Monday, July 28, 2008

Thing 7- Communication Web 2.0 style

I can see where text messaging would be an area for growth since most of the Millennials already own cell phones with text capabilities. From my experience Millennials tend to text more than they converse vocally. This may feel like a familiar and comfortable form of communication for the upcoming generation.

S MS is interesting and looks very convenient, yet you have to be sure that the receiving party has the proper technology to receive messages. It wouldn’t work well for blanket- automated messaging attached to services such as ILL, because you would have to be guaranteed that the receiving party could indeed receive it. At our library, email is still the preferred method of informing students, faculty and staff of library proceedings. We are sure that everyone has an official email account given to them by the university.

However, it would be great to have the option (I have no idea how the logistics would work) to send a SMS text message to patrons who have requested an ILL and are desperate to receive it. They could receive a text message while crossing campus, and then run in and pick up the item without having to go back to their office to check email.

Thing 6-


FitzLib
Originally uploaded by CarolAnn22
The trading cards could be used in numerous ways within the library. I think it would be fun for public libraries to create and print these cards as a promotional give-away to kick off a summer reading program. I could see creating some ot these and then posting them to the library Web site for special events during the year. For example, if it is getting close to Halloween or Banned Books week or if you wanted to create a list of "hot reads" or "new items" etc. you could create several of these to highlight items in your collection that pertain to the theme. In the description field you could give a descripton of the book or why it was banned etc. Then you could add a special link to the library site where it could run like a slide show and people could peruse the latest items you are promoting.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Thing 5-- My creation


My creation
Originally uploaded by CarolAnn22
I love all the unique things you can do with Mash-ups. The possibilities are endless. I can see using these mashups for promotional posters, slide shows, sharing and presenting information from conventions, etc.. One idea I had was to take pictures of librarians, faculty, staff and students with their favorite banned book and then have a running slide show of the pictures in the library during Banned Books week. Then offer for others to have their pictures added. It would be fun to see how many takers we could get.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Thing 4


The Letter Writer
Originally uploaded by rita banerji

This was a moving picture for me. I hope it will move others as well. This woman in India is illiterate. The simple and sometimes quite personal task of writing a letter that we take for granted, requires a trip to a "Letter Writer" for this woman.

This photo is a part of the 50 Million Missing International Campaign. This is a campaign to increase international awareness about the social factors that have led to the elimination of 50 million women from India's population. For more information, click on "The Letter Writer" picture.


Flicker has been enjoyable to use. I think I would use it for personal reasons, but as for right now, I am not sure how I would use it in the library. I would, however; like to begin an Information Literacy Course at this University. If I am successful in implementing such a course, I may integrate Flickr at that time.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Thing 3--RSS Feeds

As with the other "Things" Setting up an RSS feed is quite easy and I can definitely see the benefits of using RSS feeds personally (news and weather feeds) as well as professionally. In an academic library it would be quite useful to show students and faculty how to use an RSS feed to alert them to the latest research published in a particular field.

I can also see how this is similar to getting a new camcorder or digital camera. There are many things I can do with the camera, but I typically just use the basic automatic settings. I noticed when setting up the RSS feed, there were many additional services offered, but I doubt that I will use these options.