Library Thing vs. Good Reads

OK, I think this was my favorite exercise so far. I'm constantly looking for good books to read and I had previously found Librarything to be helpful. However, after signing up for Good Reads I think I like them better. I like the fact that it was kind of like Facebook where you could invite all your friends on your email list to join. It seems a bit more interactive to me. I also like the way Good Reads lets you review your book lists and so on. I wish that Good Reads would have the recomendations like Librarything does, but overall I like Good Reads the best.

www.goodreads.com/review/list/992030

www.goodreads.com/user/show/992030

Tagging and Delicious

It took me awhile to figure out how to navigate around delicious--but once I figured it out I really like it. I can see how delicious would be an asset to many professions--like teachers and librarians. I also think it could take forever to sift through all the bookmarked websites to see which ones are actually useful. I would be totally lost. But then again I never fully realized how many millions of websites there are out there.

So, can I see the potential of delicious as a research tool? Sort of. But it is definitely a good way to bookmark your websites and access them anywhere.

Fun with Generators

So playing around with the generators was interesting. To be honest I'm not how much I would actually use it, but it was certainly entertaining. These are a few of my favorite generators:

TV PITCH GENERATOR

"TV is a vast wasteland, but that's going to change. The problem is that a bunch of network suits and hack writers have been copying and pitching each others' bad ideas since TV began. Generator Land suggests a new approach.
With the TV Show Pitch Generator you can generate hundreds of original TV show ideas—starring actors that a rational person would never yolk together. Just sit back in your La-Z-Boy, click the button repeatedly, and enjoy unique and ridiculous TV show pitches."

These are a few of the pitches it came up with:

" a retarded surfing champion with a false leg woos a supreme court judge who only speaks in pig latin. Stars F. Murray Abraham and Lindsey Lohan. Genre: Comedy"

" a super hero who is a former child star is forced to work for a drug lord who runs a chocolate shop. Stars Fred Savage and Jim Backus. Genre: Mini-Series"

"A lounge singer with a magical hat falls in love with a personal shopper with claws for hands. Stars Katherine Helmond and Mary Tyler Moore. Genre: Action"


CHINESE NAME GENERATOR

Here is my name in Chinese:

Sarah 莎拉 - prononciation (PinYin) : shā lā

Of course I also liked the puzzle generator, among others. All in all it was pretty fun.

Social Networking

I don't see a problem with libraries using Facebook and/or Myspace. In fact, I think it is a good idea. Some of the articles I read suggested that maybe teens wouldn't like libraries 'invading' their social networks. I think that is a really weak arguement for not getting involved in social networking. If these teens don't like it, they don't have to click on the profiles. I took a look at some of the different library Myspace pages and I think they have useful information on them, not just for teens, but for any library user.

MEEBO & IM'ING

I guess I would be what is called i 'light' user (big suprise). I've never used instant messaging or any kind of chat room before. I do understand the concept of instant messaging and I think having the little meebo widget for reference questions would be great. Some kid doing their homework and has a question could get their question answered right away.
The very big pro in this would be the instant (or almost instant) answers to a patron's question. No waiting on hold or for a respnse to an email.
Obviously a downside to this is that not every question can be answered instantly, some need to be researched.

Continued thoughts on RSS

OK, I can see this RSS thing might be useful. It is helpful to go to just one website to read my news than having to search all over the internet.

Going to my favorite websites and searching for feeds was the best way to go about it for me. I liked the the Technorati website. It was easy to use and easy to understand. I also like the Google Blog search. I did not like, however, the Topix website. But that was probably because I couldn't figure out how to use it.

As for patrons, I think any geneology feeds would be good. Also, maybe feeds about book reviews, LibraryThing, that type of thing. Those are just a few examples--I think there are any number of topics that would interest patrons.

Thoughts on RSS

I will admit that I am one of those people who had never heard of RSS until yesterday--so it is all very new to me.
I kinda found it dificult to figure out how to add feeds to my blogline--but once I figured it out it was quite fun adding all different kinds of feeds. I can see how RSS would be very useful in a professional capacity. To be honest, I'm not sure how often I would use it myself. I think I need to become more familiar with RSS and play around with it more before I can determine how I would use it.
I did notice that there were a lot of feeds for libraries and book reviews. I think it would be handy in helping me find new books to read.