What else can Google do? There is iGoogle, Google Earth, Google Chrome, Google Maps, Google Scholar, and now Google Docs!
I had heard of Google Docs and have used it to share documents with some friends. This is a good way to share documents with others. Having access to documents online is a great way to be able to work. I do not use it on a regular basis and really knew very little about it. I did not realize you could actually create documents there. I liked the template options. The site is very easy to use and makes creating documents quick and easy.
I am not sure if my district allows this site to be accessed, they block so many, but this could be a good site to show students and teachers. This site could be used by students to post their writing to their teacher and for the teacher and other students to edit the writing. As an elementary school librarian it is important to help teachers find innovative ways to keep students engaged and this site could assist with that engagement.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Wikis
I am familiar with Wikis. I know what they are but I have never created a Wiki. I use Wikipedia often. I understand that the information is only as good as the people posting there and that Wikipedia would never be used as a primary source. I don't think everyone realizes this about Wikipedia. I think it serves a good purpose and is a good way to show what a Wiki does.
I created my home page on Wetpaint. I had trouble because I chose a page with a photo and when I tried to upload the picture it took over the whole page. I decided not to spend a lot of time trying to change the size of the picture so I just deleted it. I would liked to have deleted the whole page and started over but I couldn't figure out how to do this. I also ran into trouble when I gave my sub pages names that were already being used. I had to get a little creative to keep the page I wanted. I was not familiar with this part of a wiki, but since we are supposed to be sharing information it would make sense that if Itype a page name that is already there then I should be editing that page not creating my own.
The library media department in my district has a Wiki for the librarians to use. I can see using a Wiki at my campus library with the students and teachers. They could post information about books they have read or want to read. This could be a great interactive tool for students and teachers. Now that I have had a little experience with this Wiki I may go try my hand at my district's Wiki!
I created my home page on Wetpaint. I had trouble because I chose a page with a photo and when I tried to upload the picture it took over the whole page. I decided not to spend a lot of time trying to change the size of the picture so I just deleted it. I would liked to have deleted the whole page and started over but I couldn't figure out how to do this. I also ran into trouble when I gave my sub pages names that were already being used. I had to get a little creative to keep the page I wanted. I was not familiar with this part of a wiki, but since we are supposed to be sharing information it would make sense that if Itype a page name that is already there then I should be editing that page not creating my own.
The library media department in my district has a Wiki for the librarians to use. I can see using a Wiki at my campus library with the students and teachers. They could post information about books they have read or want to read. This could be a great interactive tool for students and teachers. Now that I have had a little experience with this Wiki I may go try my hand at my district's Wiki!
Sunday, July 5, 2009
LibWorm
I really like this site. I didn't have to register, which is getting to be a pain. I feel like I have to give my personal information to everyone on the web to access information! This site is very easy to use. I searched for "challenged books" and found that there is actually a banned books week that is from the end of September to the beginning of October. I also search for "book awards" and had 53,773 records returned. I was interested in learning about e-books so I used the subject search. I found over 6,00 records relating to e-books.
I see this site as a good site for research. Like any other site there is relevant and irrelevant information returned. I like that you can do keyword searches, subject searches, and search by tags. I would like to see more tags but then I wasn't logged in so I don't know if that made a difference. I also liked the Feed Categories. I found some very interesting information under the school library feed. This was a good way to see how other schools are using technology to get their information out. Since I will be creating a library page for my campus I wanted to see what other schools were putting out there. I looked at blogs, as well as campus pages.
Libworm is aimed at librarians and it was easy to use. Those two things make this a site I will use in the future.
I see this site as a good site for research. Like any other site there is relevant and irrelevant information returned. I like that you can do keyword searches, subject searches, and search by tags. I would like to see more tags but then I wasn't logged in so I don't know if that made a difference. I also liked the Feed Categories. I found some very interesting information under the school library feed. This was a good way to see how other schools are using technology to get their information out. Since I will be creating a library page for my campus I wanted to see what other schools were putting out there. I looked at blogs, as well as campus pages.
Libworm is aimed at librarians and it was easy to use. Those two things make this a site I will use in the future.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Library Thing
I created an account in LibraryThing. I added three of my textbooks that I had used previously in my course of studies. This site is easy to use, uses tags like everyone else, and is a great way to keep track of what books I have available. Once I find all of my books I may go ahead and put them in LibraryThing.
I tried to "Read the sections on ThingLang, ISBN Check, and MARCThing to see how they intersect with the tools used by regular libraries" and it took me forever to find them. Once I finally tracked them down I basically found out that you may need a developer key to get some results in LibraryThing returned the way you want them. I appreciate programmers I just don't want to be one!
I like the Groups tab. I enjoy reading what others are posting. I also liked the Local tab. You put in a city and state and it gives you all the libraries, bookstores, and other interesting places in that area.
I can see using this in the library to read reviews of books that others are reading or staying up on current events. There are times when I will need to order books and having some input by others can be helpful. The Author chats are something that I think could be useful it helps give more information about authors and books I may not be aware of or have not read yet.
I tried to "Read the sections on ThingLang, ISBN Check, and MARCThing to see how they intersect with the tools used by regular libraries" and it took me forever to find them. Once I finally tracked them down I basically found out that you may need a developer key to get some results in LibraryThing returned the way you want them. I appreciate programmers I just don't want to be one!
I like the Groups tab. I enjoy reading what others are posting. I also liked the Local tab. You put in a city and state and it gives you all the libraries, bookstores, and other interesting places in that area.
I can see using this in the library to read reviews of books that others are reading or staying up on current events. There are times when I will need to order books and having some input by others can be helpful. The Author chats are something that I think could be useful it helps give more information about authors and books I may not be aware of or have not read yet.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Digg
I can Digg it Man! This site has some very interesting information. I couldn't believe all of the links that are posted there! I took the tour to see how the site works but I didn't join because I have too many things to keep up with right now and did not need another site to check.
This site could be a good site to search for links to information you want. I see it as a reference site. I did a search for "library" and found 3,127 links but just like any search some had nothing to do with libraries. It was very interesting to see some of the links that showed up. One was on "Most Famous Female Teacher Predators" and "The Most Bizarre Wills Ever Written." What either of those had to do with the word "library" I can't imagine.
I like the fact that if you join you can "Digg" the sites you like most and "Bury" the sites that have broken links or are off topic. Of course this is a two edge sword. Depending on what other participants feel are links that are "off topic" they could bury something you find very relevant. The only way to keep this site working is for active participation on the part of the members.
This site could be a good site to search for links to information you want. I see it as a reference site. I did a search for "library" and found 3,127 links but just like any search some had nothing to do with libraries. It was very interesting to see some of the links that showed up. One was on "Most Famous Female Teacher Predators" and "The Most Bizarre Wills Ever Written." What either of those had to do with the word "library" I can't imagine.
I like the fact that if you join you can "Digg" the sites you like most and "Bury" the sites that have broken links or are off topic. Of course this is a two edge sword. Depending on what other participants feel are links that are "off topic" they could bury something you find very relevant. The only way to keep this site working is for active participation on the part of the members.
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