Week Three: Online Meetings

I watched the archived webinar “Getting a Grip on Social Networking- Flickr, Del.icio.us, and Twitter” by Shelly Drumm at BCR. It was very well done. I enjoyed Shelly as an instructor and heard about some neat ways to use social networking in libraries. San Mateo Library tags del.icio.us entries using the Dewey Decimal System. A participant in the webinar mentioned a museum using Twitter or another technology to post updates about the museum on an electronic board that visitors see as they enter the building. Other interesting ideas are mentioned, so people who are interested should give it a look.

While going to library school at ESU I used Wimba during at least four courses. The meetings were a nice compromise between posting on an online discussion forum and having class in person. I was able to see my instructor via webcam for some of the meetings, which made the sessions less sterile. It was great to be able to view powerpoint presentations as the teacher presented. One teacher posted questions to the class, then she publicly displayed the answers we submitted; everyone was able to get a word in and we could compare what everyone thought pretty effectively.

Perhaps access to webinars will grow as the technology becomes more familiar. Webinars may be something that people stumble on as they look for information on Google, in the same way that people are linked to blogs now. The collaborative aspect of the tool may catch on and allow greater numbers of people to work together online.

Week Two: Online Communities

I have been a member of Facebook for a few years. It can be a great tool to connect and collaborate with people. I have joined a number of library groups and like how quickly everyone can be updated through mass messaging. I am a fan of some library pages also, so libraries can gain some visibility from creating a page. Lawrence Public Library uses Facebook to post about events and news; the library has a lot of friends, so it seems to be reaching a lot of people. Finding an effective way to promote a library group or fan page does take some energy; LPL has a link to Facebook on their homepage, so that seems to be a good way to connect to the community.

I also gave Ning a try. I have created a site, but am not very far along. Connecting people based on interests is a great idea and hopefully I can use it. I'll put in a link to it if I get the site developed a bit more.

Week One: Blogging

I am Jenny Cook and recently began working as a Youth Services Library Assistant for Lawrence Public Library. Last May I graduated from Emporia State with my MLS degree. Overall I feel comfortable with technology, but think I have a lot of room to grow. I am looking forward to learning about many new tools through 23 Things.

I think that blogs can be a wonderful tool for sharing information. Blogs help level the playing field for those who have knowledge of technology and those who don’t (and between those who have money to pay for website creation and those who don’t). I like that blogs are user-friendly and can create online dialogues and communities. On the flipside, it can be overwhelming to search through blogs for useful, reliable information.