It's a Blog! Welcome to Blogger!

I was first introduced to Blogger in 2008 and I couldn't imagine how blogs could be so important.  How much does anyone really have to say.  Over the years I have seen face to face discussions, magazines even television and radio shows evolve into blogs or have blog components. Now with this class I see the professional potential of a blog not just as a newsletter but as an online presence giving voice and relevance to libraries everywhere big or small, academic, public or school.

Flickr

Flickr and other photo sharing tools such as Picasa and Snapfish I was first introduced also as a "fun," thing for personal use.  The first training I every went to that discussed photo sharing to be used professionally was a little surprising.  How much time was going to be spent making these albums look professional? Other than big events what pictures would I be uploading.  Whether you use Flickr or Picasa there is not much difference. I use Flickr now more because it has become more popular.  People talk about having it up on "Flickr."  "Flickr," was used this past year as a powerful tool for Library Advocacy. "Florida Snapshot Day!" compiled by the Florida Library Association gathered together a portrait of Florida libraries that lawmakers could see as the voters in their districts and it spoke volumes.

Most recently I used Flickr to capture our Information Literacy event "Techmania."  Staff, Volunteers, and Vendors gathered for classes on social networking and library services.

   
Techmania   (click for photo set) 

Facebook

Facebook has become synonymous with Social Networking.  People of all ages are now using Facebook to network professionally as well as catch-up with family and friends.

Libraries have realized that Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn have all become important marketing, networking and advocate tools.

April 16th article in the Wall Street Journal tells how T. Rowe Price is now investing in Facebook.

http://tinyurl.com/3jdlpo9

RSS Feeds

It stands for "Really Simple Syndication."  Either through an account on Bloglines or within my Google account through Google Reader I can capture all of the articles I need to read to keep up with today's ever changing world of Information Literacy

Tame the Web
The Shifted Librarian
Stephen's Lighthouse
ACRLog

are just a few of the more popular blogs in the field of information literacy

Wikis

http://calcurriculum.pbworks.com/w/page/12483151/FrontPage

Especially those like Pbworks are used for group collaboration especially in education and business.

the one listed above is the California Curriculum Connections. A collaborative wiki for education and discussion of library 2.0 activities.

Children's staff have access to this wiki about the summer reading program

http://tinyurl.com/3l4zgtn

YouTube

YouTube like Facebook is certainly viral from the latest disaster to the latest pet video emailed to you Youtube has a global impact. Content concerns, digital rights and security concerns are creating an ever-changing landscape for video on the web.

School tube.com is marketed for students and teachers to use

Hennepin County Public Library has it's own YouTube channel to both promote the library and inform the community.

these are only a couple ways YouTube is used by libraries

Podcasts

podcasts can be both video or audio. There are podcasts for every subject you can think of. You can even subscribe to your favorite podcasts so you don't miss it.

NPR public radio

Grant funded info people.org has podcasts

And many others