Assignment # 7

Just finished up the first part of the assignment and will have to do the rest at another time.
Meredith Fargas's article reaffirms my thinking about the various tools of Web 2.0 that we have looked at so far. As I was going through the assignments I kept asking myself, would the patrons use this. In most cases I felt the answer was no. Our clients for the most part use our services for entertainment -reading, listening or watching movies. Most of the clients who come to the library to use our computers use them for social purposes - to check their emails, chat with their friends on msn or facebook. Some do use the computers for research and writing their assignments but more and more patrons have their own computers at home. Like the cellphone, the computer is becoming a household necessity.
When I look at the patrons who come into the library, these patrons come to the library to get books for reading. Some use our non-fiction as reference. Patrons are pleased with the idea they can order books from home, renew their books and then come to the library to pick them up.
So for me, unless we can change our patrons thinking that the library is more then a book lending facility, our patrons will continue to think of the library as just that.
Like Fargas points out, we need to continue to assess what the patron needs and wants and not assume that if we offer them a service, they will use it. In my opinion, it would be more beneficial to see what our patrons are using the computers for and to be knowledgeable of the tools they are using so that we can assist them if they run into problems. An example of this is we had a patron who went onto ebay and was checking out prices and wanting to make bids. None of us at the library had any exposure to ebay and so we were not able to help the patron.
Another example would be facebook. Recently they have changed the interface of facebook and there are so many different applications that it gets quite confusing. Would it not be better for librarians to learn all of the facets of facebook so that if a patron ran into problems we could help them?
I guess basically what I am saying is that Librarians should be aware of the newest tools but should learn only those that the patrons use and want.

Assignment # 6

Well, del.icio.us and technorati were interesting to look at. I don't think at this point I would have much use for technorati. For the time that I spent on it, I did not really find anything that was really of interest to me. Possibly if I spent a little more time with it, I may find some value for it. That said, I don't think that it would be of much benefit for our organization. As well, with using the search engine and the web 2.0 link under technology, I did get different results. When looking for things through the search engine parts of the blogs were displayed given an idea of what the subject of the blog was. On the other hand, when using the other method to do a search, it gave the title and the url address only.
As for del.icio.us, I found it much more user friendly and easier to navigate around. When we were first given this assignment, I wondered why anyone would want to use this as it is very similar to the favourites on windows explorer. One thing that I did like about this was that the titles were larger and the tags made it a little easier to get to the topic you were looking for. Although you can make folders for different subjects on your favourites, it is one extra step to find what you are looking for. I think that if someone spent any amount of time on del.icio.us, they could set up some pretty interesting bookmarks.

Oops.

Sorry for some of the grammer errors and typos.

Assignment # 5

Must admit this assignment was much easier then the last two. Still need to spend a little more time with rss. Anyway, quite impressed with the library thing. Very easy to navigate and very user friendly. Only disadvantage is that once you have 200 books on your list you have to start paying for the service.
Now onto Facebook. Have been a member for about a year now and still trying to get used to the new look of facebook.
Anyway I went directly to the green page and found it interesting but not too sure if this would benefit our organization. As well, I am not sure that Facebook was designed for advertising, rather more a way for friends to find friends. Facebook is a worldwide bog and I don't think our region would benefit from having a page on facebook that can be seen by someone who lives in Africa for instance. As well, I would be a little concerned of the chance that a patron who did not get possibly good service could post a message telling of their experience. Do we want to take the chance.
Just a note, though, facebook does have an application called visual bookshelf and an application called books where you can post the bookds you are reading and the books you want to read.

Well, I have completed my homework for the week. Did have some trouble finding websites that I could find an rss on but when I used the search tool on bloglines had more success. I did find this exercise a little challenging but it may be useful to place reader advisories, book reviews and author sites in one spot so don't have to search each time for the site. Bloglines may help me to become a little more organized.

Well, I have added a few of you to my bloglines account. Took a little doing but did have success. Finding that the course is taking more then an hour a week especially since it is all new to me and there are so many things to try. Have to say I am learning alot and hope that these tools will help me down the road. Too bad the chores aren't getting done but we are becoming lifelong learners right. Not too much you can learn from sweeping a floor.

After several attempts I finally figured out how to add a badge to my website-with a little help from my daughter.
I did take a chance and looked at the montager. Interesting but not too sure it will have much value in our organization. Found the mappr intersting and put some of my pictures on the map in Algonquin Park.
Have yet to have the time to look around the web to find some other sites that uses mashups and other tools that may benefit us.