Delicious is delicious...

We already use delicious at our library and have for several years to keep track of useful sites. we have yearly Science and Chicago History Fair projects for the middle schoolers. Delicious has helped us keep track of the best sites to use when helping with these projects.

Googe Reader-this is dangerous...

I deliberately have not subscribed to very many blogs because I am worried about being sucked in the the Internet and spending too much time on the computer! I have two young daughters who need me to read to them and play with them. This could get addictive really fast. My husband, who is also a librarian (We met in library school), is already on the computer for hours at a time. I enjoy this, but I don't think it will help me with organizing information. I will give me more information than I know what to do with.

Library 2.0 OPAC? not in my Illinois Library System yet.

I find the idea of a OPAC that includes user content and access to websites intriguing. Our consortium has 80 different libraries (Public, Special, and Academic) using the same catalog. I have admired Boston PL OPAC, but have been told that we can't have something like that because we are too big. In Illinois, our systems are dissolving due to lack of funding. Consortium members are clinging to SWAN, our OPAC right now. Our customers still want access to traditional print and non-print materials (CDs, DVDs, video games). We have roaming holding where items move from library to library and do not return to the owning library until all holds have been filled.

At the Matteson Public library, where I work, we have online databases for our patrons, an online tutoring source, and Bookflix for the little ones. These are subscription services that many of the libraries surrounding us cannot afford. They are only open to Matteson PL card holders from home. We still need the physical building to serve all patron needs. Also, free access is disappearing in some cases. There are many websites that are beginning to offer limited free access with a premium fee-based service. How libraries will become involved in these websites remains to be seen.

My first post

I have to say, I don't like the new design options, I created a blog earlier in the year for myself to inform the community about things of interest. It's address is mplmrsdavis.blogspot.com. I am not convinced that blogging is right for every library. I have not had much notice or interest from my community and it is hard to find time to blog. We do have many patrons who contact us through Facebook and Good Reads though. I think I know about the most obvious of the web 2.0 technologies and we are using them with varied success. I am looking to go beyond what I already know.