Wrap up

Sad to have come to the end so soon. I have really enjoyed the course. We have covered a lot and I guess it will be interesting to see what I continue to use regularly. Time is always an issue. I will miss my blog. Bloglines has been useful and I have found some interesting items to bring to team meetings. Winning points on professional development.

I would love to see our Library use Myspace or similar but I'm not sure Council would approve the idea. Management would have to prove its usefulness. We often have trouble getting approval to promote our selves through print media I'm not sure their ready for Myspace. We might have more success with blogs and wikis. I was impressed by what some libraries are doing and hope we can participate in using these web based technologies in the not to distant future. We are currently looking for an new IT person. Fingers crossed the new appointee is pro change and can push us in the right direction.

Online applications

This was probably one of the most useful weeks work wise in the course. Loved the idea of Google Docs and can see heaps of work uses, rewriting procedures, meeting agendas, planning for promotions and many more.

Had a few IT problems with Slideshare but I think we worked through them. It is great to have in house IT support. This is not so easy for our branch locations and I know branch staff are having problems with access restrictions.

Had a bit of fun creating a Google Doc. I think students working on group projects would love Google Docs. No more losing their memory sticks or problems with compatiblity. If the teacher had access they could give on going help and advice.

Online appliactions will make sharing information so much easier.

Mashups

Busy this week so I have not had as much time to play with this as I would have liked. Google maps is great. I added some places. Might look into adding links to our locations on our web site so people can find us.

Had a play with Big huge labs. This was fun. Might be good for displays and promotional material. I'm sure clients would love it.

Podcasts

This was interesting. Had some technical problems,IT restrictions etc. I was able to view some podcast. Not sure why some were restricted and others not but we won't even go there. I'm sure the IT department would give me a very long answer and I don't really have the time. Anyway I can see how podcasts could be used at work. There are endless training and educational applications and then there are alot of general interest topics. Such as this.

Answer boards and social searching

Have enjoyed this weeks activities. Posted heaps to Del.icio.us. Loved the taste website. Ranking and comments are a great way to know if something is going to work.Dymocks also use the customer also bought idea that Amazon have.

Answer boards are an interesting idea. Have looked at them before. Have never post a question but have looked at questions and answers posted by others. My only concern is that you can't be sure of the accuracy of the answer.

At work we have an ask a Local Librarian on the intranet. If a query can not be answered at the Advisory Desk or needs in depth research it can be sent to the Local Librarian. The person is then contacted with the answer. I guess this could be done in the Answer board format.

LibraryThing

Liked LibraryThing. Added some books I had on my desk. Love to add more but don't have the time. It is interesting to see how many other people have added the same books.

Del.icio.us

I can see how this would be usefull on the readers advisory desk. I need to check it out some more. The tag idea would make finding bookmarks easier. A the moment my favourites list is a mile long and finding the right one is not always easy. Tags and bundles would help put some order to the chaos. Now I need to find the time to post them to my Del.icio.us account.