#18 Web based apps.

#18 Web based apps:

This is fantastic, I knew it had to happen eventually (free online word processing etc.). We have been turning people away for years because we didn't have office programs available for our users. I finally have somewhere to direct our customers.

Creating an account is simple and fast but unfortunately it is another login and password you need to remember. The tool bar is easy to use and it has all of the features I have ever wanted out of my word processor. I can see this being a really useful tool.

I have had some problems posting this blog straight from zoho writer it seems to keep cutting off the end of my blog so I have given up trying to work out why it wont cooperate with me. I will attempt to post a picture from zoho to complete this discovery exercise.

#17 Play around with PBWiki

I have now successfully added my blog to the PB Sandbox Wiki. This was quite easy once I had the password to log in.

#16 Wiki's

I really like the idea of wiki's and can see lots of potential uses for them in our library. I think it is fantastic that anyone can add, edit or delete content without having to know html. I also like that there are tracking tools that allow users to keep up with any changes that have been made and that users have the option of going back to earlier versions if they choose.

While looking at the book lovers wiki I found that once I had accessed the 5 star review link it continually looped me back to this page and I found it hard to access any of the other links. I do like this concept and would love to see my library adopt a similar project.

I also spent some time on the St. Joseph County Public Library wiki. This site has some really great features. I really liked that patrons could subscribe to a reading history if they wanted and that reference questions could be asked and answered via live chat.

I do hold some reservations when wiki's like wikipedia are making information available to people that may be inaccurate, but I guess that we need to educate our users to look for authoritative resources when researching information.

#15 On Library 2.0 and Web 2.0

Web 2.0 seems to be another step in the ever changing landscape of library land. Any industry that utilises technology will find that they will also evolve with the technology they use.

I believe my library is a little bit behind those described in the perspectives I read. Most of my customers sole purpose for visiting the library is to select a book (or twenty) to take home and read. Traditional users using the library for traditional purposes. They are still afraid of the computer catalogues we have let alone adventurous enough to be writing a blog. I look forward to the day that they come in and use our Internet computers to download the latest e-book by their favourite author.

While I can see the potential for many of the tools we have experimented with while learning Web 2.0 I have some concerns. The importance of using reliable sources when using the Internet as an information tool has always been recognised. I feel that this generation of Web 2.0 takes that reliability away - anyone can write a blog or add a tag. Are there any checks in place to make sure we are still providing our customers with accurate information. Are our customers going to take this type of information as gospel because they obtained it from the library.

Libraries do need to change to maintain our usefulness but there are huge obstacles in our path. Budget restrictions, staff time, staffing levels - just to name a few. I'm sure we will get there and can't wait to see what the next wave of Internet Web 3.0? will bring.

#14 Technorati

This is a site I will be visiting again. People will talk/blog about anything!

This is a really easy tool to use. I found that a lot of the same blogs came up when I searched specifically under "tags" and "blog directory" but using these search tools did narrow the general search from over seven thousand hits to just over seven hundred.

I don't really think that I have anything of any real value to add to the blogging world so I didn't claim my blog or tag my posts. I did however like "watchlist" and will spend some more time exploring this.

#13 del.icio.us

This is a really great tool for the dedicated web user. A great way to have immediate access to all or your favorite web sites from any internet enabled PC.

I really like that the tag cloud has identified the most popular tags by font size.

G. K. Chesterton
"A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author."