Library Related Blogs

The Infopeople Challenge, Step #8, encourages participants to subscribe to a library related blog and provides a link to Internet Public Library's list of these blogs. Sad to say, the library blogs were unanimously unappealing! At least to me. So I subscribed to a cooking blog instead. Zucchini and Chocolate is a blog that covers French cooking, living, and love for life. What could be better?!

RSS Feeds and Bloglines

RSS Feeds is a new concept for me. I didn't realize how many Feeds there are out there. My experience has been keeping a list of my favorite sites and then visiting them when I have time. Now, with Bloglines, I can view content from my favorites easily and quickly. The only negative is the number of RSS Feeds that I want to subscribe to! And no time to keep up with them all! Bloglines is an easy way to manage these RSS Feeds. The registration is simple. I look forward to adding to my list of Feeds in the future using Bloglines. Still much to learn.

Libraries Using 2.0

I visited the websites of several libraries that are utilizing 2.0 technology but was most impressed with PLCMC. The Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenberg County (PLCMC) offers an extensive summer reading program including "Relax and Read" for adults. This club enabled users to create an online reading log, view podcasts, and subscribe to RSS feeds about upcoming events at the library or new additions to the catalog. This is just one aspect of PLCMC's website that is impressive. The whole site is community minded--the library is represented as a community center for activities and interaction. The site's organization and focus represented the whole point of 2.0: user participation and empowerment. Libraries take note!

Flickr Mashups

Flickr continues to amaze and delight--also educate. As part of InfoPeople's 23 things, I viewed Flickr's top ten mashups. What creativity! What craziness! In my opinion, the most creative, artistic mashup is Flickeur which combines photos and music to create a short movie. The most bizarre mashup (but strangely addicting) is Flickr Chia Pet. I now have a better understanding of Flickr and mashups. Best of all, though, is my growing appreciation of the ever evolving nature of the web fueled as it is by unlimited imagination.

Librarian Action Figures and Flickr

Flickr is an amazing site! I've just returned from visiting Hawaii and touring Doris Duke's Shangri-La mansion. How fun to see pictures taken by people from all over the world of her home. But my favorite discovery was to find a Nancy Pearl Librarian Action Figure group. These creative, crazy people use Nancy as a prop for all sorts of situations.