Yay! I finally made it!
I have to say, contrary to what I thought in the beginning, a lot of these activities were fun and interesting. Some things were not new to me but some of them were. I think my favorite discovery was the Google Reader and learning how to follow RSS feeds. I had no idea that you could consolidate your blog-reading to one location like that. It's a huge time-saver and actually more simple than I thought at first.
In terms of using the skills I've learned in the library, the most useful discovery was finding out about some of the amazingly helpful text-to-speech capabilities of some of the databases that we already have in our virtual library. This is something that will be incredibly helpful to our ESL students and I plan on showing it to them every chance I get.
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I think the one regret about this is that I didn't have the time to work on these week-to-week and instead had to work on them in spurts. It was really fun and informative, but I think I would have gotten a lot more out of each thing if I could have worked on them one at a time. If I had, I would have been able focus more on each task and really immersing myself in it instead of having to jump right into the next one.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Podcasts
1. Find a podcast that interests you: My favorite podcast is the This American Life podcast from National Public Radio. Next to This American Life, the best podcast there is, would have to be, The New Yorker's Fiction podcast. I also really enjoy Motion Traxx podcast which is upbeat music for working out!
For this excercise, I listened to The New Yorker's Fiction podcast. The episode I listened to was called Salvatore Scibona reads Denis Johnson's "Two Men." Denis Johnson is not an author I am used to, but listening to this has made me want to become more familiar with his work. Generally, I find listening to the podcasts from The New Yorker and This American Life especially completely and utterly engaging and relaxing at the same time. This was no exception.
2. Can you add the RSS feed for the podcast to your iTunes or Google Reader account?
I was able to add the RSS feed for This American Life to my Google Reader account fairly quickly which I was very proud of considering it had been a while, since I'd even looked at my google reader account.
3. Are you new to podcasts, or are you a regular listener?
I wouldn't call myself a regular listener. But I'm definitely not new to them.
For this excercise, I listened to The New Yorker's Fiction podcast. The episode I listened to was called Salvatore Scibona reads Denis Johnson's "Two Men." Denis Johnson is not an author I am used to, but listening to this has made me want to become more familiar with his work. Generally, I find listening to the podcasts from The New Yorker and This American Life especially completely and utterly engaging and relaxing at the same time. This was no exception.
2. Can you add the RSS feed for the podcast to your iTunes or Google Reader account?
I was able to add the RSS feed for This American Life to my Google Reader account fairly quickly which I was very proud of considering it had been a while, since I'd even looked at my google reader account.
3. Are you new to podcasts, or are you a regular listener?
I wouldn't call myself a regular listener. But I'm definitely not new to them.
Mashups.
Tagging and Social Bookmarking
* Can you see the potential of this tool for research assistance?
I've used tags and delicious before, and I definitely can see the potential for a tool like this for research assistance. It reminds me a lot of the link collections that we use in our libguides, but it adds and extra little something that is really good for users. The fact that you can see how many other people have bookmarked a site is very informative and useful. Additionally, the ability to see potentially related tags that can lead you to potentially relevant links, is also unique and helpful.
* Does your library have a social bookmark collection?
Currently we don't. But we do have libguides!
I've used tags and delicious before, and I definitely can see the potential for a tool like this for research assistance. It reminds me a lot of the link collections that we use in our libguides, but it adds and extra little something that is really good for users. The fact that you can see how many other people have bookmarked a site is very informative and useful. Additionally, the ability to see potentially related tags that can lead you to potentially relevant links, is also unique and helpful.
* Does your library have a social bookmark collection?
Currently we don't. But we do have libguides!
Multimedia
# What did you like or dislike about YouTube?
I like that you can easily find videos that are related to the current video you're watching because sometimes you wouldn't normally find those videos in a search. So that's very handy. I don't like that the site can sometimes be hard to navigate. At one point I was trying to find an embed link for the video but I didn't realize I was on someone's profile page and not on the video page. So that was a little confusing. But I eventually figured it out.
# Could you find any video created by academic libraries?
I was already aware of the Old Spice parody that BYU did, so I've seen that one on youtube. But I also found, a whole series called "The Library Minute" that are put out by Arizona State University. They're fun an informative. Here's an example:
# Why did you choose the video that you selected for your blog?
I chose the first video for my blog because I thought it was unique. It's an advertisement for a book series, that has not yet been adapted to television or the big screen. This person took video, images, and sound, from unrelated media such as tv and movies, and made an advertisement for the popular book series, The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, which is a series, that we hold in our library at Germanna.
# Can you see any features or components of the site that might be interesting if they were applied to library websites?
I really liked those ASU videos. They're short, fun, informative, and would hold students attention. If our library were to get a YouTube account, and make video tutorials such as the ASU tutorials, I think that would be very beneficial to our students.
Audiobooks
* What did you think of Farrell's article?
The article was very informative about the types of files that are the most user-friendly. It made me realize, that the VCCS is very lucky to to have Overdrive, because when looking at the side-by-side comparison, it seems best choice for audiobooks. At least in my opinion.
* Did you try an online audiobook provider other than Overdrive? Which one?
I actually tried Project Gutenberg because I've directed students there on numerous occasions and because I've already used OverDrive for audiobooks and movies in the past. Project Gutenberg audio books are all public domain works and they are recorded by volunteers.
* Do you know of any audiobook questions or feedback from users at your college?
The only feedback that I can really speak about is that when students find out that they can download audiobooks for free using overdrive, they are always very excited. I actually haven't had any students come back and report their experiences, so I don't have any feedback from students who have actually used the database.
The article was very informative about the types of files that are the most user-friendly. It made me realize, that the VCCS is very lucky to to have Overdrive, because when looking at the side-by-side comparison, it seems best choice for audiobooks. At least in my opinion.
* Did you try an online audiobook provider other than Overdrive? Which one?
I actually tried Project Gutenberg because I've directed students there on numerous occasions and because I've already used OverDrive for audiobooks and movies in the past. Project Gutenberg audio books are all public domain works and they are recorded by volunteers.
* Do you know of any audiobook questions or feedback from users at your college?
The only feedback that I can really speak about is that when students find out that they can download audiobooks for free using overdrive, they are always very excited. I actually haven't had any students come back and report their experiences, so I don't have any feedback from students who have actually used the database.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Thing Eighteen: Social Cataloging
Which application did you choose? Are you new to social cataloging?
I'm fairly new to social cataloging. I recently had created a personal goodreads account for myself. I hadn't got past listing a few book that I've read and listing a few books that I want to read. I did this maybe a month or so ago. The only time I've gone to the site since first signing up, however, is when an author of one of the books on my "to-read" list sent me a message about signed copies of his book being offered at his website for sale. If I was more actively reading at the moment, I think this would be more useful to me. My blog title "Not that Bookish" isn't just for laughs, you know! :)
I'm fairly new to social cataloging. I recently had created a personal goodreads account for myself. I hadn't got past listing a few book that I've read and listing a few books that I want to read. I did this maybe a month or so ago. The only time I've gone to the site since first signing up, however, is when an author of one of the books on my "to-read" list sent me a message about signed copies of his book being offered at his website for sale. If I was more actively reading at the moment, I think this would be more useful to me. My blog title "Not that Bookish" isn't just for laughs, you know! :)
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