Podcasts allow access to a wide range of subjects. Just as YouTube is visual, podcasts are audio, which makes them another practical tool to assist in lifelong learning. Both have a practical use in a library environment and would encourage independent learning. I'm sure the portability of podcasts are a major factor in their popularity and no-one need know that you are not being "cool" and listening to music! However, I am a little disappointed about the lack of Australian content. Perhaps there are Australian sites and I have yet to uncover them.

I could spend all day exploring this. I have listened to all the hype but never experienced it firsthand. So many practical demonstrations that make learning easy, not to mention all the comedy and lighthearted clips. Many of the clips step the viewer through things page by page, which is just like having a teacher with you. This would be great for those who have literacy difficulties or just like to learn through visual instruction. Training on how to use the internet/computers may have just become that little bit easier as some of these clips could be incorporated into a practical session. This would save staff time and could be linked to the homepage to highlight the ability for self instruction.

Quite a range of wonderful sites to search. I will have to come back to this site when I have lots of time to play. The site http://www.biblio.com/ was listed as a winner in the "books" section, but found this very similar to http://www.abebooks.com/ that I use frequently to locate out of print books. Both sites can limit to Australian booksellers which is a useful tool.


There are a broad spectrum of categories from business to retail, events to philanthropy and lists and polls, which makes this site useful for just about everyone. Most of them appear to be American based, so be would be interesting to see if Australia has something of a similar nature. I particularly enjoyed http://www.etsy.com/, a site displaying handmade articles for sale. Some people are so innovative and creative.

Zoho writer is very similar to other word processing applications and I can see a number of uses. It is versatile and can see a number of people editing a document easily without the hassle of emailing it back and forth. Any changes would be immediate and apparent to others. The only issue I can see is that relies on an internet connection - contrary to popular belief, some regions in Victoria do not have access to a reliable service. How frustrating would it be to have the internet time out in the middle of a document?!

Another useful tool that has many applications in a library environment. But which is the best way to disseminate information to our public? Blogs or wikis or both? Wikis are definitely more interactive and easy to change. This is something our library staff will have to examine shortly, as we are in the process of completely redeveloping our website.

After playing in the sandbox, adding or altering an entry is just like editing a normal word document. Extremely flexible and a great way to have people from all over the world contributing their collective knowledge. I can see a wiki being very useful in gathering local history information, as it will not just be restricted to people living in one particular area. Collecting memories internationally would provide unique insights to perceptions of an area.

I have been using the library success wiki (www.libsuccess.org) for over 12 months and have found it a great resource and it even has some Australian content appearing now. A little disappointing that now an email confirmation is now required because of vandalism and this is obviously a negative of utilising a wiki. I can see that wikis would be extremely additive for family history reserachers and would like to see one develop for this library service. I must admit most of my time was spent looking at the SJCPL Subject Guide Wiki under genealogy/family history and imagining what could be achieved!

Libraries will be very different to the traditional libraries of the 20th century and the internet is helping to shape the future library. As Rick Anderson, Director of Resource Acquisition at the University of Nevada states we have to thinking about ways of "integrating our services into [peoples] daily patterns of work, study or play". To do this, we will have to have a good knowledge of web 2.0 to remain relevant to our community. Libraries are often the bridge for those who have no internet access at home or those who are unfamiliar with the internet at all, so this Library 2.0 training will help skill us to assist our communities.

There seems to be more of a move away from traditional print materials to online resources that are accessible 24/7. Libraries will need to be more interactive and less passive and after reading a number of articles, perhaps libraries will be more fiction orientated, with less emphasis on factual information in printed format. My only concern is the issue of historical preservation for future generations, as web technology changes so quickly and sites are forever evolving. With the habit of making everything easily accessible on websites, wikis and blogs, the ability to easily change information with no historical copy being maintained is concerning. The National Library can only archive so much digitally and it would be easy for some documents to be permanently "lost" to future generations.

Not enamoured with this either! After conducting various searches, I noticed a difference in the results when utilising the various search options. Searching tags produced more results than blog posts. I found it frustrating when attempting to find information that is verifiable/reliable as many of the results linked to general discussions and observations (which is the whole point of blogs) rather than factual information.

I found Del.icio.us a little messy and hard to follow logically. Perhaps I just need to spend more time using it! I do believe it is great for social networking, as finding others with similiar interests can be enlightening. The fact it is "portable" and accessible from any computer is a bonus and I can see it being beneficial for those spending a lot of time online.

I can see that this would be useful for those who have a specific interest or hobby. I suppose it is the time saving that it offers that is attractive and the fact that you can specify your own personal favourite sites. A great way to compare prices on goods if you are a regular internet shopper.

I enjoyed utilising the "suggestions" options of LibraryThing. There was an acknowledgement that as I had only a small number of books catalogued, the results would be "spotty". This is a great way to uncover new authors and maybe discover new favourites and the option to have fiction or non-fiction is a great readers advisory tool. There was even an option to omit all the authors in my collection, so that I didn't have to catalogue every single title of a particular author in order to ensure they didn't show up in a suggested list. Over time I may extend my list of books to increase the chances of more relevant suggestions. It may even be worthwhile suggesting to some keen Library members who are always on the lookout for upcoming authors and readalikes.

Even more exciting is that I have been able to link to LibraryThing by placing the widget to the side of my blog through navigating my way around the HTML maze. As I have imported a template from another site, I can't customise the desktop simply by moving blocks and editing text as offered by Blogger. The only way I could see to customise my site was to look through the HTML (under template) and alter and then preview the changes in the hope it worked. I'm not sure who is more surprised, me or a younger staff member to whom this is second nature!! I am learning so much through trial and error, but for me this is the best way to learn!

Wow! What a range of fascinating and totally mind blowing options there are for photo manipulation. Scrapbookers would be in heaven. I have to admit I spent so much time exploring all the options and how I could use them for family and friends that I am now weeks behind in my blogging.

I have just discovered how exciting and empowering it is to be able to change blog templates. Instead of the standard format, there are so many creative people who have designed templates that are incredible. This will increase the design options available to staff who are are using/thinking of using blogs on their websites. A way to look professional with little effort! By changing the look periodically interest could be maintained, as a site that doesn't adapt can become stale.