So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye!

Well, after fourteen weeks, (most of those being behind everyone else!), I've finally come to end of the road with Cam23 Things.  Firstly I have to say that I've really enjoyed the course, the "things" I've experienced, and the ability to reflect upon it all.  I'm actually going to miss blogging too :(   Although I think that I will still use this blog to write about my continued use and experience of Web2.0 technologies in libraries.

No matter how much Librarians hate to admit it, Web2.0 tools, have definitely started reshaping the library world, and the services that we can now provide to our students.  The advent of them allows us to reach out to our users, become more interactive and market ourselves and our services in ways that weren't previously possible.

The things which I think are most useful are new methods of communication using social media, such as Twitter and Facebook.  This is a quick, effective means of communicating bite size pieces of information, to keep students up to date with our services.  The use of a Library blog would also give that opportunity, and this is something which I will look at, at a later stage. 

The things that I probably won't use in the library are, Library Thing, Doodle, Slideshare, Flickr and Google Docs.  Mainly because I'm not a fan and I think that there's no point in using something you don't like as you won't keep it up to date.

The things which have surprised me, and I find I've used a lot, especially for my own personal development and current awareness in libraries are; Twitter, Google Reader and blogging.  Twitter and Google Reader are great for keeping up to date with the latest news from other libraries, big stories and the latest developments in our profession.  Blogging has given me even more of an opportunity to reflect on what I do and how I learn as well as being able to reflect on our library service and how we can move forward and improve what we offer.

Wordle, the last thing was definitely funky.  I quite liked the idea that you can create word clouds quickly and simply from a list of words, or from a webpage.  I do think that Wordle could be used as a method of marketing various aspects of a library service.  I've included the Wordle I created of my blogspot.

As Clive Anderson says on "Whose line is it anyway, I'm going to sign off in the style of the Mother Abbess from the Sound of Music:

Climb ev'ry mountain
Ford ev'ry stream
Follow ev'ry rainbow
'Till you find your dream.

Wiki Wa Wa

My main experience of Wiki's up until now has been that of "Wikipedia". While in most cases it can be informative, the main disadvantage is that anyone can edit and add information, which may not necessarily be correct.  I think it's this unreliability, which makes the academic world cautious about the use of Wiki's.

I must admit that I think Wikipedia is ok to use as a starting point, but as librarians we have access to so much much more relevant, peer reviewed information that we tend to marketing to our students.

However Wiki's used in the correct way, can be good at enabling people to collaborate on shared documents and tasks, such as with the Cambridge teachmeet.  The site is easy to edit and means that people who wish to be involved can participate themselves rather than having to get a mediator to post things for them.

I think my main concerns about wiki's, is the content moderation with a shared wiki, who is responsible for that aspect?  Everyone or just one person?  It could lead to problems if someone else edits what you have written and your not happy them doing that.

We do have the basis of a Library wiki, in fact we have one hung off the IT Managers Wiki, which he used all the time as document storage for students documents.  Unfortunately ours isn't yet used, except as a means for accessing the library calendar off site.  So I think a watch this space is possible if I can think how and what to put up on it!

"Librarians do Gaga" or the delights of podcasting and YouTube!

Podcasting is great idea, enabling people to watch or listen to video casts or audio casts whilst on the move.  This is increasingly more common as people have ipods, phones and mp3 players, not to mention laptops and home computers.

Libraries have already tapped into this world, in order to get information and training on available resources, out to remote users.  The Cheshire Public Library podcasts are aimed at teenage users, and include their writings and music.  This is very good method of libraries marketing themselves and appealing to their users.

At a previous job we decided to make podcasts via Camtasia for our overseas students, as they don't receive the same face to face inductions about library resources.  The main ones we made were accessing journals online due to the problems faced by some journal providers not recognising our students Athens accounts off site and using databases (unfortunately I do not have access to show them here). As a remote student, this can be very frustrating and its not always possible to speak to a library staff member if your working after 9pm.  The first tip we learned about podcasting is making sure you have a script to work from.  Most of the libraries shown in thing 21 examples, have also included the scripts on their pages which is very useful if students wish to have a handout as well.

YouTube is another good way of making video's to advertise library services.  I like the plagiarism one, even though it had English subtitles, as it was different, fresh and enjoyable to watch.  Another favourite as the title of this post suggest is "Librarians do Gaga", Miss Crail and I have previous wondered how much this could be used as a fun introduction to databases, although apparently gin may be needed to do something similar ourselves!

Other you tube library related video's I like is the Cookie monster in the library and Library card.

Ghostbusters, The L team and The University of Liverpool's 1920's silent film on using databases and electronic resources (is very slick and well done).  The trick of using well known songs, TV shows and genre is an excellent way of making sure people view and keep watching your video or podcast.

In some ways one of the main disadvantages I find, is making a podcast interesting and funny, which will keep the student interest and make them remember the content.

Googling around again or not!

I hope that my fellow Cam23ers won't mind me not re-exploring Google Docs for Cam23, as I've used it previously, so will comment on my experiences from then, in order to catch up with everyone else who's finished already!

Firstly I have to say that although on the surface it seemed a great idea, the reality for me wasn't great.  In my last job a fellow colleague definitely had the Google Docs bug and encouraged us all to use it for sharing documents.  I realise that the main advantage of Google Docs, enables you to access your documents anywhere and make edits, along with the provision to work collaboratively and share documents.  However I have to agree with Adian's post on Google Docs, as although Google provides a "lite" version, it doesn't allow for the same functionality as Word.  And this is the main disadvantage I find with some of these Online products.

Secondly I did however try to add some further tips to "News from Nowhere's" Moving House Document.  So the collaboration aspect does work quite well, although having read some posts I notice that some Cam23ers have had problems with sharing their documents.

Thirdly I know that I will end up using Google Docs as more collaboratively programs develop with other librarians in Cambridge and maybe even within my College, but I have to say that although its useful in a limited way, I'm still not a fan.

Zotero

I had not heard of Zotero until reaching thing 18, for Cam23 things.  As I have used Reference Manager and trained students and library staff extensively in using Endnote and Endnote Web, I did wonder what this would have to offer.  Would it be any better? Also I don't use Firefox as my browser due to a preference for Internet explorer, but thought I'll look and see what it does, if only to help students when they mention it!

To start with I had to get over my hatred of Firefox and download Zotero!  Once this was achieved I did struggle a little with setting it up and duely started adding some useful websites, documents etc to the library.  At this point I couldn't really see any any difference with Endnote, until I found the "Create new item from current page" icon.  What a revelation! I was quite excited at this discovery as it makes it quicker to add items to bibliographic referencing software.  One of the things alot of students hated about Endnote was the searching specific library catalogues or databases and importing references with filters, and having to type in other references, so this does make it easy. 

My one complaint about using Zotero, is that if you do use the "Create new item option from current page", you still need to check its entered in all the bibliographic information and then make any edits.  However I have to say that you really need to do this with all Bibliographic Software packages, as they are never completely correct when transposing data.

The other major advantage that Zotero has is the "Syncing" feature, like itunes, which means that you can access your library anywhere.  Again with Endnote you do have to transfer files between your saved copies of libraries, especially if you use it at home and college for example.  This leads to all sorts of issues with people not using the correct version of their library.  Endnote Web of course is easier in that respect, as you can access that anywhere, but it does have the disadvantage of not being as good as Endnote as it doesn't have the same functionality.

I tried the cite while you write feature in word after downloading the plug and it does seem to work in the exactly the same way as Endnote, if in fact a little easier. 

I have not had time to explore Mendeley or Bookends, but will do so after all the tings are done.  All in all, I  think that Zotero is a great piece of software, but does need to be used with care, like all bibliographic software packages.

Read all about it! marketing and libraries

I have to agree that how we market ourselves as professionals and our services is extremely important.  I don't think the marketing skills need to be elaborate as simple things can tend to be more effective.

How people and students perceive us as individuals can influence their decision to use the library or not.  Are we friendly, approachable, willing to listen and explore new things?  Simple things such as Tea and Coffee for Easter term, while providing an area and time for students to have a break, can also be a marketing tool, encouraging them that we are here to help.  If those students then tell there friends, who also decide to use the library for its friendly, warm atmosphere then mission accompished.

"If we don’t have a presence there too we’re missing a trick." This statement about not getting involved with using social media techniques, I believe to be true as it is also my belief.  As I've previously commented on this blog, I think as librarians we need to be actively using social media, whether its, blogs, facebook, twitter or other mediums, in order to get our message and services out to our users.  As each person is different we need diversify away from traditional communication tools and have a presence on these new online forums.  The idea isn't to abandon traditional methods, just be more inclusive to everyone.  For example if a student doesn't use their Hermes email, but follows us on Twitter, they will still be in contact with the library and what we have to offer.

As for what I'm going to do in relation to social media marketing, continuing with facebook and twitter is a must.  We're also going to try and promote them more at the freshers fair this year.  In conjunction with tutorial we may try and set up a doodle poll to find out what sites our students use most and what method of communication they would like us to use.  I'm also very impressed by the Quinlib blog and may see if we can get this off the ground next term.

Whose got talent? or linkedIn = professional Facebook!

Having looked at what LinkedIn has to offer by looking for people already using it and perusing their profiles, it does seem like Facebook but for professionals.  Instead of finding your friends, you find work colleagues and like minded professionals.  This is no bad idea, as it helps to create another network and work related community, through which to share ideas, keep up to date and keep in contact with useful people, who may help you to further your career on a professional level.  This however is maybe where it falls down as not all of us are used to putting ourselves "out there" on a professional level and saying "look what I can do"!

Where do go from here?

This is also where I wonder what relevance it has for librarians and providing services for students.  Its useful for librarians, yes on a personal level, but surely the advocacy of using LinkedIn by students whilst at University, would be better coming from Careers advisers.  I'm not saying that it isn't useful for students to join and start creating useful contacts, just that it isn't necessarily a Librarians role to point students to it.  Although I realise as librarians we need to be aware of professional skills, where to find information and helping to equip students for when they leave.

This leads me to pose the question about our role in the library. There does seem to be more blurring of our boundaries and what we do.  We've certainly taken on larger teaching/training remits in academic libraries, providing search skills and use of resources workshops. Is LinkedIn something we should be inputting into training sessions for 2nd and 3rd year students as part of a "professional themed" workshop session in collusion with the Careers services?  The information world is certainly growing and we need to be part of it, but how much?

Poker Face!

Aside from sillier things and the personal aspects of Facebook for keeping in touch with friends, writing "hello" on someones wall, viewing pictures, checking horoscopes, games such as Farmville and organising parties; Facebook does have a lot to offer libraries and their students.

I set up a Facebook page for the Library in Easter, as I mentioned previously in my first post and have to say that its been well received.  Although we haven't had as many students become fans since then (we're now up to 79), we do see it as a way of publicising events, new e-resources, linking to relevant widgets such as Jstor, Copac, UL and disseminating information updates to the students.

We have been lucky that it has been promoted not just by ourselves but also by Tutorial and the Senior Tutor.  I am hoping that we can gain some more members after Freshers fair from the new student intake in October.

I realise that some people are sceptical about the use of Facebook and say that it maybe an infringement into student lives, but its their choice at the end of the day, whether they choose to look at it and actively use it as a way to keep up to date.  So if the students don't wish to become a fan, we don't mind as this is not our only means of getting information out to students. We also have rolling screens, put information on our Library catalogue, use Twitter, traditional email and the add news items on the college webpage.  It all helps.  I still believe that we need to use as many methods as possible to promote what we do and advertise library services, as students learn and access information in different ways. 

Having looked at those other libraries in Cambridge with Facebook pages, we all seem to be using it similar ways.  I notice a few have used Bookshare, which we haven't as yet, although if we start a fiction section it could be good way promoting books, or advertising our latest accessions.  I may look into this at a future stage.  In addition I think the discussion board could be a useful tool for library suggestions or for getting items for library committee!  I would be interested to know if anyone else has had any success using the discussion feature.

LibraryThing: the return! I came, I saw, I went.

I have created a LibraryThing account for Cam23 things and found a few of my favourite books, shown below:

However, I'm still not a lover of LibraryThing as I still can't see its usefulness or appeal.  It maybe easy to use and quick to add books to but I'm still at a loss as to why an individual let alone a library would use it. I also feel the layout of the information on a specific book is not particularly well laid out, it seems cluttered, with too much information bunched together in a small space. 

I think that Shelfari has a better layout. For example it lists the characters and their relationships in the book which is quite nice.  Visually its more appealing and easy on the eye.  However Shelfari doesn't seem to have the same content as LibraryThing, as I couldn't find some items.

I find that I'm struggling to come up with reasons why students would wish to use this, if we promoted it as a library resource.  I'm afraid to say that obviously LibraryThing is completely lost on me and that I won't be using this personally or professionally as a Web2.0 tool.

LibraryThing

LibraryThing is an interesting concept and has certainly generated alot of discussion in Cam23 things. Without wanting to upset the creator, I'm not sure about it myself.  I can see that it has potential for those library minded people who want share there own personal libraries and book passions with each other and create an online community, but can't for the life of me think why they would want catalogue records for the items, unless they have a secret librarian streak!

John Wenzler's article on LibraryThing and the library catalogue has some interesting points about its use in conjunction with library catalogues, but I'm not sure why you would want a library catalogue that "could point users to recommended titles in the collection based on the reading habits and descriptions of their fellow patrons".  I realise it gives people choice and for some it may be useful, but I find it annoying that something wants to second guess what I like. Amazon also does this when you purchase items and assumes that just because you bought something, you may want the same thing as other people. 

I have looked at some of the libraries listed using LibraryThing and to be honest can't really say it enhances the library catalogue in any way. The review feature, I can see being useful in a personal sense and maybe for public libraries, if customers want to know what a particular work of fiction is like before taking it out.  But in an academic library I can't see that one student saying "this book was boring" is going to help others if its a set text.  After all we're all different, how objective are people going to be about a bad review? Read it anyway or not? 

The other aspects which may be useful are the tags and book cover images, which allows a more visual method of retrieving books. However, don't we already have a similar features in our library catalogues, as we already have subject descriptors, keywords and book cover images. 

I did try searching LibraryThing to see what it did and was interested to see that upon searching the topic "war", it brought up a tag cloud including "Lord of the rings" and "Harry Potter" as well as holocaust, World war II and civil war.

For small libraries who can't afford a proper library management system it probably does have a valueable use. However I can't see it being useful to our students.

Librarian's blog, star date July 2010, subject - reflection

(Cue Music) Your mission should you choose to accept it, is to boldly go where no librarian has been before................

Back in May, a new force was gathering on the horizon - Cam23things, whose remit was to guide librarians through the Web 2.0 world and allow us to explore new technologies that may have an impact on our library world. 

by Tiger Lilly

I for one had heard of Web 2.0, and was aware of lots of librarians engaging in certain web based activities, trying to see what all the hype was about.  After starting on the course, it soon became clear that it wasn't just about adding a shiny button to the library page!

Half way through, look how far we've come. We've looked at RSS feeds, various Google applications, tagging, bookmarking, slideshare, Doodle, Calendars, using images and Twitter.  Some of which I found better than others.  I can definitely see a value for libraries in Google reader, RSS feeds and Twitter, for keeping up to date with current awareness and bookmarking for remote access to websites you've found and want to subsequently use in an assignment.  I can also see that tagging has a role to play for our users, as they may want to organise the information we provide in a different way that's more accessible for them.  However I'm still finding it hard to see a use for Doodle, calendaring, Flickr and slideshare.  I'm still of the belief that, if your not a fan of a technology, don't use it, as it won't come across well with your users.

I think the most scary thing for me about this program was The Blog. Worrying about what to write, putting all these new technologies into perspective and evaluating their possible use in libraries.  Never mind the design and look of creating your blogging space.  Today's Twitter comments regarding some of our merry little band's, "Library Thing" blogs, have actually made me think more about the blog and whether I still want to participate in blogging about our further things.  To me the idea of blogging about these technologies as part of Cam23, should be as reflective practice, this is a learning environment after all.  We all have our own ideas, opinions and that's how we learn by discussing ideas and seeing how we can improve our services, based on best practice and other people's experience.  I'm not sure that I really want to cause controversy and be reprimanded by the originator of a Web 2.0 technology by publicly saying "I don't like it" or I'm not sure how to use it in a library context which is what this is about.

Anyway, onwards and upwards, to the next things....on the Web 2.0 journey.  I found this cartoon which I think sums up, my stance so far.

Its life Jim but not as we know it!

Delicious

I was extremely sceptical about Delicious, when I started exploring it.  How different was it to bookmarks and links that you put on your library page?  Initially I thought it wasn't that user friendly in its searching ability and wasn't keen on the layout.  However I did like being able to access websites easily.

After viewing the Green Library Delicious page at Stanford University, I also had different views to LibrarianGoddess and couldn't understand her excitement about it; this was initially due to the security warning message, because clicking on yes brought up the page to the right. Here you were unable to click on the tags or search bookmarks, so I was completely confused....

....that is until manic clicking produced a tag cloud (pictured left), which I couldn't return to, after choosing one of the options! From then on my views changed.  The Green Library Delicious tag cloud, is user friendly, if a little overwhelming, with all the words.  I liked the visual searching aspect, which allowed for easy access to information.

As LibrarianGoddess says, the main advantage of Delicious, is being able to access bookmarks anywhere, which is especially useful if you need to login to the library or university website first to see the library links and have forgotten your password or the web site is down! So I love this remote access aspect of retrieving useful websites, which a lot of students may struggle with, for many reasons.

In conclusion, I liked being able to search for bookmarks via keywords, sorry tags! and thought that once you had got used to how it worked, it was definitely better than searching google, as you could add new tags into your search to narrow down results.  If used through the library, it does allow you to have a certain control aspect over choosing suitable sites to bookmark, as well as providing a tag list to bundle similar sites together.

So slide over here, and give me a moment....

In principle Slideshare is a good thing, allowing people to share their powerpoint presentations, and especially brilliant for those who hate powerpoint and don't want to create their own.  However this is where I feel the first downfall of Slideshare comes. For example, if  you want to re-use a presenation that you've found, (obviously referencing the creator, as the work isn't yours), yes ok you have the slides, but this is only good if you know the subject matter of the presentation. Slideshare in my view just gives an overview of the presentation but doesn't enable you to see the content, if your unfamiliar with the topic, ie. no lecture notes.

The ones I found most useful are those which have an audio track with the presentation, aka screencasts, although these were few and far between in my extensive searching.  Screencasts are good as they allow you to see both the presentation and hear the commentary that went with it.

I actually found it difficult to find presentations that could be recycled, as a presentation does tend to be unique to a particular person.  I have however included a couple that I like.  The second one also contains a link to a you-tube video in German with English subtitles!:

Information Literacy and the future of learning

View more presentations from SLA.

Time For A Library Shift

View more presentations from Tony Hirst.

Where I think Slideshare can be useful, is enabling people to view presentations that they missed, say at a training event, or a conference, especially if you have the handouts and lecture notes to hand.

In a library context, it could be useful to store presentations, that we are all expected to give, for example, inductions.  The students will be able to have a consistent approach, with all Cambridge librarians saying the same thing, however don't we already have Camtools for this.


As for using Slideshare for uploading your own presentations for other to use or view. The main problem to my mind is, whether sharing presentations that you created whilst working at a particular organisation is against the copyright of the organisation.  This is becuase most things you create at work are not owned by you but the organisation.

In conclusion, unlike the INXS lyrics, I'm not convinced I need you tonight!

Image surfing!

What an enjoyable way to spend a few moments whilst on the Cam23 trail of Web 2.0 technologies.  Flickr seems very easy to use and allows you to see lots of lovely images.  I think my main concern with it flickr is can you use the images? What about copyright?  There goes my little "Jiminy Cricket" library persona.  The "creative commons" section of flickr does come in useful for that aspect of image use.

Having a quick search of flickr did bring up my egyptian wedding cake, which I found interesting, especially as lots of other cake decorators have commented on it being so unusal.  I've used one of my own pics in this post however, as it included our little figures of Indiana Jones and Lara Croft!

I also found alot of other interesting pictures on my hobby of machine embroidery.  Very useful to be able to compare and contrast other people's style and use of the medium (right) with my own (below).

However on the photo sharing front, I agree with most other Cam23ers, that I use Facebook to share my photo's with friends and family. The big question being... do I really want everyone to see my personal photo's or pictures? I think that really comes down to question of choice. Perhaps if I want to sell more of my pictures, I should actually use Flickr, like Cake in Chester to promote my work and make it more widely available.

In light of libraries using Flickr, its good to be able to have a store of images, but I'm not convinced that its any better than the images which can be downloaded from Google images.  As we have a large art collection at College, we are in the process of using an image storage system ourselves, which will allow us to put our library photo's in there.  This wouldn't allow them to be freely available though. 

In conclusion, no matter where we get the images from, they are useful in libraries, to promote, explain and show users what we do and the services, we provide.

Tagging, classifcation with another name?

After reading Clay Shirky's article on "Ontology is overrated", I feel slightly bemused by his discussion and ideas. On the one hand, he's right that we can't fit everything into the perfect system, because new information and ideas appear all the time, which then need adding into our system.  I'm the first to admit that Dewey is in desperate need of updating.  If we classified the world now, we would have a completely different system and hierarichal structure. However I'm none the wiser about his reasons for deciding that classification is wrong, because he seems to advocate tagging.

So, the first point to my mind is... tagging versus classification - aren't they the same thing? Maybe that is a very "Librarian" thing to say, but surely the idea is to enable people to find the items they want, and whatever helps them do that, is good.  Whether the information concerned is online or on a bookshelf.

If you are tagging a blog post or a web page, surely you're allowing other people to search and find it under a specific term, similar to classification, even if its not from a pre-defined hierarchy and is seen to be "free-form labelling".  Okay these labels may not be specific subject headings like Library of Congress or Dewey, but they are words refering to objects/items, even if the words are different depending on the person. 

To me tags and tag clouds are just another way of accessing online information, but far more visual. Using keywords and classification hasn't died, its just been modernised.

Titter ye not! (To quote Frankie Howerd) I've been converted to Twitter

There's been lots of musings about Twitter and whether it has any any value.  Is it just a social networking site where people post what they are doing and keep in touch with friends, similar to Facebook, or something more?

I used to think it had no value at all, why would you want to "follow people" on twitter.  It sounded slightly stalker-ish but with the difference of the cyperspace medium.  A place where you could legitimately "stalk" your favourite celebrities, such as Stephen Fry, Lilly Allen, Demi Moore, etc, to name but a few.  However I couldn't quite grasp the concept, that I would want to be interested in what Lilly Allen was up to, or know what Stephen Fry ate for breakfast that morning!  I feel the same about Facebook status updates, even though I'm a Facebook fan.

So before the advent of Cam23, I decided I should see what Twitter was all about, even if only for my Continued Professional Development, and possibly to say ok, been there, looked and didn't buy the T-Shirt, as it were.  After attending the University Libraries course on Twitter, I thought maybe I should give it a go, even though I thought I would de-activate my account within a month.  Trying to use Twitter, I found "tweeting" quite hard at first, as I still couldn't grasp its "reason to be". The language and posting was very confusing in the first instant, ie. "tweet", "re-tweet", the mystifying "tweeple", "following", and the incessant use of # and @

symbols.  I have to say, I still find it confusing but perseverance seems to be paying off.

So what makes people use twitter?  Stephen Fry is quoted as saying, "It's not called social change or heavy debate, it's called twitter. I mean the clue is in the name." Which  leads me to believe he uses it for social networking.  This community aspect is obviously important to alot of people, for example, Demi Moore said, “...Don’t know how this community of positivity was created but I’m grateful to have found you and thrilled to be a part of this."

For me, it's this "community" idea that makes Twitter very useful and valuable.  Its great for intereacting with other people, especially other librarians, information providers, or organisations.  For my Continuing Professional Development, its becoming the key place I look for news, strategies, what other librarians are doing, networking, training courses via CILIP lists, asking advice, etc, where as Facebook I use for keeping in touch with friends. The more I personally used Twitter over the last 3 months, the more I find I'm coming around to using it for the library and the possibility of setting up a library Twitter account.  I certainly never thought I would say that about Twitter.  So watch this space.... 

Setting up a library account on Twitter would be another method of getting news and information out to the students, and retweeting useful messages from the UL and ebooks@cambridge will save me time, emailing them.  I did wonder about the need for having both Twitter and Facebook accounts in a library setting, and was reminded about what I said in my first blog post, that if people work in different ways and use different media, then we need to move with the times and be proactive at getting our information out to our users in the medium they find most accessibile.  In that case, all I need to do in future is find out how to link the library Facebook page and Twitter account together and bingo! just wait for them to be used. 

Calendar girl

I'm a Calendar Girl! No not one of the WI variety who pose naked for charity, although I do love sunflowers. More along the lines of the Neil Sedaka song, as to quote his lyrics "I love my calendar ..., each and every day of the year".

 

I'm a big fan of electronic calendars and find them extremely useful for organising my meetings and also for reminding me where I need to be at a particular time.  However why calendaring is seen as a Web 2.0 technology and included in 23 things I don't know.  I would have thought it was an essential piece of technology for one and all.

I have set up a Google Calendar for the purposes of Cam23 and thing 6, although I have to say will probably never use it.

This is because we use the Calendar provided with Mozilla Thunderbird in the library.  This allows us to all have our own personal calendars but also to have shared library and study room calendars. The advantage of this is we can see all appointments at one time, which is great for organising staff time and meetings.  The main disadvantage was not being able to view that from home or outside the library via a PWF machine.  Our "knight in shining armour" (aka our IT Manager) then entered stage left, giving us a useful answer.  Why not create a Library Wiki page which would allow access to both our own personal calendar and the library's calendar at once, along with providing a useful vehicle for other technological developments along the way.

Mozilla Thunderbird colour

coded calendar showing 

personal and library meetings

                        Wiki calendar can be accessed                          from home



I agree that a calendar on some websites can be extremely useful, providing information to students on opening times, events, training sessions, etc.  However this is something I may explorer in the Library Wiki, as we could also use that for storing library documents, guides and training handouts - a one stop shop for library information online.

Just doodling around

Having read that quite a lot of Cam23ers like Doodle for organising events and meetings I have to say I'm very disapointed by its functionality and capability.  Maybe I tried to do too much at once, but the concept of putting different options and then different dates for those options were too much for Doodle to cope with.

Eventually I ended up with a single event with multiple dates, which is fine, but meant I had to create 6 different events to achieve the desired result.

I'm finding that Doodle is all well and good if people respond to the email and enter their answer on the Doodle poll.  In reality people have emailed me with the answers after looking at the poll, so I think the concept has been lost on some people! 

In previous positions I've found it easy to set up meetings as some calendars, ie. Outlook, have meeting invite options, although that does only work within the particular organisation. So, I can see that Doodle does have a use for organising meetings across the Cambridge Libraries system.  However, I'm having difficulty seeing how it could usefully be used in libraries, interacting with students.  It make be useful to see when your library reps are free for Library Committee Meetings.  This example would not work for me however, as my Library Committee Meetings are pre-scheduled in the College calendar.

You can't judge a blog by its title

Having just read the news that Cam23 now has 100 bloggers, now is perhaps not the best time to get to Thing 4 where perusing other people's blogs is the order of the day! Oh well as Shakespeare wrote "Once more unto the breach, dear friends".

I'm particularly drawn to read the blogs of those with unusal names which pull me in to see what they've got to say, for example Girl in the Moon, Whispers in the wilderness, or On silent white wings.

 

Similiarly the posts with interesting titles in Google Reader also do the same thing, for example How I learned to stop worrying and embrace Gaga, Batgirl and me or the disorder of multiple personalities and How google calendar is just a little bit like a trip to Lakeland

I think commenting on people's blog posts gives us an oportunity to discuss ideas, be reflective and think about how someone's else opinion affects your own, even if it can be a bit scary sending your views out into the wilderness of cyberspace.  One of the main advantages of having an anonymous blog, is it gives you a voice without exposing your identity in public.

Trying to make my own blog more exciting has been proving difficult. I couldn't seem to manipulate blogger into allowing more individuality in its layout, for example moving my picture next to the header. It could just be of course that my html skills need refreshing! Maybe Wordpress users are finding that easier to use.  Images that only seemed to want to appear "Centre Stage" as it were, with no variation after being uploaded. Having just said that and been playing around in Dashboard I've just found an updated editor which does exactly what I want!  Shame I didn't know about this before, its a steep uphill curve, this learning web 2.0 lark.

 

As for capturing screenshots, I must admit I always use Irfan View, (affectionately called "splat" by computer colleagues in another job, due to its squashed against a window look! ). Its excellent at capturing screen images and cropping them down to a specific area. Although I notice its not in the top 10 list of free software.

To conclude the more I blog, the more I enjoy it.  I am now thinking that as well as having a library Facebook page, a blog could be a fun thing to do as a method of interacting with students, and advertising library services.  Who knows "Librarians do Gaga" on You tube could be the makings of a blog post to advertise training sessions.

The trials and tribulations of blog creation

Create your own blog - that instruction for Thing 3 seemed pretty straight forward until the trepidation set in!


How many would be Cam23 bloggers sat there and did the following I wonder?:
a. panicked
b. questioned whether your writings be good enough and if anyone would read them
c. spent ages trying to think of a good blog name
d. stressed about the look and design
e. all of the above


Would I become "Marvin the Paranoid Anroid", or Lance Corporal Jones from "Dad's Army" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR6wok7g7do&NR=1. If so then welcome to my world three weeks ago!

I think the hardest part for me was trying to think of a good blog name, as I find I pay more attention to the blogs with interesting names that draw me in to look at what their saying.

Eventually I decided on the name of Seshat Scribe, as I'm a keen egyptian fan. Seshat was the Ancient Egyptian goddess of wisdom, knowledge, record keeping and writing. She was also known as "Mistress of the House of Books" because she looked after the library of the gods and was the patron of all earthly libraries. I thought the name would therefore be apt for a librarian setting out on her first blogging journey.

Over the last 3 weeks, I've found I quite like blogging, but it does seem to take alot of time. I like to think about what I'm going to write and try to put it into context for any subsequent readers. I do agree with Larry Brauner's reason no. 23 http://online-social-networking.com/top-reasons-why-i-blog it does help me reflect on information and how it can be used. Evaluation and reflectivity are key tools in learning, and something we must do in order to improve services and not become too stale.