Thing #17

I am having a bit of trouble adding my blog to the Sandbox 2.0 exercise. I logged in and created an account, but adding my blog to the list within Harford County's list is not proving to be easy. Of course, it could be because it is now just 5 am in the morning and I am here at home trying to finish up my 23 Things. There just is not enough time at work to be doing this whole project. I will enlist the help of somebody at my branch to see what I am doing wrong. The steps to follow seem to take you back and forth which is making it seem more difficult than it probably is. I would say that the directions for this exercise and the steps to follow need to be streamlined.

Thing #16

I took a look at the SJCPL Subject Guide Wiki, the Book Lovers Wiki provided by Princeton Public Library, and MERLIN. I liked the straightforward use of SJCPL's Subject Guide Wiki. It was very easy to navigate---very similar in look to a directory page from particular search engines (Yahoo, etc.). I noticed that there hasn't been much updating done to these pages or even many posts/discussions from their patrons, however. I can see a wiki such as this working well within a public library. Patrons, I believe, would like it. Although HCPL does not have a wiki with this information, we do have our Online Resources and Homework Help pages set up with this same kind of information.

The Book Lovers Wiki provided by Princeton Public Library seemed interesting. The various reader's advisory/book reviews seemed useful. There didn't appear to be a lot of information on this wiki though, unless I just didn't explore enough.

MERLIN explained a few of the terms I have heard in the Wiki's and File Sharing section, but didn't know enough about. So, I found this to be handy.

Thing #15

I read through all of the perspectives and will comment on "Away from Icebergs." I believe HCPL has always tried to be ahead of the curve when it comes to new technology. Maryland libraries in general are more progressive than may other states and we hear this from many of our patrons who come to us from other states. If libraries are to survive, we must not sit idly still and watch as the technology and our patrons pass us by. Our patrons demand and should have access to the most up-to-date technologies and changes available in the library-world. Since so much information is out on the web, we can't expect to compete with this information if we don't keep our libraries on the cutting edge.

I do believe that the whole Library 2.0/23 Things exercise is a great way for librarians to see what is out there and to become familiar with all that is happening. Even though one or two of the exercises have been a bit challenging/confusing, I still find them of use in just being aware of what the things are or what they can do.

Thing #14---Technorati

I browsed around Technorati and searched for Learning 2.0 (Library 2.0) and 23 Things and saw the differences in the amount of hits that came up in the blog posts, 100 top blogs, etc. Yes, there are millions of blogs out there and only so much time! I can see why people are so into their blogs and blogging, but it isn't something I feel the need to do on a regular basis. Having a blog tagged does make it that much easier to search for favorite topics or interests or whatever you might be looking for, but having to tag it to be found doesn't seem quite right either. I guess doing a keyword search would just bring up too many results and this is why the tagging of blogs makes the search process so much more accurate?!

I will put more time into the searching of Technorati and its benefits after I complete the rest of 23 Things.

Thing #13---Del.icio.us

I viewed the alternative video tutorial (8 min. 50 sec.) since the original video tutorial was disabled back in July 2007. Although the video tutorial seemed straightforward in its explanations, I do not see, at this point in time, when I would use del.icio.us. To be quite honest, it seemed too confusing. I did look around the PLCMCL2 site to try to get a better understanding of how this might be useful.

Thing #12---Rollyo

I created my Rollyo account. I have also created a rollyo of some of my favorite websites on one particular subject. When creating my account I chose to keep my profile private, so I do not think my rollyo list will show.

As for creating the list and the exercise in general, it was not difficult. I really don't know if I will continue adding to my Rollyo profile or not. I find it just as easy to have my favorite websites in my "Favorites" and to go there directly rather than signing in to yet another account to access my information. It just seems too redundant to me.

Thing #11

I've created my LibraryThing account and have added 27 titles of either recently read books or favorite titles throughout the years. I haven't added any childrens books yet, but will be adding my favorites at a later time. I couldn't figure out how to link from LibraryThing to my blog, so this part of the exercise is not complete. If I am able to figure this out later, I will go back in and do the linking at another time.

I really like the capabilities of LibraryThing and the way each user can create their own library catalog of books read or even of books I would like to read at some point. I do plan on using this site even after completing Library 2.0/23 Things.