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Have you tried using Igoogle Gadgets at your library? Honestly the thought every even occurred to me until I saw a notice that ACRL is hosting a webinar on how to do them. Then I did some searching and found this presentation on how to create them.
So what do you think? Have you created IGoogle Gadgets for your library or do you use the already existing ones?
What will the library of the future be like? We have been challenged at my library to write up a document and give a presentation on this and I believe that this is being done in more libraries than ever.
So here is an alphabet soup (with a few letters missing) on my thoughts on it.
Archival- Although many libraries do this now in the future it will be even more prevalent as electronic resources, materials and processes increase.
Bibliographic resources- although we do this now in the future it will become more complicated as more and more formats of materials become available.
Collaborative- In the future libraries will collaborate a lot more with outside enmities such as bookstores, schools, businesses and other organizations.
Digital- We are starting to see this trend now and it will only continue. Libraries of the future will house many materials that are born digital as well as continue to play an important role in digitizing paper records for digital retrieval.
Electronic- whether its eBooks, e-texts or other materials. The library of the future will become more and more electronic.
Flexible spaces-as physical materials decrease and the library becomes more of a community space, the library of the future will need to be flexible with their spaces.
Gaming- many libraries are offering games now but in the future games will be used even more to teach library literacy and other skills.
Handheld- libraries of the future will have to get used to and embrace handheld devices, programs and hand sized electronic gadgets of all types and sizes.
Iphones, ipads and i? In the future it will be assumed that libraries can support and offer materials and trainings on these devices.
Leadership- in the future libraries will be more expected to lead the way and to help others predict the future.
Metadata- although used now an understanding of how it works and how to use it will be even more important in the library of the future.
Notes, in the future even more note taking devices as well as notes and summaries of materials will be available and libraries will need to use them and support them.
On demand- even though this is starting to be used in some libraries, the library of the future will be able to access books and other materials on demand in even greater prevalence.
Portable- the library of the future will become increasingly portable as smart phones and other devices making taking the library with you more practical and possible.
Readers- whether it’s the Kindle, Nook, Ipad or some other device, in the future everyone or nearly everyone will have one and libraries will need to adapt their formats, collections and services to suit these.
Smaller- gone will be the days of large libraries full of millions of books. Instead with the increase in portability and electronic resources, archives will house the millions of copies of many print materials while your standard library will be smaller in terms of physical space.
Technology- even though it is crucial in libraries now, in the future librarians will need to be even more technology minded and aware.
United- the library of the future will need to be even more unified and different departments and types of libraries will need to work more together.
Virtual- the library of the future will see an increase in the popularity of virtual reference and other online services.
What other thoughts do you have about libraries of the future?
Do you question or wonder what the role of social media is in learning? Do you really wonder if it is an effective way to teach students, or library patrons about information literacy, how to use the library and other things important for librarians and for life-long information skills?
The Social Learning Handbook is here to help. This website offers a wealth of information and testimonials as well as experiences from other librarians and educators on how to use and how they have used social media in learning.
In addition here are a few ideas on how to make social media useful for learning:
1. Find ways to use social media sites such as facebook to teach your students or other patrons how to search library databases, find books in your library catalog, understand what information literacy is and other things important for them to know.
2. Incorporate social media aspects into your everyday library activities and information literacy presentations.
3. Consider offering mini-courses on various aspects of social media and how to use it for learning or marketing purposes.
4. Invite your patrons to ask you questions about social media.
5. Stay up to date with learning about social media yourself.
What other ideas do you have for how social media plays a role in learning and how it will play a role in the future?
Ebooks are all the rage. Between the kindle, new ipad, iphone applications, the Nook, the Sony Reader and all of the other gadets for reading ebooks, there is no doubt that ebooks will continue to be popular. However, how do you get ebooks that you can read without spending a fortune to do it? Even though the individual prices for ebooks are inexpensive, by the time you by lots of them you can end up broke. There is a huge list of 100 places where you can find ebooks at Online College. While you won’t find any of the new releases or other extremely popular titles there, you will find an impressive list of other ebook titles for your enjoyment and for free.
Do you have a facebook fan page? If not, you really should create one. In any case, why limit your facebook fan page to information about the library, photos, and announcements? Your facebook fan page for your library is a great place to offer and teach library literacy to your patrons, students, staff and faculty. Here are some ways you can do this with a facebook fan page.
1. Post polls as mentioned in number one and then share the results of the poll via a note with comments.
2. Post notes that offer library literacy tips.
3. Create videos that highlight one library literacy tip in each one.
4. Use the widgets offered by many library database providers.
5. Ask questions and take note of who answers them and respond back.
6. Post podcast or audio files with tips.
7. Post a survey and offer a prize to those who reply.
Why not use facebook in a library class presentation? While that may seem a bit outrageous, there are actually several ways that you can incorporate facebook into a library literacy class presentation. Here are some ideas of how to do this:
1. See part I with polls and ask students to answer questions by responding to polls during a class presentation.
2. Post a note on your facebook fan page asking a question and then have students answer the question during your library literacy presentation.
3. Create a group or a fan page for the topic or the class where you are presenting, add some content and then have students complete some or part of their library literacy project or assignment inside facebook.
Using facebook in the classroom as a teaching tool has been presented as an idea by many people in recent months. Most college students are already on there and so instead of fighting against it and trying to get them to go elsewhere, why not just use facebook as a library literacy tool? If you have used facebook a lot then you may realize that this site offers a myriad of applications and tools many of which can be used for educational purposes. If however, you have not used facebook very much then this may be news to you. One tool that has great potential for teaching library literacy is the poll application. This application allows you to post a poll on your profile, in groups or on any facebook page for which you are an administrator. For example, you could post a poll on your library’s facebook fan page and ask students to choose the best answer regarding a basic definition of library literacy. You could do this either in general and see who responds or you could ask for answers during a classroom library literacy session. You could also take this a step further by posting a question as a note on your fan page or in a group and asking students to respond. You could then have the students vote on who wrote the best answer by using the poll application. This is just the tip of the iceberg as there are many ways to use this application for library literacy.
Are you using facebook for library literacy and if so, how is it working for you? If not, what do you think of this idea?
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