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.