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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