Podcasts

Podcast are pretty cool to use in a library. ASU did a great job using podcasts to teach patrons different parts of the library. One use would be how to show patrons how to use the online catalog. Plus, if someone misses a presentation they can listen to the podcast. The audio quality was very good. I would incourage a library to podcast.

Youtube

I did a search on academic libraries. My two favorites are the "angry librarian" and "behind the scenes- technical services." The angry librarian to me seemed like a training video on what not to do. the Behind the scenes was a more informative way of let people now what goes on behind the scenes in a library. One video could be used a a customer service training aide and the other to inform the public.

Google Docs

One bad thing about google docs is that all the people you want to share the document with must have a google account. This would be a good site for professors. They could have there students submit there paper through this. That way the teacher is not stuck with several copies and the students can easly fix their papers. Plus, look at all the trees we would be saving.

Wikis

Wikis are good sites to look up information. I would not use one for a major research project. Just looking at how many times an article has been revised is a good indicator. In the wetpaint site I am having problems finding my new pages I added.

Libworm

Our library internet would not allow us to access libworm. From what I read it looks like this site could be a good tool to use for training. This was one site I was looking forward to looking at. :-(

LibraryThing

Librarything would be a useful tool for public libraries. Subject related to an academic environment are lacking. Most of the books I looked up did not have reviews and do not provide a book description. Another plus is that you can find book stories and libraries in certain city. If a person is into chat groups the group tag gives a wild variety to choose from.

Digg

Social news site that people vote/digg a story. People can also comment on the story. The video recommends people to use the digg website for research. Maybe they should have a good way to get started on a research project.

Delicious

Social book mark website are good for some people. Tags are like subject headings. Its a good way to get your websites organized. It's a good program to use if you are using multiple computers or need other people to look at your websites.

Tagging

Not sure if tagging should be in libraries. Libraries need a more structured tagging system in subject headings. If we let users make up there on tagging systems in the libraries I can see confusion for all users. Tagging should be encouraged on someones personal computer or program.

Twitter

Yet another social web site. I am shocked on how anyone can keep up with all these social groups. You could spend your whole day just trying to keep track of them all. On certain web sites I have seen follow on twitter tags. At least I learned about hashtags.

Instant Messaging

I have been on Yahoo messenger for awhile. I love it. Some times it is a pain when you get people trying to get you to look at the porn sites. Our University has a type of messaging systems on its web page. Anyone having a question can just click on "need help? looking for answers?" box. Here they will have contact to a live person that will provide them with the information they need.

Ning

Ning would be a good thing for libraries to use. Here they could place photos and videos of the library and some special projects that took place at the library. You could even having reading groups post to this page. The site would even be a good way to keep patrons informed of up coming events.