THING #21

I started out the discovery project by looking at the directories for general information on video reviews. This was too general so I searched library video reviews. I only got two hits on Podcast.net one of which seemed relevant. On Podcastalley.com I got lots of hits but again only one seemed relevant (a different podcast than on Podcast.net). It seems fruitful to use more than one directory to search. I added the feed for Hennepin County Library Teenlinks (a podcast that reviews books and videos for teens) to my Bloglines account.

THING #20

I spent some time on YouTube looking at the different categories and videos. I saw the suggestion of funny dogs and decided to look at funny cats. I spent a while laughing at all kinds of cat videos. I was amazed at how creative some of them were with music and editing (or non-editing). What surprised me a great deal was the number of comments for each video. The amount of visits to this site must be phenomenal! I think the idea of videos for patrons to watch is a good one. Perhaps library programs or special presentations could be made available. Also, the idea of allowing comments by users is a good one (though I guess someone would have to review the content).

THING #19

I chose Medstory (beta) from the health category. I did a couple of searches on topics of personal interest. One search came back with only one category and seemed very straightforward without allowing for refining. The second search I did "cholesterol and diet" was much better. It allowed me to refine by 8 different categories including clinical studies, conditions and experts. It also allowed for further refining by trials, news, research articles and grants. This intelligent search engine makes searching for health and medical information on the web more refined and less cumbersome. It could be used in the library when information on the in-house databases is insufficient or sketchy.

THING #18

I created an account at ZohoWriter. I explored the site and created a test document. The software was easy to use, very much like MS Office. It did include some tool bar buttons not on my in-house MS Word such as inserting emotions (smiley faces) and special characters. I also like the ability to insert images and do quick formatting (such as changing background colors) easily from the tool bar buttons. As to the advantages ZohoWriter, I liked the ability to have my document published and read as a web page. Also, I appreciated being able to save documents online and e-mail them as a word file or in other formats.

THING #17

It was fun to read "favorites" lists done by other library staff on the Maryland Libraries sandbox. It could be useful way to exchange library related info or just use for fun (we can all use a good laugh).

THING #16

I was amazed at the varied uses for wikis. My previous experience was only with Wikipedia which was interesting but limited. The uses just for libraries were numerous, ie. subject guides, community information and input, intranets, collaborative projects, conferences, etc. The use that I thought most interesting was the annotating of the catalog. I have long used Amazon.com to read what buyers thought about certain books and DVD's. What a great idea for libraries! Using library users as sources of synopses, reviews and experiences with library materials would open up a whole new world of interaction with our users.

THING #15

The perspective that struck me as the most insightful was "Into a new world of librarianship". Key ideas such as the library is human and the five qualities of the librarian 2.0 are very important to the future of libraries and librarians. It made me think about how we plan and what we, as librarians, should be doing to effectively use the new 2.0 technology. Some of these qualities have always been seen as important to the profession. Implementing these in terms of 2.0 have a slightly different slant as to how we approach our relationship to the user. Definitely food for thought.