CPL 2.0 Delicious and organizing information

Well, I can see the advantage of using Delicious over "favorites" in folders -- the ability to see them from any computer. I used to attempt to set up folders of sites at the Info Desk when I was at Shawnessy, but in those days we had "thin clients" not PCs at the desk and almost every time you logged on you got a different server and your favorites were missing or incomplete.

The tag bundles are helpful, but without the use of a controlled vocabulary, tags can be applied very inconsistently, especially if more than one person is adding the tags for sites in each broad subject area. (Yeah for LCSH!!!!) I think the subject departments are doing a good job of organizing their most useful sites. I do like the ability to add comments, especially to refer users to Central's print resources.

I cringe when I see the alphabetical list of sites displays within a tag, with things filed under initial articles like "a", "an" and "the."

I also find searching for tags a bit cumbersome, if you don't find anything, it takes a while to clear your search in order to do another one.

I'm not on the desk a lot, so I haven't used Delicious too much. It's not great for kids, and yet the thought of staff having to maintain a kids link library again is quite daunting. We could use something, however, for children's literature sites, especially since more and more information is going online.

CPL 2.0 First time

From this CPL 2.0 training, I hope to learn to become more comfortable and effective with 2.0 technology. Having graduated from library school in the days when we did Dialogue searching (all searches to be pre-formulated to minimize our content time), I know I have come along way. After all, CPL started using the Internet at all locations early in in 1998. I've certainly picked it up. However, I know I have much more to learn.

I've never downloaded music, I use my cell phone to talk to people, and only in emergencies. I'm not on Facebook, and I tend to use e-mail strictly for business purposes. This training will be very good for me.

And so I enter the world of blogs -- not exactly kicking and screaming, but close!

Kids books I've read recently that I enjoyed: The Well between the Words by Sam Llewellyn. First in the Lyonesse series, it was published by Orchard in 2009. For fans of Arthurian fiction, it's a must read. I see that Darksolstice, the next in the series, is now available, so I'm off to track it down and read it!