Thing 17 - EBSCO's Page Composer

I have just played around with EBSCO's Page Composer after doing a search on the history of timekeeping and pieces for a friend. It makes it very easy to share searches and knowledge with others. I emailed her, and am waiting to see if this helps her out in her research needs. *grin*

I was a bit disappointed in that I couldn't get the Search Box to work for just the articles I had selected. I was hoping to be able to search them alone - not all of EBSCO. But this was a very minor drawback for me.

A very cool tool, and one I'll use again!

Thing 16 - Assignment Calculator

I wish I'd paid more attention to this when I was working at MSB and when I was giving bibliographic instruction to students. I can see this being very helpful to help prevent procrastination & to encourage them to get their research done BEFORE they wrote their papers! It's good to have intermediate due dates to get parts of their research papers done.

I'm sure this if helpful for teachers as well, in that they have a very easy way to decide when each section of their assignment should be due. This is a very nifty tool, and I wish it was around when I was in college!

Thing 15 - Puzzle Pirates

I love Puzzle Pirates. I've played it before and loved this opportunity to explore this great game for WORK! How cool is that. I've made some good connections and played with some very good folks from around the world. Most of the people who play PP are nice...although they can be on the young side. Such is life in an online game community.

I tried getting into Second Life as well - but all I have to say about this community is ARRRG! It's not as user-friendly as PP, nor is controlling your person as easy. This is probable due to the 3D nature of the environment & the added processing this site needs because of it. I will try it again sometime, because I know there are libraries who do reference work out of SecondLife, & I am interesting in exploring them some more.

Using LibraryThing

OK...so there I was...I had just posted my observations on LibraryThing, and went to look at my email. A friend was wondering about where he might find a certain book to borrow from someone, since he wasn't sure about paying the $75 for it (the cheapest price he found for it online). I looked at WorldCat for the title - UW Madison had it, but it was lost in 2005 and the next closest were in Illinois - but they were both checked out. Hmmmm. I then thought - hey, let's just see if anyone has it cataloged on LibraryThing! So I did. Turns out a mutual acquantance had it listed. How cool is that? :)

Thing 14 - LibraryThing

I have had an account on LibraryThing since December 2006...and haven't looked at it really since. I am so ashamed!! But this is a wonderful reminder that it is available, & I will try and make better use of it from here on out. I had been using it for books that related to my participation in the SCA, and do not see this changing.

As to using LibraryThing in as library tool, I can see setting up a network of accounts that each have a different topic. So you can have a Thing for books related to wizards & witches to relate to a Harry Potter event your library is holding. Or you can have an exhibit about landscaping, and you can have a Thing highlighting the titles in this subject. I suggest having more than 1 account so you do not have to deal with the 200 title limit, but if your library has money for the paid-account, I could also see having all these & more under 1 account as well.

Thing 13 - Ta-da!

Since I have already set up online calendars, Google & Yahoo start pages, & the like, I decided to start an online to-do list with Ta-Da. It was very easy to do, but I worry that I will not remember to check this site and make sure I'm on track and getting things on the list done. This is why Microsoft Outlook's Tasks has been helpful for me in the past. As long as I remember to add new items that need doing - I am automatically reminded of them since I keep my Outlook email program open all day at work.

I see this and other Web 2.0 babies to be helpful to some, but forgetable by most. It requires an extra step to view them, and as much as I'd like to be Microsoft independent, Outlook covers calendars, tasks, address books & more in the same location as my email. It just doesn't make sense for me to NOT use these features in the one program.

Thing 12 - I've Reddit

I took a look at the four sites included in this thing, and decided to register and play with Redditn today. What an interesting way to get my daily news fix.

I can really see how this kind of site would appeal to the populists out there. Everyone who registers is able to help or hinder a news article, image, website or YouTube video's ability to be seen by more people. It's really easy to select the up or down arrow if I like or dislike something that's been posted. This will be a fun site for me to play with, but unfortunately I do not really see a use for this in the library world for the following reasons:

• Librarians like to select what they present to their patrons. Reddit doesn't really allow for this kind of professional filter.
  
• The articles & other postings I saw were for funny or political in nature. The articles did not include any real serious or pressing news.
  

I did post an article from MPR on the arrest and charging in the school bus crash tragedy from earlier this week in Cottonwood, MN. It hasn't gotten any points from others in the 33 minutes it's been available on Reddit. I'm not really surprised since the other postings on the list are much more fun and upbeat.

Thing 11.1 - Ma.gnolia.com

There is another website that allows you to save links in a social setting - Ma.gnolia. It works a lot like Del.icio.us in that it allows you to save URLs (with tags) and share them with the world. I have an account here as well that I am using for the research project I am working on with investing.

I think Del.icio.us is a little easier to use, but I really like printing Ma.gnolia since it will include the URL for the websites in my list. I've not been able to figure out how to do this with Del.icio.us, so I was VERY happy that Ma.gnolia has this feature. :)

Thing 11 - Del.icio.us & tags

I have used del.icio.us for about a year now, and have found it to be a very helpful & useful way to organize & share URLs I run across. I use it almost exclusively for my Medieval Recreation activities. My del.icio.us account.

The neatest thing about this tool is when people ask me for information on a specific topic & I can pull it right up. For example - a friend of mine asked me if I had information or links on Jewish illumination/manuscripts. I remembered tagging a webpage I had happened across, and was able to pop it right over to her within a couple minutes. Had I kept the link in a traditional bookmark list, it would have taken much longer to locate. (In case you'd like to see this link for yourself - Special Treasures from the Library of The Jewish Theological Seminary. I have it tagged with three tags - jewish illumination manuscripts.)

I can see this tool being used in a library setting as well. Librarians can find resources online for their patrons, and add them to a "We Recommend" website list on del.icio.us.

Thing 10 - Wikis

Let me say this again...I love the Common Craft videos! They are such fun and are informative at the same time. :)

I have used a wiki before with other librarians at my old job. It was a good place to share ideas for library instruction, and also to have a place for fun and funny links for our breaks. The issue I saw with it was that it was well-used at its inception, but this dropped off steadily as time went on. We all enjoyed it for a while, but then only 1 or 2 people actually added to it or visited it. So it was under-utilized.

I see Wikipedia as a wonderful place to get research started. Most articles have bibliographies so people can look to reliable (hopefully!) sources on the topic. When I was working in an academic library, I steered most students away from Wikipedia, since they were not willing to go the extra mile & check the info they got here against other resources. This is the key to using this open encyclopedia in my book. Users need to be prepared to verify the information they get here in other places, since ANYONE can make changes to any article.