Mitchell Library, Sydney

Mitchell Library, Sydney
Originally uploaded by Christopher Chan

Tracking to the end

From the beginning I didn't think I'd make it to this final blog. Can I keep in touch and use the information I have covered? Or realistically will time be the issue? I would have liked to have tracked along at my own pace but then I may never have finished! My appreciation for the help and jolling along from the team who at times were wisely totally deaf to my verbal outbreaks. I admire their total commitment from the first introductory seminars for the nswpl network and SL staff to where we are now - a mighty demonstration of enthusiasm and patience by them all. Apart from keeping us on track they also had their "other lives". So what's next?

Tracking Along with Social Networking

While MySpace and Facebook are great for those who have the time, I find I don't want to spend 24/7 online. Bad enough that I only read my home emails at best, once a week and sometimes forget to check my answering machine - always getting into strife for the latter. I think the picture is coming through loud and clear. I enjoy a pretty good ‘information network’ which has been operating very effectively for years. I don’t know whether I’d want that online for everybody to see. I'm sure I wouldn't get the ‘quality’ input I receive now!
All that aside, I can certainly see the potential for libraries to use this medium - Opera House My Space is friendly and newsy but a bit home spun on the production side. Bebo MySpace at Rotorua Public Library was a great example of how libraries can reach out and involve their clients. An excellent way to navigate through the library and for our clients to interact with us and each other off site. The potential is there for clients in regional areas in particular to connect with us and other public libraries - so many opportunities to reach out. A possible down side could be freeing up staff to keep it current and if facebook and myspace prove to be popular that will have a big impact.

Tracking Online applications & tools

How useful is this! It would have been really handy for me to have done Lesson 13 a few weeks back as I was working from home and emailed it back to myself only to find when I opened the document all the work I’d done was not there. Forgot didn’t I to do a ‘save as’. Not only did I do this once but managed to do it again last week – doesn’t pay to have flashy fingers – the fingers engage before the brain kicks in! Now I have a Google docs account I can use my Internet connection off site to do all the work I want and be confident my changes are there and I’m not going to loose a thing, fantastic. The biggest plus is when working with colleagues only having one copy we all add to.
I think/hope I have shared via Google Docs part of the Public Library News Index.

Tracking Mashups

Hot potato, hot potato (apologies to the Wiggles) - again, great fun looking for 'that picture' which demonstrates our values. Although I think I'd rather share the victory not the defeat, looks just a tad too fatal. Mashups have great potential because they are in a format that draws your eye. They can be a good promotional tool for publicising library services rather than just a picture and a whole lot more economical and faster too than using design professionals when budgets are limited.

Team Work??
I can see posters and flyers for special library events and their use for attracting kids to the library for school holiday activities. Asking clients to find a special image that can tie in with their favourite books and the winning entry could be displayed on the library's noticeboard. All great free publicity for any library.

World Youth Day

A tad late posting this photo but I just couldn't resist it - either a hard day's night or youth just ain't what it used to be!!

Tracking Podcasts and audio

Podcasts would be a great way to get information out to the community and to let people know about books and other materials that are worth checking out in our collection. The potential for using podcasts on site could be marvellous and have the ability to encourage new clients. The majority of people now are so technology aware, and for those who would rather not be in an organised group, iPods could be booked out (security coded of course!) from the Information Desk and used for discovery tours throughout the library. They could also be used for walking around the galleries and exhibitions – imagine having access to a full verbal description of what is on display. They could also be used for what is happening at the library, alerting of new and interesting materials, movies at the Metcalfe, how to navigate in the reading rooms, author talks, in-house seminar proceedings – their use is endless. Keeping the podcasts, concise, current and interesting would be crucial to their success. We could publicise via our website this great fun, self-help service.