Social networks

Facebook and its like could be used to wrap up and showcase just about everything that we have covered over the last 12 weeks.

Library serices, service points and specific library groups (like bookclubs etc) could use it to:

• blog about how wonderous we are
• show photos & videos of what we do, what we plan to do, and where and who we are
• create RSS feeds to share new, up-to-date info
• link Wikis etc to relevant areas (like homework/assignment help)
• show our LibraryThing bookshelves for reader advisory
• help others (both our own public and people far away) by using answer boards to solve challenging questions
• have podcasts and vodcasts linked in for even more ways to share information
• create mashups to make it all so very pretty

If of couse Facebook can't show/link to all of these types of things, well it should

Done and cheers

Google Docs and Zoho

Well, this is pretty great - no more attachments to go missing, fail being saved, crash and burn etc. Finaly there is a secure way to share documents with as many or as few as you need

In libraries there are applications for things like online progressive story writing for competitions and writing groups, staff meeting minutes and reports that people can add to as warranted, a fluid Suggestion For Purchase list that can be either restricted to staff &/or be made available to the public...

Actually I really like this last idea - the public could add suggestions and track to see if they were bought and when they have arrived so they can reserve them.....nice possibilities there for a more interactive, customer focussed collection

Sadly the slideshare thingie has been loading for a while now and it seems to be broken. I have had a look around the rest of the site and it's impressive. I guess it could be a type of online PowerPoint presentation?? (I'll check back in with the site later and see if I can load something up to see what it can actually do)

Mashups

Sadly the Star Viewer wasn't working for me today but on the surface it looks like an awesome site - astronomy talks go well in my library and being able to show an interactive site (if it works of course) is a great cross promotion that will appeal to people who like to explore

I thought that my Mashup above should refelect the first Flickr exercise I completed and so I have chosen a mosaic of Dubai's 7* hotels

As you can see it's fabulously colourful (to the point of being garish when the pictures are all together like this) but you have to admit it's pretty spectacular

In libraries Mashups can be used to advertise/show branches and services, to show points of interest for local studies (like London: a life in Google Maps) through a tour of the area, they can be a 'get to know the staff of....' exercise (if people are brave enough to have their names and faces out there) and they can be of great use in online newsletters, events advertising etc

Pod casts and audio

This is fun fun fun

It's great to be able to listen to Triple J's podcasts for interviews I missed

In libraries pods and vods and audio has a role in library and collection orientation, in membership and borrower's rights and responsibilities details and more

An idea that is slightly further outside the box (but not strictly original I am sure) is having pod casts of people reading books, magazines etc for people with vision impairment, with due consideration for copyright of course