Week 14 Newsletter

Created and sent a newsletter using Letterpop. Very easy tool to use. Useful tool for managing email alerts.

Week 13 eBooks

Had a look at some of the ebooks - Great concept!
This triggered a conversation with a Library supplier who advised that they could speak to the publishers to see if some of the policing books eg Handbook of Policing could be made available electronically for members to access. Not sure on cost. It could be cost prohibitive. It would be a great way to meet the demands of our dispersed workforce.

Week 12 - YouTube

Can see the potential for both YouTube and Google videos to display short instructions on how to use Library tools. I like the fact that the videos are short and sharp. Unfortunately YouTube is one of the prohibited sites so we cannot make it available to our members.

Week 11 Podcasts

I added a podcast to my google reader. I can see the benefit of making available podcasts of our Meet the Writers lunchtime talks, Library information sessions etc so our members can listen to them at their own leisure at a time convenient to them.

Week 10 Rollyo

Created my Rollyo account and linked it to my blog. Created a search roll for low fat recipies - fantastic. I can see us utilising Rollyo to create rolls on policing that our members can access.

Week 9 Wikis

Was interested to discover that Wikis can be used for all sorts of things including pathfinders, new books, procedures, training etc. Set up a Wiki using PBWiki - fantastic! Set my staff up to access it. Received notification that one of my staff had already moderated it. We can use Wikis for a number of library activities including our meet the writers talks, project management, new books lists, collating subject bibliographies and Library procedures.

Week 8 Social bookmarking

Set up my del.icio.us account and found out that we have to download third party software. Unfortunately we are prohibited from doing this in our organisation so I couldn't create my own bookmarks. Did a search and found heaps of references that had been tagged by several people. This would be a fantastic tool if we could only use it.

Week 7 iGoogle

Set up my IGoogle - lots of fun. Added recipe section, horoscope, daily puppy story, time, news etc. IGoogle would be of great use to public libraries. The layout is fun and interesting. It would appeal to the young as well as the old. Very easy to use.

I can't think of any improvements at this time.

I'd love to work for Google and get free meals! I would also like the opportunity to test tools out before they a freely available on the Internet

Week 6 Google maps

I've changed the map to my favourite holiday destination. I watched Disneyland religiously as a child on a Sunday night at 6:30 and dreamt that I would visit it one day. My dream came true in 1989 when I travelled to Canada and America for a holiday.

Week 6 Google docs and spreadsheets

I like the functionality that Google docs provides. I can see the benefits of using this tool to deliver journal articles to our members. I've succeeded in sharing information with my staff and will now attempt to share it with our Library users

Week 5

Had a look at Facebook - great concept. Unfortunately, it is of no use to our Library.

Week 4 RSS feeds and feedreaders

RSS technology is a great alert mechanism. It keeps you informed about the latest postings to a site. I will use RSS technology to push more information out to our organisation. We find that we have to go to our users rather than them come to us. Its amazing how much interest we can generate by providing our users with the latest published information.

Link to my RSS feeds. I used Google Reader
http://www.google.com/reader/view/?source=blogger-home-

Custom search engines

I got carried away today after reading an article on "Custom search engines: tools and tips" and decided to add links to websites on my blog.

Reflection

I had difficulty accessing image generator because of our secure network. However I had success using Image Chef http://www.imagechef.com/ic/final_widget.jsp Would recommend it. Very user friendly.

Arrested

Week 2 Flickr and photo sharing

I found navigating my way around Flickr difficult. Even after I read the instructions. Did anyone else experience difficulties?

Duty Pointsman

Duty Pointsman
Originally uploaded by Richard Churton

Traffic Police have a hazardous job especially in the winter months

In typical Aries fashion I thought I would jump right in and create a blog that I could use in my job role. If you are familiar with the zodiac you will know that we are full of enthusiasm for new things. We also get disheartened when our enthusiasm is dampened! At the moment I am very enthusiastic about this training. I think all our Libraries will benefit from this online training program.