YaaaaaaaHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

This is supposed to be a reflection, but I have been reflecting all along in my blogs. Some recap worth mentioning (or not depending on who you talk too). I don't know that I really had a favorite. I liked the opportunity to do the 23 because I have been wanting to learn about these applications for a long time and always put it aside for later, where this made me learn it within a time frame. My least favorite I think was the wiki but that may be because that is what I currently remember that gave me a headache. Wiki was challenging (thank goodness my staff member Laurie was around). Laurie also said that Twitter will be the most challenging for me since I have to keep things brief, hah I'll show her. RSS feeds were confusing but maybe it is because I need more practice. As I said in the previous blog, I have already incorporated a lot of what has been learned into daily library applications and plan on adding more. Staff will be required to apply something they have learned and we are also going to work on another 23 things, submitted by staff. We will also come up with other ways that the public will benefit. Some of the things that I have learned I have already been doing in other library projects. So TTFN and keep up with Little Elm Library Page by Page!

Hey Wiki Your So Fine

I decided to search Swine Flu and was given a redirect to 2009 flu pandemic. At the beginning of the article it does have see also references (one being swine flu) and also states that it is about the pandemic itself and information about the virus causing it can be found somewhere else. The article was very thorough and has many references so I would trust the information. It did not surprise me to see a lot of discussion on this topic. Looking at the history it was interesting to see the number of changes that occurred in one days time. Okay, I did the practice wiki and realize that I need a lot more practice before I do my own for the library. This project was a challenge for me. Maybe it is because I am working on it last minute on what was supposed to be my day off :-) I think I want to change by blog title to Hey Wiki Hear my Whine. On to Google Docs...

Tag, Your It!

Wikipedia had a mouthful to say about tagging. Librarians have been tagging for years, with the help of Sears Subject headings and Library of Congress subject headings to name a couple. Now with the web, subjects have become a free for all in the name of tagging. It is pretty obvious that some people are good at it and some are not. The topic to be tagged and what is considered important is actually in the eye of the tagger. For example, usually when I write about what the library is doing, the first tag I put is the library's name because I want people to find us. Someone else who reads my articles may not put the library's name because the library may not be the main topic of the article. The tagging assignment could easily be placed earlier on in the web 2.0 training because a lot of the web 2.0 tools give the option for tagging so learning about tagging early on could help know what it is and possibly how to do it. Tagging can be beneficial to libraries serving thier patrons but the most important thing is that the tags still need to be reviewed and evaluated to make sure that it provides the information needed so that the patrons can find the information they are looking for.

Squirmy LibWorm

It is always nice to have everything library in once place. I do like the various types of categories and subjects available to choose from because it helps narrow down the search. When it comes to the tagging page, it is interesting to see how many different ways someone can name a term. I can relate because there was a time that we found five different spellings of Little Elm in library records (Little Elm, Littleelm, Litle Elm, etc.) I did a phrase search of Little Elm Public Library and found two articles. As much as I have been publishing items over the last five years I was surprised not to find more information about the library but I noticed a lot of the information that comes up is from more well known sources or blogs. So, I signed up my library blog page and I checked with our Town IT department to see what it would take to turn my library page of the town website that has my weekly library newsletter into an RSS feed. Overall observation of LibWorm...it does have potential but it reminds me of a Wikipedia of information that can not be edited.