Online Event Registration - Powered by www.eventbrite.com

Big Idea.

Hey everyone!

Since nothing's been posted on here for months, I thought i'd throw something into the ring. This is the "What's the Big Idea" section of John Scalzi's Blog. It's a series of short essays by various authors on how the ideas for their novels are formulated. There are some very interesting ideas in there.

http://whatever.scalzi.com/category/big-idea/

Hope you like it.

Scott.

IM the Library

Instant messaging test
There's a new widget on this blog! We are testing Instant Messaging (IM).

IM, also known as chat, is a form of private communication between two online users. Using the Meebo IM widget on the Blogalogue, we could operate an online reference service for our customers. This would be faster and more interactive than customer emails and provide an alternative to the telephone. One advantage of IM over phone calls is the ability to copy and paste website urls into the IM widget.

Here's some lowdown on IM:

• PC World's article on IM etiquette
• Webopedia's list of chat abbreviations

Among the things that we need to decide as a group is how, when and if we want to use this service. It requires that we log-on to show that we are available, so at what times should we be online or offline during opening hours? Do we treat IM customers just the same as in-person and phone customers, ie, they're in the queue? Which PC do we operate it from when there's 2 Info people about? Things like that.

If you wan to play with it, please feel free to ask me and I'll set up a chat - or "chat" amongst yourselves! You could be the customer or the Info person - your choice. To log in as the ref person, go to Meebo and sign in to the Meebo login with the ID libraryenquires and the password imthelibrary.

Any ?s, just ask: Glenn

Federated searching

Stop blog!

WebFeat has gone public on the Blogalogue.

Please pass on any customer comments.

Hi all,

As we want to make it easier for people to access, search and retrieve from our Gulliver and BRUCE resources, we are currently experimenting with federated searching for our online databases.

We have set up a free trial for WebFeat, which has been customised to our resources. It's still a bit raw, but I'd like people to give it a go, give it some thought and then give some feedback (verbal, email, blog comments, whatever). Note that we can add more categories and change some of the other display settings.

An alternate product is 360 Search. We don't have a live trial for this, but you can access the Yarra Plenty Regional Library Service live version of this using the following ID and password:

Username: 10235000
PIN: bess

Please let us know what you think about the two and which product you would pick. Also, if you are familiar with any other federated searching options, please let me know about those too.

Glenn

Read Alert live

Hi all,

Now that the links work externally, I've Blogalogued our SDI Read Alert service, whereby customers can set up profile searches in their membership and receive emails that alert them to matches. This can range from a list of newly ordered Films or Adult Fiction to a profile for new books by Nora Roberts or J D Robb.

For customers without emails, and to promote things a little bit more by way of a practical demonstration, I've also set up a public Read Alert live service on the blog's sidebar that turns emails into an RSS feed. I'll update this with monthly new stock lists for each of several major collections.

There'll be a What's new link from the front page of the Library website.

We already have the Read Alert brochures available that explain how to use this service. Here's the online pdf version too.

Please, have a play, set up your own if you haven't already, and promote it.

harps

howdy

hi i-help team, how is everyone going with Learning 2.0? i'm only just getting into it and taking it slowly so that i can get to understand a bit more about each type of technology we're being introduced to...it certainly has opened me up to a new way of communicating. it does seem to me to be the same kind of human exchange/ dialogue that we've always done - just using new techology methods, e.g. isn't a blog a journal with extra's? i suppose now we can share what we think with the world - i'm still wondering if that's a really, really good outcome!! anyway it's fun to be able to learn how to use some of these tools (and not to look blank when others refer to them) and it's a refreshing way of saying "hello" to you all and to continue to enjoy the learning expereince! Adios, Beck

Our new branch

Isn't it great that the new reality TV show set in our new branch is now on air - as reported in the Blogalogue!

ALIA even have a blog about it.

harps

The Librarians on TV

The new television show about life in an Australian public library begins next Wednesday night on Channel 2 at 9.30pm. The Age Green Guide this week has a two page article about the new series and the characters. Here is a link to the article about the show: http://www.theage.com.au/news/tv--radio/bigotry-by-the-book/2007/10/24/1192941129043.html

It should generate some interesting discussion in library staffrooms. Hopefully it won't be damaging to the public's perceptions of public libraries and library staff.

Share your views and reviews about the show here for your colleagues to read.

Missed Out On Learning 2.0?

If you missed out on Learning 2.0 complete the 23 Things listed in the Blog it's the same as Learning 2.0 without the prizes. Let us know how you're getting on.

23 Things