Week 10 #23

My favorite exercise (most fun) was using online image generators, in particular, Meez.
The exercise that I have personally found the most useful so far is bloglines – being able to efficiently keep up with different websites is a real time saver. There are many other exercises I was really impressed with, such as Flickr, Library Thing, Library Elf, and Zoho.

This program reinforced what I always knew – that you should never stop learning. When library work is your profession, this is especially true. It is so important that we are familiar with coming technology. If we are not expert at it, at least we should be aware of the basics.

I came away with unexpected outcomes – I was really expecting just to learn about things like My Space and You Tube, sites which I really didn’t anticipate using much, if at all. However, I was pleasantly surprised to learn so much more, such as the sites mentioned above, which I think are immensely useful.

As far using these technologies at HCPL, as a reference librarian I can readily see suggesting a source such as Zoho to patrons working on documents on our pcs. Also suggesting sites such as Library Thing, Library Elf, and Flickr. The system is already using Biblioicious and Flickr and there’s an ebranch blog. There’s a possibility we could have more blogs, but monitoring and time can be issues.

What else do I want to learn about? Everything! You don’t know what you don’t know, and just as I was not aware of many of these sites and technologies, I’m sure there are many more out there and many more to come. Bring them on!