Like RSS feeds, I feel very “Meh” about wikis. I see how they can be useful in the world, but I’m less thrilled about their potential for the public library. They are a handy way to post information for the staff (like the mat man wiki), but that doesn’t really take advantage of the contributive nature of wikis (it’s not like I’m doing that much editing of the collection development manual). By their very nature, to be truly a community spot, wikis require community buy-in and contribution. I have a hard time imagining the public adding to and cleaning up library-created subject guides, or putting community information on the library wiki. Like most of this web 2.0 stuff, I think wikis will find their place in our future world, but it may not be as central as many of the current proponents envision.
Online Libraries December 22, 2008
I tried out Library Thing and Good Reads, and I wasn’t really a fan of either. Or rather, I liked parts of both of them, but neither of them seemed to work for me. I liked the ease of adding titles in Good Reads, and I liked that it had a non-flash widget that I could put in my wordpress blog (though I don’t like that it’s all one line). In Library Thing, I liked being able to tag books, which would make it much more useful for Readers Advisory and provide a handy way to search and sort the many, many titles we have jumbled in our heads. I also liked the full cataloging it provided (I am a librarian, after all) However, adding new titles was very clunky and it seemed to take awhile for each one to load. I think that Good Reads would be a handy way to track what I’ve read for my own personal enjoyment, and Library Thing would be a good tool for readers advisory, but neither really works for me. Wish there was a way to combine what I like of both, so I guess I’ll keep my eyes out for new versions now that I can see the possibilities.
Twilight December 8, 2008
I know, I know, haven’t we all heard enough about this by now? Sorry, I couldn’t resist adding my two cents.
I finally jumped on the bandwagon this weekend (what can I say? It was starting to pass me by) and read the book. Truthfully, I enjoyed it. It was not great fiction, but I didn’t expect it to be. Cleolinda described it best when she referred to it as a “twinkie“. Speaking of which, if you’ve read the book you MUST read her hilarious plot summaries which can be found here. She also has some very insightful thoughts on the whole Twilight phenomenon, to which I can only say “yes. I agree completely.” And then I laughed out loud, repeatedly, because she’s just that funny. (A big thank you to Orangerful for posting the link which sent me there.)
I understand better now why it’s become so popular. Besides being incredibly easy for teenage (and older, ahem) girls to identify with, it moves quickly and was incredibly entertaining. I didn’t even skip ahead, and those of you who know me IRL know how incredible THAT is. The whole time I was reading it, I was thinking it was sheer fluffy drivel, and yet I couldn’t. stop. reading. Now, of course, I’m lamenting the long long waitlist for New Moon, and then there’s the others, and when am I going to have time to read them all, and see the movie, what with Christmas, oh, and the boy, to take care of. Sigh.
RSS Feeds November 12, 2008
Meh. That’s kind of how I feel about feeds and feed readers. In my real life, I read quite a few blogs, mainly of the mommy/family type, but I’ve never really liked using a reader. I keep the sites bookmarked, and it’s part of my morning (or evening) routine, get a cup of coffee and click on each one to see what’s happening. I don’t like using a feed reader because you lose all of the blog design, they all look the same. I know it’s kind of silly, but after reading these blogs for years (some of them), I feel like I know these people, and I like to visit them. I like to go to each site, see the design, see the pictures. Going to a blogger’s site is like dropping by for a cup of coffee, whereas using a reader is kind of like e-mail, I guess, you lose some of the personality.
That said, I can see how a feed reader could be useful for other applications, especially keeping up with news or events. It would be a lot easier to have the news stories you’re interested in sent to you and be able to read them all in one place rather than clicking around to NYTimes, Washington Post, CNN, LJ, etc. I do like the way other libraries are using feeds to update on new books and library happenings. It would be nice to have a feed that listed events for each branch so that folks could get that information directly. At a PTA event last night I asked if or how people found out about library happenings and the most frequent response was “if it doesn’t come home from school or into my e-mail, I don’t know about it.” An RSS feed wouldn’t hit the e-mail, but it would be a step closer at least.
Look Mom! Another Blog! June 26, 2008
Well, here I am, all participating in web 2.0 and stuff. How very exciting. Actually, I’m being somewhat pushed into it, since I have to create a blog for work. Apparently the powers that be think it’s important for librarians to know how to do this. Yes, I do see the point, but I’m not sure how much I have to say on the subject. Well, if all else fails, I’ll just talk about chickens.
So, why wordpress instead of blogger? Well, all the cool kids are doing it. No, really, I just don’t like the way blogger pages look. I should probably have taken the easy route and gone with what everyone else is using for this project, but I had to be different.
Why Shshhing Exercises for a title? While I was working on my MLS (that’s Masters of Library Science for the one or two non-librarians that might read this) (and yes, it takes a Masters degree). Anyway, while I was working on my MLS, my husband joked that what I really needed to practice was my shshhing technique. After just about every class he asked if we had done our shshhing exercises. It seemed an appropriate title, and I’ll leave it at that.
Shshhing Exercises 