Podcasts

To be honest I didn't listen to a lot of the pod casts listed. I found a lot of them went for a long time, the short ones seemed to take a long time to download (a bit like watching wet paint dry)and some of them didn't download at all. The expereinece left me brain dead :( Since then there has been a fire at the Claremont library and I see now how using podcasts could be a great way to keep patrons updated with the lastest reports from the CEO, Library Manager, Mayor etc.
Perhaps they could also be used as patron training sessions a bit like the ones we have been using to do this course. I think in the end that a lot of time and effort can be spent on these things only to discover that it is no longer relevant.

Online Video

After the disappointment of Twitter I jumped to online videos and the you tube experience. After listening to a lot of the storytime children in tears and having tantrums I decided that perhaps you tube could be a viable alternative to Storytime at the library. Each week a new storytime could be posted for the little cherubs to watch from the comfort of their own home at a time that best suites their routines. This would be a huge saving in man power as only one story time would be delivered each week throughout the local libraries. It would also restore the nerves of frazzled staff who try and deliver customer service at a premium level whilst witnessing harrowing tantrums of our youngest customers. A possitive in OH&S terms I'm sure. Anyway here is an example already posted on You Tube. I know we could all do just as good if not better. I can see we will all be trying to out do each other. A little healthy competition of course!

Facebooking

After being bombarded by the media with all he nasty things that facebook has contributed to and all the privacy issues I vowed I would never have anything to do with facebook. Yet here I sit after newly creating a facebook account and I am a little intrigued. Curiosity has got the better of me and I find myself looking to see how many people I know have facebook pages. And now there is another stumbling block, I didn't realise how many people actually share the same name. As a bit of fun I have not used my own identity and have asked to friends with some of my family. They are going to be wondering who this strange person is. If you wish to find me on facebook you will have to look for Bob Roberts! I am now affectionatly known by some as Bob Bob :) Ooops my training time is running out. Til next post...

T'is a library thing

I have commenced the beginnings of my library. It seems to be a wonderful tool to keeep track of books you may have read and to share the joy with like minded people. It is also a great way to discover books and authors that you might otherwise miss out on. But there sure isn't enough time in the day to do all the flickr blogging delicious library things and do all my work as well. Something is going to have to give somewhere...

Perhaps this is this library thingy is a useful tool we could use to keep track of books for our wonderful homebound patrons. Anyway check out the beginnings of my library and I welcome any suggestions :)

Library thingy

Delicious

And delicious it is. I love the way you can search and feed of other people. If only you weren't restricted by a login and password. It would be great for all those sites that are invaluable for customer service. And you would never need to worry again if computing came and stole your pc! I guess this is really the way of the future. All our information will be stored on a server somewhere and we will no longer need filing cabinets and large capacity hard drives.
I don't know what others think but I can see a time when perhaps libraries will not have people in them. Everyone will be downloading e-books and communicating via social webpages. We will become faceless providers of information. Students are already losing some of the traditional information finding skills and are now whizzes on finding anything and everything on the internet

Wikis

I don't know - where does all this techno talk come from wikis, flickr etc etc etc it is all very confusing. Fresh from a week away I have just had a quick look at some wikis and rather like how the Antioch University New England have used a wiki as a procedures manual. I don't know if anybody else gets as frustrated as I do searching the network drive for a particular procedure or other information. Having a wiki that can be quickly and easily accessed even when on the desk seems to be a marvelous idea. On the flip side it is essential that regurlar updates are made to the wiki which are correct easy to follow guides and not a mish mash conglomerate of misinformation . Do we have the man power to support such a venture? On the whole I do like the concept of wikis and can see that they could prove very useful. Can't wait to see what ideas other libraries will come up with.