The End

It's been an educational journey for sure. Many of the sites and tools listed in Discover I had already used, or least heard of, but I'd never thought of them in library context.

Of course, just leaning about these places may help us guide patrons who are looking for a better way to read their favorite websites, find music and videos, or just figure out what this whole Myspace kerfuffle is about.

I'd like to see patrons using the library catalog like a wiki to add summaries, reviews and suggestions for similar authors. It would have to be monitored of course, but even Myspace users have the ability to check comments before they appear.

The first thing I would change about this program are the mashups and image generators. A few of them are fun, but they really don't involve much input or any useful exchange of information. More toys than tools, and not really useful here.

I'd say my favorite activities involved the music sites and Flickr. I also liked the ability to share and network with Google Docs and wikis. It's exciting to see how people collaborate when they want to work together.

I discovered many tools that I'll use for myself and help patrons with, but I don't have the technical skills for library integration. I'll leave that up to Computer Services, whose people can use Web 2.0 to automatically bring library feeds to the public.

Thank you to everyone who was involved in developing and bringing this project to libary employees. We learned a lot, had some fun, and maybe earned a little vacation time too.

Twitter and Tumblr

Twitter seems like a superfluous little tool to me, but it's obviously useful/attractive to many people, or they wouldn't use it. Jeff Scott seems to have utilized the service quite well for his library system, providing updates on library programs and news--even new books added to the collection. Unfortunately, I'm not so tech-savvy as he, because I have no idea how to "dump" a feed. Perhaps the CS department has a better idea as to how to use Twitter for the library.

Tumblr on the other hand, is something I might use. However, I don't see how it is any different than a regular blog, like this one, where I could post pictures and links and quotes if I chose to. Apparently, Tumblr just makes it simpler to do this. The library-themed linkblog shown mostly provided links to longer articles...just like an rss newsreader. Only these include occasional pictures too, which is an attractive plus. I guess it's another way to inform patrons and library workers about what's going on in the library world.

Videos!

Of course, Youtube plays a part in my life for finding videos and sharing content. I'm not a heavy user, but it's great for finding video footage of just about anything. The other sites listed worked as well, although I found most of them difficult to navigate and choked with mostly low-quality footage.

The most popular channels on the pay-per-hit sites were those with scantily-clad women, leading me to wonder about the downside of user-driven content. Also, most of the videos were slow to load and buffer, which may be due to the library's connection speed or heavy traffic on the sites.

As for library relevance, the how-to videos and informational shorts, such as the science video sites can certainly help patrons find the info and materials they need. However, videos with audio will require headphones in the library.

Some of the good educational videos I found in my exploration: "Just the Facts" on blip.tv, a production of factcheck.org, which checks political accusations for accuracry: http://justthefacts.blip.tv/?utm_source=featured_ep&utm_medium=featured_ep#862063

Also, the humorous culinary advice from Pro at Cooking on Revver.



I love that Science Hack verifies the science vids on their site and I chose this educational clip on green energy:

Fatal Attraction: Birds and Wind Turbines

Podcasts

The only substantive use I see for podcasts lies in radio-type programs. Most demand these days is for video, not audio, and while podcasts are useful for recording and dispersing interviews, sermons, and radio programs, they pale in popularity to Youtube and music-sharing applications.

For library employees, podcasts can disperse information, like any other medium. For patrons, they do the same, but they will need to have a computer with sound and a pair of headphones if they want to listen in the library.

Personally, I hardly ever use podcasts except to listen to the rare interview or radio report that I'm interested in. I'd like to try some more, however, and podcast databases like the ones in Discover 2.0 will help me do that.

Audio Networking and Archives

Wow, another vast frontier to be explored. I had no idea those music networking sites existed and I'm interested in trying them all, but a bit wary about downloading programs onto my computer, especially free ones that rely on advertisers.

I found Pandora especially appealing. Because of its connection with the music genome project, the site could analyze the artists I chose, pick stylistic elements out of their work and suggest similar songs. I love an intuitive program that learns to anticipate what I'll like.

The Internet Archive is a bit overwhelming, but fun to browse around. I doubt you'd be able to find much here for patrons unless they are looking for something very old or low-budget. Youtube is a better place to search for videos.

Absolute Sound Effects might be helpful for bloggers or audio/video makers. I find the design a bit outdated and the pop-up ads very annoying, but its a resource that patrons might need, nonetheless.

Gutenberg Audio Books are handy for patrons who need sound recordings of older books and documents that we might not have available in our system.

Mango Languages is one of those sites that teases you with free lessons and then asks you to subscribe if you want to be a "serious student." Still, a nice way to explore another language if you're not ready to commit.

The problem with many of these sites in the library is that we don't have sound on many of our computers and we don't lend out headphones. Oftentimes, we can only refer the sites to patrons who have access at home.

Google Docs

I've used Google Docs before, usually as a backup for my Word files, and an easy way to access assignments at school. It's great for immediate collaboration and easy access. Normally I use my USB thumb drive to transfer documents between computers, but some computers don't like the drive or try to install programs when I insert it. Some computers don't have the programs I need.

This application is especially useful for library patrons who don't have computers or internet connection at home. They can work on their documents at any of our libraries without carrying around a disk or thumb drive. They won't have to worry about our firewalls and we won't have to worry about the potential viruses coming from their home computers.

Cool Tools

I can see how some of these activities will encourage interaction and learning new skills, but I really don't know where the sketchcast site comes into the process, even if it is interesting to watch the videos. Badges are fun, but I think most people can judge the reading level simply by looking at the posts.

Probably the most relevant tool for library staff is Yahoo Answers where we can really help people and let them know librarians are there to help. Next month, I will try be there to slam the boards.

Movie Reviews