#20 YouTube

I have previously watched hundreds of things on YouTube. I can see it as a useful tool for libraries. I didn't know that user submissions had to be 10 minutes or less. So, I learned something new!

I watched several bookcart drill team entries. The video was fairly terrible on all. One (an Austin Library group) did use my new favorite song -- "I want to be a librarian". When I went to the song's official video it was well worth the viewing. I cannot recommend it highly enough. It is by "Haunted Love"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne_WXP7lUWM

I noticed that several library-related YouTube videos have very low hits and 0 comments in many cases. Maybe it was just the ones I tried. But it does make me wonder how successful this is if few are viewing what you are putting out there in YouTube Libraryland.

I also enjoyed an open access occupational film about the library profession shot in 1947. The purpose, sayeth the film, is bringing people and books together. Today, I suppose it is bringing people and computers together.

I also don't know how people actually post something on YouTube. Is is fairly simple to do?

#6 Blog Readers

Well, I pretty much enjoy all things google so I'm sure this will prove to be helpful as well. I can see the advantage of all the sites in one place. This will personally save some time. Or waste it as I am constantly distracted by new things to the sites I have subscribed to from this time forward. I can't see this as much of a boon to my library but I will probably find it useful in my spare time.

#19 Google docs

I can see the advantages of google docs. I have never used it before. The ability to upload, edit from anywhere, store files securely and share changes in real time would be helpful. However, I never really work collaboratively on any documents. If this was an activity I engage in frequently I would find google docs helpful. It is certainly very easy to use. It is clear, clean and uncluttered.

I'm not sure of the advantages of using google docs to publish a web page. I do see how group presentations would be facilitated by utilizing google docs. Like everything else, the google bloggers really show how to increase the value of this free service.

#18 Wikis

I created my wiki but I did have a few problems. I didn't realize that the sub-page titles could not be identical to any others that had been named. So when I tried "interests" it just kept taking me back to the home page instead allowing me to enter text. Once I changed it to reading interests it finally accepted the new page. However, the hierarchy didn't seem to work. I added 3 subpages but they don't all display correctly. It only shows two. If you click reading interests then you see all three. So I am not sure what went wrong with my posting.

Some of the Wikipedia entries are much better than others. I do use Wikipedia, of course, but I don't know how much I would trust it as a sole source.

#17 Libworm

I loved this Library-oriented RSS feed search engine. When I searched for my Library, alas, I came up with nada, nothing, bupkis, zilch. That is really too bad.

I searched for several other items and found many interesting stories, comments, blogs etc. I searched for Netflix and libraries and came up with some helpful and thought-provoking information. Some compared the "netflix model" and library model as well as articles about libraries who have used Netflix as their default DVD provider.

I also found a link to Libraryman writing about the upcoming closing of Seattle Public for a week. I thought libraryman's blog had a great idea about how to help people see the impact of the closing and reminding the public of the Library ROI for the community

#12 Twitter

I first heard about twitter a couple of years ago at a TLA conference in Dallas. I remember the speaker was covering several different 2.0 areas and mentioned twitter. His take on it was that he really didn't see the use in it. The last time I heard of twitter was reading about some celeb's latest 140 character mindless missive.

Of course since that long ago TLA conference Twitter has exploded in popularity. I just don't understand why. It is the perfect example of our self-centered naval-gazing population. I don't care if someone is enjoying a ham sandwich at 3 p.m. on a Tuesday. Truly, I do not care.

However, through the trending Twitter topics I did find out that Angela's Ashes author Frank McCourt died today. So, I got some very sad news through it. I enjoyed his books very much. I read Angela's Ashes when I was sick with the flu. It helped somehow. At least I wasn't in Limerick I thought at the time.

But back to Twitter. Although I think it is mostly ridiculous, I did subscribe to the Newsweek tweets which then linked to a short piece by Ben Bradlee remembering Walter Cronkite. I did enjoy that.

#15 Digg

How did I ever live without Digg? Oh yeah. Quite easily.
Sarcasm aside, this is an exceedingly fun way to waste significant amounts of time. Here I go viewing the current top entry "Zombie costume" as well as "Man sues dentist after he dropped tools down throat TWICE." Of course it is the "twice" that really makes the story. Who could resist reading the story after that compelling headline??

And this certainly beats CNN if you are looking for the offbeat. The comments on various articles seem to be readable and thoughtful at times which is refreshing.

I can't see any application at all for my Library. But I am glad to have been introduced to Digg and I will be returning to it frequently much to my annoyance. I had really hoped to get back to my book (remember books?) Disquiet, please! More Humor Writing from the New Yorker. But the book will just have to wait because I just spotted "Top 10 Anti-Microsoft Quotes" Here are two: Difference between a virus and windows? Viruses rarely fail and Computers are like air conditioners, they stop working when you open windows.

Oh Digg where have you been all my life?

#14 Delicious

This is so helpful. I set up a quick account and it is so easy to have a button to just tag it as the mood strikes when I find a helpful site. But the ability to access it from anywhere is fan.tast.ic.
http://delicious.com/drgooch

I really enjoyed the common craft video on social bookmarking. Simple and to the point.

The delicious FAQs were unusually clear, well written and helpful which isn't always the case with FAQs. I also love it when a site can throw in unexpected humor (why did they cancel Veronica Mars). Yes! to more humor whenever possible in all things.

However, this is, again, another contribution to information overload. Why? Let's say I have found 15 excellent sites on a topic. Unless I am working on a Ph.D I don't need 100 sites for every topic I can think of. So, I see someone else has 15 different sites from the sites I found on my interest or topic. And yet another person has 30 more on the topic. And I go to explore them. Where does it end? Laundry never gets done, car never gets an oil change. I'm just spending eternity looking at yet another website.

#13 Tagging

Some advantages I see to tagging: informal usage, real-world language, customization. Disadvantages are, of course, no controlled vocabulary and really inefficient and misleading searching. I never thought about "spam tag". I had never heard that term. Usually assigning more subject heading to books is a good thing. You broaden the chance the book will be found in your catalog system. I never considered that users would apply an excessive number (or unrelated tags) just to attract more people to an item or image. I mean I would never assign a "chocolate" subject to a book on turnips just because I think more people would look at it that way. It is completely misleading. That's part of the open source disadvantage of the web. Without some kind of authority control you end up with wasted time and frustration on the part of the searcher. Let's say you are talking about carving. Well, wood carving, or how to carve a turkey or...Words can have so many different meanings that tagging, again, seems to be rather haphazard.

#16 Library Thing

Well, I got bogged down with Flickr so I decided to go in a non-linear fashion and select a random 23 Thing (specifically Library Thing) to complete.

This was a good way to jump start my N. Texas 2.0 participation again. As I suspected other life events got in the way of the time I could devote to this.

I had always planned to check out Library Thing and am happy to at least get past browsing and actually sign up and begin adding my personal Library a little at a time. It is a wonderful idea and service and well executed. I've added a few titles from my Library. The cataloger in me would like to spend hours really dissecting every title and writing long, effusive reviews. The time-short part of me wants to add a few details and move on.

I love this site. Interesting to see others who have my books.

It is telling to read about tags since the first sentence describing their use says "Tags are a simple way to categorize books according to how you think of them, not how some library official does" (emphasis is mine). I think that points to a key access problem/image with libraries. Cataloging isn't perfect -- I mean who thinks of "cookery" instead of "cooking", but still... why is "some library official" akin to "clueless bureaucrat?" I mean libraries aren't a terrible model to consider when organizing books.

I found the site a little chaotic and cluttered. I was not sure where to look first. I think too many things engaged my attention. I look forward to exploring in more depth in the future.

I love the Librarians Who Library Thing -- especially the funny requests from patrons.