#18 Web-based Apps

Love love love Google docs and calendars. I've used Google docs for a while now, in my ongoing (and increasingly futile) effort to coordinate budgeting information with my husband. Since he's on the road all the time, and we are both spending money, having a document loaded on a specific computer just didn't make sense. I store all kinds of things on Google docs now, since I never know where or when I might need to access my info.

I have been using Google's calendar application more as well (see my UM Men's Basketball Calendar post; all you Buckeyes, feel free to add it to your iGoogle or your Google calendar!!). I think it has tremendous possibilities for organizing groups; I've been suggesting to Brian that he use it to organize his team's classes and schedules, but we'll see how that goes.......

#17 Playing Around with Wikis

I've added my blog to the PBWiki page. It's much "easier" to use than mediawiki or even wetpaint, but it loses alot of functionality and customization along the way. It was, however, the perfect option for this program since most of us are wiki newbies. Hopefully we all have the hang of (or at least the idea of) wikis, since the Staff Information Wiki will be launched soon!

Keep your eyes peeled (Mark will be demonstrating it at the Wrap Party), and get ready to contribute your knowledge and information!

#16 So What's in a Wiki?

Love the wiki! It does, of course have its limitations (it can't be used for everything), but it's a pretty cool tool for gathering information from a variety of sources.

I think wikis can be a great substitute format for our traditional (and static) subject guides, as Chad has done with the BizWiki. Great stuff!

It also allows for others with subject expertise to add content (theoretically, profs, grad students, motivated undergrads, etc). Of course, you would have to talk them into it first.....

UM Men's Basketball Calendar

Gotta love LOLCats....

#15 On Learning 2.0

I think the section of the Iceberg article that I agree with the most is the "Reliance on User Education". We put an incredile amount of time and resources into teaching our patrons how to use the library; what if we put half of that towards making our resources easier and more intuitive to use in the first place? User education will never go away, of course, especially in graduate and advanced classes. However, I do believe that we need to rethink how we get patrons to use our resources. If it takes a 2 hour class just to learn how to do the basics of finding a book or article, then something is wrong! It is one of the major reasons that our new patrons go to Google. It is easy, intuitive, and you get something back (even if it frequently isn't the best "thing" for what you need).

I've been intrigued by more intuitive models of resource discovery lately; in particular, Innovative's new Encore product, which is being beta-tested at Michigan State University (and other sites). Play around with it here:

http://www2.lib.msu.edu/

or directly here:

http://catalog.lib.msu.edu/screens/encore.html

Neat-o!

#14 Technorati

Clearly I need to play around with Technorati a little more, because its practical applications are not exactly springing immediately to my mind. I tried to "claim" my blog and tag it with oulibraries, but I think something may have gone awry. The pics that I tagged in Flickr seem to be showing up fine though.

I've been getting so involved in overseeing this program that I have been lagging way behind in actually doing all of the exercises myself. Not doing a very good job of leading by example.

I promise to catch up; I'm so proud of everyone who is done already! Great job!!