twitter aglitter

I did some reading about twitter.com., a type of social networking site. The new instant messaging tool is apparently taking the computer information era by storm. Lots of folks are tweeting. It seems appealing to some because of its length- short, short. A co-worker showed me the site and was quite excited about it. This was before I had done my exploration. I am not as impressed, only, I think, because I am not sure I would use it to tell folks what I had for breakfast or how slow or busy I am at any given moment.

However, I do believe I can see uses for this in the library world and in business, and perhaps in someone's personal life. I see it as becoming an essential conference tool, to use during a meeting to tweet a co-worker your ideas in real time, exactly at the minute you think of it. Patrons who like up-to-the-minute infomation about the library, programming and products, could be very excited to receive information this way. This, I think, is the glitter.

I think we have only seen the beginning of this social scene. Could this be distracting? Will workers be able to get any real work done if they spend the day blogging, checking blogs, rss feeds, adding widgets, tweeting and twittering? With all of that activity online, will we lose the ability as humans to speak using our vocal cords?

more goodreads exploration

I read some of our explorers posts today, ones about Librarything and Goodreads, and added one to my googlereader rss feeds. I am still happy I used Goodreads. I added one link to my googlereader feeds from Goodreads and look forward to reading about some of the books a fellow explorer has explored (probably even read.)

There are some great ideas floating in cyberspace from our bloggers. Things like adding a link for publicity on the LT or GR page about our own system, or using the sites as bookclubs themselves, or even reviewing the reviewers. Cyberspace has opened for me, an amazing new world of possiblities.

Keeping Track

I explored the Librarything and found it too busy for my taste. I explored Goodreads and decided to use this site. Goodreads is easy to use and easy to keep track of books I have read, am reading now, and want to read. The tracking is uncomplicated and easily accessible. the site searches for your books in amazon and in the site itself, and then the information about the books pops right up.
I think this will be very useful as a Reader's Advisory tool. Sometimes I am helping a patron, know just the book I want to recommend, and my journal book, in which I keep my list of read and to read books, is in the back room in my work bag. It's pretty hard to say "wait please, while I get my journal," which I don't. Having this information online should prove very helpful. The book reviews are good, plus I like the feature that gives you books others are reading or have read like the one you may have written about, like Amazon. The site really doesn't have tags the way some sights do. It uses shelves, and you can edit the shelves and add more if you need them.
I think I will try to keep up adding to this, but I think I will probably start now and not add all the books I have read over the last several years.

I think library systems could use this type of site as a link to their homepage. Patrons could explore what others are reading that are similar to books they like, plus patrons could set up their own page, if they are interested.


If you want, check out my page.

http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/1513519

rss feeds 2

I decided to unsubscribe to the Washington Post. I still like to try to read the paper, or I can check the website as my time permits. The feeds from the post were sending too many articles, as other bloggers told me would happen. I had already added other Web 2.0 explorers on my feeds, and it is exciting to get a feed after someone posts, and then to read their musings. I will leave them and maybe add a few more.

However, do folks check these daily, hourly, minute by minute? If you don't check regularly, are you possibly missing something? It is fun to check, but how important is it? I guess it all depends on what you have feeding you.

try it, you may find it helpful

Today I did a Gale Database Webinar for the first time. The Small Business: Growth & Entrepreneur Studies was a review of the Small Business Resource Center, Business Legal forms, Demographic Study, and Gale Directory Library. The sign up was easy, in fact I did not register until about 30 minutes before the session was to begin. There was a power point presentation and then the host took us into the parts of the databases. The class was 45 minutes and then I spent some time exploring myself, looking up things that were of interest to me. All in all, it was a good experience and I would definitely take another. I think these offer a good review, and that can always be helpful. On the desk, I have gotten more than a few questions about starting a small business, and we have so many tools to help patrons right on our website. My son-in-law started an online organic products (not food) business, organicallyhappy.com, and I have sent him the link to the Small Business Resource Center. I think he will find it quite useful.

Feed and Read Ponderings

I created a feed reader in Google Reader after waiting for Bloglines to respond, which it never did, even after several attempts. Google Reader set right up and I was in business.

If someone visits many websites daily, this could perhaps shorten their viewing time as items are sent to this one feedreader (of course assuming the site has the rss feeds.) However, what if a person doesn't get every feed from the site, say the Washington Post? Even if you select every feed they have, might you be missing something that was in the actual paper that you really might have wanted or needed to know about. Not every website has a feeder. You get feeds from some, and some you still have to visit separately. Seems like a great deal of time could be spent checking all of this every day. I still like to read a newspaper and catch some CNN on tv. However, I might continue to check the Post and CNN feeds from time to time in case I am unable to check their individual websites or catch the tv or hold the newspaper in my hands. I think professional feeds from sites like Library Journal and the ALA could benefit me in my professional life, although I might just want to continue to check their websites regularly.

We surely are bombarded from every side with all of the possibilities available to fill our day. How does anyone get any work done at work? Are there still only 24 hours in a day?

That said, I could see where this could be useful in some situations. AACPL could use a feeder to send out the titles of the latest items as soon as they are purchased, thus allowing folks to place their name on the holds list immediately. Notices and reminders of upcoming programs would also be useful to interested patrons. I wonder if there is a way to feed information to people who are not yet patrons, so they know about all the wonderful things the library has to offer.