Week 13: E Books

Personally I have never been interested in reading books online ( even Bill Gates is quoted as saying computer screens were never designed for this purpose) -but the personal e book readers you can buy now are definitely an improvement. I can see the value in obtaining out of print books this way and the printQ option within World E Book Fair could be useful although there was no indication of prices. I can also see the advantages in providing class sets of books this way if the copyright issue could be resolved. It would save having workroom shelves in the library filled up with multiple copies of books which have been purchased for training courses in the past and only required for a couple of years. Project Gutenberg was of interest and I was pleased to see my favourite Pride and Prejudice was in the top 10 recently downloaded books.

Week 12 : YouTube

I have had to use YouTube for work reference enquiries eg people wanting comedy clips for icebreakers at workshops and one more recently on videos of police behaving badly( overseas of course). I spent some time in my lunch break amusing myself watching a clip of Mr Bean in the Library . Some clips stall on our system and are therefore not easy to view. Our organization has its own Bluetube for a whole range of video clips on the Intranet -organizational messages , training etc. The Library has its own promotional DVD which has been put onto Bluetube. Unless we wanted to make these videos publicly available I can't see any advantage in placing them on YouTube.

Week 11 Podcasting

This has been a very frustrating exercise as I seem to come up against downloading software prompts all the time and of course we are not allowed to do this on our network. Firstly I had to fathom out the terminology as in some places podcasting is said to be an audio feature only but in other places the term seemed to cover both audio and video. The ABC site finally clarified matters saying that podcasting did cover both audio and visual but the more correct term for video is "vodcasting". I was particularly interested in the podcasts of author talks as I am about to attempt one myself in two weeks time. Unfortunately the Yarra Plenty Regional Library link to a recent author podcast took about 10 minutes to download to my desktop and then the audio was so soft I could not hear it even with the volume at its highest level. I read with interest the How to podcast tutorial and the Beginners guide to podcasts and creating podcasts but again kept being instructed to download software such as Audacity. Fortunately our Multimedia Unit is giving me assistance in organizing the podcast so I hope they can bypass our network issues over downloading software. I am planning to put the podcast on our Intranet but as we do not have the capability for RSS feeds yet I am not sure how this is going to work. I did subscribe to some RSS feeds for podcasts in my Google Reader account but as for actually being able to listen/view the podcasts some worked and most did not.

Week 10 Rollyo

I created a Rollyo account and a search roll using about ten links to websites from my favourites on policing topics. I also selected some of the pre-made search rolls both work and recreational. I added my searchroll to my blog but ran into problems as soon as I tried to add more than one search roll. I thought maybe the searchroll had to be selected one at a time but that didn't work either as I just created two Rollyo links instead of having all my searchrolls in the one place. When I manage to sort this out I can see how useful a tool this could be. Well I did sort this out the next day -must have been something wrong with my cutting and pasting technique

Week 9 Wikis

I looked at several of the links to information on wikis and can appreciate the wide range of uses a wiki can have not just for our library but for our organization. I was particularly interested in the New Zealand Police Act wiki giving the public and other interested bodies an opportunity to give their views on legislation reform. I liked the Library Success wiki and found some great information on marketing for libraries . Conference wikis are a great idea especially for the social networking aspect of conference attendance . In our library if we could add wiki functionality to our catalogue I can see terrific advantages in readers being able to comment on the books they have found useful and that they would like to recommend to other personnel. I can also see that our Links to Useful Websites could be expanded by contributions from other sectors of the organization. I personally have never liked the idea of wikipedia and would not trust the entries -but then even Encyclopedia Britannica can get the facts wrong sometimes. Public libraries could definitely cement their position as being a hub of the community by developing community guide wikis. I did look at the information on wiki farms but decided not to attempt to set up my own wiki at this stage as our Library Manager has already created a wiki which I am sure we can use when developing library policies and procedures particularly as we have staff working in two locations and do not have many opportunites for group discussions.

Week 8 Social bookmarking

I created a Del.icio.us account but I know I will not be able to use it at work as we are not allowed to install new programs on our network. I can see the advantages of having portable bookmarks and also being able to export my existing favourites into the del.icio.us site.
It is also useful for finding websites that I haven't already discovered such as the most popular travel bookmarks.

Week 7 iGoogle

I liked iGoogle and having everthing all on one site . I added a tab for travel and added stuff that I use on a regular basis to plan holidays. I changed the theme -edited settings of gadgets to reflect a local perspective rather than a US one - rearranged gadgets on a page. The instructions were really simple and useful. Some of the gadgets couldn't be added and I received an error message " missing xml header" -it seemed to be the Australian gadgets that had this problem. I also added an RSS feed to my travel page.
Who wouldn't want to work for a company like Google . It seems they have read all the articles on work/life balance and how to motivate and retain staff and actually put it into practice. A lot of organizations have gyms and day care facilities but free food, language classes and laundries take employee benefits to another level. It is heartening to see a company ploughing back some of its profits into services for their employees. But can you imagine the chaos if everyone brought their dogs to work ? Personally I would love it and I am sure my canine family would too.

Week 6 Google Tools

I uploaded a document from my computer ( a pdf library brochure) but then I kept getting error messages that internet explorer couldn't open google docs so I gave up on this activity for another time. I am sure Google docs is a great way of maintaining access to your documents wherever you are working from and also for sharing documents . It can also act as a back up system for documents to ensure against computer crashes.
Google maps was another story - one could spend many hours exploring the features. I found my house and a street view with my son's car parked outside. It is great for locating hotels -I looked at the Fisherman's Wharf area of San Francisco where I am thinking of staying for a few days next year. Not only could I see which hotel would be closest to the water I could see photos from various sources and visitor reviews all on the one site without having to go to tripadvisor as well. The linking features of Google maps is what makes it so useful.
Google books is a great resource too. I particularly liked the linking feature to Libraries Australia for finding locations and also the ability to add a book to your own library -especially designed for people like me who consistently forget what they have read and which authors they have enjoyed.

Week 5. Social networking

I have looked at My Space before mainly because my son had his space. My first impression was it isn't really my scene -I would much rather communicate with people directly by telephone or email and I was amazed at the lack of privacy concerns as to what people would be prepared to share about themselves in a public arena. However trying to look at a broader perspective I can see its use in public libraries keeping them connected with their younger customers, although I do remember reading an article somewhere in a library journal that a survey had revealed young people often resented an institution encroaching on what they regarded as their territory. I was particularly interested in the Ask a Librarian sites in Florida as I can see the potential for all libraries in this area.
As Facebook is said to appeal more to the 35+ age group I did think this was worth further investigation . I registered and added a photo to my profile and then searched under my University year of graduation ( in the UK) and found about three familiar names - one I didn't even know lived in Australia now. I have sent them all messages so it will be interesting to see if I get replies.
Ning did look more appealing to me - the layout was less fussy and I liked the fact that in some groups you had to be invited to be a member. I found it difficult to establish in many cases which country the groups were from -for instance did the Victorian teacher librarians group emanate from Victoria Australia or Victoria Canada. The majority of the groups did seem to come from USA. I can see potential here for a Police Librarians group. I also found several Cavalier King Charles Spaniels groups - but some didn't seem to have many members.

Week 4 RSS Feeds

Although I have looked at RSS feeds before I discovered more about them by following the links to reading more about RSS feeds. For instance I hadn't realised the connection between RSS feeds and podcasts and that podcasting wouldn't be possible without RSS . We hope to be able to use RSS feeds on our organization's Intranet sometime in the future as it is being discussed at the moment. In the Library we can see that we would be able to keep our clients informed about new research, conferences etc that would be of interest to them. I have used Google Reader to set up feeds from the Australian Institute of Criminology a great resource for research on policing and to several British organizations that relate to policing such as her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, the Audit Commission and the Metropolitan Police Authority. I was a little surprised about how few subscribers some feeds had - the MPA for instance only had 1 subscriber before I subscribed. I used Google Reader because I already have a Google Account and I am trying to limit the number of different user names and passwords. I wanted to take the optional challenge of linking my account to my blog but couldn't actually find any instructions. I also think I had better move on as I am so behind already.

RSS Feeds

Library Thing

I am sure we can use Library Thing to promote new additions to the library. I used it to list true crime books written by the authors who have spoken at Meet the Writers author talks which I have been organizing for the last two years . I added about 16 titles very quickly although I did find it annoying that you seem to have to add them one title at a time ( or am I missing something?) I also found the Amazon search didn't retrieve all titles written by specific authors and in one case I could only find the book by title even though I knew I had the correct Author details.
I did finally manage to add a widget to my blog although a missing step in the instructions had me baffled for a while.

http://www.librarything.com/home/christinepaterson1

Customer view of the library

Where have I been?

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The Harbour

The Harbour
Originally uploaded by tezzer57

A distant view of Doc Martins surgery. Last time I stayed in Port Isaac it was before the time of the TV series. It will be interesting to see if it has changed at all. I loved the village for its steep narrow winding streets, the fishing harbour with crab pots , the cornish pasties, clifftop walks and the local pub of course. In June I will be going to Cornwall but staying in Fowey - it's a lot flatter.

Doc Martin's Surgery

Doc Martin's Surgery
Originally uploaded by tezzer57

Port Isaac in North Cornwall otherwise known as Portwen - of the BBC series Doc Martin

BRITISH LINKS ON GOOGLE

After a confusing start with email accounts and passwords I am here just a week behind already.

Looking at other people's blogs my first thought was someone ( or sometwo) has stolen my dogs. "What's happening' has my Maltese/Westie cross and "Off the couch now" has my Cavalier. When I leave for work everyday do my dogs amuse themselves by slipping into other people's blogs -did they give up on waiting for me to set up a blog so that I could proudly post their photos? It just reminded my of Harry Potter characters slipping in and out of portraits while no one is looking.