I am not the only person here interested in these new social library tools.  Several of my colleagues are lurking in the shadows of this course. :-)   

      One of our IT folks has created a mashup, providing photos of the book covers to illustrate our New Books List. This list, with the appropriate pictures, is dynamically generated by a query to the catalog. The user provides date range and/or subject parameters and the New Books List is created for his query. 

Every day at my library at least half of all the students I see on computers are on MySpace - in fact, there are some times when I have to be "mean" librarian and tell people who are checking their MySpace account to get off computers when there are students who need to use them for school work (the students are great about this though, they understand they don't have priority when only surfing MySpace). We are currently in the process of moving around our teaching lab so that we can see all the student's screens because we have found that they are even on MySpace during instructions sessions (surprise surprise) - so finding a way to use MySpace in my library is something I am very interested in.

The webcast about Flickr this week was absolutely so much fun! Michael and Steve made it entertaining and educational at the same time and it was a great way to spend Tuesday night while my husband cooked me dinner! I learned a lot about Flickr that I never knew about like geo-tagging, tags in general and groups I never knew existed (like the Librarians Desks group, which I definitely want to join and add a picture to!) I joined the Libraries + Librarians group and explored some of those pictures. Although I joined Flickr a few months ago I hadn't done too much exploring, and although I had put some pictures up I hadn't tagged them - so I made sure to tag them (especially after joining the librarians group which stresses the importance of tagging images) I then spent some time looking at pictures of Jaco Beach in Costa Rica where I will be vacationing in May - its amazing to me how many thousands of photos there are of every conceivable subject! Next I plan on experimenting with putting boxes in some of my photos with notes attached to them (as seen in the webcast)

Oh goody, finally something that might be immediately useful for my library.

Wikis are definitely one of those "killer applications" mentioned by Emma Tonkin - they have changed the world and the way we think about information. The trick is to get people who feel like they are not tech savvy enough to create a wiki involved. And I feel like after  all the readings for this week I could actually talk to anyone about how useful and fun wikis can be both professionally and personally.

The first way I plan on using wikis here in my library is by using it as a tool for collaboration between myself and two of my colleagues while we prepare for our presentation we are giving at the NISOD conference in Austin, Texas. Wikis are absolutely perfect for this - we can compile a list of resources, work on editing the text of our presentation, make a schedule of important deadlines - the list goes on and on. I am sure we will be surprised at all the other ways we find of using this tool. Another benefit of this is that it will pave the way for implementation of our very own library wiki which we hope to use as an internal way of communicating between librarians and staff.

After my success with RSS feeds and setting up my Google feed reader, I am wondering if this will work for my faculty?  I know most of them use email and several of them are comfortable using our CMS, Blackboard, but I wonder how to convince them to subscribe to a feed?  

I was thinking of using a blog with an RSS feed for monthly announcements to the faculty about new books, announcements of interest only to the faculty and so on.  I wonder if a survey of the faculty on RSS feed usage and notices from the library is in order?  Do any of you work with something like this to keep your faculty up to date?

This week we participants are asked to establish an account with del.icio.us -- but the buttons for my IE browser just bounced off our firewall here at work.  So I will have to try this part of the assignment from home.  Last week I had problems watching the webcasts from inside the firewall.  I really appreciate that the administrators are posting these webcasts for us to watch after the event.  I am having trouble viewing the presentations that are in the blip.tv format as well.  Sigh.   I *was* able to set up some Google RSS feeds using the Google Reader inside my new Google portal.  So I am making some headway with this new stuff.

I don't have a real life library, but I do have a website to place content that is usable as library services. At my site I've written tabletop and video game reviews, created pathfinders with resources you may find useful for creating your final projects, and more including a recently developed webquest about creating an online identity.

I came in late on Nanette's presentation but got some good ideas even in that brief time so am looking forward to going back and hearing it from the beginning.  My question was about getting participation in a blog where there is a small library with few or one staff.  I liked the answer about having them work with other libraries but am really interested in hearing who's out there serving 5000 or fewer people who has some experience.  As you all know library directors in small situations wear many hats so giving them some examples of how it's worked for others in similar situat

I decided to apply and participate in Five Weeks to a Social Library because necessity motivates and accelerates learning.  There is no turning back and with all the help and support of those offering the affordable, online course, why would one retreat from the learning game?  A personal trainer in the area of today's social tools is an irresitible and precious opportunity. 

Working in libraries has changed radically in the last 30 years.  The information world has flattened, gone global, and is open to players 24/7 from home, school, or work.  Today's students IM, chat, blog, set up RSS feeds, consult wikis and so must those who hope to stay current and connect with this generation.  Making time to read, investigate, experiment, and develop skills in using these social tools is a priority for those who work in school, academic, or public libraries where youth gather.  The challenge is making time despite the demands of the urgent.  The course helps justify such tinkering.  Knowing we will be led through the maze by knowledgeable guides ensures a greater measure of accountabilty and success.  Thank you for training the trainers who may touch the lives of those in their libraries.