Playing with Wikis

Well, adding to the Learn and Play wiki was fun once I finally figured out how to do it. I think I was making it too hard! Just edit and type. I'll be especially interested to read others' favorite vacation spots, since I'm always looking for a good travel idea.

Wikis

I think Wikis seem to have lots of possibilities; in fact, I am considering setting up a wiki for use in planning my next trip to Upper Peninsula.

Since I am a reader, I especially like the idea of people being able to post reviews and rate books for other readers. This summer, we had a book display where the branch staff put their favorite books on display with their name on a book mark (e.g. Ronda Recommends ...). It was extremely popular. People told us frequently that they loved reading the books that were our favorites. I even had people track me down and tell me how much they loved the book. So I can see where a wiki that allows people to recommend titles (which we already do on our homepage, but not locally in a branch) could be very popular.

Library 2.0

I certainly agree that Library 2.0 and Web 2.0 has / will affect the way we acquire and maintain collections. Certainly many of the juvenile nonfiction book collections that used to be wiped out during a large assignment no longer see the traffic; the students are getting their information online. But having helped fill over 700 reserve requests last Wednesday after being closed 2 days, I know very well that many customers are still asking for books and other actual materials, and we need to make sure they are getting what they want.

I think CML is striving to keep up with all the new technological developments, but when our homepage is not accessible (a friend told me CML's webpage was down twice in 2 weeks) or the internet is down or we can't get to the premium resources, we are not reliable enough to give up a large print collection that can help "just in case". And the more resources that are available online, the more computers (i.e. access points) we will need to provide to the public.

I think the idea of faster access to other's collections would be wonderful. I think we should be able to do much better than 6-7 weeks in filling ILL requests. Maybe some of the new innovations will help.

Tagging

Actually, tagging is pretty cool. If I had lots of favorite sites, I could see a real advantage in "cataloging" my sites. Since I only have about 10 favorite sites, it would take longer to tag than to use the drop-down. But if I ever get into major research online, I can see the advantage.

Twitter

I can't even keep up with e-mail. I can't imagine that I would need to know what everyone I know is doing or that my friends would be interested in my daily activities. Summaries through phone conversations, e-mails, and visiting in person are just fine! And I don't keep a cell phone on, for some of those same reasons. But I guess it's great for those who need to feel like they're constantly in touch.

Hmmm. Maybe I could twitter my manager each time I finish a task; then I wouldn't have to file a monthly report!

Library Catalog

I own a whole set of the Tillerman books by Cynthia Voigt that I keep in a special glass-fronted bookcase along with other special titles and book sets. I could spend hours calatoging all the books in my house! But I just cataloged the Tillerman ones.

Sudoku!

I was glad to find a site that will generate Sudoku puzzles. Since I am a big fan of these puzzles, it is nice to know I can generate one when I forget my black belt puzzle book. Here's the link: http://www.opensky.ca/~jdhildeb/software/sudokugen/ I located this through the generator blog.