La Finale!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

An interesting journey with moments of enjoyment and of frustration. Frustrating when sites were blocked or malfunctioning (Techorati - on my list to go back to). It did feel somewhat disjointed with all the distractions of everyday work along the way so definately lost my creativity about half way through way under the pressure of getting it finished. Feel I haven't done justice to it and need to go back to review and refresh. Have gained a greater awareness of what's available in the world of the web and can see the potential particularly with social networking as a way of connecting with cyber minded customers - teens in particular; and a more interactive approach to the catalogue offering scope for more customer feedback and input (such as adding user friendly tags).
And so the story ends...Sur la droite, du cote de l'eau immobile et plate, deferle, toujours a la meme place, la meme petite vague.

Podcasts

Explored podcastalley.com for this one - the world is your oyster in terms of choice of topic. Found free audio London walks, downloadable to your MP3 - includes some good tips on transport options etc
Pocast.com have a similar range - some interesting stuff under Kids & Family.
Have added an RSS feed to my bloglines account for Nancy Pearl's book reviews as she had reviewed a book I read recently 'The Piano Teacher'. Another resource for our avid readers who have the time and inclination to explore this style of resource.

Technorati

Well, a skight hiccup here trying to search 'Learning 2.0'. It indicated there were over 8000 results but clicking on a thumbnail just returned you to the directory or an 'Oops, technorati has problems' page - backend issues apparently. So this is something I will need to go back to when they sort their backend out!

ebooks

Project Gutenburg: President Obama's inaugral address posted shortly after it was given (I/m wrting this up a considerable time after I looked at this site); over 27,000 books - find them hard to read compared to a hard copy. Also it is all older titles - material that no longer has copyright in the US so if you're looking for a classic (Shakespeare, Jane Austin, Dickens, Mark Twain...) you'll find it and it's printable through lulu.com. Intriguing titles: 'Beeton's Book of Needlework' by Mrs Beeton - not only can she cook she can stitch as well.

Web 2.0 tools

Had a brief look at a selection of sites from the Web 2.0 Awards nominees:
Biblio.com offers used, rare, out of print and text books. It provides an option for customers to make suggestions. There's also a 'booklovers' suggest' section covering childrens; fiction; non fiction. Can browse books by subject, including recommended books but little info was offered (no preview of book or blurb). And you can browse selections from rare book room. So quite interesting and useful for older titles.
Lulu has a facility to publish books and calendars.
Mango languages is designed to give you conversational ability in a chosen language (12 options). Has a translator.
My Heritage - can create a photo family tree.
There is so much out there. No doubt over time the more durable, popular, easy to use, flexible etc ones will come to the fore. Those who have a particular interest will find the tool that suits them best. Somewaht impossible to be aufait with everything.

A jelly bean to the person who can figure why Jack is on this page!

Library 2.0 & Web 2.0

I think we're just dipping our toes in the water with Library 2.0 - the potential is vast and the challenge is to find the time and space to get creative in the midst of keeping up with the routine stuff. I think we've twigged the changes we've coped so admirably with thus far are just the beginning - and we know we can do it so exciting times ahead. Love the idea that there is always something new (both to learn and to incorporate into how we do things). Have mentioned previously the potential of wikis and blogs - lots of scope for collaboration and interaction. There are increasing numbers of avenues for accessing what libraries have ranging from face to face to online.
Like the idea in Jack Maness' article about seeing a library as a social network in itself - we have always been a place of community so Lib 2.0 adds a new dimension to this