Friday, September 25, 2009

The Bookseer - Reader's Advisory Site

I just discovered this website that would be very useful for reader's advisory. Or if you just need some direction on 'what to read next'. Just enter the title and author of a book that you liked and the nice gentleman, the bookseer, will recommend books to you.

Pretty awesome! Check it out!! The Bookseer

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

What happens now?

Okay - the challenge is done - now what? I plan to continue to update this with happenings in my life and more specifically about the books that I am reading or wanting to read. And to look for 'fun' widgets to add to my blog, like the Book Shelf to the right.

I am in 2 book clubs that each meet once a month. I also try to participate in the book discussions that our public library holds, sometimes I make it to them and sometime not. But it does give me ideas on good books to add to my list.

Right now I am reading 'The Life Before Her Eyes' by Laura Kasischke and 'The Friday Night Knitting Club' by Kate Jacobs. Both are very good reads. I love getting done with a book and discussing it but I love being able to pull that next book off of the shelf and getting started on a new adventure!

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Wrap Up!

Whew! I am done with the Library 2.0 Challenge. It has be a lot of fun and I thank the State Library staff for making this available for us to learn all about the 2.0 stuff that is out there.

I would like to think that I will continue to use this blog, using it for both library related postings and for 'books I have read' postings. That is what a blog should be - documenting what is going on in your life, both personal and professional - just what ever is on your mind at the time.

This whole experience was a great way to 'try out' new sites and to see what is out there. And made me think about the possibilities for our library to use some of these to reach out to our patrons.

Again thanks for the opportunity to learn!

Wikis

It was very interesting looking at the examples of wikis in this assignment. They showed the versatility of a wiki and how differently they can be used.

The Bull Run wiki is a great example of how a library is putting their information out there. The RCPL Flood wiki was a great use of a wiki to gather personal stories and pictures of a certain event - anyone can post their information for others to read. It contains great historical information that is probably not available anywhere else.

Our library started a wiki this summer when we were going thru the process of combining our reference and circulation desks. We used it to post all of the minutes of meetings, a to-do list of items to be accomplished and discussion threads.

Now that the desks have been merged we are using it as a central location to post items that people need to know as they are working their shifts at the desk. It is a private wiki but is open to everyone in library so that everyone can contribute or read the posted items.

Tagging, Folksonomies, and Social Bookmarking

This lesson was about the website Del.icio.us. I am familiar with the site and set up an account probably about a year ago when we were checking it out here at the library.

I really like the fact that I can save something there and access it from anywhere. I have gotten rid of most of my bookmarks on my computers since they are only available from the one place.

Some of the librarians here have used Del.icio.us for their subject guides and list useful websites for our students to use.

And I take advantage of the fact that you can mark some sites as private so that I can add sites that are not work related or that are more personal in nature.

I will admit that I am not very consistent in adding tags to the sites I save, thinking I will 'get back to it' so I need to get in the habit of adding the tags as I go to reap the most benefit.

Social Networking

I am very familiar with social networking. I have both a MySpace and Facebook account. I started the MySpace account so that I could easily stay in touch with my children. The Facebook account was started at work as the library was trying to see what it was all about.

I now use the Facebook account for both work and personal contacts and hardly ever go to MySpace. Since I use FB for both work and personal, I am careful what I do post there because it is used for work also. But it is a great way to keep in touch with family and friends and to share pictures/information.

Our library does have a FB presence with several of us contributing to it about what is happening in the library and to highlight databases and services that we offer.
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