You can pretty much tell what I've been up to so far by visiting my blog. If you just read the post on Reader, you will miss out on a lot of it. I have Flickr pictures across the top, Twitter updates and a Goodreads favorites collage on the side. No Meebo yet, but that will show up eventually, as will my Google Calendar, I'm sure.
I'm not sure, however, what will become of this page once the learning things are over, and that bothers me. I'd like to find a way to incorporate it into the library because I think it looks like it would be fun but I don't like the idea of having to redo things. I do have most of them on the library's page, but not all of them and I'm not sure at what point it becomes so cluttered as to be unusable. That may be why this page looks nicer to me right now.
I do think you have to meet the patron wherever the patron is, but you don't necessarily have to stay there. It just wouldn't be feasible to be on all of the different social networks, but it is possible to make ways for our patrons to first find us and then bring us into their worlds, so the library presence becomes part of their personal pages, wherever they are.
Jennifer once said to me (not an exact quote, but the gist of it and now we'll see if she's paying attention) "But, Karen, don't you want them to have to come through your website to get to wherever they're going?" It has changed how I approach my website because yes, I do, and I want them to find the page sufficiently useful that they want to be able to access it quickly and see updates from their own pages - I want to be LIKED on Facebook and I want them to think our website is worthy of RSS Feeds. I want them checking out our pictures, looking at the CDLC Digital collection, using our page to get to the catalog and to do online research. I want the library to be part of everyday life whether it's virtually or in person.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
Thing 4: Online Communities
I am all over this one. The library has a facebook page (Town of Ballston Community Library), we tweet (TOBLibrary), we have e-news (sign up on our website), you can Meebo me from our web page, and if you knit (or crochet), I'm on Ravelry, one of my very favorite places on the web.
Ravelry is really a wonderful example of what can be done with an online community. In addition to having subject specific groups (including one for librarians), it offers everything from a place to record and search within your own books and magazines to a link to WorldCat to search for books in nearby libraries. You can also search for a specific pattern, post your pictures of the finished product, and look at what other people made. You can search for specific yarns, stores that sell them, and people who rated them. You can email friends or look at what they've made or at which books and magazines they own. I'm sure there are lessons libraries could learn from the multitude of options and information available on Ravelry. It's worth checking out even if you don't knit or crochet. If you break down and go there, my name on there is gnaed (and I'm going to explain right up front that it's part of my last name, backwards).
Ravelry is really a wonderful example of what can be done with an online community. In addition to having subject specific groups (including one for librarians), it offers everything from a place to record and search within your own books and magazines to a link to WorldCat to search for books in nearby libraries. You can also search for a specific pattern, post your pictures of the finished product, and look at what other people made. You can search for specific yarns, stores that sell them, and people who rated them. You can email friends or look at what they've made or at which books and magazines they own. I'm sure there are lessons libraries could learn from the multitude of options and information available on Ravelry. It's worth checking out even if you don't knit or crochet. If you break down and go there, my name on there is gnaed (and I'm going to explain right up front that it's part of my last name, backwards).
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Thing 3: Photo Sharing
I first learned to use Flickr so I could upload the photos of all the things I've knit. Ravelry (a wonderful knitting and crocheting site) allows you to share your photo of a project, attaches it to the pattern you used, and lets you look at all the creations others have made with the same pattern).
We didn't have one for the library, though, so now we do.
We use the photo frames here at our library as well, thanks to Rebecca, our youth services librarian. We create slides in Power Point, save them first as .pdf's and then as .jpg's and put them on the memory card. This way, not only can we share photos, but we can also put up information about upcoming programs, our hours, new books and movies, anything we want people to see. There's one at the front desk and one on Rebecca's desk. Because there's movement involved in the slide show, they really catch people's attention.
We didn't have one for the library, though, so now we do.
We use the photo frames here at our library as well, thanks to Rebecca, our youth services librarian. We create slides in Power Point, save them first as .pdf's and then as .jpg's and put them on the memory card. This way, not only can we share photos, but we can also put up information about upcoming programs, our hours, new books and movies, anything we want people to see. There's one at the front desk and one on Rebecca's desk. Because there's movement involved in the slide show, they really catch people's attention.
Art Reception April 9 2011
Over 300 art enthusiasts attended the 2011 Burnt Hills Ballston Lake School Art Show.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Thing 2: RSS
I've used iGoogle before so that part was straightforward, along with adding Google Reader to it. I would really like to be able to cut and paste the whole list of blogs and add them all at once, but I don't see a way to do that. Hold everything - I just found someone who said she found a way to make it easier for us. Now to see if I can make it work... It was easy!
I still don't know what it was exactly that I used, but I'm okay with that.
Thank you, Thank you, mysterious benefactress.
There is, indeed, an app for the Droid so I will have to try that next.
Now if there were just an app to make time to read all those wonderful blog posts.
It would be very useful to have specific rss feeds available to patrons through the library's website so they can read local news and updates to the New York Times Bestsellers through the library's website. Anything that gets people dependent on visiting the library's website is a good thing.
I still don't know what it was exactly that I used, but I'm okay with that.
Thank you, Thank you, mysterious benefactress.
There is, indeed, an app for the Droid so I will have to try that next.
Now if there were just an app to make time to read all those wonderful blog posts.
It would be very useful to have specific rss feeds available to patrons through the library's website so they can read local news and updates to the New York Times Bestsellers through the library's website. Anything that gets people dependent on visiting the library's website is a good thing.
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