Thing 18 - Wikis

I really enjoyed learning how to set this up. It seems much easier to create than I thought would be possible. I did go to Wikipedia and looked up the private school that my children had attended. I did find some inaccurate information on it, as well as information that needs to be updated.

Thing 17: LibWorm

My first entry was academic libraries. I got way too many hits - 77,364. Later i found out that there was a category for academic libraries, so I would have been better off picking a narrower topic. Then I 'played around' with the gaming in library and videogame keywords and phrases. This proved more useful and I found an interesting article on Gaming and Libraries from ALA TechSource. I was surprised to see so many articles in Dutch.

I'm currently reading the book"Brooklyn" by Colm Toibin. I decided to search Booker Prize and found mentions of the book and the author. I also cross checked under Readers Advisory and the author's name and came up with some of the same articles under all threee headings.

I found the quality of results were mixed. Perhaps I used too broad of a category, but I received results that varied from job listings to academic papers to blogs to foreign language posts. I'd like to be able to narrow down the results more (perhaps exclude those foreign language posts.) Still, I find LibWorm useful because it shows me a broad snapshot of what is out there at any given time.

Random Thoughts

It is a bit overwhelming to realize there are so many different new technological advances out there. So many seem useful for libraries, but I can really see my lack of experience is a hindrance to my understanding of the connections. I will continue to plug along.

Thing 16 - LibraryThing

I have been on Library Thing before and found it interesting, but had not created a library of my own there. I added some things that I have just read. I can see it would be very useful to me, since most of the books I read I borrow from the library. Tagging what I read will give me an idea of the ways the books I read connect to each other. It will be useful to see other's reviews also.
The most exciting thing about Librarything is the "I See Dead People's Books." There are many authors there i like, and it will be interesting to try to acquire some of the books they read. I would like to help out this project so I will contact someone from this list to see what I can do.

The thingology blog has useful updates but it will take me awhile to really understand the implications of all the listings. Being new to the field, and a student but not an employee, makes it hard to see how everything fits together. I need to do back up reading on the OCLC, for instance, to understand the references on Thingology.

Thing 15 - Digg

I looked at this site and watched the video last week. It is an interesting concept, but unless you know the user population of the site, the info may not be an accurate picture of whether or not you will like what has been 'dug.' I tried twice last week (using two different email addresses) and once today to sign up for their site, to no avail. I did not receive a confirmation email, even though I hit 'resend'. I am glad to know the site is out there, but I do not think I would use it on a regular basis (especially since it seems so hard to get on.)

Thing 14 - Delicious

I have had an account for quite awhile and usually used it to keep my websites for my schoolwork organized. I did not use it last semester. I am not sure why not. Now that i went back to it, signed in, and looked at my previous tags, I can see it will be quite useful to use it this semester. My user name is als0323. http://delicious.com/als0323
I can see it would help to organize some of my tags there. another project for the summer!

Thing 13 - Tagging

I think that tagging can be useful in a library. I think it would complement subject headings, not replace them. Basically, tagging can identify how users view articles or books, what they see as the main points of interest in the material. This could be quite different than how a librarian may view the same article or book. The tag can provide a link for the user to understand how a librarian would catalog the same information. They can then have more ways to explore their subject. Similarly, the librarian can learn from the patron's tags how they are using terms. That would be helpful in a reference interview as it would give the librarian another perspective on a question.

Thing 12 - Twitter

I signed up for Twitter almost a month ago, but have really not used it. I did search for the ALA info and saw quite a few tweets, but, not knowing the people involved, I did not find them very interesting. I am much more interested in what people are feeling, not what they are doing at any given moment. I'm really not sure how twitter would be used in a library.

Thing 11 - Instant Messaging

I have signed up for At&T Yahoo! instanst messaging. My user name is gertrude23library@sbcglobal.net.
I also use Blackberry Messenger to keep in touch with my family members.