Week 9 Wiki's

I have been using wikipedia for quite a while and how always found it useful especially when working out anatomical terminology and stuctures for my literature searches. I had look at some of the library wikis and really like what's been done. It's a great way to display current and relevant information and websites to library patrons. especially things like new books and staff favourites. I also like the links to community information and events. The USCA Library’s wiki is quite good. http://library.usca.edu/index.php/Main/HomePage
It demonstrates good use of wiki for a library service and I can definitely see the benefits for our library service. It has everything that a patron would need including library information, how to search for articles and books, library service descriptions and links to forms and websites etc. It's also great not having to know html to create the wiki. The only drawback is of course maintenance but I suppose that would be the same for most web resources such as keeping links up-to-date, adding new links and also checking edits.

Week 8 Social Bookmarking

had a look around delicious. Wasn't on my normal PC so didn't import my favourites. So I started to search around for a few and added them to my account. why oh why do we have to have so many accounts? I don't like this site half as much as I liked iGoogle. perhaps if i had 100s of websites that I used a lot it would be more useful. I only have a few at work that I use constantly. Had a look at people's comments about various websites. Could be useful for those sites that are not worth the time to check out. in terms of research assistance, I suppose it could be useful if researchers used a lot of websites contantly and also travelled a fair bit and needed to access those sites.

Week 7 iGoogle

I love this product. What a great way to have all your favourite sites and services together on the one page. Had fun personalizing my page. I like the fact that you can personalize each tab to a different theme. I created a music tab with graffiti art as the theme and then added some of my favourite music sites. I also rearranged the sites on my home tab and included those outlined in the activities including the unshelved gadget for the library comic strip.
This definitely a site I will use again

Week 6 Google Tools

Have just created my first google doc. Uploaded a song I wrote from my PC. It's in Spanish and I was very pleased to see that I culd do a spell check in Spanish! something i couldn't do on Word. Would be handy feature for files created at work or home where you have different versions of programs and sharing docs or spreadsheets without having to carry around a memory stick too.

Google Maps - have used these a number of times to check out addresses and even looked at my house and street a few months ago. Another thing I like about google maps is when you get the red markers indicating where places are on the map, as it did when looking for a brunswick hotel. I have used this feature when looking for real estate.

Google Books - looked up a few of my favourite egyptian books and a few other topics. Found it useful to get not only the book information but which libraries I could borrow from. Looks like a great feature to have for people who want to find out some information about a book before buying or borrowing.

I can't think of a more global word than google at the moment. I have a few overseas friends who when we talk about information we always mention finding it on google even when not speaking in english, so maybe it is like MS but without the pricetags.

Week 5 Myspace and Facebook

Can't believe time has flown so quickly. Have been away from work for a month and have a lot of catching up to do. I had looked at week 5 topics before going on leave but had forgotten to comment.

I have had a facebook page for about a year now and have found it a great way of finding old friends and new ones and keeping up with what everyone is doing. It's also been great using the chat service via facebbok when some of my friends are online.

Myspace is great for music. I haven't created an account but have been on my friends one and have looked at his music videos and other music pages.

I think facebook and myspace are fantastic as social websites and in terms of libraries it is great for those with teenage and young adult audiences. However I haven't really come up with how they could be used for a health library.

Until next time