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!

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

2.0

I enjoyed the OCLC article about implications and associations of Library 2.0. The gist of it, as I see it, is to follow the digital trend towards openness, participation and socialization in developing new and revamping old library services. I think it’s quite interesting. The key words that helped me to understand Library 2.0 are:

• programmable
• self-service
• user-centered
• collective intelligence
• shared network space
• user participation

I was impressed by OCLC’s current and future plans for incorporating this new digital environment. They are launching an open (no authentication required) cataloging cooperative that will “harness the collective intelligence” by offering features like tagging, reviews, list creation/list sharing, personal cataloging and more. It sounds like a mashup between OCLC, amazon.com, and librarything!

Michael Stephens’ characteristics of a Librarian 2.0 echo the points he made during his presentation at CML. In this arena, I think CML has made more progress to date. We already use an IM interface w/our customers via Know It Now; we have various locations and divisions utilizing wikis for their staff; and it has always been our goal to break down barriers for our customers so that they can have access to the information they need.

So, in a nutshell, I am excited and energized by the concept of Library 2.0, and looking forward to seeing CML embrace this open environment even more.

Wikis

I’ve checked out a few library-related wikis so that I have something to compare to wikipedia (the only wiki I was already familiar with). I like them. SJCPL has a really useful wiki set up for staff that contains important info and links. For example, I clicked on “Cooking”. That took me to a page with staff tips, one of which recommended resources for looking up ingredient substitutions and equivalents. The page also listed the hours, location, and link to the local farmers’ markets.

It seems that wikis are laid out in a very simple fashion, and that you wouldn’t run into the problem of creating too many pages that are embedded within each other. The ones that I browsed seemed logical and organized and more intuitive than some web sites.

The InfoLine/Rover Team is creating a wiki to store all kinds of useful info that we may need either out in the branches or while answering the phones. This wiki is supposed to be revealed next week! I am looking forward to it seeing it and getting some further informal training on it.

del.icio.us

Wow. I used to think I was up on a lot of the hip places online, but since beginning Learn & Play, I realize there’s a lot I’ve been missing. I’ve heard of del.icio.us, but never taken a moment to scope it out and see what it’s all about. I should have! This is a great tool. I can definitely see its potential in assisting with research–I wish it had been around when I was in college! It also appears to be a smart organizational tool, which, considering the vastness of the internet, who couldn’t appreciate? As a Rover, I could see del.icio.us being quite helpful as sort of a virtual rolodex.

library thing

In the spirit of Learn & Play, I created a library thing account, although I already have (and love) a goodreads account. ( I have cataloged almost 600 books on goodreads, so I’m afraid there’s no turing back and switching to another server at this point!)

There are some features I like better on goodreads, like the overall layout, but the process of adding books  is much easier on librarything. Like most librarians, I constantly check out more books than I can possibly read. I love having a virtual “to read” list on goodreads to keep track of books that I want (and will!) get to eventually. And, although I’m not that big into the online social networking scene, I do like checking out people’s reviews, and sharing and recommending books with friends. 

Cataloging and discussing the books I’ve read has helped me to improve my reviewing skills and I find that I really like writing book reviews. I suppose it brings out the English major in me. ;)

My virtual bookshelf has also enabled me to tag and categorize books so that I can easily access titles, authors, reviews, summaries, etc. This was very helpful as I worked on a project last month, writing 6 book reviews for CML’s spot in Columbus Parent, which will be printed in the October issue. 

So, here it is: my librarything library:  http://www.librarything.com/catalog/k8y