Social Networking Sites

I think social networking sites appeal to teenagers because the sites provide access to people other than fellow classmates. The sites can be a way for teens to escape the clicks and peer pressure in school. As for adults...I guess they need to escape the realities of their lives too. Also, when both parents in a family work, there is less opportunity to meet friends the old-fashioned way. When a lot of people are spending their time online, that is where you need to go to meet them!

I think libraries are wise to take advantage of the sites because that is where people are, for better or worse, spending a lot of their time.

Twitters & Widgets

I can't see myself using these very much.

One way the twitter thing could be used for is for someone needing to give updates to a lot of people at once. For example, a pregnant woman who is past her due date could let people know each day that the baby did not come. Similar to CarePages, people could give updates to friends about how an operation went. However, I think email could serve these purposes just as well.

YouTube

I like the idea of YouTube, but sometimes the videos "stutter" while the video is "buffering". Librarians could use it to swap videos of successful storytimes. That way, librarians new to programming can pick up good techniques. I have been to a lot of storytimes with my kids. If I ever become full-time again (I am currently a IPTH), I think the experience of seeing different storytimes would add to my own.

Librarians could also use YouTube to share information from training sessions that not everyone can attend.

Library Thing

I like Library Thing because I can keep track of the books I find that I read, but do not have the time to read when I find out about it.

The library could use it to keep track of frequently asked about books, especially when patrons for whatever reason do not choose to place a reserve. We could include items that are requested from MARINA that have been MARINA'd before. This could help Materials Management.

RSS Feeds

I like using the RSS feeds. It saves some time when checking my regular sites. Not all of the sites I visit have them though.

The library system could use RSS feeds to inform patrons of upcoming events, unexpected branch closings, and alerts. People might be more likely to see postings in their RSS than remembering to check our website. I don't think many people have our website as their homepage like I do!

Flickr

We could use Flickr for patrons looking for images. I usually use Google images, and Flickr will be a nice complement to Google. I am a little concerned about what might come up. I wouldn't want to display any inappropriate images while assisting a patron!

Learning About Blogging

So far, so good. Blogger is pretty easy to use.