• What were your favorite experiences in the course?
  I really enjoyed my weekly chats with my group.  Not only did I learn tons in the tiny bit of time we had together, I totally feel that I can contact my group members with my future questions.  I also enjoyed the OPAL-Online lectures...And the fact that presentations and this site exist for future reference.
• What technology did you find most interesting for your personal use? What technology did you think would be most useful professionally?
  The wiki.  I can think of so many great applications for a wiki--departmental, liaison program, ref. desk log, etc.  I didn't expect it, but it's my favorite.
• Were there any unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
  

I know it was mentioned by Meredith and others that wikis were great resources that were underused, but now that I have spent the last two weeks seeking wiki software for my library's liaison program, I'm a believer.  It's ironic that the wiki week was the week I didn't post (this is my make-up post) because the wiki has become my favorite part of the social software course.  First and foremost, wikis are more versatile than blogs and more manageable than html pages.  Unlike blogs you can have a "home page" and keep the most important pieces of information front and center.  Blogs rely on navigation bars and links to get to that kind of information.  Secondly, it promotes collaboration (the ultimate goal) and allows the host to see who is doing what on the page.  Without knowing html.  Without using Dreamweaver.  Without trying to create style sheets.  Without trying to create the perfect table.  I'm all about the wiki.

I placed my proposal on the wiki, since I am ultimately proposing a wiki.  Web events are quickly unfolding at our library.  I was asked to hold a meeting about social software needs last week.  Our blogs are  were hosted by the campus tech group.  They have been down for three weeks and the overworked programers do not think that they will be able to keep up the WordPress gig.  So I am asking the library to host our WordPress blogs and throw in MediaWiki as well.  This is not what I planned to ask for when I started; I wanted a grand and glorious rss feed project.  After hearing some of the initial concerns of just hosting our own software, I thought I should start with blogs and wikis for now.

So my main draw to 5weeks before it started was to learn more about the awesome rss feed stuff we could do to the library's webpage.  So during the chat this week I felt very chatty about rss.  Then the conversation turned to del.icio.us.  Everyone was so excited.  Everyone, that is, but me.  I am the only one not enamored with del.icio.us.  I have tried it, and I think that it’s nice, but nothing extra fabulous.  I think one problem I have with it is that I don’t get special thrills out of the discoveries of

I've learned that I need to mix in some common sense and sensational tidbits in order to promote my library liaison blog.  By this I mean that I have implemented a publishing schedule and plan on adding some widgets.  The sad truth is that I don't post regularly to my liaison blog, so I am going to try to dedicate Friday mornings to posting.  Rebecca Hedreen's presentation showed a lot of nice examples of library blogs.  I especially liked the Lansing Library blog that features an IM widget.  Perhaps if the faculty reps. "see" that I am available on my liaison blog, they would be more willing to ask questions.  (This new plan will also involve my blog being available--it's been down over a week due to mySQL problems on the school's server.  But eventually....)

I am a collection development/assessment librarian at the Middle Tennessee State University Library in Murfreesboro, TN.  And it's a killer job!  In addition to selection and assessment, there's a fair bit of public relations activity involved.  I am responsible for the liaison program which consists of 5 other librarians and 39 faculty representatives.  We depend on many of the faculty reps. to purchase materials in their areas.  And just like serials and reference, ordering and collection development are moving online.  Unfortunately, many of the reps. are uncomfortable with the online tools.  I created a blog this summer to post all of the resources that a faculty representative could want, but no one is really interested.  The tools are not being used to their full capability, and the collaboration/interaction is also less that I think it should be.  I need to find a more dynamic way to push the information to them and get them interested in interacting with me.