Del.icio.us

This is a neat feature of 2.0. I can see great use for this for all internet computer users at the library. All their bookmarks from home can be easily pulled up through del.icio.us. I was amazed at all the other websites I found by clicking on the tab food. Quite a variety of sites but I can see how you could learn quite a bit from others by checking out why they used the same tag. My first idea for this was the children's library to bookmark websites for BVSD curriculum so that teachers and parents alike could assist the children in learning the material. Then I thought about teens and how they love to share information and it would be cool to see how many tags they would come up for anime or manga or teen depression. I think this would be both a research tool and an easy way to organize bookmarks.

Librarything

What a wonderful way to keep track of books read and catalog them at the same time. This is one I will share with my girls. Especially over the summer when they read quite a bit and later need a book on historical fiction they can go back and see what they've read in that genre. I will use it to share with others who share the love of some of my favorites and perhaps get new suggestions from their lists. It was simple to set up and easy to add tags after the books were added. I added tags the first time but couldn't quite see the save tags button then later realized there was a button there. It was simple to go back and add tags to my first several additions. Can't wait to get back to librarything and add more.

For patrons it will be a way to keep track of what they've read without the fear of the patriot act. Well maybe not without fear. I suppose anything you keep records on can be accessed at some point. But it will put readers in touch with others and allow them to virtually at least learn more about other books of a similar subject. May be more user friendly than going through the databases to get that information.

Overdrive

As an ipod user overdrive is wholly disappointing. I read their "hope for a future arrangement" but I'm skeptical. When I first heard the library carried downloadable books and music I was thrilled then when I realized none of the music applies to me I was bummed. I read the tutorial and think it is easy to use. However, whenI did searches on audio books that I've recently checked out at the library only one of six was found in overdrive. I put in lots of teen titles (since I have 2 teenagers) and one of 8 was located. In the youth area there were some classics but not much recent material. Even the one series they had only the early 2 books not the third and that one came out 2 years ago. Quite surprising.

I wonder if the overdrive is used often? and if so by patrons in what age category?

I can see it being of value to some people but not me.

Google Docs

This was the most simple thing I've done so far. I can see patrons using this extensively for themselves and study or reading groups using it at the library. It would be so easy to collaborate with someone far away on a presentation or spreadsheet that was going to a supervisor in yet a different location. I guess I see more work related uses.

If Heather assigned me a topic to train others on I could see the use of the presentation option and then collaborate with my coworkers to make sure I've included every point on the subject. It would be especially useful among circ staff since we are hardly ever together.

You Tube experience

Maybe it was the rain, snow, sleet and hail that occurred today at my home but I was in the mood for a beach video. So I found one on Hawaii at a beach that my family was on last summer. It was amazing to see how clear the video was and also how quickly I was able to recognize points of interest. I have not windsurfed myself but this video sorely tempted me.

In terms of use in the library I could see a video of using the self check out machine. Using the catalog to search for a particular item. Seniors might find these useful if we had machines that were set up with short youtube videos of interest say before/after training classes or on weekends.

Podcasts

Finally a term I've experiences previously. My family are HUGE Harry Potter book fans. We have mugglenet bookmarked at home and when they started doing podcasts we started listening. My partner and I also listen to manic mommies. Had fun searching the list of podcasts and ended up subcribing to a few of them - one on student financial aid (almost time to do the college searching for me and my oldest) and another on rollar coaster fanatics. It was simple to add a podcast to my bloglines account. I'll save the treat of listening in when I'm at home.

RSS is superb

By far, I love the RSS feature. I added all the newspapers and radio newsfeeds and a few ad hoc addresses to my blogsline account. Makes it so easy to keep up. I would think this would be an easily transferable feature for libraries. They could look up topics they wanted to stay on top of and have the information come to them. I will use this feature at home daily. And I want to show my kids how to use it so they too can keep up with the latest on areas that are of interest to them. Excellent tool!!!