YAY I made it!!! Not being a technically inclined person I was a little weary of having to explore so many different web technologies. But now that I’m done I have come to realize that most of the new technologies out there are super easy to use and have some really useful benefits like Zotero, (which I am still using and plan to keep using for school and honestly I did not really see happening.) I think that having to create blogs about our experiences helped us to better understand what we had just learned about. Learning 2.0 has been a great way to learn about all that the web has out there for librarians to use to connect with their communities. I can definitely see libraries using many of these tools in the modern libraries of today.
Cheers!
Saturday, November 5, 2011
I, like many people, LOVE Google and all that it has to offer whether it is Google Docs, Google Scholar, Google Books, Google Calendar or Google Earth. Google makes all of its tools so easy to use and share with others, I am constantly convincing people to use all of it’s tools.
I started using Google Docs only a few months ago and fell in love with all that it has to offer and its ease of use. My sister had always told me to keep using Docs to share information, like recipes, but we never really to the plunge. Now that I am back in school I started using it for my assignments, either for group collaboration or to check with TAs to make sure my I am headed in the right direction for my assignment. Google Docs is really a great way to collaborate with fellow workers and create forms for collaboration, especially within a library setting.
Google Book Search is another very helpful tool that I have been using for a while. It allows you to search full texts for content, and allowing you to read samples of books. I used it a lot in undergrad if I did not have the book with me to quote or get the information that I needed to do assignments or readings for classes. I have also used it to get samples of books to ensure that I liked them before I purchased or borrowed from the library. This would be such a valuable tool for reference librarians, they would be able to search for books and give information on a title that is more user friendly then the abstracts or catalog information.
I am constantly on Google Earth, using it to get directions see where different places are and to see what they look like, especially if I am driving to them and have never seen them. I love being able to see where I am going before I go there or see places that I that I have never like my sister’s neighborhood and house in Salt Lake City. This is another tool that is very useful for reference librarians as a way to show people information on places in a much more visually understandable way than a regular map.
Cheers
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Learning 2.0
Library 2.0 is a new way for libraries to connect with communities and beyond. By using different internet tools like blogging, web videos, podcasts and bookmarking libraries are able to connect in a new way with people that they might have never connected with before. I think that Library 2.0 offers some really great features for Libraries to keep current with changing and advancing technologies. The role of libraries has changed in recent years to being more of a community center. With this new role libraries are able to use the library 2.0 tools to stay in touch with the community and get new patrons involved in the many activities and features that they have to offer.
Library 2.0 offers some really great tools for keeping people up to date and makes the jobs of librarians easier in many ways. It has some really great tools like blogging and Zotero, but I also think that it is important for libraries to remember that it is not the end all be all in the future of libraries. Personal attention to users to ensure that the libraries remain user center is important. The posted resource, Into a New World of Librarianship shows a great view on the use of 2.0, “Without a firm foundation in the mission and goals of the institution, new technologies are not implemented for the sake of coolness and status.” People do not always want to talk through email and blog comments, while it is very convenient it is also not as good as greeting a patron and talking to them in person. Library 2.0 may get people in the door but personal attention and user centered libraries are what will keep them coming back to use all that the library has to offer.
Zotero Zotero Zotero
I had always seen the Zotero logo at the bottom of web browsers on different public computers, but never really knew what it was. After exploring all the features that it has to offer I found that it is a very very useful tool, especially for school. I see this being more helpful in an academic setting more than in other settings, if you want to take advantage of all of the features it has to offer. Being able to bookmark various articles, webpages, books and much more is just the beginning of what enables you to do. I could definitely see myself using this in the future for citing my sources and keeping track of research for my assignments. I already have used it to for a reference assignment where I had to find different biographical sources, after just setting it up today. I can see how this would be useful for libraries, because they would be able to bookmark and cite different web tools and reference for patrons and for themselves to have them at their fingertips later on. Being able to access the Zotero account anywhere makes working at home, work or school super convenient. Lots of the Web 2.0 tools do not appear to really be that helpful for me in my personal and school life but this tool seems to be something that will be really helpful. I have only started my Zotero Library so there is not much in there but I hope to expand upon constantly now that I know all of its benefits. Here’s a link https://www.zotero.org/hrnorthrup/items
Cheers
Cheers
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)