Still Week Ten: Wrap up

(image courtesy of http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/ )


Well, that's me finally completed the course - trust me to leave it till the last day!

I have really enjoyed learning more about web2.0 and can see already that I am using my newly acquired skills.

I have started a new blog for my business ( http://karritreelane.blogspot.com/ )  and am excited about the opportunities that this year will bring, all those new situations where we can utilise our new skills in the library setting. The suggestion at COC libraries to create a procedure manual wiki is interesting, I can see great benefits in each staff member being able to edit and comment on current procedures.

The comments that I'd like to make about the course are pretty minor, so I'll just make them dot points:

• the timing of the course (over Christmas/New Year holidays) made it difficult to maintain momentum
• some of the technologies have been blocked by our council PCs. This made the 1 hour allocated to us during work time spill over into our home time. While that seems insignificant it's not always easy to find time at home to watch this clips or browse podcasts.

Some ways that I'd like to see City of Cockburn libraries take up this new technology

• combining with the youth workers to organise geocaching activities (perhaps as part of their school holiday activities)
• all staff members being able to contribute to and comment on the staff blog
• more staff members contributing to the public blog and facebook page
• all staff participating in the creation of and maintenance of a procedure manual wiki or similar

My favourite parts of the course were

• seeing a little part of each member's personality shining through in their personal blogs
• participating and understanding a little more about twitter, which I thought was a huge time waster initially however have come to appreciate more and more
• learning more about maintaining and personalising my own blog with widgets etc
• discovering the joys of delicious and other social bookmarking websites

And that's it from me!  Thank you to the coordinators and facilitators of the course, I think that you've done an amazing thing for WA public library staff :D

Week Ten: Geocaching

image courtesy of geocaching.com

I can actually see myself having a bit of fun with geocaching, I like the idea of participating as a family with my children, and teaching them that there's more to the world than computers, books and skateboarding!

The idea of trying to attract youth into participating seems optimistic, I remember being a teen and heading of on orienteering courses, filled with disdain for this utter waste of my time... I suppose if we tried to catch the kids a little younger we'd have more chance ;)

I would be willing to investigate geocaching further for our library service, though here in the Cooby Hood the chances of a cache remaining unvandalised are zilch.zip.nada.zero  ...sigh...

I looked at a few of the geocaching that other libraries are undertaking and felt that similar set ups could work for the City of Cockburn, we have this awesome area at Manning Park which would be perfect for cache hiding. Shame there's no cafe there though (sometimes I get the feeling that my life is ruled by access to caffeine).

Week Nine: Podcasts

So, I've been a bit busy this last month and am only just getting a chance to finish off this course.

Must do it by the end of the month so that my iPhone can have a chance of getting a big brother!

The computers here at work drive me mental, they never seem to play ball and let me listen to the podcasts that I find. Never have that problem at home on my iMac ;)

Here's a link to a page that I thought library folk may appreciate - an insight into upcoming publications and reviews http://booksonthenightstand.com/
I can think of many times when libraries could make good use of this technology, if only our IT systems were agreeable and played along... Podcasts of storytimes and guest speakers are an ideal way of storing and sharing information and entertainment.

I have used podcasts in the past for a number of reasons, one thing that comes to mind is more of a live streaming, when I've watched and listened to the Senate Inquiries through the Federal Parliament website. They can be very interesting if you choose your topic wisely!