Thursday, June 14, 2012
Blog Exercise 15– commenting on other blogs
I've commented on Wenjing's and Dantheman's blogs. For Wenjing's I wrote "I like the mouse, its funny." For Dantheman's I wrote "Hi there, I' got to say that your background blew me away, its stunning."
Blog Exercise 13– changing the arrangement of your blog
I have changed the labels around with the contributors due to their respective lengths.
Blog Exercise 12– changing the colour of your blog
I've chaged the title of my blog to dark brown colour, Impact font and size 70. I've also changed the links to dark brown and made them red when they have been visited.
Investigative Exercise 11 Recommendations
For recommendations, the most obvious one I think would be for the library to have its own website. From here it could have its own RSS feed and perhaps other Web 2.0 facilities of its own such as a Facebook page or a Twitter page. This would be primarily for self-marketing. It also encourages interest in the library and its collections and services through the stimulus people get through communicating with eachother and being a part of something. Examples of this are the Ultimo TAFE Library blog at http://sydneyinstituteonline.net/uclibrary/ and the New York Public Library blog at http://www.nypl.org/blog.
Perhaps RSS feeds for Children’s, Teenage/Youth, Adult Fiction and Information/Reference would be in order so that reading and borrowing in these areas is encouraged. Also it would be good to have the blog page, Twitter page, etc interlinked in order to ease access to these tools and thus encourage their use; the Ultimo TAFE Library blog is an example of this.
Perhaps RSS feeds for Children’s, Teenage/Youth, Adult Fiction and Information/Reference would be in order so that reading and borrowing in these areas is encouraged. Also it would be good to have the blog page, Twitter page, etc interlinked in order to ease access to these tools and thus encourage their use; the Ultimo TAFE Library blog is an example of this.
Investigative Exercise 10 Evaluation
The City of Sydney Council Sydney Library comes under this site) makes fairly extensive use of Web 2.0 technologies, yet it is not directly aimed at the groupings mentioned for the exercise. On the bottom of every page in the site is a column called "Follow Us" under which there is listed: Email Newsletters, RSS Feeds, Videos & Podcasts, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, Pinterest and Flickr. These though have little do with library services and are primarily about events held in the city (e.g. Chinese New Year) or initiatives being pushed bu the council (e.g. pedestrianisation of George St). Interestingly although not really related, an RSS feed has been set up for job vacancies.
The library does have a service on its online catalogue where members can write their own reviews for the items therein. Its quite easy to do this as the option is available next to "More detail" and "Reserve" for every item in the catalogue. From here you need your membership number and library pin, and then you are ready to go. The library has two newsletters, one for adults and one for kids (or their parents), though I don't think this is Web 2.0.
The only reason I can imagine for the lack of Web 2.0 technology from the library itself could possibly be due to it not having its own website. But being part of the City of Sydney council website whose focus is on more over-reaching issues at the moment.
The library does have a service on its online catalogue where members can write their own reviews for the items therein. Its quite easy to do this as the option is available next to "More detail" and "Reserve" for every item in the catalogue. From here you need your membership number and library pin, and then you are ready to go. The library has two newsletters, one for adults and one for kids (or their parents), though I don't think this is Web 2.0.
The only reason I can imagine for the lack of Web 2.0 technology from the library itself could possibly be due to it not having its own website. But being part of the City of Sydney council website whose focus is on more over-reaching issues at the moment.
Investigative Exercise 9 Community Profiles
City of Sydney Council
As of 2006 the population of the area is 180,474 with 53.8 percent males and 46.2 percent females. 1.3 percent is indigenous. 41.1 percent is Australian born while 33.5 percent is overseas born. Age groups are: 0-17 years 8.3 percent, 18-64 years 83.5 percent, and 65 years plus is 8.2 years. 23.3 percent came from non-English speaking backgrounds. The top three countries for those born overseas are United Kingdom 5 percent, China 3.4 percent and New Zealand 2.9 percent. Note where percentages do not add up; this information is according to the 2006 Census and sometimes people chose not to answer certain questions. Check here for the full City of Sydney Community Profile http://profile.id.com.au/Default.aspx?id=148 and here for the City of Sydney Library website http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/Library/Default.asp
As of 2006 the population of the area is 180,474 with 53.8 percent males and 46.2 percent females. 1.3 percent is indigenous. 41.1 percent is Australian born while 33.5 percent is overseas born. Age groups are: 0-17 years 8.3 percent, 18-64 years 83.5 percent, and 65 years plus is 8.2 years. 23.3 percent came from non-English speaking backgrounds. The top three countries for those born overseas are United Kingdom 5 percent, China 3.4 percent and New Zealand 2.9 percent. Note where percentages do not add up; this information is according to the 2006 Census and sometimes people chose not to answer certain questions. Check here for the full City of Sydney Community Profile http://profile.id.com.au/Default.aspx?id=148 and here for the City of Sydney Library website http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/Library/Default.asp
Exercise 8 - CURRENT AWARENESS POST
While I share the concerns of many when it comes to the replacement of humans with robots in the library, I believe this innovation will free up library workers to do other taks in the library, such as assisting clients and running workshops or events.
Investigative Exercise 7 Podcats
National Library of Australia
Dr Raymond Choo - My life of in crime
http://www.nla.gov.au/podcasts/talks.html
I've chosen the first podcast on the podcast page for the Australian National Library. Its an interesting overview on cyber crime presented by former Australian National University student Dr Raymond Choo, who is now a senior lecturer in Information Technology at the University of South Australia.
He explains the various methods and motives of cyber crime. The motives range from young people doing it 'because they can', to organised criminals after bank details or other private information, to activists out to make a point. The methods are varied and include the use of fake identities to fool victims into providing information or the use of malware to take control of the victim's computer to acquire their information.
Dr Raymond Choo - My life of in crime
http://www.nla.gov.au/podcasts/talks.html
I've chosen the first podcast on the podcast page for the Australian National Library. Its an interesting overview on cyber crime presented by former Australian National University student Dr Raymond Choo, who is now a senior lecturer in Information Technology at the University of South Australia.
He explains the various methods and motives of cyber crime. The motives range from young people doing it 'because they can', to organised criminals after bank details or other private information, to activists out to make a point. The methods are varied and include the use of fake identities to fool victims into providing information or the use of malware to take control of the victim's computer to acquire their information.
Investigative Exercise 6 Social Bookmarking
I can think of arguements both for and against clients being able to post their own reviews on the library catalogue. The main reason why this is a good thing is that it gives anubody looking in the catalogue a musch better idea of what the book is about and whether it is worth reading or not, thus heightening client satisfaction.
However these reviews, since anybody can post them, have the potential for extreme bias either for or against the book regardless of its quality. Thus a good book may not get borrowed so much due to a bad review. Yet without this function potential borrowers have to look elsewhere for such information as would be provided by client reviews, which many would not necessarily be inclined to do. Therefore I am very much in favour of clients being able to post their own reviews.
Also, the library I regularly use, Sydney City Library, has this function, although its not something I've really noticed until doing this blog. So I'll have to keep it in mind next time I want to borrow something there.
However these reviews, since anybody can post them, have the potential for extreme bias either for or against the book regardless of its quality. Thus a good book may not get borrowed so much due to a bad review. Yet without this function potential borrowers have to look elsewhere for such information as would be provided by client reviews, which many would not necessarily be inclined to do. Therefore I am very much in favour of clients being able to post their own reviews.
Also, the library I regularly use, Sydney City Library, has this function, although its not something I've really noticed until doing this blog. So I'll have to keep it in mind next time I want to borrow something there.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Investigative Exercise 5 Social Networking
I can really see no reason why libraries should not get involved in social networking sites. The majority of young people today regularly use social networking sites - primarily Facebook - and this majority is rapidly growing. And increasingly there are older people up into their sixties involved as well. This is a huge market of people to reach out to; and even if we consider local libraries or school libraries whose focus is only on the local munincipality or even suburb, that still leaves a great many client or potential clients to market to and get the message out. And its interactivity could encourage people to feel that the interests of the library are more closely aligned with their own. Its also a very cost effective way to advertise services.
Perhaps in the cases of small libraries with limited resources it might not be as feasible since doing so might lead to the detriment of other areas of the library, and the benefits would not be as great due to the library's small scale. Overall for the majority of the library industry though social networking sites is the way to go.
Perhaps in the cases of small libraries with limited resources it might not be as feasible since doing so might lead to the detriment of other areas of the library, and the benefits would not be as great due to the library's small scale. Overall for the majority of the library industry though social networking sites is the way to go.
Investigative Exercise 4 Youtube
This video is about a service being run by the British Library called the Business and IP Centre. This service is freely available to everybody but is primarily aimed at entrepreneurs just starting out in business. It is a separate area of the library stocked with detailed information on running a business and is staffed by librarians with in depth knowledge on how to find what the client is looking for.
Investigative Exercise 3 Photo sharing and Flickr
This photo is from the UTS Library photostream in Flickr. Its showing an entry into a competiotion in the library called 'Spinal Type', where clever and amusing sentences are created suing the titles on book spines.http://www.flickr.com/photos/utslibrary/with/6773532552/
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Investigative Exercise 2 Slideshare
The slideshow I have selected from Slideshare is Social Software in Academic Libraries. As is evidenced by the title, it is about the use of Web 2.0 in academic libraries, however it can be viewed in context with all libraries or even to a degree all workplaces. It covers the wide range of uses of Web 2.0 for libraries such as:
- Media sharing.
- Wikis.
- Social networking.
- Social bookmarking.
- Blogs.
- IM.
- Second Life.
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