Teaching Others

Teaching others about some of the technologies I have been learning about is actually number 22 on the list, but I have been doing this each step of the way. It's exciting when you learn about a new website and personally I want to share the information right away. Our teen library assistant is already using one of the Flickr mashup sites and other FD Flickr Toys to create some fun displays and to help generate some images for an upcoming craft program, decoupaging cigar boxes. I have also been talking to one of our library student interns about some of the sites, although she has already been introduced to some of them throught her classes.

Online Image Generators

I could spend hours playing with the online generators! Some of them could be really helpful in generating posters for programs or book displays in the library. I am anxious to try some of them at home using my vacation photos. Some of the tools available help make pictures very professional and unique and some generators are just fun. I especially liked using the links on FD Flickr Toys http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/.

Twitter

I signed up for Twitter and posted 2 entries. I was also able to easily link my Twitter updates to my blog. Although teens might find Twitter a fun way to keep up on their friend's activities, I am guessing most of them would just use their phones to text message each other. I am not sure how we could effectively incorporate Twitter into our library web site. I will have to do some research and find some libraries that use the site.

RSS Feeds on Blogspot

Turns out adding an RSS feed to this blog is also fairly simple. I added a feed to CNN top stories to keep up with what is happening in the world.

Class and RSS Feeds

Well, my Infopeople class was cancelled because the venue could not get wifi access. I was looking forward to learning about Web 2.0 from an instructor and getting some hands on practice with new tools, but the class will be rescheduled for a later date at a new location.

Although I thought adding an RSS feed would be difficult, I gave a try and found out it was much easier than anticipated. I added a cooking blog for fun, 2 news blogs, and a book blog. I like the idea of being able to check one site and get the top news stories for the day.

At this point I only used Bloglines to set up the RSS feeds and not to blog, so I have no comparison there. My next question is how to add an RSS feed to this blog.

RSS Feeds and Bloglines

In preparation for a class on Monday, I already signed up for a Bloglines account which was easy to do. I have heard about RSS feeds before and I just finished reading a bit about them, but the real test will be to set one up when I tackle task #8 on the list.

Libraries Using Web 2.0 Effectively

The Charlotte & Mecklenbery County web site was amazing. I think our library system could also use RSS feeds to promote programs since we have one website for many different branch libraries. I know Second Life is something that is popular and even used by some University Libraries, but I really don't understand the appeal. Maybe our teen advisory board would be interested in exploring the site, however.

I think the advantage of using an entire site based on blogging software like the Ann Arbor Library, is that people at branch libraries can add their own information or modify existing posts. In our system the IT Team takes care of the web site so changes have to go throught them which takes some time.

I thought the Denver Public Library's site was great. I didn't think it was too hard to find the podcasts from the homepage, but then again I am a Librarian. I don't know if the general public would think to look under downloads. The podcasts were quite easy to use and although families could check out books on tape/CD at the library, it's nice that kids could access some online stories at home.
For adults it would be nice to have some author interviews or book discussions. In our library system we are planning a literary festival so it would be great to have podcasts of the speeches available afterwards. Some teaser interviews from the authors would also be good publicity.
It is interesting to see that many of the libraries are now offering e-movies. Our library currently offers e-audiobooks, but it looks like we may need to look into this new movie format. It would certainly free up some shelf space!

On the Seattle Public Library site I like the idea of patrons being able to subscribe to our upcoming program information. It's helpful that they can use RSS feeds or get emails. I would love it if we could get the program information to our regular patrons in this manner! On this web site I was impressed to see the information available in so many different languages.
It makes more sense to me to have a My Space Teen Page than something in Second Life. Just about every teen that uses the Internet at our library has a My Space page so it just seems easier and more practical.

On a different library's website they had an RSS feed from a news source like CNN as a side bar. Maybe something like that would encourage patrons to make our catalog their homepage.

Looks like our library web site is behind the times!!