Wikis

I really liked the St. Joseph County Library subject guide pathfinder wiki. I think that this type of application works well and would be very useful to library patrons. I also liked that patrons were allowed to add their comments under the discussion tab and that it appears that librarians were the only ones allowed to edit the pathfinder. Allowing anyone to edit or make changes would require a disclaimer like that on Wikipedia. I think that patrons in general view libraries as a trustworthy, reliable source for their information needs and that could be a problem if anyone were able to add or make changes.

I also liked this library's homepage, which included blog posts and was very clean and easy to view as well as navigate.

Book Lover's Wiki is another good example of how wiki's work well in a library environment. I'm sure a lot of patrons would make use of this if their libraries made it available to them.

Perspectives on Web 2.0

The articles on Web 2.0 from OCLC's Nextspace were very good. The one that I would like to focus on for my post is Away from the Icebergs by Rick Anderson. In short, he points out that our profession needs to change its perspective and allow room for change even if it is one library at a time. He pointed out that libraries need to change their perception of library collections or "just in case" print collections as well as the old view of patrons coming to us for their information needs. He made it very clear that libraries need to eliminate the barriers that are in place between patrons and their information needs.

I agree with Anderson that libraries need to integrate their services with local curricula as well as integrating library services into the user's environment...outreach.

As important as it is for the profession and libraries in general to embrace change, it equally important to keep in mind that not all patrons have access to the newest technologies that appear at the speed of light or can afford them. We certainly need to make a more visible presence on the Web (not just a website...smile) and reach out to those patrons who prefer this environment, yet we also need to remember that there are other patrons we serve that can not afford and/or know how to use these new technologies and the great tools that are available. It is equally important to remove the barriers for these patrons and their information needs.

Somehow, I do believe that a balance can be achieved to serve all populations equally as well as eliminating the barriers between them and their information needs.

Technorati

In regards to the layout of the pages for each, differences did emerge on how the results were displayed on each page. Doing a search in Blog Posts resulted in a list of blog posts with a few sentences from the post, which made selecting what you wanted to look at easier...at least for myself. Tags results did not include the sentences, but did include blog links. Blog Posts also included links attached to the search results that came up. Results from searching the Blog Directory included more blog links compared to other two. Similarities in the search results included the annoying ads for Howard TV, which took up too much space on the page being viewed. This aside, several of the same blog posts appeared in all three.

Exploring Popular Blog, searches and tags was interesting. Popular Blogs included pictures of video blogs, which is great for those of us who are more visual. What I found interesting is that Paris Hilton appeared on top searches for the last couple of weeks. She still must be very popular:) Both Paris Hilton and You Tube appeared on Popular Blog, Top Searches, and Tags.

If one can ignore the annoying advertisements, the benefits of using this tool would be to tag your posts for others to find, and as a tool for finding blog posts on topics you are interested in.

Week 6 Delicious Experience

Delicious certainly makes bookmarking better. It has the potential of making my work easier by helping me organize and access all of my bookmarks on any of the computers I am using at work.

In some instances, I think I would use it to assist with researching things, but at the moment I'm still more apt to use it as a bookmarking tool.

Rollyo Search Tool

Interesting concept. It's kind of neat to create your own search rolls. Check mine out on the right hand side of my blog. I've created one for organic gardening by pulling down the menu bar on and click on go.

My Library Thing

This is a great tool and fun to work with. I liked how another co-worker set up her favorite's list as a page element and I decided to do mine the same way. It's on the right hand side of my blog.

A Friendly Reminder (While I'm Away) To My Loved Ones at Home

This was fun. I ran across this one when I was surfing for more generators. You can also send it as a free E-Card, which I did:)

Here is the link: http://buy4cheap.brinkster.net/signs/confucius/quotes.asp?