Fun with Image Generators

It was fun playing with the image generators this week. Take a look!

I would love Monopoly if the cards said this:

Me in front of New York Public Library:

OverDrive

This was a great exercise because it helped me to understand what patrons are experiencing when they use this product. Overall, I was really impressed. My computer had difficulty during the actual download process, but other than that, the selection seems great! I checked for some of my favorite authors - Laurie Halse Anderson, Rick Riordan, Kate DiCamillo were all there. Unfortunately, Patricia Polacco was not. I like how I can browse by author, subject, and even series! I also like the different categories - new, children, teen, staff suggestions, etc. I forget that music is available through OverDrive as well, that was a good reminder. It will be even better when the books are compatible with an iPod, I can imagine that use and demand will increase even more.

del.icio.us

I've heard so much about del.icio.us that I am excited to finally try it! I searched for bridal showers, since I am getting ready to host one in June. A variety of sites appeared. The first, Hostess with the Mostess, is great. It has wonderful photos and ideas. I then did the same search using Google. This also provided a variety of sites. Hostess with the Mostess was #4 in the results list. Nothing in this exercise was overly surprising. I appreciated the tags provided in del.icio.us. They all made sense and some were ones I would never think of.

Here's a link to my del.icio.us account: http://del.icio.us/jensullivan. I think this tool could really start to grow on me. It would be good at the reference desk to bookmark sites we use often to answer questions (e.g. OCLC). We have one patron who comes in every afternoon and asks us to open the same websites and then print his ten free pages. This would be one way of tagging his favorites and would help subs who aren't aware of his preferences. Del.icio.us would also be a great resource to share with patrons for personal use. What about offering a class on del.icio.us basics and a chance to play around with it? The possibilities are endless...

Fun with Wikis

I appreciate wikis because they allow users without HTML knowledge to create content on the Internet and collaborate with others to produce informative and accurate websites. The accuracy part of wikis (on sites such as Wikipedia) concerns me most. How do we guarantee the information provided is correct and authoritative? What if it is simply shared ignorance? All that to say, I found all three of the wiki examples interesting, especially Princeton Book Lovers. A wiki is a great format for sharing opinion based info, such as book reviews. It also encourages patrons to interact with librarians through a different venue. A patron may not have time or desire to stop by the library in person, however a wiki could be an ideal way to engage him or her and offer information about library services. One application within the library that I immediately thought of was the process of gathering information to answer reference questions. Our staff works on questions collaboratively, writing notes and paper clipping documents until a sufficient answer is found. It might be fun to track our progress using a wiki.