Rollyo

Rollyo was fun, but I'm a little disappointed that someone who just wants to come in and edit my searchrolls is able to. Other than that, it's a great search engine I can customize to trusty sites!

LibraryThing

Wow! What a way to catalog books you've read and loved, authors' additional works, and your comments about them. You can spiff up your personal page with photos, links, and messages on what you think and how you think about your choices of books.

Summary

I have to admit I was a little skeptical, at first, about Web 2.0. However, I discovered that these free resources are an amazing way to collect, share, and organize information in an exciting way. Essentially, I believe that the things that Web 2.0 consist of are only going to make libraries more useful. We will be using our own resources to help the public have access to the tools of Web 2.0.

Downloadable Audiobooks

These are wonderful, because they are free! What these sites are doing for the public, in cooperation with each other, is very educational. I also noticed that Project Gutenberg sponsors some of the downloadable sites. My favorite was World eBooks.

Meez

Even though this felt like playing, and it was entertaining, Meez is another fun social networking tool. It gives personality to share photos, comments, videos, and to do all of the things members do that tie each other together via the web.

Tagging, Folksonomies, & Technorati

Tagging definitely helps me to say goodbye to all of those frustrating folders and subfolders. In addition, Del.icio.us will allow many to perform extended research on subjects right from the same website. These tools also allow others to get to know the personalities and thought processes of the people creating them.

Wikis

Well, since I've been focusing mainly on the public, I'd like to share that I found out that wikis can be used internally for staff intranet, IT documentation, special projects, committees and events. Externally, of course, wikis can be used to inform the public of community events, community guides, and subject discussions such as, book reviews. My favorite wikis were Wikihow, IMSLP, and wikiTimeScale.

Google docs

I'm excited about the organizational aspects of Google docs. This is a useful word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation program. This means if libraries promote it, students, customers, and staff can take advantage of it. For example, students are able to work on a project collectively, and if they all have access to Google docs, they can make changes all at the same time. The only disadvantages I see are the limits on how much you can store in a profile and how low-level security has to be because, the program is web-based and free.

Bloglines

How much do these tell you about my personality? What a great way to found out who someone is without actually going on a date with them. Bloglines is managing references to items more effectively.

YouTube

YouTube is a great new way to again, access and share information. To get a better idea of how libraries might be able to take advantage of YouTube, I researched and found the following statements on an ala website: "One of the possible uses for YouTube is a storehouse for instructional videos with a link that could take the viewer to the library’s Web site for more information.America’s CareerInfoNet has used YouTube to list their videos about different occupations. This Web site is not exactly library oriented, but take a look at the YouTube page they created. The page titled joemnscu, states it purpose, it has career videos. It provides a link back to the main Web site and they have loaded 149 videos to date. Why couldn’t a library film its various services, load them to YouTube, and then make the link available on its Web site for its patrons? It is not hard to imagine how beneficial this could be to a variety of patrons: students who need help when the library is unavailable, an instruction method for distance education students, and another method of directing possible patrons back to the library catalog. Another creative use of YouTube for a library can be as a method of introducing resources... Why not combine a video added to YouTube with library services training? Williams College Library did exactly that with the video entitled “The Library Mystery Tour.” One video viewed was very simple, yet very dynamic in concept. In addition to giving written, step-by-step directions to the library, why not add visual helper, as well? Imagine how much simpler it could be to guide your students to your library Web site and have them click on the link that takes them to the library’s YouTube account. Libraries could also create tutorials to teach your students how to use databases and put them on YouTube. You could purchase screen capture software, such as SnagIt or Camtasia and build tutorials about what software the library has to offer and how to use it. The Georgia Tech Library created a step-by-step guide like this for its engineering students. These four examples are only the beginning of how YouTube can be used to help develop libraries, provide services, and meet the needs of the patron. Do not be afraid to use this service to improve your library. This is yet another way of directing the patron back to the main resources we provide for them, letting them know that the library is able to keep up with the 21st century."

Mashups

Wow. I really enjoyed the mashup, bighugelabs.com/flickr/. My favorites were the cd cover, captioner, and framer. These tools are great for organizing photos, modifying them for personal pleasure, preparing pictures for projects, and endless picture possibilities. These sites are changing all of the time, and it's all FREE! Perfect for library employees and customers.

Flickr

Needless to say, I'm glad I tore myself away from Flickr long enough to post a blog. This site is amazing. I'm so excited about uploading photos to websites, blogs, and e-mails. I'll also be trying to take advantage of the organization tools. However, I still think there is something to be said for taking your film or disposable camera to the photo developer and being surprised by what shots you took the night before...and what pictures were taken. Hee hee. In addition, I just love throwing all of my photos in a nice hat box. Then, I get to dump them out onto the floor and stare and laugh at them once in awhile.

Lifelong Learners

Well, I don't know about everyone else, but the easiest habit for me is lovely 7 1/2. Play! I think to approach the learning with this attitude makes the unknown less intimidating.

That being posted, I think habit 3 is the most difficult for me. I have the kind of personality that rarely views problems as challenges. At least not at first. Call me pessimistic, normal, etc...