Thing #30 Webby Wonders

Looking through the Webby Nominees and Winners was pretty entertaining. This eclectic list is full of something for everyone. I chose a site from the Youth section because it looked like it would be a lot of fun to explore. The nominee I chose was Marvel's create your own superhero at http://marvel.com/create_your_own_superhero.

Making your own superhero is indeed a lot of fun. I liked how easy the site was to use and that if you sign up it will save the characters that you make and you are able to download the characters. The template is easy to follow and you just go step by step until you are done making your hero. I could see this site being benefical in many library settings. The easiest place to use it would be as an activity in public libraries with patrons from children to teen. It could also be useful in all library settings as perhaps a fun team building activity. You could do this by saying make your version of a superhero and then explain about why you made them and what powers they would have etc. I made a whole superhero library team.

Overall the Webby Awards are a great idea and a place to find sites you may have never gone to before and http://marvel.com/create_your_own_superhero is a fun site whether you use it personally or in a library.

Thing #29 Book-Based Social Networks

I chose weRead as the Book-Based Social Network that I would join. It is a pretty interesting site and also easy to use. The profile section was simple to set up and the features like adding favorite books and books that you have read are easy to understand. It will even recommend more books for you to read.

Some interesting features of weRead is the never ending quiz which sounds like exactly what it is, a never ending quiz and their collection of books that you can read online.

I believe that services like weRead and all the other Book-Based social networking sites could indeed complement and not compete with programming offered by libraries. If anything it is a way to expand a libraries reach with patrons. It allows more of a personal feel or sense of community around what people read. Patron's could see a librarian's favorite books and the library can see what the patrons are reading and would like to read. It would make things like setting up book groups easier and reviews are readily available. Overall I see these services as a supplement to the library and not competition.

Thing #28 Google Reader

Google Reader is a very handy tool when it comes to organizing the information that you want to see everyday all into one easy to access place. I have used Google Reader since one of the earlier thing activities and have seen that it can be very helpful.

Google Reader would be very beneficial to libraries because it could allow patrons to be updated easily about what's happening at the library and for the library to be updated with the potential RSS updates of different organizations or patron groups.

My favorite feature of the Google Reader is the Send to feature. It is a great feature because it allows you to pick from a wide range of places to send whatever you find interesting like Blogger, Facebook, or Twitter but you can also add in other places to send what you want to share.

I'm subscribed to Books, News, and many different blogs and web comics.

Overall Google Reader is a great tool to organize what you wish to read on the web and to find new things to read about topics that interest you.

Expat Gentleman Seeks Companionship, from a great comic called The Abominable Charles Christopher. (using the send to option on Google reader)

Expat Gentleman Seeks Companionship: "

Thing #27 Facebook

I have had a facebook account for a while now. I think I first joined in college so I could keep in touch with the Forensics team and other students for class projects. There is always something new to do/learn about, all the different applications are a lot of fun. Facebook is indeed a great place to connect with people and share information. You can do a wide range of things on Facebook including: reconnect with old acquaintances, learn new things about people from what they post, and join groups that support just about any cause that there is.

I have joined many different facebook groups some for organizations, some for just fun, and more because they are a cause or something that I am interested in. I joined the Librarians and Facebook group because it looked to be pretty informative.

Our library could definitely use facebook to our advantage and it would likely allow us to better promote our services to students because they are very technologically apt but not prone to asking questions. Maybe being online would bring in more questions. Sadly though we would first need the approval of the college to start a facebook profile/group. So it is a good idea with a lot of potential but it is not quite yet a reality here.

Using a social networking site like facebook would allow libraries and patrons to interact more and make things like promoting new books or databases much easier.

Facebook is a great site because it can help you or your library make connections or keeps connections that are already there thus allowing communication to remain open.

Thing #26 WorldCat

Learning about the social part of WorldCat was indeed interesting. Using this feature of WorldCat allows more social interactions and makes the catalog feel more personal especially with the ability to add the WorldCat search widget to your blog or facebook.

Creating lists is a lot of fun I made one about gnomes. After making one list I went ahead and made a couple more. Having the lists be search able is also a great feature because you can see what is out there or add your own information. Watching lists is helpful so you can keep track of changes and get new information.

This aspect of WorldCat could be very useful to libraries and library patrons. The best feature for librarians and library patrons is the ability to make lists. I know these lists were helpful to me and would likely be helpful to library patrons or librarians who are searching for materials. Searching through lists may show someone a starting point to what they are researching or may even lead them to a new idea. Another use for libraries would be using lists to show patrons the wide variety of resources available on a variety of themes or topics.

Overall trying out the social aspect of WorldCat was informative, educational and even a little fun. This thing could indeed be very useful in any library setting.

Thing #25 Google Maps

The address 1445 K St. 68509 is the Nebraska State Capitol. Using satellite view you can indeed zoom in close enough to see the color of the cars parked around the capitol. Using the different features is relatively easy and lets you get a great view of a lot of different places especially when you use Street View because the picture is very clear.

I really like the get directions feature of being able to choose how you are getting there: by car, walking or public transportation. It’s pretty entertaining seeing just exactly how long it would take to walk to some places you would normally not walk to. I am the kind of navigator that gets lost very easily. I think the Street View option is the best because you can use buildings as landmarks which makes it harder to get lost.

I found my library by typing in the words, metro community college Elkhorn campus library. The marker for the library was placed correctly because it was edited by Kristen who also works here. In the information window I edited it to include the name of the library and the proper web site address so now it goes to the libraries web site instead of just Metros. There are three of us here taking part in Nebraska Learns 2.0 so I will let one of them claim the library.

Overall Google Maps was easy to use and would be a great tool to recommend to others. The feature I liked the best was Street View because I like to see what’s around before I drive somewhere. There are plenty of ideas that would be good for customized maps like how to actually get to the library and for any place that would need more publicity. I didn’t embed a map on the website because I don’t have access to change the website. I think the library could use Google Maps to promote itself more and for the patrons themselves for whatever maps or directions they need. I know if someone is looking for directions or maps I will recommend Google Maps because of all of the different options it has compared to other map or direction based sites.