Thing 8

I think I skipped Thing 8, so here goes:

Of all the mashups I looked at Locale - the random day out generator http://www.webmashup.com/cgi-bin/jump.cgi?ID=170 was my favorite. You can any zip/postal code in a number of different countries and this site will provide you with a map, access to Microsoft Virtual Earth or Google Satellite pictures and a list of places to go and things to see in the immediate vicinity. It sometimes shows pictures of neigberhood buildings as well. Good tool if you are planning a trip.

Wikis (Thing 16)

Wikis! Wow!! How could Fontana use them?? Let me count all the ways!! I would like to, but I don't have the time. But here are some suggestions--

Internally: Meeting agendas, calendars, blogs, ideas for programs, staff suggestions, etc., etc.

Externally: Requests for purchasing new books; patron reviews of books, cds, dvds; community information; staff reviews of materials; how to (reference, genealogy, use the computer catalog, etc.); etc.; etc.

Thing 15 (Library 2.0)

Library 2.0 is more than a computer program, it is rather a philsophy for library service now and in the future. Succinctly, libraries must be open to change and must involve their customers in determining what new services to provide instead doing internal studies and/or surveys. Libraries will no longer be contained within four walls. Michael Stephens, a professor at Dominican University's Graduate School of Library and Information Science, is the guru of Library 2.0. Here is a link to a podcast interview Sarah Long, Director of the North North Suburban Library System in Illinois did with Stephens: http://www.librarybeat.org/podcast/?_episode=100. Listen Long's interview with Dr. Stephens and you will learn more about Library 2.0.

Google Books (Thing 14)

Google Books will eventually be one of the sites that expands the library's offering to the public besides what's on the shelves. In my opinion it's too limited in what it has to offer at the present time to much use. Of course, if you put in it the catagory with the ebooks and the audio books you can download from the LC Live sites Fontana holdings are greatly expanded.

Tagging (Thing 13)

I love tagging. Ever since I have been involved in reference work (over 30 years) I have cursed LC Subject Headings because it took LC so long to catch up with contemporary language. If LC could find a convoluted to approach a subject heading, it seemed to me, the catalogers there would find it. For a while I even started thinking like LCSH and I almost checked myself into rehab to solve the problem. With tagging, I can label a site anything I want. Even better, on Goodreads, I can give a book a subject heading that makes more sense than anything the catalogers at LC could use!

Things 11 and 12

Digg: I didn't dig Digg. I get enough news from CNN, BBC, the Drudge Report, and all the local newspapers' web sites to do me. I'm sure the off beat news stories that are posted on Digg amuse some people, but I'm not one of them.

When I started working in libraries in the mid 1950s, there wasn't much competition, save for the lending libraries in some department stores. Fifty years later libraries are having to compete with the big chain book stores and the Internet. Now the Internet has changed and libraries are struggling to keep up.

A presenter* at the recent SOLINET conference in Atlanta worried because 1% of people seeking information on the Web start with a search engine rather a library home page. ( http://tametheweb.com/talks08/TransformedLibrarySOLINET.pdf) The growth of social networking, Wikipedia, Web 2.0, and Library 2.0 means more people are using other Internet sites to find information, rather than coming to libraries to check out books or using databases such as NC Live either in the library or online. Libraries in the present and future will have to use the technology we are learning about, both internally and externally, to reach current and potential customers.

My preference for my reward is the MP3 Player.










* - Michael Stephens

Goodreads (Thing 10)

For the past five years I have been maintaining a reading log so I can up what I am reading. The nice thing about Goodreads is I can see what others are reading. Today I added a number of books to my Goodreads site: http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/1108805. My pastor kids me about reading heavy history books and I harass her about the "light" subjects she studied in seminary and both enjoy good fiction. At any rate, I added some fiction titles today so my Goodread friends don't get the impression I do not read light fiction.

Flickr and Friends

This flickr is a little different from the Flicker in the children's book. This is another tool that allows people to share information and/or pictures across the world-wide community of the Internet. In the process of learning about flickr, I also learned how to email pictures from my cell phone to my computer and uploading them to flickr.

The Generator Blog was the most fun to play with. It has a number of ways: postcards, badges, magazine covers, etc. with which you can adapt your pictures. I chose to make my picture into an Andy Warhol like poster a la Marilyn Monroe. I also superimposed my picture on a jumbotron. I also thought about using this make my wife a Mother's Day card, but I went to Hallmark instead.

How Techie Are You?

If you want find how "techie" you are, take this quick test from the Pew Foundation. You can be rated from "omnivore" at the top to "off the network" at the bottom. Let me know how you score.

Leo