Midlands Conference: Blogs, RSS and other Web 2.0 tools.

I want to share some of my personal experiences with Web 2.0 tools at the conference in the hopes that the attendees will find some resources worthy of their time and attention, particularly Blogs, RSS, LibraryThing and Delicious. Many of the resources can be embedded in your blog for easy access.

Once you decide which of the many available RSS readers you wish to use, subscribe to RSS Feeds that you are interested in. I use Google Reader so that I can access my RSS Feeds anywhere that I can access the Internet. You can search for Blogs on topics that you are interested in using Google's Blog Search, or simply subscribe to sites that you've already bookmarked and return to frequently. Google Reader also has an Web Accessibitly Initiative - Accessible Rich Internet Application (WAI - ARIA) interface for the Google Reader.

I then set up my own blog using Google's Blogger. I've added gadgets and links to my LibraryThing account as well as my Delicious account.

I've used my blog as a way to share links and information with our member librarians, particularly those who've attended our Web 2.0 classes.

Organize your the Web 2.0 tools, so that you can easily find them by embedding them in your blog or iGoogle page, or include the links to them in your Delicious account, while deciding whether to make them public or private.

The quickest way to learn about RSS (a.k.a. Real Simple Syndication) is to listen to or view CommonCraft's YouTube Video.

Web 2.0: Let's Blog

On Monday, a few RPLS member Librarians are going to come into Rolling Prairie's training room so that they can get some hands-on experience blogging with Blogger.

Once we set up their Blogger accounts, we are going to post a blog and then add a Rolling Prairie Library System Catalog Search Gadget to their blog, thanks to Jo McLain, RPLS’s LLSAP Manager.

We'll be talking about some of the reasons why they and/or their libraries might want to have a Blog.

If we have time, we may even visit the Chatham Area Public Library Blog.

Maybe I will get inspired and start blogging more regularly. I still don’t seem to have found my voice.

Is Facebook for Your Library

I had the pleasure of working with Joe Hardenbook, Educational Technology Coordinator, Research/Instruction Librarian & Assistant Professor at Millikin University Staley Library, last week Wednesday. He did a presentation for Rolling Prairie in our OPAL room on "Is Facebook for Your Library." Joe did a great job of reviewing the features and setup for a Fans Facebook page. If you weren't able to attend, you can visit our archives and download the mp3 file and the PowerPoint used when Joe discussed Millikin's Staley Library's Fan page in Facebook. Thanks Joe for a very informative presentation!

Time to Test Drive

I'm attending Jackie Meyer's session at Rolling Prairie Library System today. Jackie is the Librarian at Lincoln High School in Lincoln, Illinois. This is a hands on follow-up to the earlier session, "Web 2.0: Blogs, LibraryThing, and Wikis" with Sarah Hill, the Paris High School Librarian.

We are each creating our own Blogs, but since I'd already created this before Computers in Libraries Conference, I thought I'd add an entry for this session.

Computers in Libraries 2008

Well it turns out that I didn't get my iPod Touch properly set up so that I could post directly to my blog. I did manage to take some moble notes using the moble tools that I had downloaded, so I will clean up and post some of the notes now that I'm back.

Computers in Libraries 2008

Well tomorrow I leave for the 2008 Computers in Libraries conference, and I thought that I would try Blogging as a way to keep track of all the new and interesting things I learn.