Week #15

I love this meme map from Tim O'Reilly's website. It really helps make Web 2.0 clearer for a visual learner like me.

October 4

I've done a lot of reading, thinking and talking about Library 2.0. Here's what I think: Some of the technologies are going to "stick," while others will eventually end up in the Silicon Valley graveyard of interesting-but-not-particularly-useful ideas. In my opinion, blogging, photosharing, rss feeds and social bookmarking are all useful and will probably outlive the "cool" factor time all new concepts get. Wikis...my personal jury is still out on them. While I like the concept of collaborative thinking, learning and writing, I'm not particularly entranced with any of the software I've seen for this yet. And interface is important. Twitter? I don't think so. Who cares what you're doing this exact moment in time????? The social networking sites are so popular with young people, that I don't think they're going to fade too soon. For folks over 30, though, we just don't get it. And YouTube, even I watch it sometimes and have been known to email funny links to friends.

Overall, I think these new types of software offer a lot of promise for libraries. I already have a Readers Advisory blog I'm linking to the library homepage, and I hope it becomes "cool" for kids to post there. What stumps me a little is that I may be the only librarian in my school district interested in these concepts. I know we're all busy, but the idea of taking our services to kids where they are is just too exciting to pass up.

Week # 14

For me, Technorati is confusing. I tried doing some searches, but got blocked a lot by the district filters, and became annoyed and frustrated. I could do searches via a backdoor method, but then I wasn't always sure what I was getting. (and I'm not so sure how much I care about what other people are blogging...stikes me as one of those too much time on your hands occupations.)

I looked at the Popular Blogs and checked out Boing Boing, the most popular one in the world, according to Technorati. Actually was pretty interesting, but I don't see looking at it all the time or adding it to my feed...more like a curiousity, just as its description claims.

Week #13

I already had a del.icio.us acct. from some previous web 2.0 play. However, I took more time to explore all its facets, and added the bookmarklet buttons to my browser here. Now I need to remember to do it at my other computers, too. I think this would be great for a course, we used it in one I audited taught by another librarian I know. It was very cool to share and collaborate with other folks exploring the same things. I don't know if this would work with high school kids, but think it would be great for college ones and professional collaborations.

Here is a link to my account:
Alex's delicious account

Week #12

I explored Rollyo and was pretty impressed with the idea. Searching a group of sites you've preselected all at once sounds very cool. I could see making different information searches for my high school students using this tool. However, when I tried the samples on the website, I was disappointed with the results. I did some photo searches and the results were unimpressive. I could have gotten the same thing using just Flikr, and been logged into my own account.

I fared better with the boutique search, trying "silk scarf" as my search term and found a lovely scarf if only I could find another full-time job. I didn't know people actually paid $1600 for a scarf!

So I have mixed feelings about this tool. I totally see its value in my library, but just don't know if the searches will produce valuable results.

I created a search for Frugal Grocery Shopping.

Week # 11

I played with Library Thing and liked it much more than I did when I tried it last time. The discovery exercises forced me to look around and try different things. I think this would be a good way to add books to pathfinders for my students. Using their recommendations with my knowledge, it would be easy to create the kind that say:

If you liked A Child Called It, try...

Here are some random books from my library.

Week # 10

I made this using Image Chef. It was incredibly easy, but I found the images somewhat limited.



I made this one as my personal icon. I should attach it as part of my email addy.

Week #9

Here is a link to my Twitter account: http://twitter.com/alexand278

I really don't get this tool; I can't imagine anyone being interested in what their friends are doing all the time, or having the time to post here often.

Armijo Library Proposal

Web 2.0 Proposal


The name of the technology you would like to implement.
I would like to add a blog to our library’s website content.

A brief description of this technology.
Blogs, short for Weblogs, have been around since the ‘90’s. Blogs are websites that contain the blogger’s entries in reverse chronological order. Usually readers are able to comment on the entries, making the blogs more interactive, like a conversation. Originally they consisted of personalized journals, political commentary, and news sites. Now, however, blogs are used for a variety of things, and libraries are becoming players, using blogs for a variety of reasons, including readers’ advisory, marketing, and library news.

An explanation of the service you would like to create with the technology.
I would like to design and implement a Readers’ Advisory Blog for Armijo High School using Blogger from Google.

An explanation of how this service will fill a need in your setting, including benefits.
Our students are always searching for good books to read. Some are inveterate readers just looking for their next title, and others don’t really like reading but need a free reading book for their English course. I would like to start a What should I read next??? blog linked off our library webpage. I am always suggesting books to students, but why not have them in a central location for any interested kid to see? And why not encourage students to post their own reviews? How about faculty and staff? Because the blog would be linked to our webpages, it would also be accessible from any computer with internet access. My guess is that most of our students spend a lot more time online than reading. This would give our students lots of access points to new books and would cost us nothing but a little time. I’m hoping that it would encourage more students to read also, helping fulfill our library mission, as well as increase our standardized test scores.

Evidence that this technology would be useful in your setting. This evidence can take the form of libraries that are successfully using the technology (if you feel like doing research, it could also include statistics or evidence from the library literature).
Many libraries are already using Readers’ Advisory blogs for their patrons. While the list below is not comprehensive, it gives a good sampling of what libraries are already doing.
• Emma Waters Summar Library

• Blogging for a Good Book Williamsburg Regional Library

• Teen Corner book reviews Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County

• Teen Blog at the Solano County Library

• Blogger Book Club at the Roselle Public Library

A plan for the ongoing maintenance of the technology and any policy issues you think are important to address. Please note that your technology may not have any policy issues.
The librarian will be in charge of updating and maintaining the blog. I will post at least once each week, on Monday mornings. Teachers and students will email me with reviews, and I will get them up on the blog ASAP, by the following Monday at the latest. Since blogs are not blocked in our district, this won’t be a problem. I will set up an RSS feed to email as new comments come it, so I can check for appropriateness and security issues.