Week 8, Thing #19 - LibraryThing and Favorite Books

LibraryThing is very user friendly. A great preset widget tool that allows you to show random book covers with ease. I added book covers of some of my favorite middle school titles to my blog. I like having the ability to create my own online catalog. LibraryThing book covers, recommendations, ratings, member tags, and member reviews are useful to have on an OPAC. Definitely a site that I would recommend to others.

I did find that I had to go in and delete cookies on my computer for the book covers to get updated in the widget after I made a change.

Week 8, Thing #18 - Online Productivity Tools

I have created a Zoho account and am using it to post to my blog. The account was very easy to set up and seems very user friendly. Zoho offers some nice templates (50 available): resume, resume cover letter, speech outline, student progress report,... Well, I'll try posting this document to my blog.

Posting from Zoho to my blog worked quite smoothly.

Zoho has many other online productivity tools: spreadsheets, database, online presentation tools, wiki, web conferencing, organizer, note taking, ...

I do like the ability to collaborate online in real time with both google docs and zoho writer. I have used google docs to work collaboratively in real time and it has been a godsend!

Three cheers for free online productivity tools!

Week 7, Thing #17 - Add an Entry to "Sandbox" Wiki

I found the "Sandbox" wiki without any trouble and added an entry.
"California 2.0 Curriculum Connections
The beauty of a wiki is the collaboration towards a common goal" -
http://calcurriculum.pbwiki.com/Wikis

My entry:
Idea #54: Wikis provide the perfect opportunity for students to participate in book discussions in cyberspace at their convenience . I love the idea of empowering students to "rant and rave" appropriately about books. Not original, but this would be the most effective use of wikis in my school library.

Week 7, Thing #16 - Wikis

I found out that libraries are using wikis for scheduling, book discussions, and various forms of collaborations. I registered and opened my own free educator's wiki at pbwiki.com. I decided to initially use an invite key for others to access my wiki. If I want, I can add email addresses of those people who I want to access my blog.

I'm thinking that for my first project that I would like to invite staff members at the middle school where I work to post an entry about their favorite children's book. Before inviting students to participate, I want to do some work with them about "Wiki Etiquette. " I would like to give students an opportunity to post entries about their favorite book.

I am excited about this quick, easy way for collaboration online.

Week 6, Thing #15 - Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and The Future of Libraries

School Library 2.0
"Say good-bye to your mother’s school library."
By Christopher Harris -- School Library Journal, 5/1/2006
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6330755.html

"Ten reasons why your next pathfinder should be a wiki."
By Joyce Valenza -- School Library Journal, June 20, 2007
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1340000334/post/1620010962.html

"'Library 2.0' [is defined] as 'the application of interactive, collaborative, and multi-media web-based technologies to web-based library services and collections,' and suggests this definition be adopted by the library science community" (Jack M. Maness, 2006, http://www.webology.ir/2006/v3n2/a25.html). Maness has a good point that in libraries "any stability other than the acceptance of instability is insufficient" (Ibid.).

Libraries are constantly evolving to meet the needs of their users and staff. This has kept libraries relevant and vibrant. Web 2.0 opens all sorts of new possibilities for libraries, particularly school libraries: wikis, blogging, social bookmarking, RSS feeds, podcasts, streaming media, and mashups. My school library extended its reach beyond its 4 walls years ago with remote access to databases, and Web 2.0 allows the libraries to reach out further with various print and multimedia options. Building online connections and opportunities for collaboration seem critical to keeping the library relevant. Web 2.0 technologies do indeed seem to mark a new generation of library services (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_2.0).

Week 6, Thing #14 - Technorati and Tags

Technorati seems like the site to use to search and navigate blogs. Technorati gives all sorts of searching options: Popular--linking to most linked items, Discover--topic-based. Technorati encourages people to add their blogs to the Technorati tag pages to build the online blog community.

This Blogger Central - What's Popular link brings you to links of Top 100 Blogs (by authority), Top 100 blogs (by fans), and Top Searches: http://www.technorati.com/pop/

Week 6, Thing #13 - Tagging and Del.icio.us

I started by viewing the Del.icio.us tutorial created by Santa Cruz Public Library:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyAEn2cwaJ8

Having bookmarks available online will be useful for accessing my bookmarks from multiple locations - "everywhere"--home, school, while travelling, etc. Sharing bookmarks with library patrons (staff and students) is a great option. I also like the idea of seeing sites recommended by other users. Tags are useful for accessing my bookmarks.

I set up a del.icio.us account,installed the del.icio.us buttons on Internet Explorer, and transferred my bookmarks to del.icio.us so they could be accessed from an computer online and share them with other people.

As with other web 2.0 tools, I need more time to take full advantage of this site.