Thursday, October 30, 2008

Del.icio.us

Well the last few days I have been doing this week's reading and checking out the links.
I have made a Del.icio.us account and have put a RSS feed to this blog! ( I hope) we will see how it goes! -- have to go back and search for some more sites to bookmark!

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Wiki week - finally got back to finish it!

Well I have been a bit lazy the last week or so - so now its time to catch up & finish Wiki week -- I did eventually get the invite key so I could edit the NSW learning 2.0 wiki - so yes, I did added a little paragraph about one of the areas I work in! hope you find it?

I also got carried away editing a few Wikipedia entries once I got the hang of it! I have added links to two of them on the side bar. The entry for Lane Cove did have a section for the Library but it hadn't moved past the plans for a new library in 2004 - so of course, it had to get updated because I hope you do realise that the big hole in the ground in my video clip is going to be the wonderful new library coming to Lane Cove!

Then I had a look at the entry for the suburb of Gladesville and was surprised to find that there wasn't any history on that entry at all -- so I also had to add a little bit, as I know about how it got its name! and I also added a link to the web page for the local historical society that covers Gladesville.

I also did a few minor edits on some of my favourite author's entries -- but decided this could become addictive and I have to move on the the next bit of unfinished Web 2.0 learning!

PS. the one thing I couldn't find, when I was editing Wikis was a spell check! so I hope my fingers typed all the right letters!

Friday, October 17, 2008

Google video, Youtube & Wiki

I have tried to look at some of the video sites but find I have to do it at home on my dial-up connection so still a bit frustrating

I have found on google video a clip of the demolition of Newcastle Library and hopefully will add it in here!




Hopefully if I got it right you can click on the link to watch the Youtube video clips I've added.

The 2nd one is another library building project - this one with time-lapse filming so you don't have to wait all year to see the building emerge!



This post is still a work in progress as I'm filling in time while I'm waiting, waiting waiting for the magic key so I can finish off the wiki work -- maybe I'll get an invite tomorrow?

Hopefully here is my own video clip, which I took last Saturday to show the big hole in the ground that will soon be the new Cove Library! [as I have never owned or used a video camera before & I just took this clip on my digital camera, using the video option, I don't think its too bad -- but there is still lots of room for improvement!]



I can see lots of uses for this technology in the future of libraries -- and not just to record the progress of the building of our new library!

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Wiki week ! Interesting and frustrating!

While I have really enjoyed all the reading of and about Wikis this week and can see lots and lots of potential for them in Libraries ! Books list; genre list; book reviews ; web book clubs,... to name a few. I can also see lots of potential uses in the local history/ family history area too! current research projects ; streets / parks/ reserves/name history projects ; How to research your family or your house, the potential just goes on and on!

I enjoyed seeing what the SJCPL Subject Guides Wiki had done; as someone who loves to read series, I had to check out what was on the history-related mysteries list and liked that it listed series, it also had links to author websites and also a "if you likes these books try...." list at the end! The House history research page had an article with lots of embed links for more information or fact sheets, links for access to online databases and links to other relevant collections such as archives, historical societies, universities, and newspaper archives.

While I did look at the Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki and can see this as a useful too for library administration to share and manage ideas and procedures at both a internal level and a larger sharing across an area or state, etc. I decided the Princeton Public Library's Book lovers Wiki was lots more fun and a great way to promote a summer reading program with reviews and star ratings, and sorted by genre, with added links to the library catalogue, frequently asked questions prizes, etc.

Next I checked out the Montana History Wiki. I looked into the Vertical files held by the Montana Historical Society I found that they were divided into biographical and topical subjects, they also had a file for photographers by name or company. All would be very useful for any researcher to know before they visited or wrote to the Society for more information. One name that jumped out from the biographical index was a file for one "Wyatt Earp" !

BUT what has frustrated me the most is accessing the information - the PB Wiki tour just wouldn't load on my computer at work -- I don't know if that is because it was blocked or the computer is just so slow & old (it is due for replacement! soon!) ; so after having tried a few times at work to view it I decided to try it at home again early this morning and YES my dial-up did cope with it and I did get to watch the 3min 21sec of footage ---- it only took 29minutes to load and run through completely, during which time I had breakfast, made the bed, had a shower and cleaned my teeth!

Also frustrating is waiting for the key to edit the NSW learning Wiki, now that I'm ready to do it -- I sent off an email asking for an invite before 8am on Wednesday morning and its now after 10pm on Thursday and I still haven't got and invite!

I'm also frustrated because having spent two nights out at meetings this week and working on this every other night -- I haven't read any of my waiting fiction this week and now my reserves are piling up!

Monday, October 13, 2008

RSS feeds


Well I think I finally got the RSS feed to add to this blog!
After any number of attempts at work today (on two separate networks I was unable to load the feed to the blog, but tonight at home -It finally worked.
So now you can see the feed I found about Dewey the Library cat! and to celebrate I went back to flickr and found a picture of Dewey the Library cat! isn't he just purrfect?
I think I'll have to ask "the boss" if we can have a Library cat in our new library at The Cove ! [not sure if he/she would be compatible with our fish or our possums!]

Sunday, October 12, 2008

RSS feeds

Well it's Sunday night and I still haven't finished the ironing and I still haven't managed to sort out the RSS feeds thing!
I did go to Bloglines, and set up an account, and found a number of feeds that interested me, but I only managed to get The Powerhouse Museum's picture of the day blog, onto my blog ( that was last Thursday!) but that's the only one!
Guess I'll have to go back and try again! and again!
I am finding this task a bit difficult as I'm still in the dark ages with dial-up Internet at home and only work part-time in my Library therefore it is often difficult to find the time to cover this during my working hours!

I have added a picture to my profile tonight, so feel I have achieved something!
Stay tuned to if I get there or if RSS gets the better of me.

The other feeds added to my bloglines account besides the Powerhouse Museum's Picture of the Day were :
Bloglines News (10) (0)
librarian.net (0) (0)
Library Stuff (3) (0)
ResourceShelf (1) (0)
The Shifted Librarian (0) (0)

But in fairness to RSS, yes I can see this tool being very useful to library in a number of ways, especially as it can give world wide access to current issues for any topic collected together.
It's very easy to get side-tracked on lots of interesting articles!

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Originally built for Council chambers, the Cove Library has out grown this building in recent years. The Library is currently operating from both this location and a temporary space directly across Longueville Road for the next year or so!
If you want to see more pictures of whats happening in the Cove Library you can look for more on filckr under : TheCoveBlog !

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Deciding what to do with this Blog was the hardest thing --now, by George, I think I've got it!

I just taken some picture to put on here through Flickr and in the process it came to me!

Here in The Cove we are finally getting a new library! YES - after 2 years in the Land and Environment Court, and our temporary library space awaiting our presence, Now it is finally all happening! [Well it will be another year, at least, before our new space is completed !] but Hey, that has got to be worth waiting for!

No more leaking roofs, no more rolling out the plastic to cover the shelves and no more filling the isles with buckets and even crates to catch the drips every time it rained! No more fans trying to dry damp smelly carpet! No more wondering if the heavens will open and and drop rain on our library roof every night before you left! [thank God we were in a drought! - but it still happened with monotonous regularity!]

SO this blog will be about how they finally cut off the back half of our Cove Library, and now we get to work out of two library spaces, across the road from each other! There is never a dull moment here in The Cove! and when I work out how to add the pictures, you can see for yourself!

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

WEB 2.0

Hi this is my first posting; I'm learning Web 2.0 and have just created my first blog! I'm hoping to learn about this new technology and find some applications for my work and hobbies too!
I liked having the 7 & 1/2 habits of lifelong learning spelt out and hope that putting them into practice in Web 2.0 won't be too daunting for little old me!

I really enjoyed looking at the Southern Tablelands History Matters blog site and it did open my eyes to a variety of possibilities for this application in libraries.