Activity#10-Suffolk Wave

I downloaded the ebook "Resilience" by Elizabeth Edwards. I found the process easy but it did require a lot of reading to become familiar with what was required. I could see how this would be somewhat intimidating for people not comfortable with the computer. A nice feature of borrowing things through Suffolk Wave is that the item will be returned automatically when it is due.

Activity #9 - Flickr

Being the "unofficial" Children's Dept. photographer, part of my job is to upload all our photos to the CPSD Flickr account. It didn't take me too long to figure out how to use this site. It is now possible for our patrons to see the photos taken at our various programs in a much quicker time frame.

This is one of my favorite photos http://www.flickr.com/photos/32358748@N06/3549275650/in/set-72157617830648618/

Activity #7 - Library Thing

I finally got to play with Library Thing I added my 3 books http://www.librarything.com/catalog/MarDur

I checked out the tags for 7th Heaven and see that "Womens Murder Club" is the most popular tag for this book. I like the use of tags; your eye scans these tags more quickly to find the subject of the book, and then by clicking on the tag you can find even more popular books. I am sure this is a great help to the librarians.

Activity #6 - tagging and Delicious

This was my first time looking at the Delicious bookmarking site. I added a bookmark for Suffolk County Civil Service. I tagged it with the words, job, CivilService and MMSCL2.0. Looking at the most popular bookmarks, CNN.com Breaking News has over 24,000 people who have bookmarked it with tags like news, entertainment, etc.

This site is a great way to keep all your bookmarks in one place. I would think that if you were working on a group project for school you could all see the research sites in one place and save each other some work.

I have seen the tag clouds in our OPAC and think it makes it easier to find a particular subject that you may be looking for. I like how the most popular tags are in a larger font.

Activity #5: Myspace & Facebook

The Library’s Facebook page has 167 fans. I see that Patchogue Medford and Bayport-Blue Point Libraries, among others, are also on Facebook. It appears to me that most information needed about the Library can be found on the Facebook page, without having to take the next step of going to the Library’s direct web site.

In my opinion, the profile photos used for the Myspace page for the Library and the Teen Dept should be switched. The Teen Dept picture should be used on the Teen Dept Myspace and the Library logo or maybe a picture of the entrance of the Library should be used for the Library’s page. I liked Shelfari on the Library’s Myspace and the scrolling pictures from the Teen Camera Club (which should also be on the Teen Dept Myspace.)

I find that Myspace and Facebook are very similar, just a different look. Myspace is more eye appealing and personalized while Facebook is more matter of fact. Since so many people use these social networks, this is a great way for the Library to get its information out to many. But we also have to remember that there are just as many that do not use these sites. If I personally were going to use one over the other it would probably be Facebook.