LIS 9763

Well, the end of the term is here! I’ve really enjoyed this course and I think that every LIS student should educate themselves about social software and its implications for libraries. This is one area that is going to boom over the next several years and it’s important for us to all be prepared.

I truly believe that the introduction of Web 2.0 into the workplace is going to have a profound effect on how business and organizations view their lower level employees and their patrons. In the past, upper-level managers had the simple task of developing ideas and brining them to life via the expertise of their subordinates. They also had the privilege of telling the customer what they need. But now, lower-level staff and even the customers themselves are becoming the driving force behind change and innovation. This is a fabulous shift, but unfortunately conventional o

Overall, I found this week’s readings to be very helpful. Throughout the term, we’ve read and talked a lot about the different types of social software tools can benefit libraries. But this doesn’t mean that libraries should just go ahead and create accounts in every social software tool currently known to man. We need to have a PLAN. This is something that I think many libraries (and other non-profits) often forget. Before spending the time to create profiles and upload content, librarians need to sit down and clearly define what it is they want t

This week’s readings and case studies shed some valuable light on how libraries should be engaging their users through the use of familiar technologies. This topic came up in previous weeks when we touched upon things like Facebook, but there were many underlying issues with these types of technologies that prevented libraries from incorporating them into their organization. Thankfully, this is not so much the case with media sharing tools like Flickr and

After reading all of the materials for this week and collaborating on a group project, I am now excited by the idea of having games in a library.  I have to admit that at first, I was a little skeptical.  In my mind, there was a distinct divide between ‘entertaining games’ and ‘educational games’, and I believed that only the latter really had a place within a library.  But it is now clear that both of these types of games have their own advantages and that librarians should take the time to explore the possi

Hey everyone!
Week 8 is going to be my second blog holiday.  Hope everyone had a good week!
Kelly

So sorry for the late blog post!  It's just been one of those weeks where things just don't seem to be going my way.  Anyhow, here are my thoughts on this week's topic.

I use wikis in my day-to-day job, but this use is very one-dimensional. At my office, we use wikis as collaborative workspaces (sort of like an online whiteboard). This is the way that I’ve always known wikis to work. But reading Kille’s article allowed me to see that wikis can have many other practical applications when they’re opened to the public. Using a wiki as a public knowledge repository really opened my eyes to the possible uses that they can have in the library world.

This course is proving to be a big reality check for me. Before entering this course, I considered myself to be a fairly technie person – I’m always on top of the newest sites and am always on the look-out for new tools that will help to make my online life easier. Because I spend countless hours of my day on a computer, both at work and at home, time-saving tools are of the essence.  

This week was my first blogging holiday!