LIBR 246-12: Web 2.0 and Social Networking Tools (Fall 2008)

Greg & Sarah's presentation last Thursday was really interesting and informative.  I really liked listening to Greg's story of how he ended up becoming one of the librarian podcasting pioneer. I always enjoy stories of how people became who they are.  It was also encouraging to know that he found a job after only two months of graduating.  I listened to the recording of some of his episodes and I really enjoyed it.  It's nice to listen to something that actually pertains to our line of work.  I also checked out Twit.tv, that was really cool!  I saw it in the evening and there were people talking about technology and web 2.0 at 10:30 p.m.! I really appreciated his honest discussion on how much work podcasting really entails. I also agree that conversation and content of the show/podcast is very important.  I don't think I would want to listen to one person all the time, a variety of people makes everything more entertaining.  The 3-minute audio he played for the class was also a good example of what can happen to shows, but like he said, it is part of what makes shows interesting.

Sarah's presentation was very insightful.  She illustrated so many ways librarians can reach their customers. We no longer have too many excuses for not taking advantage of web 2.0 technologies to reach more of our customers.  I had no idea that those web based chats with dual screen/co-browsing capabilities are super expensive! Most public libraries have tight budgets.  If those softwares cost a lot of money, then I think IM would work as well.  She made good points about 24/7 services.  If not a lot of people are using it between a certain range of time, then it should be cancelled or closed for that time period.  I think most people would understand that there wouldn't be a librarian available at 2 a.m. in the morning.  Sarah also said that it is good if patrons add their libraries on their buddylist because patrons will always see the library online and think of it as a resource whenever a question comes up.  This is so true.  I still have the libraries I chatted with last week on my buddylist and now they're always on my radar.  Actually, I also have UCSD's Biomedical library as my buddy because they're so good at helping me with health related reference questions I am unfamiliar with.  Library chat buddies are awesome.  I am now thinking of adding more library reference screennames on my buddylist.  It feels good knowing that there's always someone there to help me with my research/library problems.