At last I too now have a person in my network. I first heard about delicious when I was working at QUT a few years ago. The Creative Industries Librarians created delicious clouds as part of their subject guide. It was brilliant and very effective. Still used - check it out at: http://www.library.qut.edu.au/learn/findsubjects/internetresourcesforci.jsp.
There is nothing worse than saving a website as a favourite and not knowing which laptop or PC it was saved on. Hello delicious!
I like that fact that I can choose which sites I would like to share and those I would like to keep to myself. Nothing like being in control. Of course it is very interesting also to look through someone else's treasure chest.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Social Tagging - Thing 10
Ok, wow - I haven't heard of or used many of these sites. I found KartOO particularly interesting. The idea of mapping helps further stimulate ones search strategy when researching. The short blurbs that appear on the left hand side of the screen when the mouse is moved over the site is also very useful. I wasn't, however, really impressed with the search results. Some were really left field, however this can be quite useful I guess.
The search term I used on each of the sites was "Friends". I have just spend Australia Day hanging out with my friends by our pool and it was the first thing to pop into my head.
Meta search engines, such as Zuula, are a great place to start any Internet research. I have always used Dogpile or MetaCrawler. I do like the Zuula interface and the various search engine tabs across the top of the page. It is interesting to see the different results given within a meta search engine.
The search term I used on each of the sites was "Friends". I have just spend Australia Day hanging out with my friends by our pool and it was the first thing to pop into my head.
Meta search engines, such as Zuula, are a great place to start any Internet research. I have always used Dogpile or MetaCrawler. I do like the Zuula interface and the various search engine tabs across the top of the page. It is interesting to see the different results given within a meta search engine.
Monday, January 26, 2009
LibraryThing #9
I have heard of LibraryThing and once looked into it (I am sure I signed up - can't recall the login details of course!). I never went any further with it - I guess it was a combination of a number of reasons, i.e. don't have a huge collection of monographs to even consider creating a library.
My Father, nonetheless, is a huge fan. He does have a large home library and was so excited to learn about LibraryThing. To this day he continues to use Library Thing.
I can understand why someone with a large personal collection of monographs would find LibraryThing useful. It would also be very interesting to find, and chat with, people who have similar libraries. It would also be very satisfying to have ones own collection catalogued, and seen by others.
I have signed up (and noted my login detials this time!) to LibraryThing, so that I can explore it further. I am very interested in the reviews. My username is Nairarbilibrarian if you are interested!
My Father, nonetheless, is a huge fan. He does have a large home library and was so excited to learn about LibraryThing. To this day he continues to use Library Thing.
I can understand why someone with a large personal collection of monographs would find LibraryThing useful. It would also be very interesting to find, and chat with, people who have similar libraries. It would also be very satisfying to have ones own collection catalogued, and seen by others.
I have signed up (and noted my login detials this time!) to LibraryThing, so that I can explore it further. I am very interested in the reviews. My username is Nairarbilibrarian if you are interested!
Friday, January 23, 2009
More on RSS Feeds #8
RSS feeds enable me quick access to the information I want. I am in control as I can look over the "headings/titles" of the feeds and decide which pieces I want to read, i.e. do they interest me?
Sometimes it can get a little overwhelming having to look over all the Feeds that I receive. It is therefore a good idea to check the Reader/Feeds more often than not (and as I have mentioned previously I don't practice what I preach).
I find the RSS feeds in some of our databases very useful, as do many of the academics. It saves so much time and provides all the current information needed to keep up-to-date on a particular subject.
RSS Feeds could be very useful for a library. Enabling users to subscribe to a library feed would provide a library another form of communication. A library could provide information such as database updates, changes to opening hours etc.
Sometimes it can get a little overwhelming having to look over all the Feeds that I receive. It is therefore a good idea to check the Reader/Feeds more often than not (and as I have mentioned previously I don't practice what I preach).
I find the RSS feeds in some of our databases very useful, as do many of the academics. It saves so much time and provides all the current information needed to keep up-to-date on a particular subject.
RSS Feeds could be very useful for a library. Enabling users to subscribe to a library feed would provide a library another form of communication. A library could provide information such as database updates, changes to opening hours etc.
RSS Feeds
I discovered (can't recall how) the Google RSS Reader a couple of years ago. It is just what I needed - one location with all my RSS feeds. I was over having to recall which PC I had one of my RSS subscriptions on. It is just so simple. Log on and there they all were. Nice and easy.
I currently subscribe to ALIA Board Blog, ABS Blog for Librarians, Blogging for a Good Book, e3 Information Overload, LibrarianInBlack, Libraryman, Paper Cuts, Roxanne Missingham, Tame and Web, Tame the Web, & Walking Paper. I began subscriptions to these as it was an easy way to keep up-to-date with what was being discussed and discovered in the library world.
I must admit though...I don't regularly read these feeds. When I do get a chance to catch up, it is easy enough to look through all the feeds I missed.
I currently subscribe to ALIA Board Blog, ABS Blog for Librarians, Blogging for a Good Book, e3 Information Overload, LibrarianInBlack, Libraryman, Paper Cuts, Roxanne Missingham, Tame and Web, Tame the Web, & Walking Paper. I began subscriptions to these as it was an easy way to keep up-to-date with what was being discussed and discovered in the library world.
I must admit though...I don't regularly read these feeds. When I do get a chance to catch up, it is easy enough to look through all the feeds I missed.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Google Docs...
Had a look at Google Docs a couple of years ago. Found one of my old files on there when I logged in. Really like the idea, but haven't needed to use it. I guess it would be very handy to use between the liaison librarians, and it would be terrific for group work if you are a student. Particularly good for people who can't afford word processing software etc.
iGoogle...
I created my iGoogle page back in 2006 also and still love it. So much fun and very useful. Some of the gadgets that are available now are awesome. I really like having the "current top news stories" on my homepage - good to know what is happening outside the library. I have also added the currency converter, Gmail, calendar, weather, facebook, stickynote, & tree frog widgets for a bit of fun. The background colours/fonts/designs that you can choose make it more appealing. I have been using the Akira Isogawa artist theme for sometime now.
I really like the idea of moving around the gadgets so that you can change the look of your homepage as often as you like.
I could rave for hours on the wonders of iGoogle...haven't you noticed!
Had a look at Google Docs a couple of years ago. Found one of my old files on there when I logged in. Really like the idea, but haven't needed to use it. I guess it would be very handy to use between the liaison librarians, and it would be terrific for group work if you are a student. Particularly good for people who can't afford word processing software etc.
iGoogle...
I created my iGoogle page back in 2006 also and still love it. So much fun and very useful. Some of the gadgets that are available now are awesome. I really like having the "current top news stories" on my homepage - good to know what is happening outside the library. I have also added the currency converter, Gmail, calendar, weather, facebook, stickynote, & tree frog widgets for a bit of fun. The background colours/fonts/designs that you can choose make it more appealing. I have been using the Akira Isogawa artist theme for sometime now.
I really like the idea of moving around the gadgets so that you can change the look of your homepage as often as you like.
I could rave for hours on the wonders of iGoogle...haven't you noticed!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
#5 - Wikis
Yeah for wikis!! I think that they are fantastic.
Before ACU I worked at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Library. QUT had 3 campuses across Brisbane, and we wanted a better Help Desk manual that we could all use. So...a wiki was created to replace the out-of-date Help Desk manual folder that each campus had their own version of. It took a while to create the wiki, but it was definitely worth it. Goodbye paper based manual! Of course were are some campus specific information that wasn't relevant for all campuses to use, so we created sub categories for each specific library. Information was so easy to find - no more frantically flicking through a loose leaf binder in front of staff/students.
Perhaps we could think about creating an Information Desk manual wiki for ACU Library...
Happy New Year!!!
Before ACU I worked at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Library. QUT had 3 campuses across Brisbane, and we wanted a better Help Desk manual that we could all use. So...a wiki was created to replace the out-of-date Help Desk manual folder that each campus had their own version of. It took a while to create the wiki, but it was definitely worth it. Goodbye paper based manual! Of course were are some campus specific information that wasn't relevant for all campuses to use, so we created sub categories for each specific library. Information was so easy to find - no more frantically flicking through a loose leaf binder in front of staff/students.
Perhaps we could think about creating an Information Desk manual wiki for ACU Library...
Happy New Year!!!
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