Twenty two - Instant Messaging

I could not live without instant messaging. It's so much easier and less time consuming than email. I use IM for work and personal communication. I keep up with family and discuss ideas with colleagues across the country. To me it seems easier than a phone call. It allows for multi-tasking which I can't do as well on the phone.

IM isn't for everyone, some people are more comfortable making the phone call or having more time to craft an email. For me, it works. Though I have not used the Lincoln City Libraries IM service yet the next time I have a question I'll certainly give that a whirl first.

Twenty One - Podcasts

I don't regularly listen to podcasts. I'll subscribe to them and then forget to come back to listen to the episodes. I think it goes in waves for me. There are so many other things to do...how can I listen to podcasts all the time when I am watching all my YouTube videos?

Libraries could certainly use podcasts to reach folks for book reviews or recordings of programs that were done at the library. When I do listen to podcasts it has been library news podcasts, film reviews and news programming.

Twenty - You Tube

Some days I wonder on YouTube for hours and others it seems like I can't find a thing to watch. Most of what I watch is humorous such as YogaKitty. :-)

Nineteen - Web 2.0 Tools

One of my favorites from the list is Craigslist. It isn't because I actually do a lot of business on the site but its amazing to see all the stuff folks have up for sale, rent, personals, etc. I think the site is extremely simple and easy to navigate and search. It hasn't seemed to change much lately. There is not a lot you can do to make it better. Now to use it in a library setting...well, you could try to sell all the donated books the library received through the year...all that stuff in the storage room, closet and basement.

Eighteen - Web based apps

Whoohoo! I love Google docs! I use it all the time for collaboration on work and personal documents. It is so nice to be able to edit a document at the same time as another collaborator. It's the fastest way around to a perfect product! Go Google Docs!

Seventeen - using a wiki

PBWiki does make it very easy. I added posts to my favorite books, music, website & restaurant areas of the NLC 2.0 wiki. It is like learning HTML or CSS again...a new way of doing things and takes a bit of time to get the hang of it. Luckily I did not get to thing 17 until this week and there were lots of other entries to follow. ;-)

Sixteen - Wikis

I enjoy browsing through the wikis and really like the ones done for conferences and information such as best practices. Even though editing can be troublesome it provides a good space for sharing in a non blog/comment type environment. I'm sure over time the WYSIWYG editors will improve in wiki software and make it easier for everyone to contribute. We have some wikis at the NLC too. Vern loaded up Screwturn wiki software for us and we have also used PBWiki. We have a departmental wiki and then others are using it for special projects. That seems to be one of the best and easiest uses. Information about special projects can be posted and you can get out of the need to save email after email.