Click! Fun with Flickr (Part I)

Flickr is an awesomely cool photo sharing site that tons of libraries are using to promote and celebrate themselves.  The website allows users to upload their photos and then organize and tag them for others to see.  Links to Flickr photos can then be imbedded into library websites and blogs, making it easier than ever [...]

Success Stories (or: Lifehacker saves the day)

One of the roadblocks I’ve seen keeping librarians from jumping headlong into 2.0 is the concern “How does this help me answer reference questions?”  Recently I had two interactions with patrons that I feel are worth mentioning here, as they emphasize why I think keeping abreast of 2.0 sites is so important.
The first story involved [...]

Putting the Books in Library 2.0 (Part II)

In the last post, I talked about how LibraryThing works; today, I’d like to talk about how LibraryThing can work for libraries in the following ways:

Reader’s advisory
Networking with other libraries
Introducing tagging and 2.0 to patrons

1.  Readers’s Advisory
I think the most obvious application of LibraryThing for librarians is during reader’s advisory sessions.   I thought reader’s advisory was going [...]

Putting the Books in Library 2.0 with Library Thing (Part I)

Although I’ve been an avid reader all my life, I didn’t become a librarian out of a love of books; this a good thing because I find my job as a public librarian really doesn’t seem to involve books that much.  I spend most of my time with computers, which is what makes 2.0 so much [...]

Mmmmm…. Tagging and Social Bookmarking (Part II)

Tagging and social bookmarking are taking libraryland by storm because there are so many ways these tools can be used by librarians to offer better service to their patrons.
Although there is a bit of controversy about using tagging in library catalogs — authority files exist for a reason, you know — the potential exists for using tagging to [...]

Mmmmm…. Tagging and Social Bookmarking (Part I)

Part of the CJRLC Tech Challenge is to explore the site del.icio.us, which is a tool that essentially allows users to bookmark and catalog sites on a web-based platform.  Sounds pretty dull, huh?  Well, there are two 2.0 elements that make del.icio.us a sneaky cool service.
 The first is tagging.  When someone decides to bookmark a site [...]

The Wondrous, Wondrous World of RSS: Part II

In my last post I discussed how RSS feeds are used to subscribe to the content of websites.  How can libraries use RSS feeds to better serve their customers?
 Since becoming an RSS convert last summer, I have found myself getting increasingly annoyed at sites that do not offer RSS feeds.  At this point, it’s simply [...]

The Wondrous, Wondrous World of RSS: Part I

Once upon a time, about a year and a half ago, I read something about RSS feeds but balked at installing something new on my desktop.  I then forgot all about it, and happily went about my way on the Internet, visiting all my favorite sites everyday, hoping there would be new content.  Everything seemed [...]