Showing posts with label web tools. Show all posts
Showing posts with label web tools. Show all posts
Monday, May 11, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Week 11: Online Productivity
Emily Format toured me through her iGoogle page a couple of weeks back and it struck me as a useful tool for the family. There's a shared calendar, a "to do" list, news feeds, weather and more. We can post documents on GoogleDocs, too. A drawback is that since Google has become a bit of an empire, I have three or so passwords Blogger -iGoogle -Gmail know me by. When I paused in this writing to check the iGoogle page, I needed to sign out of Blogger. Not convenient.
Like any web tool, it will only be useful for keeping the family on the same page if everyone opens it daily and looks at it. When I told her about my experiment, an experienced parent said to me, "Let me know that works out for ya. . . "
GoogleDocs would be useful in a setting where something like the z: drive did not exist; it, too would be a way to have my work available at any desk.
Like any web tool, it will only be useful for keeping the family on the same page if everyone opens it daily and looks at it. When I told her about my experiment, an experienced parent said to me, "Let me know that works out for ya. . . "
GoogleDocs would be useful in a setting where something like the z: drive did not exist; it, too would be a way to have my work available at any desk.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Week 10: Tagging
Tagging can play a useful role in finding stuff.
Controlled vocabularies save the day in nuanced cases (to differentiate a synonym of "floodgate" from "Watergate Affair 1972-1974"), but what speaker of American English will think of the search term "cookery" to get herself to the 641s? If members added tags to our OPAC they could find things using terms meaningful to them. Subject tracing would remain, of course, for authority on the item's "aboutness."
If HCPL YA staff shared a common Flickr account for posting images on our YA webpages, we would tag pictures. That way, we could create a slide show of, say, Free Comic Book Day activities across the County.
A while ago, Platinumb showed me how she used delcious to keep sites handy for use at the reference desk (DU's bookmarks). Eventually, I started one for North Park. I add sites at least once a week using the buttons I added to my browsers, but I consult it only once every ten days or so. I don't think the rest of the staff find it a useful tool, so it fails to bring together the little gems each of us know.
As we did this exercise, Platinum cued me in on some advanced techniques like bundling ("broad terms" for you fans of cataloging) and networking. I networked Norton Park (in my mind that's what nortpark means, but that's a whole 'nother story) to DU and TW. Norton hasn't tagged anything "demographics" but those libraries did. After a search of our bookmarks got no hits, I clicked "network" just under our name and got suggestions from colleagues! Way cool.
North Park's reference staff tags posts in our blog so we can get back to them quickly. A common FAQ: how do I fix it when the image on a public PC's monitor gets rotated 90 or 180 degrees?
In the last 5 - 6 years, tagging has gone from a "controversial" topic in library school classes to something I do daily.
Controlled vocabularies save the day in nuanced cases (to differentiate a synonym of "floodgate" from "Watergate Affair 1972-1974"), but what speaker of American English will think of the search term "cookery" to get herself to the 641s? If members added tags to our OPAC they could find things using terms meaningful to them. Subject tracing would remain, of course, for authority on the item's "aboutness."
If HCPL YA staff shared a common Flickr account for posting images on our YA webpages, we would tag pictures. That way, we could create a slide show of, say, Free Comic Book Day activities across the County.
A while ago, Platinumb showed me how she used delcious to keep sites handy for use at the reference desk (DU's bookmarks). Eventually, I started one for North Park. I add sites at least once a week using the buttons I added to my browsers, but I consult it only once every ten days or so. I don't think the rest of the staff find it a useful tool, so it fails to bring together the little gems each of us know.
As we did this exercise, Platinum cued me in on some advanced techniques like bundling ("broad terms" for you fans of cataloging) and networking. I networked Norton Park (in my mind that's what nortpark means, but that's a whole 'nother story) to DU and TW. Norton hasn't tagged anything "demographics" but those libraries did. After a search of our bookmarks got no hits, I clicked "network" just under our name and got suggestions from colleagues! Way cool.
North Park's reference staff tags posts in our blog so we can get back to them quickly. A common FAQ: how do I fix it when the image on a public PC's monitor gets rotated 90 or 180 degrees?
In the last 5 - 6 years, tagging has gone from a "controversial" topic in library school classes to something I do daily.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Week 9: Social Networks
What I did this week:
By promoting her involvement with the event, my FB friend helps create buzz about it: not only have I seen an ad, someone I know is involved and suddenly I am thinking about going. How great would it be if library events had that buzz and cache? If people friend (it's different for places / businesses than people, but I'll use that word) the library, then we would promote events to them. If someone indicates they are attending an event, then everyone they know would see our logo and a message like "attending book club tonight" or "going to environmental film program at Tuckahoe" and a whole new image of who we are and what we do emerges.
PR always means getting your name out via different media: an article in the paper and TV coverage; a listing in Connections and a flyer posted in YA. Social websites are just one more format. (More on branding with FB, here.)
- Used LinkedIn as a test case for a feature I don't often use -- the one that checks my email address book for people I know. I wasn't surprised that it turned up only one person: I was surprised by who it was.
- Read the tips for using Facebook professionally -- I am test driving the To Do List app.
- Noted for the umpteenth time that "personal" and "professional" use of Facebook (FB) intertwine. College classmate / YA author Leigh hipped me to a virtual YA event. In any 2 week time span, nearly every librarian friend posts a link or an article of professional interest.
- The Top Ten FB Apps for Librarians mostly look like tools I would use if HCPL had a FB presence.
- Signed up for Shelfari app for FB without reading all the comments first: oops. If the only thing folks have said for 3 days straight is, "hey it won't show up on my profile!" then there's no point to getting it.
By promoting her involvement with the event, my FB friend helps create buzz about it: not only have I seen an ad, someone I know is involved and suddenly I am thinking about going. How great would it be if library events had that buzz and cache? If people friend (it's different for places / businesses than people, but I'll use that word) the library, then we would promote events to them. If someone indicates they are attending an event, then everyone they know would see our logo and a message like "attending book club tonight" or "going to environmental film program at Tuckahoe" and a whole new image of who we are and what we do emerges.
PR always means getting your name out via different media: an article in the paper and TV coverage; a listing in Connections and a flyer posted in YA. Social websites are just one more format. (More on branding with FB, here.)
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Week 6: Wide World of Wikis
What is it about the word "wiki" that makes you want to play with it? WikiWikiWIKI. See also comments on this post.
Anyway. I've been reading wikis since the dawn of Wikipedia. I didn't contribute to one until CHPL launched its YA programing one. Mostly, we put common documents there such as volunteer forms and the list of which branch has which "permanent set" of graphic novels. The YA librarians did use it as a collaborative work space to brainstorm and vote for which paperback series we wanted cataloging to approve as ones to catalog with the series title.
YALSA uses wikis -- I'm guessing when a group produces the page/product, so everyone can contribute easily. Sample: Teen Read Week. As the consumer of this info, I don't care about the format. Similarly, what's cool about St. Joseph County's subject guide wiki is the content more than the form. We already post subject guides on our homepage; if we like the way that works now, there's no need to change. If, however, many reference staff folks said they would update guides on the fly, then we might want to change to a wiki and keep our guides up-to-the-minute.
For this lesson, I enjoyed contributing to the CHPLearning wiki -- I like pbwiki's interface and tools much better than the one we use for YA Programming! I easily created new pages and edited my work. I had been working away for several minutes before I realized I was still in Firefox, my preferred browser, something our current wiki can't tolerate.
I like to work collaboratively, and whether we use a wiki or some other cool tool, I'll be on board.
Anyway. I've been reading wikis since the dawn of Wikipedia. I didn't contribute to one until CHPL launched its YA programing one. Mostly, we put common documents there such as volunteer forms and the list of which branch has which "permanent set" of graphic novels. The YA librarians did use it as a collaborative work space to brainstorm and vote for which paperback series we wanted cataloging to approve as ones to catalog with the series title.
YALSA uses wikis -- I'm guessing when a group produces the page/product, so everyone can contribute easily. Sample: Teen Read Week. As the consumer of this info, I don't care about the format. Similarly, what's cool about St. Joseph County's subject guide wiki is the content more than the form. We already post subject guides on our homepage; if we like the way that works now, there's no need to change. If, however, many reference staff folks said they would update guides on the fly, then we might want to change to a wiki and keep our guides up-to-the-minute.
For this lesson, I enjoyed contributing to the CHPLearning wiki -- I like pbwiki's interface and tools much better than the one we use for YA Programming! I easily created new pages and edited my work. I had been working away for several minutes before I realized I was still in Firefox, my preferred browser, something our current wiki can't tolerate.
I like to work collaboratively, and whether we use a wiki or some other cool tool, I'll be on board.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Week 6: Photo Sharing
Just for fun, here's a slide show called "Signs at NP That Must Be Too Hard to See." If you'd like to leave a comment on a particular picture, go to Flickr and search for the tag "chplearning."
I use Flickr for work in a behind-the-scenes way, like when I share pictures from staff functions with coworkers. I also store images for future use on Flickr because unlike my z drive or desktop, Flickr is always there for me.
The slide show above demonstrates another use. Flickr allows any staff member to share images from last night's pizza and pages or game night or computer class, quickly and easily. Rappahannock Regional and Prince George's County use Flickr this way. Sharing pictures is part of the social networking experience that most young people enjoy: they like to see themseleves online. As you can see from the samples, there is no need to caption pictures with names.
I use Flickr for work in a behind-the-scenes way, like when I share pictures from staff functions with coworkers. I also store images for future use on Flickr because unlike my z drive or desktop, Flickr is always there for me.
The slide show above demonstrates another use. Flickr allows any staff member to share images from last night's pizza and pages or game night or computer class, quickly and easily. Rappahannock Regional and Prince George's County use Flickr this way. Sharing pictures is part of the social networking experience that most young people enjoy: they like to see themseleves online. As you can see from the samples, there is no need to caption pictures with names.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Results In!
Poll Daddy has a nice feature for showing poll results to me when I am logged in, but there's no mechanism to share the chart. I had to export to Excel, make a chart, and save it as an image.
Anyway. The question was "Which patron tale of woe is hardest to smile politely through?" and those are the results.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Cool Stuff from Library Journal
LJ initiated a new rating system for public libraries, based on statistics reported to state library agencies. Learn about it, here.
You know you love "fair use" - that murky copyright law statement that says you can photocopy a couple of pages if your intentions are good. Here's an online tool to help you check your intentions.
You know you love "fair use" - that murky copyright law statement that says you can photocopy a couple of pages if your intentions are good. Here's an online tool to help you check your intentions.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Week 4: Choice / Twitter ... and Digital Literacy
Matt recently shared an article on managing multiple social networks. Author Ben Parr asserts, "People may disagree with me, but I believe you should sign up for the most popular social networks regardless of whether you are going to use them all. This prevents someone else being mistaken for you and protects an account that you may want to use later." (Parr's article on mashable.com) This comment, and indeed most of the article, assumes that your online presence and professional presence are intertwined -- if not one and the same.
I think that when (if) I get the chance to do web2.0 on behalf of HCPL, I'd create yet another user name. After all, I followed Parr's advice and went to Check User Names -- there's a lisalib on myspace, and that's not me. I might not want to be confused with her, certainly not for work. It would make sense to make a generic username tied to the position, not me: NPYA, or something.
I am intrigued by a final tip from Parr: atomkeep, which promises to allow me to update many social sites at once. This way, the twitter site I created could live on for those who would rather follow me that way.
Whenever I hear about a cool resource, or find one on my own, I want to share it. To the extent that teaching digital literacy and online safety is something public librarians should do, I'd love to be able to share Parr's article with patrons. The people who ask ref desk staff for "help with the computer" don't know how to sign up for an e-mail account and attach their resume. The patrons who can do that -- and more -- seldom ask our help. Wouldn't it be great if we could reach the tech-savvy with something like HCPL's Tech Tip of the Week? It could be a blog, with RSS -- and we could write an abstract version that would go out via Twitter? I don't tweet, so that's harder to picture.
Just thinking out loud on this one.
I think that when (if) I get the chance to do web2.0 on behalf of HCPL, I'd create yet another user name. After all, I followed Parr's advice and went to Check User Names -- there's a lisalib on myspace, and that's not me. I might not want to be confused with her, certainly not for work. It would make sense to make a generic username tied to the position, not me: NPYA, or something.
I am intrigued by a final tip from Parr: atomkeep, which promises to allow me to update many social sites at once. This way, the twitter site I created could live on for those who would rather follow me that way.
Whenever I hear about a cool resource, or find one on my own, I want to share it. To the extent that teaching digital literacy and online safety is something public librarians should do, I'd love to be able to share Parr's article with patrons. The people who ask ref desk staff for "help with the computer" don't know how to sign up for an e-mail account and attach their resume. The patrons who can do that -- and more -- seldom ask our help. Wouldn't it be great if we could reach the tech-savvy with something like HCPL's Tech Tip of the Week? It could be a blog, with RSS -- and we could write an abstract version that would go out via Twitter? I don't tweet, so that's harder to picture.
Just thinking out loud on this one.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
New to Me: Hashtags
The Washington Post's "Personal Technology" column is a great way to keep up. Today, author Rob Pegoraro answers a question about webcams, and defines hashtags - tagging for posts with Twitter and similar services.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Firefox + WorldCat = Awesomeness
I love the FireFox add on that lets me keep my favorite search engines handy. A woman just brought up a paperback copy of Lord of the Flies - she was worried it was missing pages.
Click, I made WorldCat what I'll search via the box in my browser. I scanned the barcode number of the book she gave me into the search box, and WorldCat took me straight to the same version of the book. I clicked the "details" tab to see the catalog record. The number of pages there matched the number in the book in hand.
"Yes, m'am, it's got all the pages."
Click, I made WorldCat what I'll search via the box in my browser. I scanned the barcode number of the book she gave me into the search box, and WorldCat took me straight to the same version of the book. I clicked the "details" tab to see the catalog record. The number of pages there matched the number in the book in hand.
"Yes, m'am, it's got all the pages."
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