On Google Docs

Google Docs could be very useful for us at Liverpool

Rates of computer ownership in Liverpool are quite low. Families that do own computers often lack access to important peripherals like printers. They come to us to help them.

Unfortunately, we have had two major virus issues in the past year. The second occasion seemed to be a deliberate attack. It seems the virus was spread via a USB memory stick. These attacks left the community without Internet access for long periods of time.

These attacks forced us to decide that customers couldn't use disks or memory sticks in any of out networked computers. Our customers of course wonder how they can possibly work on their documents. Google Docs could be the answer.

I will certainly suggest that our customers use Google Docs as it solves several of our major problems:

Universal access from any computer
Not subject to the fragility and fallibility of floppy disks
Can't be lost or left behind like USB's
Shouldn't be responsible for spreading viruses
And most importantly... allows to users to work on documents over a period of time

I suspect it may also help with a problem we have experienced. Our customers have more up-to-date software than we do. Many of our customers are using later versions of Word than we are. We could use Google Docs to help them rather than having to send them away to re-save their documents.

On Mashups

If there was ever something which was going to make me go OHHHH it was the concept of a mash up. I'm sure we've all used applications where we've thought 'if only I could do xyz' with this product.
I'm not sure how we would use mash-ups. Perhaps as an information tool. The few mash-ups I have played with present information in 'a nice' way. In fact I chose the map of the world below because it demonstrates this quite well.
For example - say we wanted to create a map of the countries our customers come from. This could be a 'nice' addition to our website. Creating a mash-up would be an easy way to accomplish this.
On the advice of my techie husband I had a play with Popfly which is a Microsoft product (as a sometimes contractor for Microsoft he's a bit of a Microsoft pusher) to create mash-ups. I have to say it was lots of fun. I think I need a lot more practice and maybe some more time to view the tutorials again!

Where I've been

http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/map.php

On Podcasting

My husband is dedicated podcast listener. He travels by train to work. So he's a bit of a captive audience. I'm not sure I really get it. I like to listen to the radio and when I get sick of that I borrow a book on CD to listen to.
I don't understand why anyone would want to listen to or watch amateur programming. I think of the money spent to produce professional radio and wonder how anyone could do any better. I like the idea of anyone being able to produce material. But I'm not sure I want to personally listen to it.
We have discussed recording some nursery rhymes for our customers. We have a large multicultural community who come from all areas of the world. Sometimes mothers ask us to write down the words for our Storytime rhymes as their children want to hear them at home. We were going to add them to our website and make them available for download. Unfortunately, we have been unable to record with any clarity of sound.
It has been interesting to listen to other libraries podcasts - I'm just not convinced that we need to make our own.
It's kind of funny actually. Now my husband is over podcasts and has started to listen to books. Of course he downloads them off the Net. Not for him the the daggy low tech approach of borrowing some tapes or CD's from the library!

Customer rating and reviewing

We are constantly asking our customers to rate us. We have a 'Tell us wht you think form' at our library. We ask the customer to complain, comment or compliment. Thankfully, we get more comments and compliments than complaints!
Our library system also allows customers to rate and review library material. I expect this to increase in usage as home computer ownership increases in our city. We have to limit customers time on our computers. Until this proves to be unecessary I think customer-added content will be sparse.
I hope we never have to rely on our customers feedback for funding. But golly some of the things they have said have really assisted us in getting what we want including a youth space.

On Answer Boards

I think it cool that there are librarians out there who want to answer peoples online questions. Thats not what I'm about though - and I expect a lot of my colleagues would agree.
I'm not currently standing at a desk solely to answer questions. I'm here to teach people how to find answers themselves. I'm here to teach some of what I know to our customers. It's like that fish thing... You know teach a person to fish blah, blah, blah.
Sure a librarian is uniquely placed to answer questions well. Let's face it we're the only ones who understand Dewey! We're one of the few groups who really understand the shortcoming of the Internet and usually have better search skills than the average person.
What makes us different is what we can teach others:
Don't trust the Net; look at indexes; read blurbs and the toilets on the bottom floor of the library! Yep, knowledge is power.

On Library Thing

Heaps of fun!!!
I had a great time adding some of the books I have read recently. The searching was easy and adding more simple than I expected.
I can see this being used by our Book Chat groups - and possibly being used to start new less formal groups based upon common interests.
We've been thinking about starting a new type of reading group who will all read the same ebook. This will hopefully take some of the pressure of us to provide many copies of the same text. Library Thing made me think - why did all of the people have to have read the book in the recent past? Could the group be more about varied reading experiences?

On Technorati

I used Technorati to look for blogs earlier in the program. I was impressed with the ease of use.
No longer.
What a hassle it was to claim my blog! Firstly, I couldn't find any instructions on how to do it! The help area was all but useless - filled with other clueless people just like me who had trouble actually doing the claiming - only I wasn't even up to that yet. I finally found the instructions. They seemed straight forward (isn't it always the way with things that subsequently make you want to tear your hair out)Unfortunately I first claimed a blog about car hire in Bali. Now I'm not picky - but that's not even close to clad22's blog about Library 2.0. Next I claimed an in depth IT blog. I was beginning to picture angry bloggers coming to my door to beat me up for plagurising their work.
Anyway, third time was the lucky charm - but my goodness what a hassle.