Monday, December 31, 2007
Thing # 19 - Discovering Web 2.0 tools
To a certain extent we have been using a variety of Web 2.0 tools throughout most of the exercises with the 23 Things. This Thing just shows us that what we've been looking at is the tip of the proverbial iceberg. There are many, many tools available for a variety of different purposes. And there are tools that list the tools, compare them, and rate them. For instance, one can visit http://www.seomoz.org/web2.0 and explore Web 2.0 tools for a variety of topics. They rate the tools on usability, usefulness, social aspects, interface & design, and content quality. These sites can be useful not just for the ratings, but also if you are not aware of the availability of tools in a particular topic of interest. Just choose the topic, and find a list of tools ready and waiting to be tried. Try a few, and see what you like. With everything that's out there, it's amazing that anyone these days finds time to do anything off the computer :)
TLC 2-0 document from template
Hi all,
First, many thanks to the person who wrote in the comment on my previous post. I found the Remote icon in Zoho Show, so this can be used for remote audiences in doing a webinar as the commenter indicated. This is a very useful tool indeed. Librarians (and others) can easily share knowledge on specialized subjects with other librarians and other interested people. I see this as a way to improve library outreach and also distance education.
Also, this is a document I created using Zoho Writer using one of the templates.
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Thursday, December 27, 2007
Thing # 18 - Web based applications (online productivity tools)
This time I am writing about the exercise on web based applications (online productivity tools). I looked at Zoho Writer, Zoho Show, Google Docs (word processor and presentation module) and I used them to make brief documents. They were very easy to use, and I was impressed with the versatility of the programs given that they are for free. I think that this is great for group projects such as cooperative projects among librarians from different libraries across the country. It is also good for one person's projects in that one can access it from any computer with Internet access. It is also great for students because it is an easy way to learn how to use such tools and they produce very good looking results. The show is especially useful if one needs to take a presentation on the road for an outreach program because the computer one uses for thel presentation does not need to have proprietary software, just an Internet conneciton. It may also be possible to do a presentation remotely over the internet with several participants with Google Docs, but I'm not yet sure how this works. It may also be possible with Zoho, but I didn't notice a special window. I can see a great potential for this for remote training of librarians online.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Thing # 17 - Wikis - Practice
This was an interesting item. I completed the assignment and have, in addition, created a page in the BCL wiki. The link to that page is http://bcltlc.pbwiki.com/moonrocker's+page. I created this page because, as you know if you read my first blog entry, I am a patent and trademark depository librarian. What that means is that part of what I do is to guide people in doing their own patent searches. One of the handouts I produced for such a task is a set of procedures for doing a patent search at the US Patent and Trademark Office website. So, I wanted to see whether I could post this information on the wiki, with the links. And, the answer is yes! So, if you click on the above link, you can get to the page and you can follow the instructions and click on the links and by the time you get to the end of the page you would have completed a patent search. All you need to start with are the key words that you have come up with to describe your invention and its aspects, such as what it is, what it does, etc.
This is just one handout. Imagine having all handouts produced this way. If steps change they can easily and immediately be updated from any computer anywhere where an Internet connection is available. This can be a powerful tool for librarians indeed.
Thing # 16 - Wikis
Moving right along, I worked on Thing #16, which is on Wikis. This is the exploration Thing; Thing #17 has some hands on practice. I completed both #16 and #17, and here I'm writing about #16. I think that wikis have a good potential in libraries for providing content that can be updated quickly by knowledgeable individuals. This is an important point, since some information is only useful if it is current and accurate. The wiki makes this easy to do because the work is not dependent on any one individual. The sample wikis we visited in this exercise showed just how versatile a tool this can be.
There's more to discuss, but I'll continue the discussion with the next blog entry, as I will talk about my addition to the Broward County Library's bcltlc wiki, a wiki set up especially for this educational project.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Thing # 15 - Rollyo
This seems like it would be a very useful thing for librarians, and I found some searchrolls created by some impressive people in the sciences, i.e., Russel Schweickart (a former Apollo astronout) titled Near Earth Objects, and Brian Greene (a prominent physicist) on String Theory. So, I decided to do two, one on the Apollo program websites that I found when I was putting together a program for the public, called Space Exploration, and the other on Intellectual Property websites that are useful regarding patents, trademarks, and copyrights, called Intellectual Property. Since you can only put the primary domain name down, it's not possible to put down more specific webpages, which would be nice given that government agency webpages have a lot of information, so, provided one uses good search terms, it can be very useful to eliminate a lot of the false hits one might get from searching the Internet at large.
You can look at my searchroll by clicking on the following link http://rollyo.com/search.html?q=Try+it+out...&sid=334165&x=10&y=10. Remember, I've created two, Intellectual Property and Space Exploration.
Thing # 14 - Library Thing
OK. I'm up to thing #14. Library Thing is a very interesting site. I've selected some books that interest me because they deal with the mind. I've always found the mind to be a very fascinating subject, and given my undergraduate training in chemistry and physics, I find scientific studies interesting, but I like to supplement those with writers who see things from more of a sociological perspective, but still scholarly. This provides a more rounded analysis. Below are covers for the titles. You can click on any one of them to get the bibliographic information from Amazon.com.
Thing # 13 - Online image generators
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Thing #12 - Discussion of "Away from the 'icebergs'"
So, let's see how this applies to public libraries. Public libraries, and in particular large public library systems, generally use both "just in case" and "just in time" strategies. And they have been doing so for a very long time. Smaller branches generally stock materials that are used frequently and that they need for immediate customer service. This would be their "just in case" collection. They depend on regional libraries or on a main library for less frequently used materials. This would be "just in time." Likewise, the regionals will also have a split strategy system, with balance between the two shifting in favor of the "just in case" approach. The main library's strategy would be even more shifted toward the "just in case" approach. In a situation like this there are three tiers with varying positions along the "just in time" - "just in case"continuum. Interlibrary loan (ILL) contributes to this as well, since there is a large number of participating libraries in the pool, which increases the likelyhood that an item might be found for a customer. But there is no guarantee, as collection development practices are an individual choices based on local use and not decided in consultation with other library systems nor based on potential need elsewhere. With the Internet, opportunities open up to decrease the "just in case" burden, true, but it is important to note that it is not possible to guarantee availability. Database providers may drop a particular product, or they may go out of business, or may increase prices to a level where subscription costs become prohibitive. Free access databases may suddenly and without notice become fee-based, and, therefore inaccessible. So, when considering "just in case" vs. "just in time," it is important to recognize that the only way to guarantee that something will be available to a library's customers is to have it "just in case." Of course, it is not possible to have this philosophy for everything, so choosing where to stand on the "just in time" - "just in case" continuum will need to be a carefully evaluated decision.
Another "iceberg" he mentions is the reliance on user education. Again, for public libraries there are constraints. Databases are chosen based on ease of use, content, and cost. Another factor is availability for remote access so customers can use them from home. Public libraries offer classes in the use of the computer and databases and provide reference assistance to customers when they come in. Reference librarians at public libraries have gotten very good at knowing how to give quick training to a customer on the use of a database, and are available should the customer need assistance during his/her session. Public libraries have never relied on user education, and so they have, therefore, found ways to adapt to the varying levels of user education among customers. Mr. Anderson states "But if our services can’t be used without training, then it’s the services that need to be fixed—not our patrons." Perhaps this might be an option for academic libraries, where the average customer is literate and has generally good computer skills, such that most services are easy to figure out, but this cannot be taken for granted in public libraries. Most public library customers would rather be told how to use a database and get the information as opposed to the alternative of not having it available because training is necessary. Training customers in a public library is par for the course, another reason why staffing with knowledgeable personnel during all open hours is so important. Eliminating this would be very detremental to public service, and choosing not to subscribe to a database based on the skill levels of customers is unreasonable. First of all, which customers does one consider in making such a determination? The technologically savvy ones or the ones that have no computer experience whatever? There is simply too much variation in customer knowledge and ability that makes considering such a concept sheer nonsense for a public library. A standard of providing quality customer service needs to be the guide, and ease of use is certainly a factor, but so is access to the information.
The third "iceberg" he mentions is the "come to us" model of library service. True that with the Internet more people feel that they can find what they need, and so they may not come to the library. But increasingly I am finding that, particularly when it comes to customers needing difficult to find information, that customers recognize that they need the librarians to help them find the needle in the haystack. He says that libraries need to become aware and acknowledge the changes that are ocurring in the marketplace they serve, and find ways to adapt to them. This is very true. However, academic libraries and public libraries serve fundamentally different marketplaces to begin with, and the increase of the availability and ease of use of technology and the Internet does not make these marketplaces any similar to eachother. Mr. Anderson writes from the point of view of an academic library. In fact, for public libraries the challenge is quite different, and relative to its own prior customer use pattern the public library is increasingly being pulled in several opposing directions of customer need. Public libraries serve customers that run the gammut from functionally illiterate to the highly educated litterati. Likewise relating to technology and computers public libraries serve customers that run the gammut from those who cannot type or use a mouse to those who are practically computer programmers. Public libraries also have customers ranging in age from infants to people in their 90s. Each of these people approach the library with his/her own library need, and good customer service dictates that we strive to satisfy each as best we can with the resources we have. Academic libraries have a considerably more homogeneous customer base in their knowledge, skills, approach, and purpose for using the library than public libraries do, and technology has just made the customer base for public libraries even less homogeneous in those areas still. Public libraries also have different funding issues than do academic libraries or businesses. A successful business can take a percentage of profit and funnel it back into expanding the company. An academic institution can increase fees as its standing and prestige among universities increases. Therefore to a large degree in business and a certain degree with academic institutions good quality product or service can translate into improved financial support for the institution. This is not the case for public libraries. No matter how good quality is a public library in terms such as quality of customer service or availability of materials, this quality does not translate into increased funding, nor can it keep the budget cuts from hitting when they are implemented. Good quality service is certainly something to strive for and to be proud of, and it will increase the good will of the customers, who will hopefully use the library more, but it cannot be counted on to induce an increase in financial support in any significant way. Because of all these fundamental differences between the situations of public and academic libraries, it would therefore be a mistake to assume that the three "icebergs" that he discusses hold the same level of validity for public libraries as they do for academic ones. Therefore, the corresponding action in which they are handled cannot be undertaken by public libraries without further analysis that specifically applies to public libraries.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Thing # 11 - Tagging a blog entry
This time the task is to write a blog entry about a hobby and then tag it. Well, one of my hobbies is art. I've always enjoyed drawing, and have worked primarily with graphite, although I've recently started with color pencils and watercolor pencils which I enjoy greatly. Initially, my graphite technique was to use very soft pencils. At the time, a very long time ago, I was not familiar with the large ranges of hard and soft pencils. I taught myself by doing, and I liked soft pencils because I could then use my fingers to get the shadings by smearing the graphite I had just put on the paper. This was a very intuitive way to work with graphite, and I could get good results quickly and easily. Much later I visited art stores on a regular basis and became familiar with various kinds of pencils. I bought my first set of full range graphite pencils (9H - 9B) only several years ago, and began working with them. At first, as can be expected, I favored the softer pencils. The B set (B - 9B) are the softer ones and the H set (H - 9H) are the harder ones. Then there is also HB and F, which fall in between. Using the softer pencils at first allowed me to transition from the method I was used to of using one very soft pencil with the smearing technique to produce the complete picture to using several softer pencils as a limited grayscale palette, while still relying on the smearing technique for blending and getting lighter grayscale shades. Eventually, I got used to the feel of changing pencils and of looking for the pencil that most accurately could replicate the shade I needed, and I could then broaden my selected pencils to include the harder ones on the palette to produce the lighter shades and to get crisper edges for lines. Practice, as they say, makes perfect, and my transitioning to a full palette including all graphite grayscale shades was complete.
Bye for now.
Thing 10 - del.icio.us
Today I looked at del.icio.us. It seems to be a very convenient way to have your Internet favorites even when you aren't using your own computer. It is particularly great for people who don't have Internet access at home, and use their local library's Internet access computers instead. It is important to tag each item because if you have a lot of favorites you can find the one you want to use more easily when you need it. It is also very easy to use.
Bye for now.