Podcasts and vodcasts...Wow! What a range of resources presented by this technology, and its significance in circumventing the traditional restrictions of broadcasting (for both producers and consumers).
Via British Library, I listened to a talk about Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop, and then via the ABC, listened to a report on Australia's best loved play competition. The podcasts linked to the 'Library Success' wiki were an inspiration - I sampled author talks, teen webcasts, library tours, book reviews, and even a 'new books in the school library' session!
I also visited the 'Online education database', and was impressed by the range of resources (tertiary level)in various disciplines, from prestigious universities such as MIT and Stanford.
I can certainly see a wide range of library applications, including professional networking, library promotion, author talks, user education and library tours, staff training/induction, and more. As a library officer who's done a lot of children's work in her career, I'm particularly impressed by the ability of pod/vodcasts to 'capture' storytelling performances and make them available beyond the library walls. I remember back in the 80's wanting to share a performance at a children's book week conference in another city that I couldn't attend - I had all the effort of arranging for a Council media person to video my performance, which was then sent to the conference, which then had to be timetabled in to a schedule to ensure it would be seen (and I'm sure some attendees would have missed it). With podcasting - problem solved!!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Week 8
Answer boards and social searching - I checked out the exemplary answers on the 'Answer Board Librarians Wiki', and can readily discern the quality responses one would expect from librarians eg they provide an authoritative source and its web address if appropriate; identify themselves as librarians; refer people to local libraries, and highlight the library's myriad services and resources (including online reference services). It's easy to see the importance of librarians being proactive and maintaining and developing a presence in the 2.0 environment.
I suppose 'slamming the boards' can be seen as an extension of modern reference services (as well as a promotional/awareness exercise). My library (Wollongong City) offers an email-based reference service, but it would be good to develop and/or participate in an answer board project, facilitating as it does the social dimension. Multiple users could benefit from an answer, and there is so much scope for further interactivity (eg comments, voting).
I posted an answer on 'Yahoo! 7 Answers', answering a question regarding finding a poem that demonstrated the quality of euphony. I found a good article and example (Tennyson's 'The Lotos-Eaters') in Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (in a library database) - and made sure I gave the source - and mentioned the library! - in my response.
I suppose 'slamming the boards' can be seen as an extension of modern reference services (as well as a promotional/awareness exercise). My library (Wollongong City) offers an email-based reference service, but it would be good to develop and/or participate in an answer board project, facilitating as it does the social dimension. Multiple users could benefit from an answer, and there is so much scope for further interactivity (eg comments, voting).
I posted an answer on 'Yahoo! 7 Answers', answering a question regarding finding a poem that demonstrated the quality of euphony. I found a good article and example (Tennyson's 'The Lotos-Eaters') in Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (in a library database) - and made sure I gave the source - and mentioned the library! - in my response.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Week 7
Hello again. Week 7 - del.icio.us, tagging, folksonomies, LibraryThing, and Technorati - a big week! I did the del.icio.us exercise, and happily found it quite straightforward. Set up an account (http://delicious.com/missemerald) and posted 2 bookmarks to it - one to this blog, and another to 'Faith and Theology' (a blog I read regularly). Initially, I didn't understand that to use 2 words or more for one tag you need to combine them without a space (eg nswstatelibrary), but once I got this right I was happy with my tags.
I then explored Technorati and LibraryThing. I was impressed by the advanced search capability on Technorati (keyword, URL, tag), and am now tempted to use LibraryThing to organise my somewhat chaotic home library!
To me, the striking thing about all these tools is their profoundly social nature. Yes, they have other benefits (eg accessing your bookmarks from any computer via del.icio.us), but it seems to me that the overriding advantage they offer is various forms of sharing and collaboration with others (eg is easy to see how libraries can use del.icio.us to assist users in accessing quality sites, and also how different libraries can share their discoveries with each other).
I then explored Technorati and LibraryThing. I was impressed by the advanced search capability on Technorati (keyword, URL, tag), and am now tempted to use LibraryThing to organise my somewhat chaotic home library!
To me, the striking thing about all these tools is their profoundly social nature. Yes, they have other benefits (eg accessing your bookmarks from any computer via del.icio.us), but it seems to me that the overriding advantage they offer is various forms of sharing and collaboration with others (eg is easy to see how libraries can use del.icio.us to assist users in accessing quality sites, and also how different libraries can share their discoveries with each other).
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