it to complete the employee’s annual assessment.
• Mileage forms could be created and shared with a Google spreadsheet.
• Committees and task forces could use it as a brainstorming tool.
• Powerpoint Presentations can be viewed in an audience–staff can access the presentation, see who else is watching and IM with each other in order to address questions or discuss.

wiki sandbox

Figuring out the WIKI was a little TRIKI at first. But, I’ve got it now and I posted a few of my favorites on there–movies, restaurants, and web sites. I like the idea of using wikis both at work and at home to organize and share information, especially by giving more than one person the ability to edit and add. That said, however, I find the layout and appearance cluttered and haphazard. I guess I am just more comfortable with the “prettiness” of web sites, intranets and blogs.

I think, though, that I heard something about how the functions and capabilities of wikis depend on the wiki provider, so perhaps there are some different options out there that I’m not yet familiar with.

As I was working on loan screen this morning, I came across a new book, Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything. It looks interesting. I’ve got so much to read, but I may skim through it. Here’s a blurb from the website :

Smart firms can harness collective capability and genius to spur innovation, growth, and success.

A brilliant primer on one of the most profound changes of our time, Wikinomics challenges our most deeply-rooted assumptions about business and will prove indispensable to anyone who wants to understand the key forces driving competitiveness in the twenty-first century.

Based on a $9 million research project led by bestselling author Don Tapscott, Wikinomics shows how the masses of people can participate in the economy like never before. They are creating TV news stories, sequencing the human genome, remixing their favorite music, designing software, finding a cure for disease, editing school texts, inventing new cosmetics, and even building motorcycles.

del.icio.us take 2

Well, in this catch-up week I’ve gone back to delicious and created an account. It’s still not much of a profile yet, so I’m not making it public, but probably will when I get more comfortable with it. From what I’ve read about delicious, here are the features that I like and look forward to using:

• ability to view “all” or “popular”
• reading list
• syllabus–access via URL
• create a shared tag–create a unique tag, designate others to create that same tag and then everyone posts their findings there
• the magic middle–put others to work for you–their bookmarks and tags have filtered sites for you 
• potential tool for research assistance

The reviews are in!

October’s issue of Columbus Parent has hit the newsstands and with it my children/teens book reviews! And, I must admit, I like seeing my name in print!