Encore & Library 2.0

I was fortunate enough to have a play around with Encore when it was first introduced. I loved the colours, the interaction, the "did you mean" feature and the relevancy and ranking of words and related topics. They say that a picture says a thousand words and this is true ofEncore. Having the book covers shown is also very handy. I loved the feel and layout of it and have shown many students these features.

The tagging effect is also a feature that will encourage users to participate and we as the Information Professionals need to balance the need for participation and privacy inorder to feel comfortable with all that Library 2.0 offers. I am looking forward to when Encore becomes fully operational - I understand that there is a logistical problem at the moment and hopefully this will be resolved soon.

Letting our students know how relevant our collection is to their needs is one way of getting them to participate and for all of us to embrace Library 2.0. It really is the way of the future.

Now, for the Encore!

Google Scholar & Google Book Galore!

I am impressed with Google Scholar. I have used Google Scholar before when researching or trying to find scholarly or peer-reviewed articles during my post-graduate studies. If you refine your search you will often find articles that you may not have found in your catalogue or just surfing the web. I know that it has helped me in locating items for students at the Service desk that would have otherwise required an Interlibrary loan.

I wasn't really phased with Google Books due to the copyright restrictions, though it is often useful to look through the Table of Contents to ensure if the book is the right one for your research purposes. Amazon.com does a similar thing so this is not an unique attribute.

Google on baby!

Cheers

Google Docs - Move Over Mr Gates!

Discovered Google Docs today - it is an impressive suite of assorted things you can do with your documents, share, upload, blog, convert to pdf - the list goes on. I can see a use for it when you have several pieces of work that needs to be edited by others in your team - how handy is that instead of having several versions and not receiving everyone's comments, you can invite them to your document and have them edit it. Not bad at all.

I wonder how Mr. Gates feels about this new technology that Google has stripped away and making it easy and cheaper for others to use. Sharing this technology is cheap and effective I wonder how long it will be before there is some litigation to stop this. Keep on Googling!

Google Maps

Well readers

Google suite of products is amazing. I truly love Google Maps - I had to find my way from Williamstown to Kew yesterday. My Melways was out of date and I wanted to go through the Burnley tunnel and get there as quickly as possible. So I looked up the address and found the location and then I got the directions to get there. It was fairly straight forward.

I am not really impressed with the Street Image as I do believe that this is an invasion of privacy and raises concerns about public and private safety - need I say more! If you can know how you can remove your address from Street view, please let me know.

Will look into some of the other products they offer though.

Ciao for now!

RSS Feeds on Amazon

Played around with a RSS feed with the help of Dancing Queen on Amazon.com. We had trouble finding the RSS feed icon probably due to the vast array of products they sell. We did a search on the Busby Collection and had to find a tag for it under Silver Screen Movies. Hopefully this will work and I will be able to receive RSS feeds on new releases and special promotions for the silver screen classics for me to kick back and follow my bliss.

I will find this useful, though caution will be needed so this does not become spam.

"We're in the money, We're in the money, ...." Ginger Rogers, Gold Diggers 1933.

Digg it or Not?

Found my way on to Digg.com - not much to say other than some may enjoy social networking but it really is not my scene - who has the time when there are other things that you can do to follow your bliss. Perhaps I am from old-school cool? I am also not into Americancentric websites either - I love Australian content.

Have a digg around and see if it digs you.

www.digg.com

Till next time - follow your bliss - dig it !

RSS - This is Bliss - Ready Steady Start!

Hi Folks

I have just discovered how handy RSS feeds - instead of trawling through websites, looking for updates and re-reading information, you can subscribe to RSS feeds and just have the latest information sent to you! Saves time as well as data allowances and you get the latest information on exactly what you are after! How handy is that! So what have I subscribed to? Well information on George Clooney, Art deco, travel information on Lithuania to help plan my next overseas trip exploring my heritage.

Setting up an RSS feed can be an useful tool for libraries to engage their patrons. Information releases about latest books, favourite topics, authors, latest databases as well as promotions within the library - just the thing for time-poor patrons.

YouTube - Libraries in the Future

I have a little play with Youtube and fascinated with what is there - everything from singing cats to singing popstars - just watched John Mellencamp perform Cherry Bomb a very blissful song of happy memories for me anyway.

Watched an awesome video titled Libraries in 2010 which featured the direction Librarians should take with the help of Dr. Who and his Tardis, Back to Future, Hugh Jackman (his brain anyway) and the time machine courtesy of Guy Pearce. This video is worth watching as it reinforces in a fun way the future of libraries and the emerging technologies we also should embrace to remain relevant in the future. Have a look at it.

Here is the link to it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V67QuW0NeXI

Library Thing!

This is a selection of books I am currently reading or have read. As a librarian, I read far and wide - you never know where your next book will take you. Sit back, read, enjoy and follow your bliss! This selection comes from the activity 8 about Library Thing. Take the time to browse the virtual shelves. I decided that because of the Australian content of many of my books, I included the National Libraries of Australia catalogue to include the jackets of the Australian books. Take a look!

A Beautiful butterfly with beautiful colours!

Here with the help Dancing Queen, we have found an image to be inserted within the blog. This is composed a jigsaw tempting you to pick up the pieces to finish the puzzle. A creative way of presenting your photos or images.

More Playing with Flickr

I found some beautiful flowers on Flickr that I have presented on my blog. With the help of Dancing Queen, we were able to compose a beautiful array of flowers for you to enjoy. Remember follow your bliss - whatever it is!