Excercise 11, Library 2.0

My local library could do with a bit more in the way of 2.0 technology. Apart from online catalogues, self-checkout and computer facilities Five Dock Library is still stuck in the 1990s.

Where is the free wi-fi for patrons? More M-Library services? It would also be nice to receive e-newsletters from my library about upcoming events and releases.

I had a very nice (virtual) stroll through the New York Public Library.

NYPL offer an app - an app! - for their patrons. You can manage your account, reserve titles etc, all via the app on your smart phone. I love this. Check it out here:  http://www.nypl.org/mobile-help

They also offer an RSS feed which updates patrons regularly on news and releases: http://www.nypl.org/help/rss-feeds

You can follow NYPL on Twitter, Facebook and blog. There is a great sense of community through using this social media. Patrons can talk to each other and the librarians.

Through the NYPL community outreach program - also online - the underserved, less mobile and special needs members of the community can have a rich library and community experience. http://www.nypl.org/help/community-outreach. It provides information and help to nursing home residents, the homeless, people who are 50+, incarcerated New York residents and immigrants. Its an amazing service.

The site is also tailored to suit each demographic. You simply choose your demographic from a drop-down menu and the site tailors itself to the individual's needs:

When I chose 'child', i was navigated to a child-friendly page with upcoming events and information, and easy to follow instructions on how to use the website, the library itself and the catalogue.
http://www.nypl.org/help/getting-oriented/resources-kids

Next I chose 'teen',  and was taken to a Resources for Teens page with loads of information pertinent to that demographic.

Finding local studies proved to be a bit trickier, but by searching in nypl.org I found some good stuff: http://www.nypl.org/search/apachesolr_search/local

The 'explore' tab made going through the NYPL's adult fiction and reference shelves from home very easy. I could choose my preferred format, could download e-books straight from the website, and browse new releases.

Come on Five Dock Library, lets get some of these fabulous resources already!

Excercise 17 - Bye bye!

Excercise 16 - Comment on your teacher's blog

On October 7 I posted the following comment to Gary's Current Awareness post.

"I really like the robot/ABDS system. I dont think it takes away at all from the browsing-actual-shelves experience, as there is a feature built into the catalogue just for that (the 'browse shelf' feature under every title searched. All new and popular books will still be physically on the shelf for us to browse. It will just be the back catalogue that uses the ABDS system. I think the robot will benefit library users and librarians alike. If there was a blackout - well, that would pose some problems. But I think the pluses far outweigh any minuses.

- Jane"

Excercise 15 - Commenting on other blogs

I chose to read and comment on Meredith Laylim's blog as well as Jen Brock's.



I commented on Meredith's Layout post as follows:


"I have a lovely image in my head of you sitting there, staring at your computer screen, watching the fish swim about. 

End of term Therapy?

I found that changing the layout was rather tricky - writing on the margins was 'bleeding' into the main body. You sound like a pro ;)"

I also commented on her post about her local library services. 

"Meredith, this is such a thorough look at your library, job well done! I love that there is a book club that anyone can join, and that music can be downloaded free and transferred to iPods."

I then chose a couple of posts to comment on from Lucy Goldston's posts. Firstly, her post on social networking:


"Its funny you mention that Facebook page "I bet I can find...". I noticed it a while back and was also sad that it had reached a small number.

I also agree with you about Facebook being a time vacuum. But it is an insomniac's best friend ;)

Jane Fafeita"


I enjoyed reading her post on Library 2.0:


Lucy, you have explained 2.0 so well, so succinctly that it makes me want to go back and redo mine.

Jane

Excercise 14 Inviting co-authors

I got a bit carried away inviting classmates to be co-authors - I now have

Meredith
Lucy
Jen Brock
Yvonne
Kiymet
Deva

Excercise 13 - changing blog arrangement

I played around with the layout and ended up going back to my original choice - a nice wide blog space with a right-hand-side menu panel.

As far as fonts go, I decided to change to 'copse' as it has a lovely old school typewriter feel.

Excerise 12 - changing colours

I searched and searched through the colour schemes and themes when I first established my blog.

For the aim of the excercise I changed it again but I will revert back to my original one methinks.

I kinda wish there was more to choose from...

Excercise 10 - Library 2.0

I ventured online to check out my local library's 2.0 facilities and found very little.

This was surprising as the library itself appears state of the art and modern, and is always full of locals hunched over in the research and study section.

Maybe I'm not surfing the site properly, I thought. Nope, still nothing except access to their catalogue once I'd keyed my membership in.

So I paid the library a visit. Asked the very lovely librarian what e-resources they had. She looked at me a little blankly and said - "well, we have the catalogue".

"What about, say, resources for the community, for teenagers, local studies etc?" She shook her head and again pointed to the catalogue computers standing three in a row.

Miffed, I went home and thought "how do I write a blog post about nada?"

Later that week when I took my children, Sam & Aurora, to exchange their library books, I happened to notice some dusty leaflets on the counter. Lo and behold - e-resources! Library 2.0. er, stuff!

I pocketed them and went home to tackle my 2.0 blog post, wondering why on earth this information wasn't offered easily.

The brochures provided the following information:

Online information for school students:

Really just instructions on how to - you guessed it - how to use their library catalogue to find different subjects. There are vague references by way of icons to World Book Online for Kids, Britannica Online and World Book Digital Libraries and thats about it.

Another leaflet is aimed at adults and older students, and is a list of free online databases on a variety of subjects. Now this was more like it! They sites are listed below:

Greenfile - environmental

Aust/NZ Reference Centre - antipodean newspaper articles

MasterFILE Premier: Covers virtually every subject of general interest, updated daily.

Aust/NZ Points of View Reference Centre - hundreds of essays that present multiple sides of a current issue. Yowza!

Consumer Health Complete - evidence-based health news and reports.

Good Reading Online and Novelist Plus - a guide to helping readers choose fiction and non-fiction titles by way of subject or 'read-alikes' (similar to Amazon's buy-alike feature) etc. Fabbo!

Family History Databases - access to ancestory and the NSW Family History Document Services from within the library itself. 

World Book & Britannica Encyclopedias - (when did the spelling of encyclopaedia change?)

The brochure also included instructions on how to access the databases.

Where was this leaflet when i was working on my darn Annotated Bibliography?!

The last leaflet is a guide to Electronic resources for world religions. It contains a link to Facts On File - World Religions Online.

In conclusion - Five Dock Library has quite a substantial Library 2.0 component. But you have to be Agatha Christie to find it.