Week Nine: Instant Messaging

I have used instant messaging at work to answer reference questions. Also, I've chatted on Facebook and in gmail, but just a little bit. Like Twitter, IM is another way to reach library patrons (like Liz mentioned, especially millennials). I would answer a question through IM every shift or every other shift when I worked at Washburn's Mabee Library. Sometimes I would get a handful of questions. IM was not ideal for bulky reference questions, but for quick ready reference it was great.

I tried google talk for this week- jennifer.p.cook@gmail.com. The buddies I tried to connect with were offline, so I will try to chat with them again soon. Using IM to discuss work ideas seems like a good substitute if people can't meet in person.

Week Seven: Microblogging

Twitter is very easy to use. I like the intimacy of the site. I like that I can follow writers and institutions that I am interested in, along with people I know. I found it easy to find people to follow- I was getting a little worried that I was choosing to follow too many people… we’ll see.

I chose to follow Timothy McSweeny because I think the publication is clever. I checked the tweets and had a laugh. I am following librarybeat and see that they post many useful links to podcasts and websites. New York Public Library has a great set of tweets; quotes are mixed into their messages adding some substance to checking their posts.

Lawrence Public Library uses Twitter to post about events and library resources. Also, the library encourages feedback for users. Making library resources available to the public in another form seems like an ideal professional use of Twitter.

Here is my very dull page. Maybe I will make it more interesting at some point.

Week Eight: Cloud Computing

I am posting out of order this week- I got started on the cloud computing exercise before the microblogging one- oops!

For this week I experimented with Wikispaces. I started a wiki that could serve as a place to share resources for those who work in children's departments. If anyone would like to contribute or take a look please do. My wiki is Storytime-Sharespace ; I created pages for favorite books, storytime themes, craft ideas and program plans.

I also plan to experiment with Weebly because I would like to be able to create a simple, free webpage. Cloud computing is a definite strength of the Internet.