It is almost one year since we took this course and I ALMOST have all of my proposal implemented. There were elements that were super easy, some that took longer than expected, and ones that may never truely get off the ground. But I know I have made changes to this library, for the better!

By far what I got out of this course was the mass amounts of information I could then pass on to my collegues.  In the past if I came accross an article or two I might pass it along, but there was never a larger purpose, an information sharing to try to accomplish a goal.  By taking this course I felt I was prepared enough to actually speak with my collegues in an informal 30-45 min session about blogging as well as a brief introduction to wikis.  Since I was relaying infromation from this course, it didn't add the pressure of "this is new so we have to do it."  It felt more like they got to participate in the exploritory level and throught process behind why I am suggesting the directions I am suggesting.  Of course, now the real work begins of not only infusing these tools into our library but giving the other librarians the confidence to use them beyond the initial novelty stage.

YouTube is my favority thing ever!

This is an excellent video on what web 2.0 is all about. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE&eurl=

During our group chat the issue of the insitution being comfortable about having an open wiki came up.  As many of us know, institutions and universities like to have control.  I was thinking about how wiki's might be implemented into my library and also found this to be a concern.  For some aspects, I could see having an open wiki to be a good thing, for others, I would suggest logins.

Open wikis:

BI sessions 

For our instructional BI sessions, we sometimes create a special webpage just for the students of that class.  If we created it to be an open wiki, then in theory the students could contribute to the resources guide.  However, with the acception of the grad students, I don't see the students taking advantage of this.  Perhaps the teachers might add some resources though...

I didn't have as much time this week to digest everything and use the tools as much as I would like.  However, I do know that our manager of the digital library is pushing for RSS feeds, which means that I have a tech person who can help write the coding.  As for social bookmarking, I like the idea in regards to book reviews or for subject guides.  I'm going to have to think more about it though.

We are planning on having a department meeting in early March where we plan to discuss the renovation of our subject guides, so I better think quick!!!

My overall goal for this course is to create ONE area where students can easily get all the information they need about what is going on in the library and what services are available for that day/week/etc.  Our school is very communtor based, so it needs to be on the website for many students to even know about the services the library provides. 

 Right now our website is divided into the different departments without much connection between them all.  So, as part one of my "trying to put it all together" for the final project, here we have blogging.

 I envision using the blog as a calendar update and almost "headline/abstract" of library events.  The calendar would appear as the first thing on the homepage of the website.  (I kind of got this idea from the Ann Arbor library website). 

This blog is a reflection of just watching the screencasts.  Perhaps some of my first thoughts and questions will be addressed later... 

I work in a library of around 100 workers.  Each department runs fairly independently with just the basic form of project/activity sharing.  I like the idea of using a blog on the internet for our patrons to have one place to get information on all the going ons of the library, but how to get the rest of the library involved?  I believe the Public Services crew (broken down into sub departments) would be interested, but there is also the communications department with their separate website and the collection development/acquisitions people, etc.  You have to keep in mind the politics of the library culture.If all goes well, everyone would have a blog of current information that would all be located in the central web location, maybe with links back too the departmental pages.  But this is not an ideal world.  Does this mean that the "social librarian" of the library will have to keep up abreast of all the departmental library webpages and what is not listed on the webpages to update the blog?

Also, admin would probably want some sort of policy listed for any comments or contributions from the library users.  Are there resources that will cover this aspect?

Hello from warm south florida!  I moved here just about a year ago and am not missing the snow just yet.

 I am an assistant university librarian at Florida Atlantic University and will be working along side the digital library for at least the next year.  I've always been interested in all the different medias there are in the world to use for communication.  Coming from an art and multimedia background, I have dabbled in many media's already, so I am looking forward to this course to learn more!

 Always good to keep a well stalked box of tools.

Jacquelyn Erdman