The Final Thing

I have found the 19 Things programme very interesting indeed.  It has introduced me to 'Things' which I will definitely make use of in the future, both at work and at home.

Being a part-timer, it has been quite difficult to keep up with the Things, but having the catch-up weeks really helped.  The necessity to blog about the Things made me consider in detail what my reactions had been to them, and the ease or otherwise of use.  It has also made me think about the use we could make of them in the library setting.

I think that the Thing which I most enjoyed was CiteULike, because it has opened my eyes to reference management software and how useful it can be.  And it's free!  Library Thing is a terrific resource, and we can make good use of it in the library by creating reading lists, lists of new book purchases, lists of 'likes', all with a very user-friendly and attractive interface.

I felt that some of the Things of necessity (ie in order to conform to NHS IT considerations) used a product which perhaps was not the most efficient or easy to use in its class.  ProtoPage was one of these, which I consider is not a patch on Netvibes, but that is a very personal opinion, and I am sure that if I persevered with ProtoPage I would appreciate its qualities in the end!

I also prefer Doodle to MeetOMatic, but again, I appreciate the reasons why this was used for the 19Things programme.

We are looking at Netvibes for current awareness, but may not be able to continue with it as it needs Firefox or Chrome to be effective.  Other Things already in use in our library are Library Thing and we have created a QR code on our library door which links to our intranet site.

I feel that it has been a really good experience to complete this training. As I have said previously, it has given me time to look at Things in more depth than usual, and with the always helpful instructions on how to use these applications, it has made the whole programme really well worth while. Thank you to the team too for the occasional comments on blog posts, which have been very welcome.

I had previously made a start on the 23 Things programme, but failed to persevere with it, mainly because some of the Things did not seem very applicable to my post. But the 19 Things were always relevant, always well explained, and will be useful in the future. I hope the other participants have enjoyed it as much as I have.

Catching up

It's been good to have a week to catch up.  Last week was very busy, so I was unable to post to my blog, but I have caught up this week, and now feel that I am fairly up to date.

I have been thinking of how all these activities have been very relevant to what we do in the library.  Today at our team meeting we were talking about increasing our use of QR codes, and I feel so much more familiar with them now.

I have really appreciated the emphasis on practical applications which we can use to improve what we do in the library, and the course has made me spend more time exploring the ways in which these technologies can be put into use, rather than just having a pretty superficial knowledge of what they can do.

CiteULike

How I wish I had know about reference management software when I was doing my research degree.  It's a few years ago now, so possibly none was available in those far-off days.

When I think of the struggles involved in compiling a bibliography, making sure that every entry conformed to the standard required by the University, how much easier it would have been having a tool like this.

It was very simple to register with CiteULike, and with the bookmarklet on my toolbar it is incredibly easy to add citations to my library.

Ways in which we could use this in the Library keep occurring to me.  For example, when students have problems with referencing, we could point them to this type of software, which will automatically format the references in the appropriate style.

It would also be useful in compiling lists of references when we want to use evidence-based practice to inform our library activities.

I can see that I shall be making a lot of use of this in the future.

LibraryThing

I have really enjoyed getting acquainted with LibraryThing and finding out how to use it.  Although we already use this within the Library, currently mainly to promote our new book purchases, I have not been particularly involved with this task and so therefore I was a relative 'newbie'.

How nice to use something which is not only simple to operate but which produces such a good-looking result.  I set about selecting some of the books which I have been reading with my Book Club, and it was simplicity itself to add the books and display them.  I particularly like the 'covers' view.

I can also see the advantages of being able to comment, recommend and share selections.  I am sure that I will think of other ways to use it in the future.  It is particularly suitable for Book Clubs to keep a track of what they have read, but there must be all sorts of uses which we as a Library could adopt to promote our stock.

Meet-o-matic

In the past I have told lots of people about Doodle, but I'd never heard of the very similar Meet-o-matic.  Essentially, they do the same thing, but I have found that Doodle is more intuitive and therefore setting up a meeting is an easier operation using this software than with Meet-o-matic.

However, the people to whom I posted suggested dates of the proposed meeting using Meet-o-matic found it really easy to respond, and the software worked perfectly well in suggesting the date most suitable for all attendees.

This is the sort of software which makes life so much simpler for everyone.

I had a look at the JISC Time Management toolkit.  It is probably primarily designed for those involved in project management, but it includes lots of very useful tips on managing and prioritising tasks in an efficient way.  Very good advice on how to manage emails, and how to stop your workspace being cluttered with unnecessary paperwork.  Also good on the effective management of meetings.  A very useful resource to know about.

Reflection - no, really!

The first thing that I did this week was to re-read my own blog - and swiftly noticed how many times I had used the word 'really'.  A little bit more proof reading before publishing wouldn't go amiss!

I think that I have tried to do all the tasks prior to this, and have written up my thoughts on them, so I thought that I would take a look at all the other blogs.  Lots of them - they are so good, and I especially liked the 'funnies'.  It makes it a much more interesting read if a blog is written with a bit of humour, and it shows that this is one way to make your blog stand out from the crowd.

Images, too - I haven't used many, and my own blog looks so much duller than some others who have used some very good images.  I particularly liked the 'reflective' image included on one blog for this week's task!

All the weekly tasks have been interesting, and I have learned a great deal from spending time investigating them all.  Sometimes I feel swamped by all these things when they come at me in the course of the working day, so it has been very good to be able to set some time aside to look into them in more detail.

Adding Feeds to MyLibrary

I found the instructions for these tasks really clear and easy to follow.  I had a real problem creating a feed from The Wikiman blog, as I constantly got an error message about the bandwith being exceeded, which I am assuming related to the blog and not to my PC.

However, as an alternative, I found the blog for the Wellcome Library, and was successful with that.  I really like the ease with which you can add feeds to MyLibrary - it works really well, and you can edit the title, move feeds up and down in the list, or remove them very simply.

I can see that I shall be using this much more in the future.

Adding RSS feeds

I am used to adding  feeds to my Netvibes dashboard, and that is a very easy process.  However, I had a bit more trouble adding RSS feeds to my Protopage - it evidently doesn't like me, because each time it refused to load the feed, until I finally went to the 'edit' button and entered the URL of the feed into the relevant box there.  I also find the need to drag the widget on to the page a bit annoying - with Netvibes, once you are in a particular page, the feed adds itself automatically.  I've added the BMJ current issue feed, and BBC and CNN news, and BBC weather for Dorchester.  I am still not happy with the look of the page, but maybe I will have time to play around with it later.  As I've said before, the whole Netvibes experience seems to be far better, more user-friendly and a better finished product, than Protopage. 

I like the idea of start pages - they are really useful for keeping all your information sources in one place.  I can see that apps and smartphones are the way most people access their favourite resources, but it seems to me that a start page or dashboard is ideally suited for anyone routinely using a desktop/laptop.

Protopage

I have found using Protopage to be quite different from Netvibes.  First of all, you really need to use Internet Explorer, because if you are using it with Firefox some of the widgets need 'plug-ins'.  It doesn't appear to be quite as intuitive to use as Netvibes, and the appearance of the pages is not quite as sharp and snappy.

There are endless wallpaper and colour schemes available, but it is relatively difficult to find one which makes for ease of reading.  In the end I settled for the scheme illustrated in the 19 Things blog, which seemed to present the best option in terms of sharpnesss and ease of reading.

I found the fact that you need to drag the widgets into the relevant tabs slightly confusing and rather laborious. 

I am not sure whether many of the widgets are really useful.  They seem to have a US bias, and are more suited to personal use.  However, this could be overcome by the use of RSS feeds, which will give the pages a more professional look.

So, in the discussion between the relative merits of Netvibes and Protopage, I definitely come out on the side of Netvibes for quality and ease of use.  The downside, of course, is as always the compatibility of these startpages with Internet Explorer and/or Firefox. 

Startpages

I had always referred to these as 'dashboards', but now I know the alternative term 'startpages' it will make it easier to explain to other people what I am talking about!  I am already familiar with Netvibes, as, with my Current Awareness hat on, I have been looking at ways in which other libraries are providing a Current Awareness service to their users.  Netvibes seemed to be the answer, and I have recently begun to put together a Netvibes dashboard to cover as many as possible of the specialties of our Trust staff, both clinical and managerial. 

I have had a look at all the portals listed on the 19 Things blog.  The majority of them are Netvibes dashboards, but there are also quite a few blogs, and at least one Trust library using Protopages.  I still think that Netvibes gives the clearest and most user-friendly interface.  Some of the blogs are rather wordy, and not so easy to navigate around.  However, a major drawback of Netvibes is that it doesn't operate particularly well with Internet Explorer (although it may do so with the more recent updates of IE, which sadly are not available to us here). 

You really need to be using Firefox or Google Chrome to have  Netvibes operating quickly and efficiently, and this would of course apply not only to the Library staff setting it up, but also to all the users who would want to view it.  We are still trying to find a way around this problem.

It may be that Protopages will provide a suitable alternative.  I am looking forward to trying it out.

Creative Commons

Monte Amiata from La Foce

This was a really interesting 'thing' for me, as the aspects of copyright law which relate to the use of images have always been a subject which resulted in me saying: 'if in doubt, don't'.  We fairly regularly receive requests from library users who want to source images for various projects, and we have to warn them not to infringe copyright; although I already knew of Creative Commons this 'thing' has given me an opportunity to investigate it more thoroughly, particularly the different types of licence which apply to 'free' images on the internet.


During our summer holiday, caravanning in Italy, we visited a lovely garden in southern Tuscany which had been created by Iris Origo.  During the 1930s Iris, with her husband, an Italian aristocrat, had moved to La Foce in the Val d'Orcia and set about the task of improving the lives of the impoverished farmers in the valley.  During the war, she and her husband not only took in many children made homeless by the bombing of cities in northern Italy, but also provided food and shelter for Italian and allied soldiers escaping from the Germans.  You can read about her wartime experiences in War in Val d'Orcia: an Italian War Diary 1943-1944

Villa La Foce and Garden

Browsers

As with most people, I have always used Internet Explorer.  However, this has proved to be so slow at times that I have downloaded Firefox for use at work.  The only problem with this is that it is not supported by our IT Department, so we are rather on our own if anything goes wrong.  That said, it is much faster than IE (especially the old version of IE that we have installed on our work PCs).  A major problem with using Firefox at work is the fact that you need to select the security exemption option every time you go into a website - a significant hassle.

I shall definitely try Firefox out at home, and probably Google Chrome as well.  I haven't had time to go into all the options concerning favorites, tabs etc, but it is good to know that the help sections will guide you through it.

I looked at the Opera website, but I won't be downloading it at work.  I had a look on Wikipedia Opera web browser to find out a bit more about it and discovered that it was the result of a Norwegian research project in which has grown into a major browser in its own right.   

There is so much information out there on how to get the best out of all these browsers, it can seem overwhelming at times, but when I have time I will definitely be working at familiarising myself with their respective features.

QR Codes

I have also had a go with these before.  We created one a year or so ago for the Library, and it links very nicely to the Library intranet site.  We have the QR code on the door of the Library - I'm not sure how many people have actually accessed our site from the code, but it shows that we are keeping abreast of things.

You see the codes all over the place now - especially if you go sightseeing.  It's a great way of accessing lots of information on the go, as you look at an interesting object or building.  And they are used a lot these days on things like train and airline tickets.

The QR code reader apps are widely and freely available, so it's really simple to download the reader to a smartphone.

It would be really interesting to hear how other Libraries are using the codes, and whether there are other uses to which they could be put.  I like the idea of linking to NICE Evidence.

I used this code generator, QR Stuff, but I think they all work in much the same way:

Wordle

I'd used Wordle once or twice before for Library posters etc., so it was nice to go back to something I was familiar with and play around with alternative layouts and colour schemes.  The site is very easy to use, and does exactly what it says on the tin!  It's annoying not to be able to save the Wordle, but it is simple enough to copy, paste and crop in a Word document.

We have used Wordles to advertise Library resources to staff.  I have always inputted my own words and haven't yet tried to put in a bunch of text.  It would be interesting to see how that would turn out.


Another word cloud creator site is Tagxedo

There are nice examples of how to use word clouds in different settings, and some of them are really beautiful!  The only problem is that you need to install the Silverlight program to create the word cloud.