My favorite part of the course was being able to chat with a small group about the various tools and each other’s own experiences. This really helped me to gain a better understanding of the full features of each tool. Also, generation of ideas from the individuals was great. It definitely aids in your own creation when you see and discuss how others are using something or plan to use something.

For my personal use, I found the photo sharing software to be the most interesting. It was fun to load pictures and tell my friends and relatives to go to this site to see photos, rather than getting “doubles” at the photo-shop and mailing them to Aunt Glenda. :) I also thought the photo sharing tool was interesting professionally, as I had never thought about the different ways in which it could be used. I think using Flickr as a tutorial or conducting a library tour is really neat and an exciting endeavor.

I really liked the idea Chad Boeninger gave for using wikis in a first-year experience setting. I think it would be neat to read the thoughts and ideas of the students. It would give staff and faculty an insight into the mind of freshmen or students in general. The wiki could be maintained by the library and the library staff member or faculty would pose a different question every week or so. The questions might relate to the library, campus technology, work study experiences, or athletics, for example. Other students might start to think that maybe the library isn't such a bad place after all, especially if they are hosting a project such as this. If the wiki focused only on freshmen, older students might not be as interested in reading the wiki entries. But perhaps the library could select a few students that they track throughout their college career. This may be an even better idea for a blog. But I think students could still add new things they had learned about the campus to the wiki, for others to benefit. Also, we recently started a pilot program for instant message reference and although it seems obvious, I didn't think about using common IMed or email reference questions as the basis for a wiki page.

Five Weeks to a Social Library Final Project – Proposal for Implementation

1.  Explore the Library Wikis listed below and write a blog post about the different ways you could use wikis in your library.

Although you try hard to think outside of the box for its many uses, when you implement a new technology, you still get stuck in a rut sometimes.  That's why I thought the presentation by Ohio University was so useful.  I never thought about how a wiki could replace regular html guides or using wikis to help determine collection development needs.  I also really loved the idea of student research wikis and first year experience wikis.  I did have one concern, however, concerning the wiki as a communication tool with library users.  We have a reference departmental wiki and have often considered making it available to the public.  Granted, you do have to be invited as an author to edit our wiki, I know there are some truly "open source" options out there.  I think it would be difficult to manage the content and the authenticity of that content when students are able to edit the library based wiki. 

Write a blog post on your impressions of social bookmarking and how you think it could be used in libraries.

I think social bookmarking is a great idea. Oftentimes, as a new librarian, I will not know where to start in my quest for professional literature and information. That's when it would be helpful to talk with veteran librarians about the types of resources they turn to. Much like a blogroll, social bookmarking allows you see who bookmarked a page similar to the one you did. You are then able to see what other types of resources they have bookmarked; ones you could add to your own list. The only problem I see in all of this is the fact that if we do too much social bookmarking or blogrolling, we run the risk of getting one sided opinions about topics. Or we have nothing new to share with our colleagues because we all belong to the same rss feed or have read all the same web sites and blogs. I know this is highly unlikely due to the enormous amount of information out there, but still it's something to think about. I noticed that there were other librarian type del.icio.us users who had bookmarked the same sources as me.

Write a blog post about your reflections on this activity and whether or not you think an RSS aggregator/newsreader would be a good tool for keeping up with information.

I think that RSS feeds are an excellent way to keep up with information. I often do not have time or simply cannot remember to visit all the websites I am interested in. Or sometimes, I will forget which websites I visited that were useful. I previously had a bloglines account and created a GoogleReader account as well. I believe both are good tools. I like that bloglines allows for you to create your own blog in addition to subscribing to RSS feeds. I did find it rather easy to find and select the feeds I was interested in using GoogleReader.

3. Take a look at some of the blogging tools outlined in this Wikipedia article. If you were to start a blog for your library, which blogging tool would you use and why? Post your thoughts to your blog.

My first choice was TypePad because it is designed for "non-technical" users. This would be very helpful when attempting to implement something technologically "new" into the library. I think staff would be more likely to buy in if they feel confident in their ability to use the tool. It would also be nice if there multiple people are contributing to the blog.

1. Explore a few of the examples below and think about what makes a blog "successful" (e.g.: what makes a blog work?). Post your thoughts & ideas to your blog.

I like the idea of using blogs for departmental or library staff purposes. The organization of the Duck Soup blog is attractive and the categories of users are useful. I think it is sometimes hard for the reader to decipher what is pertinent information when there are daily entries set up much like an online diary. The "categories" feature of many blogs helps this somewhat, as well as the search feature. However, it assumes the reader knows what he or she is searching for. Keeping the site and podcasts simple is also nice. I think there is a point where the information being disseminated is too much or even irrelevant; students may not take the time to sift through it all. And I really like the constant toolbar on the sides in the 3 column model, much like the Madison Jefferson County Public Library. This allows users to keep their senses if they get lost in the sea of blogs.

Hello Everyone.

I am a brand new, temporary Reference Librarian at New Mexico State University. One of my main responsibilities has been to implement a pilot program for an instant message reference service. We have also recently started a departmental wiki. I am looking to gain more knowledge about these and other social software in order to provide the best public service to our patrons.

Melissa (Missy) Van Dusen

Las Cruces, NM