Social Networking

The idea from "Spotted an article" about members supporting each other gained my interest. There are so many questions that can be answered by another library member; just listen in to the conversations whilst people line up at the information desk. I have often had to thank one member for helping another, and me.

Being involved with Reader's Advisory work, I can see that discussion between members of recommending what to read next could be invaluable; and probably give the library ideas on what they have missed buying.

This then could lead onto a marketing opportunity of letting our members and anyone else who joined how interested we are in their suggestions and how quick we are to implement them.

It would be interesting to see how many people would join in. And this could lead to great opportunities for networking. That author who lives locally and would love to come and give a talk and naturally his friends, also authors, would like to give talks as well. Or maybe they would like to give a lecture on writing. Then there is also the poets groups, the writers groups, the artists groups etc. all wanting to participate with the library in some way.

As they say, just one ripple is all it takes ..........

Google Docs

I can see many uses for Google Docs, one being the ability to collaborate with other staff on a document, presentation etc. without the need to attach emails etc. At first I thought this is what we are using wikis for, but, of course, Wikis don't have all the Office capabilities of Google Docs. Also in some instances, just a couple of the group may be working on something, and it is too new to share with everyone.

The other purpose I am thinking of is training library members in the use of various library services. If a presentation has been given in the library put it on the web and then let others know about it.

And, of course, the person who can't attend the meeting, type the minutes straight in and they can receive them immediately.

Lettering for Signage

I couldn't get the mosaics to work, but how much fun could you have with this one.

Mashups and the library world

This photo was taken at an Adelaide farm, and it was fun to make the calendar.

I can see that mashups would be very useful for any business, including libraries, in that you can combine different points of interest, without having to know alot about web design, so staff could be much more involved. For myself at the moment I need to learn alot more.

Podcasts and Vodcasts

It would be great to vodcast our author talks like Mosman does, but at the moment our technology doesn't seem to agree.

Another useful way to use them would be for online training of our catalogue and databases, and this could be for both staff and the public. Imagine the time and money the library could save here; and then if some people still needed the personal touch, that could be arranged as well, but I am assuming that it would be alot easier when using with either podcasts or vodcasts.

The major stumbling block, however, seems to the the quality of the recording material. Some of the examples were really poor and hard to understand, where others were top notch. I've heard proper recording material is very expensive, but our library is investigating.

Customer Surveys

Our library tries various methods to survey our customers, some in line with council.

I must say at this point if people know a way to survey customers in the manner in which they like to be surveyed, could you please share this information.

I feel really listening to their comments (if at all possible with an unbiased and undefensive view) and passing them onto the appropriate people with the customer receiving an answer or seeing a result probably rates quite high with most people.

Slamming the boards

Our library has a link so that people can ask online questions, and at the moment it is not getting much use, so if slamming the boards had more meaning to our customers then it sounds like a great idea. Even if we used it by having a FAQ link and organised the ones we thought would interest people or better still have them add the ones they found most useful.