Erbert & Gerbert's: Making of the Human Flipbook on YouTube

Stop motion animation has always appealed to me which is why this particular video on YouTube caught my eye. People in general seem to learn and be drawn to images and video over text and lectures so there is a great potential for providing video content within the library catalog and webpages as another way to attract and reach out to library users. YouTube appears to have fully embraced Web 2.0 given all the reference links and user-interactivity built in (related videos, more from this user, tags, comments, etc.). I can see why it's such a popular site!

Flickr

Copy (2) of P1010896
Originally uploaded by gerberadaisy

I'm attempting to post a picture of the Parliament Building in Budapest from my recent trip along the Danube River on my blog. It's neat that Flickr can connect to one's Google account enabling a blog entry to be posted on Blogger software (I wouldn't have guessed 3 different programs could communicate so easily with each other!).

I was quite surprised to see there are several other pictures of the Parliament Building on Flickr (some are very professional looking!). Makes me wonder what other images might be hosted there!

Podcasts

I glanced at a couple of the library podcast sites and I noticed that podcasts are used for storytelling, lectures, interviews, updates, etc. Podcasts are another means of providing information and are especially convenient when live program attendance is not possible. Unlike audio tapes or CDs, podcasts are downloaded from a server - one less physical item to be handled and carried around. At Mayo, the availability of grand rounds and other presentations on podcast would be a nice option in addition to video and webcasts as many people can listen and learn while multitasking (driving, exercising, eating, etc.).

PubMed Mashups

I took a brief look at XplorMed, PubMed Gold, and Ali Baba. The results in XplorMed are sorted by general categories based on MeSH headings such as Information Science, Psychiatry and Psychology, etc. This is an interesting way of arranging results, however, the entries are displayed only by the unique ID which means each entry must be clicked individually to view the title and abstract information. I'm not sure if PubMed Gold has a bug or, if it's just me, but I could only see one result for my search, even after broadening the limits. The concept is useful though as most users want free and immediate access to full text articles. I briefly checked out Ali Baba but did not want to download the necessary software on my personal PC. Again, the concept behind it (visual relationships among terms) is quite interesting and may aid individuals who learn best through the use of information presented in a graphical method.

Social OPACs

I started out searching the Univ. of Pennsylvania online catalog for the author, Jane Austen, but the only feature I noticed that fits with the theme of social tagging is the "More Like This" option which suggests additional items by the author or within the same series or on the same subject. As a dual librarian and library user, I know the value of suggestions for like items. Patrons commonly ask for something along the same lines as what has initially caught their interest. I then tried the Hennepin County Library's Bookspace site and clicked on the fiction category, Minnesota Book Awards. I like the being able to see images of the book covers as well as posted comments. It's amazing how much comments can sway the decision to explore material further or move on to something new! The overall layout of this site is quite impressive. It's clean but yet there's a good deal of information presented as well as links to related items. I found myself getting side-tracked for a good 10 minutes or more exploring what else is available! I moved on to the Ann Arbor District Library Catalog Tag Cloud. I noticed the tag, "Scotalnd" which is likely meant to be Scotland and see the potential for possibly more errors and less preciseness with folksonomies. I clicked on sisters and four results popped up showing the title and author as well as other tags. The other tags provide just enough information to get a sense of the theme of each result without needing to go further for a summary or abstract. Like Amazon.com, other titles checked out (or in Amazon's case, purchased) by users who borrowed the particular item of interest are displayed. I think the addition of comments and suggestions definitely makes the catalog more friendly and interesting!

Social Bookmarking

We all love to save useful webpages for future use, however, there are times when traditional bookmarks can't be utilized due to poor organization, use of a computer other than our own, etc. I really like the idea of social bookmarking sites that can be accessed from anywhere, provide easy sorting of webpages as well as links to related information others have found. As far as I'm aware, social tagging is already active in some OPACs in which library staff and patrons identify resources and suggest related items of possible interest. The recommendations of those with similar interests can be of great value.

I appreciate the exposure to Connotea and CiteULike for management of bibliographic references. These look especially useful for students, clinicians and writers and I'll definitely have to give them a try!

Online Collaboration Tools

I like the idea of being able to access and modify a document or presentation from any computer with internet access without having to carry a memory stick.

This group of online tools seems really broad with endless applications. I know instant messaging has been successful for reference in some library settings but there is so much more to explore!