Week 9 #22

OverDrive has alot to offer. Much of the value lies in being able to access new materials. I looked up a current bestseller, The Almost Moon, by Alice Seibold, which is available on OverDrive. Not the case in the other 2 sites, Librivox and Wowio. OverDrive is also a source for videos - I looked John Wayne up and found 3 titles available.

I did find Librivox's premise interesting, where volunteers record books in the public domain. Wowio is interesting, too, and can appeal to different audiences (offers comic books in ebook form, for instance.)

Week 9 #21

I looked at a couple of the podcast directories and chose "libVibe". I would have liked more of a description on the page of what this podcast site was about - I wasn't sure at first if it was a local thing or national in scope. I did listen to a session on it about a patron's complaint about porn being viewed by another patron in the library and the director's response and found the report interesting. I saved the rss feed to my bloglines account.

Personally, I prefer to read news, so would not be real likely to use this particular podcast site often, but can again see the value of podcasts, especially if you find a podcast site of real interest and want to keep up with it. It is so handy to be able to save such a site on bloglines!

Week 9 #20

I couldn't resist watching the librarian video from 1946. What a hoot! It was interesting to note how things in the field have remained the same (reference questions, customer service, etc.,) yet have also changed (with technology, etc.)

My comments on the YouTube site - I can see the value because of the vast assortment of topics, many of them informative and informational. Obviously, these sort of videos could be of assistance/interest to patrons if added to library websites, or even original library-created videos that provide instructions for sources, databases, etc.

However, just a quick glance of the viewing options (for instance most viewed) told me this site has much questionable or even possibly x rated material, so it is definitely something to be wary of. I wasn't even sure if I could trust the categories as being "safe" as to content.

Week 8 #19

Success! As you can see below, I was able to post my document from Zoho. The site overall looks very handy and I found it easy to follow. I also used the "share" option via email. Wow!!

zohotest

Boy, have I been out of the loop!  I never realized services like this existed!  Maybe this is something we can suggest to patrons who don't like to keep up with a disc but want to continue working on their documents at the library.

Week 8 #18

In spite of hearing constantly about My Space and Facebook, up until now, I never took the time to take a look at them. Interesting! I also took a look at 360.yahoo, linkedin, and being a dog lover, dogster.

I can certainly understand the attraction these networks have, especially with those people keeping up with "friends" or looking for new ones. I can see potential with linkedin as far as perhaps being able to dig up a former business reference or contact or trying to find a former classmate. And I guess, being able to find out "inside" information about job openings. I was surprised to see company pages already set up for places like Dell and Pfizer.

As much as I love my dog, I just can't see taking the time to register her on dogster, much less read other entries.

Week 7 #17

Technology is amazing, wonderful, and scary. It has become an integral part of our lives. I remember many years ago, my techie father talking about how people would have home computers and I thought, "Why in the world would I want a computer in my home?" Little did I foresee our computerized world.

Cellphones, digital camerias, the internet - all so common today and there is more to come. We must learn about emerging technology or we will be left behind, both as libraries and individuals.
For those of us not born in the computer age, learning new technology can be intimidating but oh, so rewarding!