Wrap Up



Well I have finally finished.  I must say I have enjoyed the course. I learnt things that I had never heard of e.g. Geocaching. It is important for us to know what is out there and how to use it. Some of the things I may never use again, but it is useful to know what they are. I really like LibraryThing and hopefully will use it.

I would like to thank City of Swan and I would also like to thank Lawley from City of Cockburn for all his help. I don’t think I would have got through the course without his help.  

P.S Thanks to Fred for all his help as well.

Geocaching



I had never heard of Geocahing, but it sounds like fun.  It is like a Treasure Hunt. Geocaching could be used in libraries as a treasure hunt for finding books or as a fun way for new patrons  to find their way around the library. You might also include historic sites around the area.  It sounds like it works well in university libraries. I like the way Notre Dame  University uses Geocaching for first year students to familiarize them with the layout of the university.

At the City of Cockburn Libraries we could start off with an Easter Hunt or Treasure Hunt for the children as a fun way of introducing Geocahing to our patrons.

Podcasting



I think the idea podcasts are great.  They are a great if you are studying as you can listen to your lecture at home on your iPod. If you have missed a lecture or want to listen to an interesting discussion you may have missed you can always download it by subscribing.

Podcasting is something that I think could work well in public libraries. They could promote things e.g. children’s activities such as storytime  and what’s happening in the library. The Cockburn Libraries have just put together their first podcast – a talk on how to begin researching your family history by Mike Murray.  

Online Video

I decided to put a John Lennon video on my blog as this week marks 30 years since he was shot in New York and I really love this song. It is also getting closer to Christmas and I thought the song would get everyone in the Christmas spirit.

I found YouTube very easy to access.  My husband is always on it listening to different songs and artists. There are so many things to view on YouTube.

Libraries can use online videos for marketing and information.  It is a fun way to promote services and activities in the library.  You could always record a “story time” session for people that can’t make it in to the library.

Social Networking

Faceboook

I use Faceboook socially, it is a great way of keeping in touch with friends, especially ones who live in a different state or that I don’t see on a regular basis. Even though I have Facebook I keep it very private, I check what other people are up to and I don’t put regular status updates on mine.  I only add people that I know personally.  Some people put really silly things on their status, which does not really interest me.  I don’t want to know what people did on their day off, that’s their business.

 After viewing What the F***is Social Media NOW I was surprised at how much time people spend on Facebook.  I do think that Facebook in the library is a good way of informing patrons of up-coming events and activities.

Twitter

Well I am officially one of the millions of people who twitter.  My Tweets were probably the most boring ones about as I really didn’t have anything interesting to say.  Until web2.0 I had no idea how to “twitter”, I thought it was something all the celebrities did in their spare time. 

I can see how it can be useful in libraries, keeping patrons up-to-date on what’s happening in the library.  I don’t think it is something that I will continue doing.

Delicious and LibraryThing

Delicious

I wonder  where they got the name from? I found the Delicious site quite hard. I only tagged a few websites. Delicious is a great way to keep all your bookmarks together, but I don't think that I will use it personally, but I can see how it can be handy in a library as you can have all of your most used websites in one place instead of saving them to favourites.

LibraryThing

I really like LibraryThing. I can keep track of what I am reading and what I have read.  LibraryThing is a good social network system.  It is a great way of keeping up-to-date with the latest books. It took me a while to figure out where to get the "widget thing" from and where to put it, but  I finally found it.  LibraryThing is really fast at finding your books and make it easy to search for titles and add them to your list of books. I think LibraryThing is great for library patrons to see what books other people are reading.

Wikis

Wikis are new to me. I find the concept of people being able to add information interesting and clever but how trustworthy is it? 

Is there a use for Wikis in libraries?  Maybe they could be useful for:

• Internal Training
• Updating Procedure Manuals
• Meetings
• Staff Training
• Upcoming events

I know Wikipedia is well known, but how current or accurate is the information?

(P.S Thanks to Lawley for his patience in helping me understand Wikis!!!)