Marie's Biblioblog

Just a year and a half ago, I never would have referred to Wikipedia as a resource--how can something that can be edited by everyone be accurate? Only professors and professionals should be deemed trustworthy, right? Amazing how my mind has been changing. Now, I think Wikipedia is a great starting point for a quick intro on a topic. No, I wouldn't let a student of mine cite it as a source in lieu of peer reviewed journals, but I do recognize its value. In "The Machine is Us/ing Us" video*, one part reads: "Digital text [and hyper text and the web] is no longer just linking info. The web [and web 2.0] is linking people...people sharing, trading, and collaborating." Sounds just like libraries--we no longer just match information needs, we are now "about innovation, about people, and about community building" (source: Wikipedia on Library 2.0). Yup. And a lot of those 2.0 concepts aren't so new for libraries, but the technology part is where the libr...

How wonderful to discover that my earlier wanderings I completed thing 13. Del.icio.us is fab.u.lous! I'm in the process of moving all my personal bookmarks over and adding more work-related ones to this site. I think of all the trainings I go to where I learn of very reputable websites to go to on certain subjects, but then if I don't use them right away, I forget. And when that one patron comes looking for good info on the web, I find myself rummaging through my brain (or my folders on my desk) to locate that perfect site I'd heard about. Del.icio.us is the perfect solution to that. And it seems to me that in training, new librarians should be shown this resource so that we can easily record and retrieve all that good web info we get. It's like creating our own personalized Librarians Internet Index search tool.

Explored the mashups tonight: Trading cards, okay. Flickr mapping one, okay. But I did come across one that won a mashup award (found the link through Wikipedia page): Plaxo 3.0. Now this sounds useful! It is a sync-ing (sp?) tool that unites all your calendars and contacts from Outlook, Google, Yahoo, etc. so that if you change something in one service, it's changed in all of them. It also allows you to keep up with all your contacts' info as they post to their blogs or upload photos; you get an update, sort of like a feed reader that lets you know when your contacts have uploaded something new. Honestly, though, I'm not that savvy yet and don't have any other services other than hotmail and outlook. Funny side note, though, about my tech-savvy family. My sister (26) told me that my brother (36) does have a facebook page--and on it he lists his age as 29!

ALA is such a mind rush! I came back with all kinds of new ideas, most of them about merchandising and programming. I've posted some new links here that feature what some other libraries are doing in terms of merchandising--they're essentially looking like B & N, but the books are free! Adding internet cafes is something that's hot out there right now. And our patrons agree, according to the Customer Service Team's research recently. As one ALA presenter said, "We don't know WHERE patrons are reading our books once they leave our building--the kitchen table, the bathroom... It's okay to let patrons eat and drink in the library. We aren't protecting the crown jewels, here! "