With millions of daily users, I believe social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Flickr provide an ideal outlet to engage a broad spectrum of society and maximise the libraries’ exposure, allowing them to promote services, collections, events, resources and easily facilitate communication with the client base. These networks also function as platforms for sharing media, with specific applications in library services such as Flickr photostreams of historical photographs forming part of the Local Studies Collections, and Facebook applications such as JSTOR allowing patrons to search the library’s JSTOR account directly through Facebook. By integrating these services into social networking, the library is able to maintain an active presence in the community. This is especially useful because many members of the community that may otherwise not be able to sacrifice the time to physically visit a library are able to remain informed and involved with current events and news.
Friday, 16 November 2012
Exercise 16
I have made a comment on Gary's blog, on Investigative Exercise 5 Social Networking:
With millions of daily users, I believe social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Flickr provide an ideal outlet to engage a broad spectrum of society and maximise the libraries’ exposure, allowing them to promote services, collections, events, resources and easily facilitate communication with the client base. These networks also function as platforms for sharing media, with specific applications in library services such as Flickr photostreams of historical photographs forming part of the Local Studies Collections, and Facebook applications such as JSTOR allowing patrons to search the library’s JSTOR account directly through Facebook. By integrating these services into social networking, the library is able to maintain an active presence in the community. This is especially useful because many members of the community that may otherwise not be able to sacrifice the time to physically visit a library are able to remain informed and involved with current events and news.
With millions of daily users, I believe social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Flickr provide an ideal outlet to engage a broad spectrum of society and maximise the libraries’ exposure, allowing them to promote services, collections, events, resources and easily facilitate communication with the client base. These networks also function as platforms for sharing media, with specific applications in library services such as Flickr photostreams of historical photographs forming part of the Local Studies Collections, and Facebook applications such as JSTOR allowing patrons to search the library’s JSTOR account directly through Facebook. By integrating these services into social networking, the library is able to maintain an active presence in the community. This is especially useful because many members of the community that may otherwise not be able to sacrifice the time to physically visit a library are able to remain informed and involved with current events and news.
Exercise 15
I have made comments on
Ruchi and Diane Gelder’s blogs
Ruchi: Filter Bubbles Exercise 8
I completely agree with
your views on this ‘filter bubble’. Users of the internet should not be
constricted to certain information, especially if they are looking for new
information on that topic. I think that especially in a Library, where search
engines are also used, all material should be available to users, instead of
certain information being filtered based on what they believe visitors and the
community need. There was a speculation back in March that Google was going to
launch a social network, when it was announced that there would be no more
private Google profiles after July 31st. More and more of these
sorts of things are coming up, where internet users do not have access to
relevant information or their privacy is invaded! This is something I greatly
disapprove of, and I’m glad that others like you agree with me on this.
Ruchi: Exercise 11
You have some very good
ideas that could be implemented to Parramatta Library, which I would also like
to see happening in my library. My library is Concord Library, and I can
already see modern elements and technology slowly surfacing, with a modern design
and good search engines, however, like you said, more could be done. I agree
with the idea of having an interactive site for the Children collection, as
nowadays children seem to drift further and further away from reading and going
to the library, so fun, interactive technologies such as touch screens and
online stories would possibly incite a love for reading at an early age. For
the Youth and Adult sections I think that they already know how to use their
own laptops, ipads etc. in the library, which means less work in that section.
Diane Gelder: http://dianegeldermonitor.blogspot.com.au/
Diane Gelder: Exercise 6
I agree with you on the
fact that reading reviews are good and that they don’t necessarily belong in
the library catalogue. I find reviews very helpful, especially if no person has
recommended a particular book to me, and I’m just browsing. If you have a book
already in mind, reviews appear tedious and useless, really, however if you
want something new I think they’re very helpful. While my library does not have
reviews in their catalogue, most books in the catalogue are accompanied by a
link to their amazon page, the author in Wikipedia, Google Books and Library
Thing, where reviews can obviously be found. Here is an example, http://webopac.canadabay.nsw.gov.au/libero/WebOpac.cls?VERSION=2&ACTION=DISPLAY&RSN=288992&DATA=CON&TOKEN=T7bQKqK5i73750&Z=1&SET=1
However, I think that more and more reviews are emerging on pages such as Amazon and library catalogues, with advancing technology making it easier for reviews to be posted.
However, I think that more and more reviews are emerging on pages such as Amazon and library catalogues, with advancing technology making it easier for reviews to be posted.
Diane Gelder: Exercise 4
I really admire Nancy
Pearl’s love for libraries! She says, “When you walk into a library, you’re the
equal of anybody else and your options are unlimited”. I completely agree with this
statement. I think many people today don’t realise the amount of knowledge, the
amount of treasure, really, that a library holds. I remember when I was
younger, and we had no internet, no computers etc. whenever we wanted to know
something or research something we used to go to the library and I recall it
being a wonderful experience. It’s so easy to lose yourself in a book, and I
can’t wait till I can work as a librarian and spend much more time in the library! I
feel like in a library you can explore almost the entire world, and widen your
knowledge of the world without ever leaving the same place.
Wednesday, 14 November 2012
Exercise 14
As asked, I invited three other bloggers to my blog.
These are:
These are:
Diane Gelder, Colin Edgar, Nili Chen as well as Sharon Luhr
who was already an author of my blog.
Also, thank you so much Sharon for the helpful forum posts, it helped me find the authors to invite!
Also, thank you so much Sharon for the helpful forum posts, it helped me find the authors to invite!
Exercise 13
Changing the arrangement of my blog:
I think this function is very useful. In order to make my page
just a little more interesting and fun for visitors I have added the ‘Fish’
gadget which enables viewers to feed fish in what appears to be a fish tank on
the right side of my blog. I have also changed the order of my sidebar, dragging
the history above the contributors, making it easier for visitors to navigate
to previous posts. I've also moved my blog posts to the right, and the
contributors and blog archive to the left. I like this new arrangement :).
Exercise 12
Changing themes and colours for my blog:
I found this very exciting, as I found the plain black and white style that I previously had rather dull. My new theme features a background of books on shelves, rather suiting I thought, and I played around with the colour schemes (ranging from grey to blue to green to red) till I chose a nice green to complement the background. I found the template idea very good, as it enables users to choose from many, varying possibilities that are easily installed and changed.
I found this very exciting, as I found the plain black and white style that I previously had rather dull. My new theme features a background of books on shelves, rather suiting I thought, and I played around with the colour schemes (ranging from grey to blue to green to red) till I chose a nice green to complement the background. I found the template idea very good, as it enables users to choose from many, varying possibilities that are easily installed and changed.
Exercise 11
One of the most ubiquitous emerging Library 2.0 technologies are blogs. Due to the immediacy of content delivery, these allow staff to market or announce library news and events, publish reviews of new releases which would generate discussion among the library clientele and inform customers of any changes taking place at the library. By extension, they could also be used for professional development, where staff can write about their work experience or training they have undertaken. Due to the wide scope of these blogs, their posts could be specific to any of the five categories of local studies, children’s, teenage/youth, adult fiction and information/reference. An example is the Mosman Library Blog (http://blogs.mosman.nsw.gov.au/library/), where recent posts include a news bulletin, information on the historical event “Mosman Dresses Up” as well as information on philanthropy such as the donation of books to Mudanjiang Library in China.
Specific to Adult Fiction could be the use of an RSS feed to keep clients iformed of author talks, workshops as well as podcasts or vodcasts of guest speakers. Take for example the RSS feed of the Library of Congress, http://www.loc.gov/rss/, which lists dozens of free concerts, lectures, exhibitions, symposia, films, notifications of upcoming readings and presentations at the library.
An interesting use of Library 2.0 Technologies is the application of instant messaging services in the Information/Reference area/. This is used in the reference service for quick questions and clarifications. This was trialed in the AskNow chat service in Australian libraries, http://www.asknow.gov.au/. The interactive chat software enables librarians to message users webpages as well as provide guidance on search techniques, or even take questions as referrals so they provide a more detailed response later on.
To engage younger clients, such as teenagers, libraries often keep social network profiles such as facebook, http://www.facebook.com/. In particular, facebook groups can foster a connection with these customers by creating a virtual environment where they can gather based on shared interest, such as particular genres or even collaborate or forms study groups. They can also be used to keep the clientele in general informed of upcoming events, as posts are merged into their newsfeeds. An example is the State Library of New South Wales, http://www.facebook.com/statelibrarynsw?fref=ts.
Exercise 10
The Local Studies collection at Concord Library specialises in reference material covering diverse aspects of the City of Canada Bay Local Government Area. The resources include both historical and contemporary material in a variety of formats that reflect themes such as the original indigenous community, colonial settlement, industrial history as well as the natural and man-made environments. Digital collections include environmental reports, newspaper clippings, historical maps and photographs. Also available is the Ancestry Library edition database, which includes records of births, deaths, marriages and cemetery records. One of the most innovative application of Library 2.0 technologies is the Canada Bay Connections, a digital collection of the Library's historical and contemporary photographs. These include images of the City of Canada Bay and many local organisations, ranging from the nineteenth century up to the present day. A selection of these are also accessible via Flickr.
For youth, the library has a “Project Y - Youth Space @ the Libraries”, which includes a Facebook page, X-Box Competitions and online collaboration homework groups. In addition, there are interactive programs regarding cybersafety on the library website, as well as a plethora of external links to youth forums and so forth. Furthermore, the Library provides access to a range of databases to assist students. These include ANZ Reference Centre, Health and Wellness Resource Center, Literature Resource Center, Science Resource Center, Factiva, Standards Australia Online and Britannica. This is an extension of the many databases already available in the library’s information and reference service areas.
For Adult Fiction, there is the OverDrive eLibrary 24/7 Digital Media Collection. There, you can download hundreds of audiobooks and eBooks, bestsellers or classics from home! Your OverDrive eLibrary24/7 never closes and is available anytime, anywhere. All you need is an internet connection and a current City of Canada Bay library card.
For children, there are seemingly no Library 2.0 Technologies, but rather there is a rhyme-time, story reading and playgroup. This is presumably because young children are more active, preferring to play together or sing a rhyme, rathen than use a computer. Furthermore, many parents believe limited exposure to television, computers and other technology is beneficial to their child's upringing. Furthermore, these younger children may have trouble navigating or accessing traditional computer user interfaces.
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