19 - Google Docs

Google docs is great - especially if you have a computer that does not have microsoft programs on it! Everything is really easy to use and by reading the blog i have discovered there are all sorts of ways to use the docs - like using it to organize goods to sell with the check out feature. Wow.

Google docs are great for libraries and colleagues that are not in the same location. It is a lot less mess to simply use a doc instead of emailing revisions back and forth, etc. It is also great when you use many google features together - like perhaps a google calendar with summer reading programs, along with a spreadsheet doc keeping track of all the programs.

18 Wikis

I am a pretty big fan of wikis. I have used them alot with work and have enjoyed it. Our library has a wiki and a lot of people think it is a mess and do not use it. I think this is incredibly lazy that they do not like a collection of useful info that is something that can be manipulated by everyone.
As for wikipedia, I would never suggest anyone use this as a real source - but it is a great jumping off point. I have the Harry potter entry bookmarked my delicious account because I think it is a good reference for all series titles. I can never remember the order! I searched moebius syndrome which is a rare neurological condition. This did not have any discussions listed but it did note that a certain medical group had deemed it reliable? Who knows.

Thing 17 - LibWorm

I can not see this site on my lovely city network so I will try to remember to check it out tonight at home! This study has definitely confirmed my suspicions that I need to buy a laptop to take to and from to work as I am missing out on lots of good stuff.

Thing 16 - LibraryThing

I have to say a lot of the cataloging stuff is over my head. I do not do this at all in my job, so I do not know what would or would not be useful to libraries. I did think the isbn tool was neat though. I often do book reviews for newspapers and journals and the isbn can sometimes be tricky when dormatting your work to a certain style.

I have used librarything before to find books. Earlier this year I was looking for children's fiction books with math concepts and I found lots of talk about that topic: here is one that was helpful: http://www.librarything.com/talktopic.php?topic=17364

I have found that this collection of people who discuss different and obscure topics of books is much more useful.

Digg

I really am not a fan of Digg. I hate to say that, especially in this sort of a forum. I guess it is a cool snapshot of what people like on the net today. Sometimes I think the stories are a little frivolous. And lots of times when i click on a story it does not connect to the website with the original story. I am not sure if that is our lovely library firewall at work, but I have just not gotten addicted to digg. I do think it is a good place for my hu\bby to put his political rant blog. Perhaps when he figures out not too many people read it, he will spend less time on it.

14 Delicious

As a librarian who works at several different public service desks on any given day, delicious is a wonderful thing! I follow several different storytime blogs and early literacy sites and having them "saved" to one location. I have not gotten into the network feature too often, but sometimes if you save a site that only has a few members then I will look and see what other things those people has saved to their account.

here is my list:
http://delicious.com/lisake

Thing 13 Tagging

I really like the idea of tagging. I think people are used to bookstores and grocery stores that are nicely labeled. I think that subject headings get a little overwhelming for patrons in the library and that makes it difficult to look things up. As for putting this in practice, i do not know how it could be put into practice. I heard someone say once that theoretically it would be cool to get rid of Dewey since that seems to be confusing to patrons, but realistically how would books get reshelved with out a call number? Is there a way to integrate both? I am not a cataloger so that makes my head spin, but I do think eventually something will have to give.