Explore any site from the Web 2.0 Awards list - Play with it and write a blog post

What fun!
I chose from the short list of winners and further narrowed down to The Visual Arts.
There were three sites listed and I enjoyed them all!
Welcome to ColorBlender – your free online tool for color matching and palette design! Very nice site! It creates color combinations that work together. Simply adjust the first color to what you want it to be and subsequent colors are added that match with your selected color. Lots of different combinations and tools to customize your color choice.
Could it be applied to a library setting - Yes. We have lots of books on selecting color in interior decoration and this site would enhance the experience by showing what colors would work well together in the new room design.

Swivel I chose the Graphs section of this site. This one is absolutely applicable to a library setting! From football statistics to when sharks are likely to attack this site is chock full of graphs, stats and data!

The third site I looked at was The Broth I chose the Collaborative Art "live art that's fun" section of this site and found very interesting pictures. Again, applicable to a library setting - Absolutely! There is a Graffiti section that allows a user to join in the interactive collaborative art rooms. Choose graffiti or mosaic art and have fun! I could see this as a popular site for Teens to create original art work in a collaborative atmosphere -- I would love to see the final product!
Web 2.0 Awards
Library 2.0
statistics
graphs
Web 2.0 Awards
Collaborative Art
Color Matching

Explore Technorati and learn how tags work with blog posts

This was an interesting exercise! As a cataloger I am interested in the organization of information so that it is retrievable. Technorati is certainly a search tool that offers searchability and more importantly findability to the millions of blogs that they track.

Tagging plays a key role in making the information retrievable. Like traditional subject access that catalogers have used for centuries, tags offer the concept of likeness, or collocation. Tags bring related information to the forefront by providing relevant access points.

The search tool itself offers the possibility of ranking the information it retrieves by offering the choice of authority for the articles "any ; little ; some ; a lot" and even sorts it by language preference.

While the format is different than traditional cataloging and the subject access is not in controlled vocabulary terms the basic concepts of cataloging are still behind the function of Technorati -- make the information relevant by providing searchable terms (tags), rank the information (via the authority rating) and make it retrievable.

Technorati and other search tools like it may be taking the place of traditional catalogers in libraries, but the basic functions of cataloging are at the heart of what makes Technorati so useful. Both cataloging and Technorati answer the questions: What is it? What is it about? How can I find it? Are there anymore like it? Long live Cataloging!!

I liked the several search options available. You can view the most popular, view those with a theme or even search at the specific tag level. The one thing I didn't like was new blogs with little chance to develop a following because of their newness weren't including in the basic search unless you changed the authority level from "some" to "any" authority. That is also a good thing though, because people who write frequently and well on a topic will get the expert level ranking and more people will add them to their favorites.

I did go back and tag all my posts! So I should be searchable for anyone looking for "any" authority on cataloging, Library 2.0 and the topics we have addressed in our Learning 2.0 experience!
Technorati
Library 2.0
tagging
cataloging
Libraries

Tagging Folksonomy Del.icio.us

I enjoyed the YouTube videos! The first:Tagging & Folksonomy -- little catalogers in the making, organizing and establishing relationships in their world! The second: Bookmarking in Plain English -- short, sweet & to the point, very helpful!

The longer OPAL presentation, "Make Your Library del.icio.us Social Bookmarking in the Stacks" by Jason Griffey offered food for thought. As a cataloger I see the need to establish relationships and collocation so that all related items are found. The idea of a hierarchy and faceted classification brings structure that is important. The Town Center building is made possible through intricate structural elements that allow the building to exist. In much the same way as a building needs the inner structure to exist I see cataloging as the intricate structural element that allows information to be found.

From Cindy's podcast: "as more and more people add content to the web they want to organize it ... and share it". A piece of information by itself, floating in a sea of information is useless unless it can be ranked, made relevant and revealed to the person seeking it. That is what cataloging does!

So what about Tagging and Folksonomies?? Are they useless? NO!! Bring them on! They are yet other tools in the toolbox useful in finding the information people are searching for.

Fiction subject access is a perfect example of how readers could benefit from using both structured access such as:

• Library of Congress (LC)Subject headings
• Guidelines on Subject Access to Individual Works of Fiction, Drama, Etc. (GSAFD)genre terms
• Reader's Advisory appeal characteristics

and the unstructured access of: tags and folksonomies created by other readers.

Structured access can create the "what-who-where-when" very easily by creating access to:

• Genre type: Mystery - Romance - Christian Fiction - Science Fiction - Horror etc.
• Who: Professions - Continuing characters - Gender - Age
• Where: Geographic locations - Cities, rural areas, etc.
• When: Historical fiction - 21st century - 1960's, etc.
• Other books by the author
• Other books in the series
• Other books with similar genre types ; themes ; characters
• I would also like to see terms created in the catalog that associate appeal characteristics to the books in our collection. This could be a collaborative effort between Reader's Advisory Staff and Catalogers to add access to a discreet number of appeal characteristics: gentle read, mild language, Southern Fiction, etc.

The unstructured access offered by the tagging of actual readers would add an immense value: by offering the reading experience itself - what was the book like? Of course the following would depend on whether or not individual URLs are available for titles so that a reader could add tagging

• too preachy
• too wordy
• too much cussing
• it made me cry
• Sad
• characters seemed plastic, not real
• great adventure story
• Reminds me of....

World Cat is following through with a project to make this feasible!! Stay tuned!

World Cat Link:

• http://www.worldcat.org/news/default.jsp

The value of individual tagging is in the emergant order" it creates. As large numbers of people add the same or similar tagging it will automatically create lists of "What do I read next" as others find value in the reading experience of those who took the time to create the tags.

I believe tagging and folksonomies can be very useful reader tools that unlock the reading experience for other readers. We can't read every title purchased by the library, but we can give it multiple access points to help customers choose what they want to read. The meat of the story and the heart of it can be revealed by those who actually have read and tagged the title and either came away with a MUST READ or STAY AWAY FROM IT reading experience.

Question #2: Is it an easy way to create bookmarks that can be accessed from anywhere -- absolutely!! This is also a valuable way for staff to have at their fingertips the very sites that will allow them to connect readers to books they will enjoy and information they need to find.

I plan on creating a Del.icio.us account and experiment with tagging and bookmarks -- hopefully I can use it to create an informal "read-alike" list. If not, we have plenty of other tools we have learned about including Blogs, Wikis, and MySpace to make it happen!

Folksonomies
Library 2.0
Tagging
Reader's Advisory
GSAFD
Folksonomy
Del.icio.us

Social Networking -- MySpace

Well, it did it!! I joined MySpace!!
Setting up the profile was fun and now I am waiting for my invitations to be a friend to be accepted! (Oh no!! What if Tom remains my only friend & he's too busy to talk to??!!) I can see why people enjoy this format for interacting with friends. I even added music to my page: John Fogerty!!! (oldies!!)

I still have some misgivings about privacy, my settings are set for probably more privacy than most people. Meeting people online and having fun is great, however some of the articles we read warned of predators, scam, pfishing, porn, identity theft, cyberbullying and impersonators -- all scary thoughts! I'm probably the only one who can get through my privacy wall!!

I wasn't going to sign up for a MySpace profile, but in the end I did. This whole learning experience is about change and growth. In Cindy's podcast she mentioned learning digital media skills, teaching & modeling safe practices and becoming relevant by being where the next generation of our customers are. It is incumbant on me as a librarian to constantly upgrade my skills. In the past my continuing education has been related to cataloging practices, but Learning 2.0 is my chance to experience and learn about new ways of communicating and new ways to provide information. I don't know if I will keep up with the blogs, MySpace, or even create the Wiki for Cataloging that I hope to create soon -- but I do know it was time for me to get into the 21st century way of doing things and now I can talk intelligently about all of our Learning 2.0 "Things" and say I have tried them all!
MySpace
Library 2.0
Libraries
Continuing Education

Social networking

Whew! I knew absolutely nothing about social networking sites, so I read all of the articles to catchup on what I have been missing!
The question: Should VBPL use a social networking site to connect with teens for me has the resounding answer of yes!
I viewed the MySpace sites of the Hennepin County Library and the Denver Public Library and I thought they were creative and seem to be in keeping with the themes that teens are interested in. Our teen councils, teen read week, teen music, sorting through local news stories and putting up only the articles that have impact on teens, even something as simple as We IM do you use us? so many things we do could be sharing with our teens in a way they would enjoy! I definitely feel that MySpace is an excellent venue to reach the teens in Virginia Beach!

Social networking sites are really about...
*teens expressing themselves and socializing (and adults too in some ways!)
After reading all the articles I can see where MySpace and Facebook are popular with the tweens, teens, and 20-somethings but I also read of all the warnings on cyberbullying and cyber predators, so it is not all fun and games either. Even realizing that police, and school authorities can be viewing the information should urge caution for teenagers.

*Educating teens on the safe use of the MySpace accounts is certainly a key. But in the end it also involves personal responsibility, as the Cornell University article so vividly pointed out! Think twice about what you about yourself online - it can be used against you later.

*Privacy is a concern of mine. One of the articles mentioned if you wouldn't post it on a sign in your yard - think twice about posting it online.

*the good and the bad I think the cyberbullying is probably the saddest part of the MySpace experience that I read in the articles. Teens go to the site to fit in and feel part of the incrowd only to be bullied online. Like so much of life, books, the internet and even MySpace have good parts and bad parts that you have to learn to deal with as one teen said in the articles the good outweighs the bad for them.

Now, the next Thing is actually having the courage to sign up for a MySpace profile -- will I be brave and do it or just blog about what I see others do?? Stay tuned for the next post!!
Libraries
Library 2.0
MySpace
Social Networking

Is Cataloging Relevant in Library 2.0?

A Brief History of Cataloging Distribution Methods:
Cataloging is the process of describing an entity, analyzing its contents, and assigning it a classification number. The process includes collocation which brings together related items and access points which provide searchable access to that entity. The basic process can be boiled down to: What is it? What is it about? How can I find it? Are there anymore like it? Catalogers create extensive bibliographic records that answer those questions and more. Unfortunately catalogers have been limited in the way the information we created could be accessed, displayed and delivered to our customers. Below is a brief history of the methods available for the distribution of the information catalogers create.

The Card Catalog Card

Information was handwritten in Library Script and progressed to typed information on the cards.

Information limited to what could fit on a card, with an occasional “2nd” card tied to the first.

Cards were typed in sets [main entry, title, series, Subjects]

Each card of the set was then filed in the appropriate alphabetized card catalog drawers

Each library had to type its own cards, or pay for sets from the Library of Congress

The MARC BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

• Revolutionary concept!
• Computerized information that was searchable
• Shared cataloging – one library created the catalog record – other libraries could use it
• Information not limited to 3x5 catalog cards which then permitted longer contents notes & more access points
• Keyword searchable which enabled all of the information in the MARC record to be an access point
• Eventually provided linkable fields to get to information on web sites.
• Impact on individual libraries:
• No more typing of card catalog cards! No more filing!
• The ability to provide LOTS MORE access! Less time spent on rote typing meant more time to spent on analysis and adding more access points
• Unfortunately information was still limited to MARC record format restraints and confined to text

LIBRARY 2.0 -- The MARC Record and Beyond!

• Catalogers are now free to use exciting new technologies to add access to information!
• Web sites
• Blogs & Wikis
• IM & RSS
• Online Images & Maps & Satellite Images
• Podcast & Vodcasts
  

In the future information will continue to explode and revolutionary new technology will be devised to make that information available in an ever widening array of delivery methods. Through it all information seekers will continue to ask the questions: What is it? What is it about? How can I find it? Are there anymore like it? And, catalogers will continue to provide the information access points that will rank, collate and provide relevancy to the information they find.

The best part of the information explosion and technological advancements is that catalogers will have exciting new delivery methods to provide customers with the full array of the information access we provide! Linda Dolence 12/07/07

cataloging
Library 2.0
Library Card Catalogs

Add an entry to the VBPL Reader's Advisory wiki

I like the concept of the site, but it was hard to navigate through. I went to the Adult book list and couldn't get past the "Fiction" "Nonfiction" page -- it had no links to move beyond it.
I then went to the Staff Picks and added two titles, but evidently only saved one. The fiction title I added definitely showed up. I thought that was really cool to add a favorite title so that others can read it too! I then tried to add comments to the entry and got totally lost - I wanted to add the taglines there like I see one person had done and got nowhere. I think the tags will be important to build reading lists so maybe I will try again tomorrow with a fresh brain!

I think reading groups, the Summer Reading program, and other Reader's advisory groups can use Wikis effectively. A staff member who doesn't read in a particular genre can use a wiki to find current lists of the books in VBPL that appeal to that type of genre reader -- the customers can also use that list and contribute their own titles -- that opens the shelves to our customers!

I see wikis and Reader's Advisory as a perfect match!

Wikis in the Library

Interesting things about Wikis…

• I enjoyed looking at the various Wikis – they were really good examples of what can be done with Wikis in the Library. The various looks of Wikis are also amazing -- From the familiar Wikipedia encyclopedic look which the Library Success: a best practices wiki shares to an eye-catching appearance like the Bull Run Library wiki the possibilities are virtually endless as to the content and style you choose to create for the Wiki.

What types of applications within libraries might work well with a wiki?

• For CS definitely I can envision our P&P Manual set up as a wiki. The collaborative editing of documents feature would enable us to instantly update the manual without going back and forth with emails and waiting for the information to get updated in the manual. Because it is specific to CS practices as an internal document, the wiki could be set up so that only CS staff members could edit and view the wiki.
  
• The Library P&P manuals could also be a wiki, with editing rights limited to the P&P committee, but the manual itself viewable to all library staff who would have the ability to comment on but not edit the policies and procedures.
• The Periodicals catalog which lists holdings could be a wiki, with editing rights for the staff who are responsible for the periodicals in each agency – instant updates!
• The Reader’s Advisory function is a perfect candidate for a wiki – readers telling other readers what they liked and didn’t like about the books they have been reading – that’s like pearls and cameos – a perfect match!!
• I could also see a wiki designed to solicit feedback from public service staff to CS about subjects and other access that would make life easier working with the public
• Training guides could also be created as a wiki with the help screens guiding the customer through the topic such as: self-checkout, how to renew a book, how to access the various online resources we have, etc.
• We tried a wiki for online collaboration on one of the committees I was on, but the process seemed cumbersome for that particular committee. Maybe because none of us were too familiar with wikis at the time! I would definitely try to create a wiki for future committee work. Having the collaborative editing ability for committee documents and being able to brainstorm new ideas I believe will work better than email for our future committees.
  

Given another year I think I will be amazed at the wikis created at VBPL to streamline work and interact with the customers!!

Wikis
Library 2.0
Libraries

Observe an IM Reference transaction or Talk with an IM Reference Staff member

I observed staff at Central during an IM session. A question actually came in from one of the Learning 2.o students, so it was interesting to see how the staff actually respond to the questions! I asked about the type of questions that come in, some questions have been: are you a person or a computer ; questions about holds ; asking if we have a certain title ; hours we are open - they are the usual ones. There have been some more involved questions that some colleagues have handled. The volume of questions seems to be low at this point. Whether it is because of the need for more advertising of the service, or just customers not wanting to use it remains to be seen. The staff were very positive about the IM service, especially since it is a chance to reach the high school and college students with information services tailored to their information technology - definitely they want to keep it! I asked about the differences between IM and telephone reference the responses: reference staff is trained extensively in reference interview techniques and IM does not lend itself to reference interviewing -- the person asking the question wants the information NOW. That sometimes makes for a pressured feeling, having to find information in a hurry and type fast to get the answer back quickly, but it is a challenge that the reference staff are adapting to. They would agree that IM should be here to stay!!
IM
Instant Messaging
Libraries
IM Reference Interviews

Instant Messaging - IM and Libraries

Why should libraries use IM?

• The statistics show that 53 million adults are using IM in their daily lives -- if we want to reach customers and be relevant to them, we need to take into consideration their technology usage and deliver the information they want in a technology format they use -- IM is statistically an appropriate tool to use to reach those customers who use it.
• In the Breeding article, Instant messaging: it's not just for kids anymore the following quote is quite relevant to the question: "the pervasive presence of instant messaging will be ignored only by organizations willing to risk irrelevancy"

How is IM different than traditional communication channels?

• After reading the articles the idea of "presence awareness" was one of the differences that stuck in my mind as an appeal factor for IM. The immediacy of the conversation and communication with another person was important. Email has lag time that IMers simply don't want to put up with. Also, IM is available on PDAs and cell phones, so it is a take with you technology you can use anytime.

How many of the IM population are our customers and why should we care?

• Probably lots! Of the 53 million adults who use IM, I would think the odds are that quite a few could already be our current customers waiting for us to initiate relevant information exchanges. Librarian IM: "Hello, is anyone out there???" IM Response: "YES!!! Where have you been? I need..............."
• Reaching teens is one of our top priorities, they are our future if we stay relevant to their needs. The Pew article on Teens and Technology stated that 45% have cell phones and that 33% use texting. That's a big chunk of customers we could draw IF we provide services that can answer their information needs.

Why should we care?

• Let's start with professional pride. Librarians open up information to individuals, we always have. The IM me article spoke of the IM process: "in the process, librarians can truly be their users' personal guide through the information ocean." We bring information to light.
• We have always helped customers who have come through our doors find the information that they need. We have even provided telephone reference and email services. Bravo! We can still continue those services... However,
• It is time to expand our services to help customers who still need the information we can provide, but choose to request it via IM, the option that best suits their busy lives.
• If we want to be relevant to information seekers who use IM as well as other emerging technologies we need to provide the information they need in whatever mode that can reach them successfully.
• Libraries and librarians have so much to offer information seekers -- lets keep pace with the technology that will allow us to deliver that information to them.

IM
Instant Messaging
libraries
Library 2.0

Locating a few useful library related blogs

Finding other news feeds was very interesting -- I am tempted to subscribe to lots, but I am still leary of how many sites I can actually subscribe to and keep up with, so for now I did lots of browsing.

Which method of finding feeds did you find easiest to use?

• Definitely the icons, they were quicker. If you are at a site subscribing using the RSS feed icon really made it simple.

Which Search tool was easiest? More confusing?

• Blogline's Search tool: this tool was the easiest to use
• Feedster: this one was Changing, so it was not available to try
• Topix.net: I found it easy to navigate. I used the "All Sites" link to just browse the topics this was a browsable index by topic and I liked that feature.
• Syndic8.com: I found some interesting library sites that I may go back and subscribe too. This one was my least favorite I think because of layout, I can't quite pinpoint why I didn't like it as much.
• Technorati: this site seemed to provide the most information, arranged in a logical manner. Very thorough.

What other tools or ways did you find to locate newsfeeds?

• There are several sites that I check on frequently to see what has been updated. I simply went to these sites and copied the URLs.
• The DDC updates coming to me rather than me searching daily at the beginning of the month to see if the new month has been posted will really be a timesaver!

RSS Feeds and Newsreaders

I had heard of RSS feeds and didn't take the time to find out what they were (too busy being Library 1.o) now that our assignments have us looking at RSS feeds -- I have enjoyed learning about them. The analogy of Netflicks vs a video store or even going to a pizza store vs home delivery are both appropriate here.

Advantages of an RSS reader:

• In the sphere of Ranganathan: Save the time of the Reader...
• RSS certainly saves time. Rather than going to the web sites the sites are brought to you and the readers help to organize what has been read, or even what you want to star and go back to. If you are interested in keeping up with the latest info on your favorite topics this is certainly a way to bring it all to you!

Disadvantages of an RSS reader:

• If you are interested in a lot of topics, or subscribed to a site that has lots of posts I can see where the information coming to you could get unwieldy -- the "Mark as read" feature or "star" for later reading could help control that situation.
• Also, the information comes to you automatically, constantly -- whereas without RSS you would go at your own inclination to whatever sites you had time to review.

I will be trying out the RSS feed over the following weeks to see the advantages and disadvantages -- at this point I am looking forward to news and events coming to me rather than me taking the time to search for them!

How can libraries use RSS or take advantage of this new technology?

• Certainly in the area of reader's advisory. Creating book lists customers could review to find the latest book of their favorite author, or new titles in series would be very helpful information to get in an RSS feed.
• Upcoming events and library programming of interest to various groups. Knowing when the next program on [topic] will be featured at the library is certainly another.

Newsreaders
RSS Feeds
Libraries
Library 2.0

What is Library 2.0 to Me?

While learning about Library 2.0 at Virginia Beach Public Library we were asked to contemplate the following question: Library 2.0 is many things to many people -- what does it mean to you?

My thoughts on that question...
Library 2.0 for me is the opening up of information to customers whenever, however, and wherever they need it. Library collections should be collaboratively linked to one another with their entire contents accessible 24/7. Librarians should work seamlessly in the background to provide the special touch of information enrichment that librarianship offers: selection, metadata, connections, references, and linkages. The information should be available in such a way that a specific page of a book, a specific scene in a movie or a specific song on a CD is instantaneously at the fingertips of our customers. In an age where this is all possible, and in many cases already available why would we want to cling to past practices? “Sorry the library is closed, we will re-open at 10am tomorrow – please hold your information needs until that time”… No way!!
After watching a You Tube video: A Librarian's 2.0 Manifesto by Laura CohenI thought about cataloging in relation to 2.0, again here are my thoughts.... The Librarian 2.0 Manifesto was thought provoking. The idea I wish to add comes from the Manifesto item: I will lobby for an open catalog that provides personalized, interactive features that users expect in online information environments. Remember when….Manual typewriters were available for term papers? Then came the electric typewriter, followed by the word processor – wow what a difference! I don’t know of anyone who clung to a manual typewriter [remember footnotes?!] once they experienced a word processor. The same is true for library technology – first came the handwritten card catalog cards (I’m not old enough to remember those days!), which gave way to typed cards, first on manual typewriters [oh the pain of typing the tracings at the bottom!], then electric typewriters (with bars to hold the cards in place!), which gave way to OCLC with MARC records collaboratively input by thousands of librarians. This was a technological innovation that allowed richer subject access, searching that could connect series titles and keyword searches that were IMPOSSIBLE in the card catalog, early COM CATs (microfiche catalogs), and OPACs. Now we have a new library revolution that is using WEB 2.0 and adapting it to libraries, Library 2.0 – I say go for it!! Why would librarians cling to the old way of creating and searching static information when the possibilities are endless in what we will be able to provide both now and in the future… the 3x5 library catalog card severely limited what we could represent about a title ; the MARC record provided ways for more information to be recorded about a title, but Library 2.0 OPENS resources in their entirety anytime, anyplace, anywhere to be viewed, evaluated, notated, criticized, shared, given tags and hyperlinked to more info … why would anyone cling to Library 1.0 once they experience the world of Library 2.0 – why?
libraries
Library 2.0
cataloging
card catalog

Thoughts on 7 1/2 Habits

The habit that is easiest for me: #1 Begin with the end in mind
The habit that is hardest for me: # 7 1/2 Play