bookmark away...........

With Del.icio.us bookmarking becomes a breeze. I think it's a wonderful tool because it can help organize your favorite websites, which allows you to find and access them with ease. By tagging your websites, it can simply narrow down your sites to a simple keyword. I could personally benefit from this because I know when I click my favorites button a whole list comes up. I then have to weed through them all to find what I'm looking for. I have allot of favorites so it becomes a huge hassle to hunt for a particular site, not to mention valuable time I waste.
I also love the fact that Del.icio.us is social. Social bookmarking can really benefit allot of people. You can become aware of valuable information you might not have been aware of thanks to another person who bookmarked that site. So, it can assist you in research you might be doing. The social aspect is great too. It's kind of like leaving breadcrumbs for others to follow and in turn picking up the crumbs they left behind for you. The end result is you being led straight to a valubale website.

Myspace Welcome Mats

I have a myspace account and I do enjoy it. It can be intimidating because myspace is such a large community now. Once you start making friends though it becomes a much more smaller virtual world. A big plus is the fact that it's very user friendly- they have a large help section that addresses all possible questions you might have. It's a nice way to publicly express yourself creatively- the possibilities become endless!!!!
It's an easy way to stay in touch with friends and get updated on what's going on in their neck of the world without much effort at all. If you want to check in with someone but just don't have the time to call all's you have to do is drop them a quick one liner like "how u doooing?" You'll get an answer when they find it convenient. It saves time for both people. In such a fast paced world it can become a life saver by helping you stay connected with your friends.
It's fun to go on and look at your friends profiles to see what they have been up to and vice a versa. The only thing I find negative about it is that your friends do expect an answer back a.s.a.p. if they drop you a line- so you do have to constantly check in. I also feel I have to constantly renovate my space to keep it interesting, which can be time consuming. All in all it's fun because you feel that there are welcome mats at everyones my space door. It can become your virtual home!!!

Go Right Ahead VBPL

I feel VBPL should use social networking to connect with teens. There is no harm in marketing the library on myspace for example. Many bands and businesses do so why shouldn't the Public Library jump into that circle too. There no harm in opening our doors to the patrons on-line. We our a public Library so we should be publicly open to all people including those in the virtual world.
I think by taking that step were showing the younger generation that we can still talk the talk and walk the walk even though were a library. We would be putting ourselves in their shoes and seeing things through their perspective. Relating to others always makes friends and creates a bond of trust. The Library is built on trust and we can use this trust to help educate patrons.
There is so much negativity surrounding social networking due to cyber-bulling and predators. We could transform this bad and turn it into good by be being a moral pillar. VBPL using a social network, in short, will reach a whole new group of people that already have access to social networking. This will allow us to make more friends........ and isn't that what social networking is all about : )

14,14,14!!!

It's great there's a place like staff Picks where you can go and get ideas for a possible next read and share your thoughts about your currant read. I found it was very easy to post about my book. Alls I had to click was the edit button and off I went on posting about my book. I just had to click save and then I was all set and done. Very simple! When all was done, it was nice to sit back and read all the great book reviews that others have posted.
Wikis are very useful and can be used for numerous topics. Libraries can use them to start book clubs, get opinions from patrons for up-coming events and share info on up-coming events. Wikis can join people together to socialize that would otherwise never have.

Wonderful World of Wiki

Wiki??? what's a Wiki?......... was the first thing that came to thought before exploring this weeks exercise. I had no clue what a wiki was. Fortunately, after learning what one is I found them to be extremely useful. I always believed two heads worked better than one. So when I learned a Wiki generates numerous people to work together and share knowledge amongst each other I said to myself....... right on!!! Information is always changing and knowledge is always increasing so it's hard to stay on top of it- especially if only a few individuals are responsible. When you have a large quantity of people that are willing to up-date and edit in new information on a web page it helps keep everything as currant as possible. This sharing of ones '2 sense' can benefit all the users and members, like it does in Wikipedia.
Libraries too can gain from a Wiki. For example the Book Lovers Wiki is a great idea. It encourages people to share their opinion about a certain book. It creates a sense of community amongst people who share common interests. When I think of a Wiki, I now get the picture that it's a place to go to and share your knowledge knowing that other people got your back.

A Good Mix Indeed

IM and Library Reference makes a good combination from what I witnessed. My experience with Ask the Library was a pleasant one. I asked a question and within seconds I got a friendly response. A librarian introduced herself which made it personal right off the bat. I quickly received an answer to my "where might I find books regarding quotes by famous people?" I was given some call numbers and was even asked if I was looking for any in particular quotes. I was impressed how smoothly reference IM went!
Later I talked to a librarian in IM reference about their experience. I learned that it was a whole new avenue for them but they generally enjoy it. I was told they sometimes get impatient people that ask a question and within minutes of hearing no response log off. On a more positive note, they will get patrons who need in depth help. For instance, I was told of a girl who was doing homework and had numerous questions. She said that she might have a few more and might still need their help. Instead of just answering the few she already had asked and move on, they stood on stand by until she gave the O.K that she no longer needed assistance. If that's not quality customer service than I don't know what is!!!!

Library + IM = Good

Libraries that are currently using IM messaging are on the right track!!! I think it's a great idea incorporating IM messaging with our patrons. It's a whole new ball game, but an exciting one at that! SO MANY people IM today, therefore we should attract SO Many of those patrons that do use IM on an everyday basis. Libraries that don't use IM communication should. IM allows for close interaction between the librarian and the patron but it never gets too personal as a phone conversation would. This allows the patron to feel more comfortable and at ease to freely ask questions. On the other end it is an advantage to the Librarian because they do not have to give a long drawn out explanation that a phone conversation or e-mail would require. IM messaging is precise and gets to the point. Another great factor about IM messaging is you immediately know if that recipient is available- you don't have those 'but's' or 'what if's' to worry about. 2 BIG thumbs up for IM Messaging!!

The Big 10!

The search tool I found to be easiest when looking for RSS feeds was Topix.net. It was user friendly to me : ) It easily organized polls and forums from Entertainment to Sports to everything from world news, politics, and Business. I liked how everything was broken down into categories making for easier searching. I favored this tool over the others because it allowed me the option to search solely for articles and not have to worry about the presence of web blogs. It also had a nice visual graph showing how much attention any given subject is receiving at the moment- very puurty!!!

Capital RSS

After learning exactly what RSS means and what it's purpose is I found I really like it!!! RSS quickly caught my attention when I found it stands for 'REAL SIMPLE syndication'- I stopped at real simple because who doesn't like the sound of something being real simple. In this day and age anything that can be done in half the time is A O.K by me! Especially when it comes to the constantly changing news who wouldn't want a great tool like RSS to help with that. With RSS you can get the latest up to date news without having to actually search for it. RSS saves time by having that news delivered to you, and no registration is needed....... and the cherry on top is hands down- No Spam!!!!! I Like it!

My Library 2.0 view

I have mixed feelings about Library 2.0. For the most part I I feel it will, without a doubt, steer libraries in a whole new direction regarding positive interaction with customers. By bringing our services to patrons through 2.0 instead of relying solely on patrons coming to us we will broaden how many people we reach....... the more the merrier,right!!!!! Customers will have much more access to libraries through communicating and sharing info, digital collections, book dicussions etc.
The only thing that worries me with digital collections and being able to obtain so Much info with 2.0 is that less people will actually take the time to step out away from the computer and into a library. So many people already have become comp potatoes!!!! I'd hate for people to start to think why GO to the Library when I can STAY at home and still access all the info I need w/ just a click of the mouse. I've always loved the concept of a Library being a concrete pillar of knowledge and learning and not a web based one. Also with all that emphasise on digital collections I just hope our concrete collections will still be upkept and not wither away. Time will only tell!

what's easy AND what's hard!!!

So after reading the 7 AND 1/2 Life Long Learning Habits I've come to my opinion on what's the easiest to me and what's the hardest. I've got to say I always find setting a goal( Habit 1) a piece of cake. It's the follow up to that goal that seems to be like jumping through a blazing ring of fire! So Habit 4 ( Confidence) is the Hardest to muah.
Setting goals is easy peesy....... for instance I have numerous goals like becoming the next Martha Stewart, a famous artist somewhere along the lines of Monet or even that o.k artist Picasso, and of course one day having my very own alpaca farm. Obviously my goals are all Long term meaning I have a lot of hard work and sweat cut out for myself- good grief!
Goals require work and when hard work is a factor sometimes failure is lurking silently around the corner- cause we all know very few people master their life the first time around. There are just too many forks in the roads!!!! When I mess up I can get blue and that's a big damper on my confidence. So a mess up in life occurs and shortly after I'm saying I can't do this, it's too hard, etc. But a ray of light shun down- Habit 4 suggested "Don't say it or think it- unless you want it to be true.".............. so now I will be a tad more quiet ; )