Rollyo

Rollyo is a website in which you can create your own search roll.



For instance I have set up my own called LibraryOrganisations. In this search I have added numerous library organisations to my search list. This search list is then generated into a search engine by way of a google type bar; so when I search jobs, or library tech etc it will search for those terms over only those websites that I have told Rollyo that I want to include under the LibraryOrganisations search (roll).
You can go to the Rollyo website http://rollyo.com and look under my username of helen.plunkett and search through my LibraryOrganisations search roll which will just look through the websites that I have added.

Here is a YouTube clip that explains Rollyo in a bit more detail. It explains how it works on the basis of doing a job search.



dann4862 (2009), Job Searching in Rollyo, viewed on 12 October 2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBEkiSNPqgQ

Podcasts

What is a Podcast?


Rhode,J (2007), What is a Podcast? a brief introduction, viewed on September 3 2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQFKNcdCdLM

I found this YouTube video really helpful to explain what a Podcast is and how it works. It may go into a little more detail than you may need, but I found it great.

If you go to the Denver Public Library Podcasts site you have access to numerous different Podcasts. On the right hand side there are some links to their Podcasts based on category. They are; Nursery Rhymes, Interviews, Song, Beatrix Potter, Folk and Fairytales, Storytime Favourites, Folktales, News and lastly General.
It is a further example of how a library can come into your own home.
Universities also make use of Podcasts for tutorials.

For Your Viewing Pleasure

This is just something I came across in my YouTube browsing, I thought you might find it as silly and funny as I did.

The Dewey Decimal Rap

Library Storage

After visiting the Law Library at the University of Tasmania I was astounded to find out that they have a lot of their items stored off site due to the lack of space for all of the collection. This is due to the fact that all items need to be kept as they can be needed and referred to at anytime. The Librarians do a great job of accommodating of much of the collection as they can, even loosing some of their own space as a consequence.
I can't imagine what it must be like to have to order an item or even numerous items from the off site storage area. It takes time and once the request has arrived it is not necessarily going to be the one that the client was after, therefore the process needs to be started again.
In Tasmania it is highly unlikely that we will ever be able to gain funding for a massive storage project such as that used by the University of Chicago in their new Joe and Rika Mansueto Library, but it would be great if we could. Check out the YouTube video below to see what I am talking about.


The Joe and Rika Mansueto Library: How It Works




Isn't it just amazing. I understand that we are a small state and it just doesn't seem feasible for us to have something this large, but surely we should be aiming to look at the possibility of completing a project for the long-term benefit of our University Library storage issues. It would bring jobs to the state, as well as bring us a state of the art library. Of course it makes sense to have this kind of library on the mainland, but it would be nice for Tasmania to have something. :)

DIY: Bookmark Monsters

You should check out this YouTube video I found. It shows you how to make bookmark monsters. I had a bit of a chuckle, she talks as much as me :). I thought it was a great project that any of us could do either for ourselves or with children or other people.



Here is the link to the blog that she got the idea from I Could Make That

What is an RSS feed?

Well from the guy who explains things so well, here is another YouTube tutorial.



On the right of this blog are some RSS feeds that I have added for you to look at. They are of blogs that I find interesting and are updated on my blog when they are updated by the author. This happens because I have set it up as an RSS feed, therefore I don't have to go looking at the blog to see when it has been updated, instead it automatically updates because of the RSS feed.

I generally use Google Reader to store all of my RSS feeds. I have many more than what I have listed on my blog. In my Google Reader account it holds all of the feeds and shows me the updates as they come through. It will advise me of how many I have not read and of the date in which they were updated.

It would be great for more libraries to create web based information and updates in which people could link to using an RSS feed. It would enable them to make sure that all of their clients are kept up to the nano-second up to date.

Exploring Wiki's

The best way for me to describe a Wiki is to get you to watch this great YouTube video.



I think that this video is a really straightforward way of explaining a wiki.

Here is a link to a library wiki called "The blogging libraries wiki". The purpose of this wiki is to collect links to library blogs, that is institutional blogs, not individual librarian blogs.

To be honest I didn't find the Wiki's to be particularly interesting. But maybe that is purely because I don't tend to use them a lot. We have been using a Wiki as part of our course unit and it has been quite helpful and fun. I am glad that I have been able to learn how to use one and do feel that it has a valid place out there in the world.

Wiki's can be used for collaboration. For instance for collarborative document editing, collarboratively-developed manuals, conference wiki's, planning and organising events.

There are a few different Wiki's that I would like to see set up within the Polytechnic library, such as favourite authors, study groups etc.

Thinking about learning.

This YouTube video was found while I was looking at another video of a 3 yr old digital native. The reason I am sharing it with you was due to the impact it made on me. The statistics given in it are shocking, the one about China was particularly interesting. Please watch it and tell me what you think by making a comment?

"This project was created to inspire teachers to use technology in engaging ways to help students develop higher level thinking skills. Equally important, it serves to motivate district level leaders to provide teachers with the tools and training to do so."

Nesbitt, B. (2007), A Vision of K-12 Students Today, viewed on July 2 2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A-ZVCjfWf8&feature=related