Thing #18: Online Productivity Tools

I definitely like Google Docs. For a time our library system did not have word processing software available to the public in all branches. In order to use word processing software, a patron would have to drive from my branch which did not offer the service to one of 4 locations in the county that did offer it. Believe me I saw many a discontented patron when they learned they needed to go to another location to type a document. Then along comes Writely, now Google Docs. Suddenly I could get patrons signed up on Google Docs and have them typing, saving, and printing at our word processing software-less branch in a matter of minutes.

Also, on Google Docs you can access your documents anywhere there is Internet access. No lugging around discs or flash drives! I also like that you have the option of saving files as html, pdf, word, and other formats. I'm not sure if Google Docs does absolutely everything that Word does, but I've not had trouble composing and formatting with Google Docs.

Thing #17: Maryland Libraries Sandbox

So I've been playing around and exploring the Maryland Libraries Sandbox Wiki. I added my blog to the "favorite blogs" page a few days ago under a heading with Prince George's County listed with a couple other counties, but today my blog showed up under the Harford County heading and there was no Prince George's County heading... Curious... But I simply created the Prince George's heading and then pasted my blog below that heading. Those of you who are in the Prince George's 23 Things program and have added your blog to "favorite blogs" on the Wiki may want to check to see where it is now, because everything seems to have been moved around a bit.

I also contributed a book to the What I'm Reading Now section of the Wiki. There are some interesting parts of the Wiki, but it definitely does resemble a playground-- a mish mash of stuff for people to read and post with only a little bit of organization. But that's alright since the idea is for us to "play" with this Wiki and explore exactly how they work. It's interesting to read others' perspectives on various things like where they like to vacation.

Thing #16: Wikis

Wikis are one piece of Library 2.0 that I have used before. I recently completed Maryland's LATI program where we got to play around with the LATI Wiki every now and again. Wikis are neat tools mostly because anyone can contribute. I especially love Wikipedia because it is such a huge database of information and anyone can contribute. The result is an encyclopedia that is vastly larger than say the Worldbook Encyclopedia sitting on our reference shelves. Not only that, it also includes information on topics that a traditional print encyclopedia does not have. It provides references and links to other related sites. I know a lot of folks argue that Wikipedia isn't totally reliable or factual due to the content being completely user contributed. I think, however, that for the most part Wikipedia is factual. Contributors who are "experts" in their fields scour, edit, and correct Wikipedia entries so that they are factual. Certainly there are errors, but you will also find errors in print encyclopedias.

Wikis can be useful to libraries in a number of ways. First, behind the scenes, Wikis make it incredibly easy for staff to collaborate on projects. Ideas can be posted any time of the day, and in fact library staff could collaborate across county, state, and country borders on various project by using a wiki. Ideas can be expanded upon and other users can edit the existing work, adding their 2 cents. Wikis could also be employed for use with the public-- they can be used as a community message board, a book discussion forum, or just a place to connect with others in the community. I can't say this enough: I love the "anyone can do it" aspect of wikis-- no one owns or controls the content of the site and everyone has the opportunity to contribute. I liked the Princeton Library's Book Lover's Wiki where users post book reviews. The library has also linked it up with local business to offer raffle prizes for contributors. They use the Wiki as a tie-in and enhancement of their summer reading program. Yes there are thousands of sites where folks can submit and publish their book reviews, but this particular wiki caters to their library users and gives them a way to connect with one another.

Thing #15: Read and Comment on a few perspectives on Library 2.0

In terms of what Dr. Wendy Schultz says in her article (you can find it here), I look forward to a day when library 4.0 serves us coffee and single malt and comfortable chairs. Her view is sort of like this: The public library in the future will be an intellectual oasis, but we will need experienced techno-savvy librarians to guide customers on how to use all the emerging technology. Rick Anderson also describes a future where customers will expect access to all sorts of digital collections and journals, and the physical collections in libraries will be little or none. I for one whole-heartedly and enthusiastically support the digitization of collections. I would love to be able to walk into any library and have access to collections from all over the world. I dream of a future where there is little or no barrier between the individual and the information they need. If I want to view a collection of photographs that physically resides in another country, I will simply log on to their website and have instant access to them. As always, easier said than done. There will always be the technology barrier. Unfortunately many people do not possess the computer skills necessary to navigate much of the information that is available digitally. Further, many librarians don't have skills necessary to navigate the digital realm. Because of this I don't see our physical collections being replaced by digital in the near future. Also, every website, database, and digital collection is different and it takes a certain amount of tech-confidence to dive into these places and explore without becoming frustrated. I think a certain amount of uniformity or standarization needs to be put in place for Library 2.0 to be fully successful. Most folks will not have the patience to learn the ins and outs of every website or digital tool, but if every tool operates more or less in the same manner I think people will be more likely to use them with confidence. The big picture these folks describe is good if a little utopian. I do believe librarians have a responsiblity to explore these resources which is one of the reasons I am involved in the 23 things program. I'm not confident that our physical collections are going to diminish much in the near future, but certainly the number of digital resources we will need to understand are only going to increase.

La Cosa Numero 14: Technorati

I have to say I didn't much care for Technorati-- I'm not sure that it would be of much use to me in my profession. My main problem with Technorati is the content-- browsing "where's the fire" section I see links the read like this: "Some HOT and nude Images from the last Paris Hilton sex tape," among some other choice titles. That's on the extreme end-- but there is also no shortage of "gossipy" blog talk about celebrities. I'm not sure how either of those things fit in to Library 2.0... help me out, of what use is it to us as librarians? Certainly there are lots of blogs and posts that could be of use to us, and it's nice that one can sign in and manage a list of favorites for blogs. But this also seems very similar to what we've already explored in Bloglines and Del.icio.us. Given my choice of the three, I'd go with Bloglines to manage the blogs and news I want. However, I'll give Technorati a lot of credit for having a variety of media covered-- they have links to videos on the site too with preview thumbnails which I do like.

I guess overall Technorati seems too heavy on fluff and pop culture for me to use extensively in my job, but I can imagine perusing the music and video sections in my free time at home.

Thing #13: Del.icio.us

So I spent some time navigating Del.icio.us today (strange web address by the way). I can see the potential for this site, but I'm not terribly excited by it at the moment. Maybe it is because it is so text based and I want to see thumbnail previews of the pages listed. I like the idea of people tagging sites so that I might find them more easily, but I don't imagine myself having the time to review and tag websites. I did sign up for an account and added a button to my browser so I could easily bookmark sites. Also, I guess this is handy because you can then access your personal bookmarks anywhere in the world-- so it is somewhat useful in that way. This site seems to be in its infancy but it is a good tool for finding certain sites-- because they are tagged you can get more relevant results. A Google search for readers' advisory might bring up a bunch of unrelated information, but searching for that on Delicious will get you results that are more focused. So I guess I'm on the fence about this one-- like a lot of sites we've explored this one seems not fully developed to me. I think "Library 2.0" has some growing to do, but I do see the potential for many of these tools. I'll continue to check back with Del.icio.us and add favorite sites with my bookmark button on Firefox-- some day when I'm stumped at the reference desk by an odd information request I'll try Delicious over Google and see what I get.

Library Thing

Not sure how random this thing is-- it always seems to pick the same books from my library. Anyway, this site is kind of an interesting tool for showing your reading interests and finding other books you might like.

Fun with Avatars

Here's my virtual self: (not much different from my real self)

Rollyo

So I signed up for Rollyo and made my very own search engine. Can you guess the topic for which I decided to create a custom search? Yes, that's right: Old-Time music-- I wanted to see how well this thing worked, and it's actually pretty good. I added 22 sites to search and I'm sure I think of more to add in the future. My biggest complaints are that there are too many ads in the middle of Rollyo (but I guess they do have to pay their bills) and there are only 10 or so results per page. Maybe there is a way to tweek the settings to display more results per page but I haven't found it yet. Also, I might suggest that they put a preview box for each result: like you move your mouse over the link and it brings up a thumbnail preview of the page you are about to view.

Okay, so maybe it's not terribly practical for librarians, but here is my custom old-time music search:

Select Search Engine...Old-Time Music SearcSearch The Web

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