And another thing ...

The LibraryThing. Well, I've certainly never heard of it but it sounds like a good idea. So much, in fact, that AbeBooks got involved and provided Mr Spalding with his first employees and even with "an actual librarian". Well if this isn't a selling point then I don't know what is.

In terms of its usefulness for libraries, I absolutely agree with Helen (the Library Wanderer). I would not use it as a catalogue for a larger library, not so much because of a possible loss of authority, but rather because it would be difficult to connect this LibraryThing 'catalogue' to a network such as Voyager or other systems. Unless all other libraries of the relevant network are also using LibraryThing it may be necessary to run two separate catalogues ... and who has the funds or nerves for that? I also agree with the observation that users - and in our case mostly students - may feel that a catalogue hosted on Library Thing may be lacking the professional flair they would expect.

But let's peer into the depths of Library Thing. It does not take much to open an account; in fact, just an original name and a password. Compared to other tools that link all available details with who knows what (yes, I'm looking at you google, facebook, etc) this feels rather friendly and this feeling continues all the way through. I catalogued some of my own books, set up a collection andgot to grips with the search tool. It's great to be able to connect to so many catalogues worldwide to retrieve bibliographic information. I also liked the edit function which allows you to actually change entries so that they fully match the edition in hand. In my opinion, this is great for private collections, though I think the limit of 200 books is a bit too strict. It means that users really have to think twice about what book they are going to add or end up having to delete books when adding new ones once they've reached the limit. Overall, though, I think this is quite useful - maybe not for academic libraries, but definitely for private collections.

Reflections

Right, so the whole catching up session has taken 2 hours so far. Not as bad as I initially thought. I think the problem is that it's too easy to get lost in the depth of the world-wide web (as I - unfortunately - tend to do). What about "23 Things" then? Well, it has certainly taught me to view the internet and its possibilities from a library and archive perspective. For me, this is very important as I have used most of the "Things" discussed so far either for private and social purposes or for my own studies. This is quite important for me as I am at a stage where I finish my studies and need to start to approach these "Things" from a more professional perspective. Overall, I'm quite happy with "23 Things" so far.


The tasks so far left plenty of space for own excursions into the topic, which was good. My skills and knowledge have definitely benefitted from this exercise and I feel more confident using "Things" in a library and archive environment now. Looking back at how much time I've spent on some of the "Things", I will certainly be more focused when approaching the next "Things" and will avoid "drifting". After all, there's more to do than "Things", however interesting they may be.

Even more things

Part 2 of catching up. This time it's "Thing 11" Slideshare. I have been using Slideshare for some time to make my presentations accessible to student and colleagues. I particularly like the possibility of obtaining a "secret" web address for a presentation that you wouldn't want the whole world to see. I tried this option after a preliminary version of one of my presentations received more than 30 hits in just under 20 hours. It is also a great way of sharing documents (such as articles) and is a good alternative to hosting everything on your own website.


Linked to the library's website it can provide access to relevant presentations for library users and other librarians. Today I found quite a few interesting and library-related presentations on Slideshare, some of which relate to our UL. There don't seem to be any easily identifyable Cambridge college library presentations though.

I will definitely continue using Slideshare as I think it is a most useful service. We should make more use of it and promote its use to others.

Moving on to "Thing 12"; it's Delicious. Never used it before but heard about it. At first, the main page seems a bit random and cluttered with too much information. Looking at one specific collection seems a bit more focused but at the same time I think it would be easier to use if the interface was better organised. I tried to create an account which apparently only works with a yahoo account. I don't have one and don't want one which is why my Delicious experience stops here. I see that it can be useful as a shareable bookmark archive. At the same time I think that a well maintained blog or website can serve the same purpose.

Catching up on "Things"

Well, I've been away from any "23 Thing" related activities for 2 weeks and find catching up a bit difficult. Am I the only one who thinks that although this workshop is in principle a good idea, the tasks just take too much time to do? Some days I find myself spending more time doing "Things" rather than working. In order to give myself more time for work, I'll try to do a fast forward through the "Things" I've missed since my last entry. So here we go, let's see how much time it takes me.


Thing 9 and 10: Flickr
As with most of the "23 Things" so far, Flickr is not unknown to me. However, I've never used it for academic or library purposes and I've never really worried about terms of use of these pictures because we mainly used this service to share pictures among friends. After discussing the breach of the UL's Library Syndicate rules, the only picture of books from the UL I could find within Creative Commons-licensed content was this:

For me Flickr seems particularly useful to share pictures of the library as a way of promoting the library. Moreover, it offers easy access to all sorts of pictures which can potentially lighten up presentations and can also be useful on signs and announcements posted on various library walls and pinboards.