Week 12 - Social Networks

In terms of possibilities for my library using social networking for client interaction we already have a facebook page, which is new, but is a way we are using a social networking sight to encourage interaction with patrons. The site has photos from our refurbishment as well as author talks. Upcoming events are also listed so we are covering the marketing in that aspect and we also have all our contact details available on the site. I think that with some more publicity from the library this tool could be a great way of keeping patrons up to date in an indirect way e.g. they're not having to come in, call us or visit our website to know what is going on - if they are a fan of our site then whenever they are using their facebook for social purposes our updates will come up on their wall. I think this is a great way the library can be in contact with a large porportion of its members especially youth that have facebook pages. It could be further developed so we could have groups and special interest areas for people to dicuss and find out about - like the Coshocton Public Libraries manga group myspace page. I thought this site was really well designed and with over 200 "friends" it is surely reaching a lot of people in the community. I think that social networking tools such as facebook and myspace are a easy and quick way to create connections with community members.

Week 11 - Online Applications and Tools

I never knew about any of these online tools. I think they are great!
I think the tada lists is a great way for the library to create lists of books whether they be in genre or awards. We could then link our catalouge to the titles so patrons could see if the book they wanted was available or reserve it if it wasn't.

I think GoogleDocs is an easy way for our members who have gmail accounts to create and edit documents while on our internet computers (which dont have word installed on them). The only problem that would restrict its use would be that you need a gmail account to use it and not everyone has one. Also slideshare would be another useful tool if people in the library on the internet PC's wanted to create a persentation without having to move computers.

I would also recommend picnik for staff and patron usage. Not all computers have photo editing software and this program is really easy to use and access.

Finally Zamzar is great if anyone needs to convert a file. Some students often want to create PDF's and this is an easy way to do it anywhere without having the adobe software. I would highly recommend this software.