library toolbox

Favourite blogs

2009-08-15T18:54:00.002+12:00

Here are some of my favourite blogs..

http://www.darkroastedblend.com
http://gordoncampbell.scoop.co.nz
http://publicaddress.net
http://whythatsdelightful.wordpress.com

Wikis

2009-07-10T12:26:00.002+12:00

I think wikis may indeed have a number of useful applications. The examples on the CCL Learn wiki weren't inspiring and didn't enthuse me but when I imagine the potential for the use of wikis on the CCL website then my interest in them increases - for CCL one possibility would be to build a group of wikis that replaces the fitch/internet gateway/ premium sites. A one stop info shop. One aspect of wikis which I really, really like is that more than one person can create/maintain them (the problem with Internet Gateway has always been the lack of scope for making changes to the content and structure of it because its management has been invested - I think there were technical reasons for this - with 1-2 people).

NZ Museums

2009-07-01T11:46:00.002+12:00

NZ Museums is a good example of the web 2.0 elements of diffusion and concentration (as I understand them!) Diffusion in the sense of "richer connectivity between people, applications and data" manifests itself on the NZ Museums website in several ways e.g. the use of tags and tagging that users can attribute to objects in the collection may allow for a richer description and more access points to the material. Also, providing the ability for users to add comments on materials in the collection may add to a richer information experience. Concentration in the sense that the site enourages collaboration among NZ museums and is an effort to pull collections together. But why no RSS!

NZ 2.0

2009-07-01T10:23:00.002+12:00

NewZealand.Govt.NZ provides a good way of finding out what national, regional and local government are up to with web 2.0 technologies. Using the keyword search feature and searching on, for example, rss provides an insight into how much this application is embraced at all levels of government. Many smaller local body governments (Nelson, Rotorua etc) have taken up RSS to disseminate information about events, council news to people with an interest in this information. Environment Waikato have set up blogs for all of their Councillors - most allow users to post comments but a look at each of the blogs reveals that no comments have been made. Probably not surprising given the level of apathy in local government. Most Councillors have added an obligatory post or two but over the last month or two the posts have faded away.

Flickr and NZ 2.0

2009-06-30T13:00:00.003+12:00

Interesting to see how National Library, Te Ara etc have a presence on Flickr while others NZ History net are going their own way it appears. There are advantages for piggybacking on the success of Flickr - the technology platform is already their so no need to develop afresh; users already have some familiarity with the Flickr interface which can only add to its appeal and usage. I quite like the upfront approach by Te Ara - it's presence on Flickr is stated loud and clear - the link to the Te Ara flickr page is on the Te Ara homepage.

social networking (again)

2009-06-25T18:10:00.001+12:00

Continue to have my doubts about the usefulness and relevance of social networking especially for public libraries. The impression that sticks is that a lot of people join and then lose interest and their involvement drops off.

Social networking - Facebook

2009-06-23T14:14:00.000+12:00

Created a Facebook account - easily done, no real issues to report. Disappointed with the search features for finding groups. Gives the ability to browse broad categories or do a simple keyword search but it is difficult to refine searches. Joined several groups - Library 2.0 was one of the groups I attached myself to - had hoped to find some interesting gems but sadly it was a rather underwhelming experience: recent posts on the discussion board included an open invite to a workshop in Oklaholma and a link to a full text article on Library 2.0/ Web 2.0 in Arabic.

RSS feeds

2009-06-19T21:53:00.000+12:00

Finding it interesting about the varying rates of success I've had in subscribing to RSS feeds from different sites. Metacritic (one of my all time faves for music, movie and tv reviews) provides RSS feeds for each category - you don't even have to leave the Metacritic site when you are doing this for Google reader. Really Simple Subscribing. Didn't have too much success using the RSS feeds available on some of the Premium databases or websites on the CCL website.. Ebsco, OED, Press Display... none of the feeds were accepted by the Google reader.

If anyone can tell me how to change the time setting for the posts I'd be most grateful.

RSS Feeds

2009-06-19T05:07:00.000+12:00

I think its great that CCL has embraced RSS - its so useful for subscribing to new titles feeds. I'm looking forward to how CCL creates new RSS feeds - lots of potential for development.

Colr Pickr

2009-06-18T21:20:00.000+12:00

Colr pickr is an interesting application ... allows you to click a colour from a wide colour spectrum and images from Flickr are retrieved which are predominately in that colour hue. On the downside you can't keyword search.

Colour my library

2009-06-18T20:39:00.001+12:00

New library
Originally uploaded by Craft & Creativity

Some pictures just don't require words...

2009-06-18T20:19:00.000+12:00

and here's my screenshot of my netvibes page - complete with widgets reflecting some of my interests

Gridlock

2009-06-17T11:55:00.000+12:00

Haven't been able to make much progress. Netvibes keeps on freezing on me at various stages. Wasted a lot of time trying to log in etc...

Widgets and Gadgets

2009-06-16T19:12:00.000+12:00

Impression #1: There really is an astonishing range of widgets and gadgets - far more than I ever imagined!

I think the Librarything widget has great potential - imagine if this could be embedded into the library catalogue in some form. Customers could add comments to items held which I think many of our customers would love.

University of Auckland Library catalogue search didn't work for me - my patience ran out after about a minute of waiting for results to appear. Blame it on the weather?

Had a quick look at the University of Texas library widgets - many of these would likely appeal to students for research projects.

Backgrounder

2009-06-09T17:29:00.000+12:00

and just in case you wanted more information about Beaker ...

Welcome!!!

2009-06-09T11:37:00.000+12:00

Welcome to the library toolbox! The library toolbox will show you a range of information tools that you may find useful when helping customers with information needs.

But lets not get too serious... occasionally I'll be throwing in the odd thing or two which has nothing to do with the above just because I find it amusing. Like this for example.