Podcasts

Today's blog's topic was on Podcasts. Podcasts are basically an MP3 or other audio file delivered off a Website via an RSS feed. (class handout). Some of the podcasts I had a look at had recordings of readings of novels, commentaries by the author, storytime favourites,  and musical podcasts. In general some other types of podcasts which are accessible include ABC podcasts,  and news podcasts. I also came across podcasts from the Library of Congress.

In terms of podcasts in relation to libraries I percieve that they would prove to be useful. The following are my reasons why:

* For starters perhaps people who are perhaps in remote geographical areas and are unable to gain access to their library would find podcasts useful to have as they can gain access and hear the podcast recordings. Perhaps schools in particular could use podcasts as another educational tool to supplement learning in classrooms. Schools could also go to library websites to perhaps listen to podcasts of novels being read out loud and students could also listen to these at home.

* Another reason is perhaps some people such as mothers, elderly who are unable to come to the library to perhaps listen to one of their favourite authors give a presentation on a novel they have written can easily access recordings of the interview via Podcast.

* It would be useful to have podcasts perhaps for people who are visually impaired.

* It gives more accessibility to users as you can listen to podcasts in the comfort of your own home and at any time.

* You are able to subscribe RSS podcasts which give patrons current and up to date podcasts which are readily available.

Facebook

Today's class was on the topic of Facebook. Facebook put simply is a social networking site which libraries are starting to use as a marketing tool to appeal to more potential users/users. Some libraries which are using Facebook include:

*Wollongong district library(114 likes) 

* Shellharour library (200 likes)

*National Library of Australia (3,005 likes)

* State Library of NSW
* University of Wollongong Library has a page.

Personally I think that it is a great way for patrons to have updates to their library and to view images of events and activities that have occured in the library, new novels that are available. Perhaps for clients who may not be sure if they should become a member or are new to the area Facebook could be a great way to see what occurs at the library and upcoming news and they would also be able to read posts submitted by the Librarian. However I also think the staff members would probably need to assign some of their time to updating regular posts/ pictures ect so that members do not loose interest otherwise having a facebook page would prove to be useful if there is no audiance.

Wikis

Today's topic was on Wiki's. Wiki's are webpages which allows users the access to go in and make changes (edit) to text, a common Wiki that we all surely would have come across at one point is Wikipedia. I think that wiki's do have there advanatges but they do also pose disadvantages as you could have people who may intentionally delete information put on by other people, or they may even post information that is made up for this reason I think users should be cautious and aware that using Wiki's as sources are not reliable. Maybe to prevent this from occuring perhaps using passwords to access certain wikis could prevent this occurance.

From a library perspective it would be beneficial to staff members working in libraries as they can look at different areas of their organisation eg Youth, childrens, and staff can view these areas for updates, information or even if a staff member is searching the internet and they stumble across useful links they could access the Wiki and make edits to them and add the links they have found. I liked the idea of how libraries are using Wiki's on subject guides, I think this is a useful way to develop subject guides that are more up to date as on the internet things rapidly change and links that may work one time may not work the next. I also think that this gives more of a selection of suitable resources as students studying the course may stumble upon resources they could share as opposed to leaving it up to the Librarian.

Overall I think Wiki's are a great way to collaborate with others and share links and resources.

Post on Delicious

In today's lesson we also looked at Delicious.Delicious is basically a social bookmarking web service for storing, sharing and discovering web books. Delicious is a resource which allows people to save things relating to topics which are than staked into one theme. Such things they can save include videos, pictures, tweets, blog posts, or articles. I remember at Highschool I came across Delicious site, and I would use it for research for assesssments and school work for particular subjects. I think for libraries it would good to have for patrons to use perhaps for research, or with Delicious you could create lists of resources on a topic (pets, genealogy research etc) so this could be handy.

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Post on Library Thing

    During todays lesson we looked at LibraryThing. LibraryThing is another online service accessed through the internet which from my understanding is a networked catelogue which enables people to catelogue there books easily. So in this regard this would be useful for librarians/ library technicians to use as it makes cateloguing easy.

    I think in terms of Library patrons using Librarything it would be handy for those avid readers as it connects people who have read that book so they can comment on them, and also instead of searching online for new books Librarything makes it easy as it comes up with suggestions of what books a patron may be interested in thus making the patron want to come back to libraries and borrow more books. 

     I think that it is definitely a resource that Libraries should consider using LibraryThing as it gets users interested in reading. I think they should as firstly they would benefit in terms of being able to catelogue books. Secondly I think that it provides another way for staff to see what resources/items people are mainly interested in when borrowing from Libraries. It would give staff an indication of what items may be in popular demand, so it would give staff the opportunity to perhaps look at purchasing more copies of particular books if they see it is in high demand and popular.

     As well as this I think it would be a handy resource to have available for staff  especially when patrons may come in wanting books from particular authors.So instead of having to rely on current knowledge of extensive range of genres and authors out there, they could easily access this site at their fingertips. By doing so you could show the client how to use this resource and thus they may use it later on to perhaps go and find books by that author or they may stumble across reviews of other books they may not have thought about reading.

   Personally I think that being able to contribute tags, catelogue books at home,ratings and reviews for a book and common knowledge, is a great social network for libraries to have.But for me I would probably only use it to view reviews on particular books I am interested in.

Post on Tag Clouds

During today's lesson we learnt about tag clouds, which are used in Wollongong Library main webpage as another avenue users can navigate to links without having to use the searchbar.

Tag clouds is basically a cloud shape full of words which are links to different areas within the web page. The actual text differientates in size in order of prominance, so that generally more hits that a link gets it appears in larger font in comparison to surrounding texts. In relation to libraries I think that is a valuable tool, the library could use this for several different things such as perhaps subject areas the collections hold, popular topics in relation to the library, collections of novels to name a few. I think that using cloud tags in libraries would be very good as the user can quickly skim the tag to get to a link which they may want to go to, and saving time.

This is link I found to a powerpoint on RSS. Please click the link if you want to check it out.
http://www.slideshare.net/sukhi/rss-and-its-use-in-libraries%20-