RSS feeds yay

RSS feeds? Now this I can see an immediate use for. When I think of all the sites I bookmark and regularly visit, this takes up a lot of time to check them all.

If I can add the RSS feeds to my google homepage or to my Gmail, then I need only check them to find recent updates that I may then choose to read or ignore. In fact, I've decided to add my gmail inbox to my google homepage. I also ask for google alerts from blogs or other places when researching a topic, and google sends me the results.

It's like having a personal research secretary collect new information in my interest areas. So I've added feeds to book review sites, art sites and the like to gather it all quickly in one place.

Now say I was covering Religion, Literature and the Arts as subject areas for collection development and library programming, I could subscribe to relevant RSS feeds and collect data easily to support my area of work. This would save me a lot of time at work.

While our library does some programming, it is mostly not promoted online at this stage.
As our library doesn't have a blog or an online newsletter,
I wonder can library related feeds be added to a library site webpage dedicated to RSS feeds?

Of course, not all useful sites offer feeds - it seems they are from blogs and news sites mostly. So when I checked for RSS feeds from Flying Arts and Dept of Creative Industries, neither site currently offer RSS feeds and not all blogs offer feeds - I decided not to offer feeds from my own blog for instance until I am committed to updating it past the SLQ Licence to Test Drive program.

My google homepage now recieves feeds from our local paper with emphasis on local news, entertainment and the arts, and the ABC's blog Articulate which sends out a daily take on arts news and events. This is information I may not have seen in the past, or missed checking for lack of time.

Thanks, RSS!

Twittering

I read in the Courier Mail recently that the retention rate for Twitter is low - I imagine that Twittering would be quick but also require persistence on the part of both writer and reader.
Do people who follow blogs lose interest?
How do libraries ensure that where they post is useful and followed?

I guess promotion of the blog itself as well as the library service.
And time for the staff to develop great informative content.

Programs that are already being developed can be marketed in a number of ways - word of mouth, paper flyers, newspaper and internet site. Once you have one flyer, the content is easily transferable to another media. So the work done is spread in several directions to make sure the public get to know what is being offered.

I found an interesting blog on colour print production recently and left a question about a problem I have printing digital art. I am eagerly hoping the blog owner will be kind enough to help me.......Hmm, a live reference service that is available over the internet - have any of us got one up and running and how is it best run?

Social networking

Ok, so we could all use some more friends, but I must admit now to a bit of site overload.

How many different sorts of sites can a library keep up given limited time for staff to spend on these tasks?

And which is the most effective tool to spread publicity? Say if you put out an online email opt-in newsletter? And one on paper. Then this same content could be added to the library blog as well.

So as I said how many ways should we spread ourselves out the on the web?
We have to decide which is the best way to share digital resources?
And which is the best way to allow client reviews of books and other interactions?

Are there any privacy concerns of putting information out there even from a corporate point of view? What should you make sure you don't say online? It looks safe enough for Libraries to share on an impersonal library social networking site whereas many library staff would not share their own personal details on Facebook or anywhere else online. I remember being shocked once googling my own name (as you do) and finding that my home phone number popped up from a school online newsletter.

Also there is that little problem that some library filters filter out access to social networking sites from its staff and public internet computers...

Sorry to confused ....the main keywords here are myriad choices and time poor... I'm very open to the best way to embrace new technology but which one? I'm open to comments on this one... Come on, convince me with your preferences!

I know that Gen Y can be socialising with friends and interacting on their Iphone on the internet at the same time, sharing photos and videos and games on them with their friends around the restaurant table.

Whereas I am a bit zen in that being in the moment sense and a bit time poor at work due to real life enquiries from the public and public on the phone. The reference enquiry can be 'virtual' or 'in person' but during that time that one person is the most important person to be listening to and finding the information for. I cannot have a cuppa with one friend and be texting another at the same time. I must admit to being the sort of person who often deliberately leaves the mobile phone at home. :-))

Wikis

After the video explanation I thought yes wikis are useful for collaboration when you cannot physically meet. Email traffic with "reply all" is the current norm but can become a bit tedious if there is a lot to discuss.

I imagine wikis very work well with factual entries rather than opinions.

Question 1. Are wiki entries trackable or given the same legal staus as emails?
Question 2. Do organisations allow their staff to use wikis as an alternative to email?
Question 3. How do you ensure that content that you want to stay 'as is' is not edited away by someone else?

I would be happy to hear your answers to these.

After looking at the wikis, I chose to bookmark Library Success and Book Lovers and Blogging Libraries Wikis for a closer look later.

Say if a librarian was interested in finding out what works and doesn't work with layout floor plan when a library is in a shopping centre, I guess that a wiki of librarians would be very helpful to garner feedback on their own experiences with layout successes and failures. This might forestall some otherwise unforeseen problems.

Informal friendly professional sharing is always welcome, and tapping into a large wiki community may be very helpful when needing advice.

Blogging

Hmm, so who reads other people's blogs?
And more specifically, now that there are so many bloggers, how do you find blogs that would interest you?
This is where a specialist search engine such as technorati comes in.

I know google also have an advanced blog search, but using technorati I quickly came across a blog of interest to me as an artist. After submitting the rather general term 'art', technorati suggested I try the Lifestyle channel tab in the top bar for better results.
Using the keyword 'artist' I came across a blog called booooooom which serves up a daily dose of creativity. (I guess the 7 Os are for 7 days a week?)

I also found lines and colors, a blog about drawing, sketching, painting, comics, cartoons, webcomics, illustration, digital art, concept art, gallery art, artist tools and techniques, motion graphics, animation, sci-fi and fantasy illustration, paleo art, storyboards, matte painting, and 3d graphics.

Using the term 'digital painting', I then found at the top of the results list a bar of suggested tags that others use, and zeroed in on 'Photoshop painting'. The listed included videos about digital painting as well as blogs. The "Authority" rating helped sort out the more professional blogs, which led me to graphicmania's blog, featuring stunning digital paintings and links to walkthrough tutorials and free resources for digital artists.

Tip: Bookmark your discoveries, or subscribe to the blog, as the internet is truly a huge place to navigate, and it took a while to find these gems.


At this stage my teenagers are dancing around behind the computer desk in a vain effort to attract attention back onto them, so it must be time to sign off and cook.

While I think a library blog would be useful, and attract a lot of library customers wanting to keep up with library offerings, I wonder would a personal blog suit me for long. As a mother I suspect I'm not even going to be a Twitterer. ;-))

Past and present - computers, internet, libraries

Ok, a little reminescing:

• Typing up each catalogue entry according to a careful format and layout
• Filing catalogue cards above the rod for someone else to doublecheck before the drawer is put back into the card catalogue
  

• First job as a librarian
• Having no computer on my desk, just the Dewey numbers in my brain and the catalogue folders of computer printout paper updated each month
• Slideshows were produced by taping a cassette with music and commentary, making own slides, and feeding them into a circular dispenser on top of a carousel slide projector.
  

• Computers were for the circulation staff and the program was verry simple - little more than a flashing cursor and a blank screen to which you would type in data
  
• Book orders written up in carbon paper order books
  
• The booksellers showed you boxes of books in the back room or even better took you to the warehouse and out to lunch as well.
  

• Photocopiers arrive and out goes the old inky press
  

• Son longs for a home computer
• We discover the Internet
  
• We get one, 2, 3, laptop

• Library catalogue online
• Librarians use computers to fetch online content as well as books
• Learn how to write a website and publish it to the internet
• Digital cameras and scanners expand ways to use photos
• Computers make library tasks easier, such as copy cataloguing and ordering books online
  

• Web 2.0 expands the things individuals can share online
  
• Libraries catch on, using scanning and publishing tools to share via the official library blog their local studies or genealogy research information, historical photos, online library newsletters, book reviews, and publicity for coming events
• Library sites allow customers to add content such as feedback, book reviews, and comments on what they like about the library
• Displays and presentations can be recorded for viewing on the internet
• Staff can be trained using online training presentations and produce their own slideshows or film to share the same way

See how far we've come since the 70s?
And most of it in the last 10 years.
Thankyou computers and internet!
I miss the thrill of handling the books before buying them though....even the smell of the new paper ... an online bookseller's catalogue is not quite the same.

Image uploading

I'ts easy to share your images on blogs and photo sharing sites. But what about a little dabble in online business?

It's possible to sell your photos and art online, by uploading it to sites like deviantart, cafepress, Redbubble and zazzle. Your art can be sold as prints or appear on greeting cards, Tshirts, mugs, stickers, magnets, buttons, mousepads, aprons, bags, caps and even US stamps.

The site owners collect the money, print the product and mail it out to customers anywhere in the world, and then send you an agreed percentage of the sale price as your earnings using money services such as Paypal.

Instead of trying to sell locally and make a living, with the help of these sites anyone online becomes your potential customer. You also have a lot of fun being part of an online community of artists who can comment, follow, favourite your work, and share the joys of being an artist.

That really good photo you took with your digital camera could end up making you money. Worth a try....