#19 Library 2.0

I read all 5 articles and, while the new technology in the library is exciting, I think we need to be careful not to completely discard everything that is not exciting. While it sometimes can seem to us that everybody is online and plugged in, we still have a lot of patrons who are not and prefer their library experience to be familiar, and their books to be printed on paper. Hasn't our circulation actually increased in recent years, or am I wrong about that?

I love technology and think it has improved our lives, but there is also a cost. And speaking of cost, since libraries are using business models more and more, I wonder how often they use a cost/benefit analysis when deciding which technologies to buy for the library?

Custom searches

I tried searching for "library cards" and for "story times" in both Rollyo and Google Custom Search, and I have to say that I liked Google better. Rollyo took a little longer to search (OK, it was only a few seconds, but still not as fast as Google) and all of the results on the first page on Rollyo were KCLS. Also, I found their advertising very distracting. Google brought up some results for SPL and Sno-Isle on the first page in addition to KCLS, and also suggested a spelling alternative ("Storytimes"), which brought up different results. Maybe it's just the familiarity of Google that made me more comfortable with it, but in my limited test, Google Custom Search beats Rollyo.

I created a quick Google Custom Search for sites about Ballard. I can see the benefit of a custom search if you like to search the same sites often... it's nice to just search those sites all at once, without the extraneous stuff.

#17 Random generation

OK, this is fun for a while... but I don't see much actual use for it. Here is my randomly generated kitten.

#15 Looking at Wikis

I especially think the wikis for conferences or events are useful, or the very specialized ones such as BookLoversWiki. One use that would be handy for us would be having a wiki for updates on library closures due to inclement weather. This past winter, it was a lot of work to keep everyone updated on closures during the windstorm... a wiki might have made that task easier.

I've got a Library Thing

I love LIbrary Thing! Well, who wouldn't? I haven't had a chance to do a lot with it yet, but I started grabbing random books off of my bookshelves at home and adding them, and it was hard to stop. I also created a search widget and added it to this blog. Fun!

#13 Technorati and popularity

I'm late posting this, but the week that we did Technorati, both Learning 2.0 and kcls27things were on the Technorati's list of most popular searches. There was even a guy in Maryland who blogged about us, saying that there was this thing that was creating quite a bit of buzz that was apparently a staff learning experience for a library. I don't think he realized that all the buzz was created by 400 KCLS staff members all searching for the same things on Technorati that week.

I've just gone back there and, alas, we are no longer in the list of most popular searches...

#12 Tagging and Social bookmarking

I thought this might be an easier way for people to access Answer Line's favorites, so I uploaded them to Del.icio.us and started adding the toolbar icons to our computers. But, I need to tag all of the bookmarks in order to make any sense of them on Del.icio.us... at the moment they are all just listed out in alphabetical order. I was thinking that people could add their own tags so that they can easily find the bookmarked sites. This will have to be an ongoing project, but I'll see if I can make it work for us.