Library 2.0

Oops! I did it again ;-) I read several of the articles suggested in Thing #15 a couple of weeks ago and then forgot to blog about it.

Here are my thoughts/reactions:

Rick Anderson's "Away from the 'icebergs'"
-I'm all for making resources more accessible and easier for patrons to use. However, just because we cannot sit each individual patron down for some good old fashioned instruction, doesn't mean that teaching has no place in today's (or tomorrow's) library. As much as we all would like a one-click solution to our information needs (and as hard as we work to increase patron independence), I think it is very important to provide some kind of assistance/education.
-Though we are no longer in an exclusively print-based environment, I wouldn't call this the "post-print era;" the world has been come more digital, but it's not completely digital.
-I do think it's a very good idea to "integrat[e] our services into [patrons'] daily patterns of work, study and play." If we don't seek to become an integral part of our patrons' lives, we'll be brushed aside and forgotten.

Michael Stephens' "Into a new world of librarianship"
-"Librarian 2.0 controls technolust" and "does not buy technology for the sake of technology" but seeks to improve the user's experience by exploring new technologies and implementing them when and where they will be most useful. Hooray!
-"Perpetual beta." Hmm, this feels a little more uncomfortable. I agree that the library cannot remain static, but staying in temporary/experimental mode doesn't sound especially tenable either.
-I agree that the library is not an isolated entity and that "Librarian 2.0" needs to stay aware of shifting external landscapes in order to plan the internal transformations that happen in the library.

John J. Riemer's "To better bibliographic services"
-Oh how I look forward to the "comprehensive menu of choices [for finding and obtaining materials] in a single place"! That is currently (in my opinion) one of the most frustrating aspects of using a library (and I work in one and have an MLS!).
-I'm not sure how excited I am about the "tagging" phenomenon, but perhaps if we can integrate less structured forms with more structured forms of metadata the result will be beneficial...

Technorati

Hmmm; well, I think I've started on this Thing two or three times now and still haven't blogged about it. I liked what I saw in the tutorial, but that didn't really seem to be what I found on the site. Maybe I need to claim my blog in order to get the "discover" view? I'm not sure.

In any case, I like ability to do "advanced searches," though I'd be happier without all the ads;-) I looked at some of the popular blogs and did some tag searching. I'm not clear on the sorting of results/hits that goes on.

Search Rolls for Education

Please try some searches using the search rolls below. Use the dropdown menu to select any of the following search rolls:

"Gen. Ref. for Education" which searches: Ask an Expert, Gale Virtual Reference Library, Internet Quick Reference Shelf, Educator's Reference Desk, Encyclopedia Britannica Online, National Library of Education, and Your Dictionary.

"Educ. Data Search" which searches: Condition of Education, Digest of Educational Statistics, Kids Count Data Book, National Archives and Records Administration, National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), and NCES School District Data Book.

"Cert. & Standards" which searches: Certification Requirements for the 50 States, Nations Report Card, and National and State Educational Standards.

"Education in Indiana" which searches: ASAP (Indiana Accountability System for Academic Progress), IDEANet (Indiana Dept. of Education Access Network), and Indiana Academic Standards.

"Educ. & Fed. Gov." which searches: Federal Education Laws, FedWorld Information Network, U.S. Department of Education, and U.S. Department of Education Technology Initiatives.

"Rankings & Tests" which searches: Peterson's Education Center, Princeton Review Online, Test Locator, and U.S. News Online Education Rankings.

Thing #9

So, I realized that I posted an entry about Bloglines here, but never said anything about the tools used to select the feeds! Here we go then: I wasn't happy with Feedster, because I couldn't get the page to load. I think I like Technorati the best as far as searching and just the layout in general, though I did use Topix.net to find the news feed for my hometown. I used Syndic8.com, too, but didn't like it quite as much as Technorati.