open url

Open URL is pretty cool. I started my first grad program when it was in its infancy (2002). It is so much better now.

Ok - Negative implications for multiple meta data sources. More chances for the meta data elements to get screwed up because of different meta-data standards (some not compatible with Open URL).

The value of open url is that the generated link is independent of the vendor. We can change vendors for particular subscriptions or cancel databases without having an impact on Open URL linking. It makes ILL really easy too.

One of my favorite articles from grad school. Not because of the topic but because of the methodology. Someone read this and give me some ideas. I want to employ the methodology.

Roberts, S. (2004). Self-experimentation as a source of new ideas: Ten examples about sleep, mood, health, and weight. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 27(2)

wiki

Wiki's are pretty cool. We (mostly Matt Mallard) documented the development of the IM system on a Wiki. I have used that quite a bit. Not sure anyone else has used it. I would like to have a Reference Wiki or Library FAQ that everyone in the library can contribute to. Stuff like - where is a FAX machine? or how do i change my password? would be useful to have documented.

Overall wikis have been positive. At least the most popular site on the Internet has some peer-review even if it is in a very crude sense. If we are, indeed (i love to needlessly use the word indeed), teaching our students to be critical of the information they encounter and to understand the socio-political context in which it was created, then we have nothing to fear. If we are not teaching them that, then perhaps it is our (higher education) fault if they blindly accept what they read.

cloud computing

What is everyone afraid of? I wish I had something interesting enough to be secret. Sure we host our information on somebody else's server and theoretically a person could look at it. I am sure those people at Google have better things to do than read our stuff. That said, highly confidential stuff should not be added to such systems. Rather it is best written in code on edible paper.

tagging

I think tagging is going to be quite useful in our new website. Even if our students do not use it for finding info, we can use tags to find content other librarians have created. Tagging will also help our site search work better (i hope).

As far as sites like Delicious, we could use that to link to outside content. Instead of constantly updating our website, we could have a Delicious account that links to outside sources (that various gov. websites). Use Delicious as a kind of subject guide. You could have several different tag clouds associated with each account. We could have the clouds or the pages display on our site.

I am going to exempt myself from posting an account since I created the Pollak Library Delicious account.

beyond ie

I am not a big fan of IE. Honestly, I have not used it much since the new version came out over a year ago. My favorite add on is LibX. I am really surprised it has not caught on with staff and librarians here cause it really knocks my socks off. Don't you want to take Pollak Library with you on the web wherever you go? I know I do. It puts links back to the Library from Wikipedia and Amazon for goodness sake. It does so much more though. I use it every day.

My other favorite is Book Burro I think we should really promote that to students at the beginning of each semester. With rising costs of tuition and books, the price of education is going to marginalize more people. Showing students alternative avenues for acquiring books is the least we can do.

Jing

I have been using Jing for over a year now. I even upgraded to the professional edition for $15 a year. To me, Jing is most useful for Virtual Reference. I use it at least couple of times a week for IM and QuestionPoint. The screen shot function is useful for capturing error messages and sending them to systems or whoever. Hopefully, we will incorporate more media into our new website - in the guides for example.

I made a video of how to find my favorite book.

photo sharing

Forgive me for not keeping up with you all. I have been commenting on a number of the blogs, so I have been following.

I really like what LC did with Flickr. I am wondering if it would be worthwhile to do something with special collections on Flickr. Not sure if the cost would outweigh the benefit. Perhaps if we had a special collections intern. One thing for sure, we have some great stuff in our collection and it would be great to let people know about it. If we start using social networking more actively, Flickr would be a great tool as well.