Week 8, Thing 20 - youtube, etc.

I've tried several times to embed a video from YouTube, but it's not been successful, so I'll just post the link to it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKlKB56BT7o

I watched quite a few library videos. Some were pranks, some were serious advertising info, and some were just a bit silly, like the Mr. Bean one trying to be quiet in the library (search Mr. Bean and library and it'll come up.) The video I chose is a quick one about the "super librarian" being the expert at information location among other things. I think YouTube - and other video sites - can be great assets to "advertising" what we do. In addition, there are some great applications to embedding video into library websites. A quick how-to video addressing locating materials, searching databases, or a video on library programs could all be interesting additions to a library's website. If a library could get public officials and/or local business personnel to do quick blurbs on what how they use the library, it would be great promotional material! (I liked Jack O'Connell Goes Back to School.) One of the other libraries in our county has just built a new library. One of the advertising/fundraising promotions they did was to have local business people on posters and in news ads holding their favorite book, i.e. the podiatrist had Dr. Seuss's "The Foot Book." It was a joint advertising effort for the library and the business. This same type of material could be done in videos for any library.

YouTube is a great site. I think most of us have probably taken some time perusing videos and getting a chuckle or two from them. (My daughter and I spent a ton of time one evening a few months ago watching baby videos, and laughing til our sides ached. There's a great laughing baby montage we especially enjoyed.)

I had enjoyed several of the videos listed on the Classroom Learning 2.0 - the March of the Librarians, Introducing the Book, etc. - before. During our Intro class, Dr. Tunon shared some of them with us.

Week 8 - Thing 19 - Library Thing

Yes, I know, my "Things" are a bit out of order, but I wanted to post a couple things before I forget to note them.

Here is my link: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/Lorenas

For a first time experience using a tech tool, I have to say Library Thing is one of the easiest and most enjoyable to use! I had absolutely no trouble going to the site and just starting the process, nor did I get "lost" exploring through the site and working between it and Amazon.

I really like how easy it is to pull in all the information about a book from other sites and when Library Thing found more than one possibility for a book choice, it showed the options and I was able to choose the appropriate title. In addition, at one point I mistakenly added the same book twice and it let me know that I had "duplicate" records in my catalog - VERY cool!

When I have more time I will have to go back and do more exploring. I love that you can see other people's libraries and Library Thing lets you know what libraries are similar to yours as well as providing recommendations for other books to add to your own library. The tag clouds and ability to see how many others have the same book in their library are very helpful too.

This is a neat personal tool to keep track of books you've read as well as a great academic tool to help students find appropriate books and/or make lists for their own use while doing reports, etc. Being that library thing actually links to information showing book jackets, reading levels, etc. a teacher can actually see if a student is using appropriate materials for reports and class work.

Thing 14 (Wk 6 cont'd.)

So, what is it that Courtney (2007) points out that people really want when they search? End-users want to see good relevancy ranking in the results of their searches (p 15). Do all library catalogs provide this? NO! but as librarians, we can employ Library 2.0/Web 2.0 tools to help our users get closer to the Google-like results that they've come to expect of all searches.

The obsessive cataloger might cringe at the idea of library users being able to create their own means of personalized search strategies, but what better way for users to become comfortable searching for and finding what they want rather than what the LOC or a cataloger deems to be the correct subject heading for a particular item? I like tag clouds that show not only what people are tagging, but how frequently tags are used (it's the BIG ones!)

As for Technorati, I find it really cool to be able to search blogs. I played with searching for specific blogs, searching words and tags, etc. It is so much more effective than trying to search Google for a blog! I do have to say I haven't figured out how to "claim" my blog so it comes up as searchable by Technorati. I looked at the FAQs, but some of the terminoloy is a bit foreign to me and I'm not understanding fully what to do. What I have tried doesn't seem to be effective...

Courtney, N., (Ed.). (2007). Library 2.0 and beyond: Innovative technologies and tomorrow's user. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.