#16 So what's in a wiki?

As opposed to my last post, I think this could be an ideal way to create a community with our patrons that will enhance their use of the library & the resources we can offer. I had a good look at our wiki & thought it was an excellent way to bring all our resources together & allow patrons some input. The book reviews feature will be really popular, as patrons enjoy reading library staff reviews so they'll enjoy contributing to the discussion. The layout is really clean & easy to navigate. It led me on to investigate Fiction Connection which is a great resource & AquaBrowser gives it a really attractive look. It will be great once the link to our catalogue is working. I also had a look at the Booklovers Wiki at Princeton Library & found a couple of mystery novels I hadn't heard of so it wasn't a wasted visit!

In honour of my rereading of Dorothy L Sayers this week, my pictures for this post are of DLS & her alter ego, Harriet Vane. They're totally irrelevant but I've remembered how to add pictures to the blog & I want to keep practising so I don't forget. And, anyway, DLS is always relevant.

#15 On Library 2.0 & Web 2.0

This is something I have strong views on. All this new technology is potentially fantastic & will extend the reach of our library service & the number of patrons we can help. However, library reality has to first catch up to library fantasy. The majority of our library users are still looking for print materials for leisure reading and interests. I think there is a lot of potential for us to expand our online databases to allow remote access to reference materials & allow us to spend less money on hard copies. We're already doing this & it's been successful. But, the reservation queues for popular fiction & non-fiction, tell me that there are still many more patrons out there wanting to curl up with a book & a pot of tea. Academic & school libraries can utilise a lot of this technology for their users because study is their primary goal. Public libraries are different. So, while we need to start using our website & catalogue to make access to our resources as easy as possible with attractive layout; advanced searching covering all our print & online resources in one search; the ability for our staff & patrons to add their own content eg reviews; access to a wide range of online resources, I would hate to see the rush towards technology blind us to the fact that there are a lot of people out there looking for a good novel, or a cookbook. There are some experiences that a computer screen just can't replicate.

#14 Getting not-so-technical with Technorati

As a way of keeping up with the blogosphere, this could be a useful tool. On the other hand, the results can be so random as to be useless. I tried to search for Dorothy L Sayers, as I'm rereading some of her novels at the moment, and found mostly just mentions in totally unrelated posts. There was an interesting link to a youtube entry for the movie of Busman's Honeymoon, which I've never seen. I tried Advanced Search and broadened the search terms to English Mystery Novels eg, but found nothing. I was amazed that the top search of the moment is for something called Mocospace! No idea what this is. But, if you were intersted in what the world is blogging about, this is the place for you.

#13 Tagging, folksonomies and social bookmarking

Well, that was underwhelming! I don't have a problem with the way I keep track of my favourites now. I don't have hundreds of them, but I can find what I need. I registered with deli.cio.us, but couldn't load the buttons on the menu bar, which I knew would happen because of the security on the PCs. Social bookmarking doesn't interest me at all, so I'm afriad I don't really see the point of this thing at all.

I also think I should do this Library 2.0 first thing in the morning when I'm fresh rather than late in the afternoon when I'm getting tired.

#12 Roll your own search engine with Rollyo

Rollyo should be useful when I'm putting together bookclub notes as I've created a roll with all the sites I regularly search when I'm looking for book reviews, author interviews & profiles. Being able to do one search instead of multiple searches with the same search terms will be great.

I'm going to attempt to add my searchroll to the blog, but if it doesn't work (I know, it's a bit ambitious), my blogroll is called Bookclub notes and you can find it at

http://www.rollyo.com

#11 All about Library Thing

This is what I've been waiting for! A thing I'm really interested in as it's bookish rather than technological.

I've added a few books to my Library Thing account. A couple I've just read (Knox Brothers, Land of Spices), one I'm reading as part of an online read by instalments (Miss Marjoribanks) & some favourites.

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/lynbaines

It was fun trying to think of titles that very few other people would have in their library, but I think I need to go home and have a look at my shelves & try to find a book that no-one else has in their library.

Unfortunately my photo uploading skills are still very basic because the 2 tiny photos of my bookshelves at home are too small and in the wrong place. But, at least they're there.

#10 Play around with Image Generators

I know it's been 3 months but I've been feeling guilty about not working on L2.o, which is almost as productive as actually doing it.

I found the links to image generators in L2.0 pretty useless, as none of them explained how to do it. So, I googled image generators and found something which spelt it all out simply, which is what I needed,

http://www.famousdefaces.com/

I was disappointed that there weren't more classic images to choose from, but I managed to find something I recognised.

Unfortunately, Maryanne & I couldn't get the hecklers to move down here, so they're happily heckling at the top of the blog.