Thing 14: Online Productivity Tools

I did start up pages on Google and Yahoo. They were both pretty easy, but I prefer Google because it seems easier to use. I've starterd using the Google calendar for home use. There are tons of tools and widgets but so for the most useful has been the RSS feed/Gogle Reader. I already have the Outlook calendar, but that is my work email & calendar. Online calendars are useful for organizing work and personal schedules especially the reminder when it pops up on the monitor. For me the To Do Lists are more trouble than they are worth. I tried MapMyRun. It was hard to use for mapping a new route but it has a lot of pre-mapped routes for walking, running, biking, etc.

Created by OnePlusYou

Thing 13 Library Thing

This Thing could be very useful for smaller private or special libraries an large personal libraries. In a standard public library. you could set up reading lists of similar authors or subjects either for local school assignments or for patron reader's advisory using tags. Now it is done orally, through coppied lists or one of our databases. Library Thing offers an alternative for computer literate patrons. However for paatrons with poor computer skills or no readily available computer, the old ways still work. Our Library already has a page for local events, but it is seldom updated due to the lack of time from budget cuts and added responsibilities to all staff. My personal library is small due to my life long reliance on public libraries, so I have little need to organize it.

Thing 12, Wikis

I like the concept of having documents that can be edited by a group rather than using email which often leads to information being lost or side tracked in an email stream that is out of the main course. We use sveral Wikis at SJCPLS for committee work. They can be used to create and edit documents, to debate topics, or get feed back from the public if they are linked to to the web site and or catalog. I dont think limiting information by format is a good idea, but I also think that you should use more than one source for any information that is important to you, especially a research topic. I added to neflins23things pbwiki.

Thing 11 Social Media

I don't see much use for this as a tool for the public in the Library. There are way too many different interests to cover them all in a single Social media site. Within Library staff it could help employees keep up with recent stories concerning libraries. I see this more as a productivity detractor unless it is finely tuned to only bring up articles about topics specific to your job. I have read articles I have seen on these sites, but usually they weren't work related.

I created accounts on Mixxit and Digg. Mixxit allows you to fine tune your interests more easily with tags.

Thing 10

Delicious is a useful tool on many levels. It was simple to set up and seems to be easy to edit. At work I use at least three different computers and I have different Favorites lists on each. This tool will help me consolodate them so I can use them at any computer. I can see how this could be useful for research so you can keep a readily available list of resource you hav or may use. It also makes other researchers' sites avilable if they use Delicious, make them available & tag them appropriately. Even though our Library has a link on its home page to "Great Websites", by putting them in a Delicious account it could make them accessible to more people than just our patrons. It could introduce many more people to our web site and all it offers.