Thing 9: LibraryThing, Booktagger, Google Books and eBooks

So far Thing 9 has been my favourite, and here is why:

LibraryThing

So LibraryThing has been around for awhile, its not at all new and yet I have never looked seriously at it until I had to for this program! I have to say that I'm glad I have seen it and I will probably continue using it after this program is over. I really like that it shows other members with the same books as you (potentially leading you on to reading new books since you may share the same taste). Plus I like the idea of having recommendations, since I'm always looking for new great reads and have exhausted other website suggestions. The reviews are interesting too. I found learning my way around this site to be fun.

Booktagger

Similarly Booktagger allows you to also share reads on the internet, only it seems like it would be more effective with more friends to share it with. I think I prefer the layout and feel of LibraryThing better. Still I could see how it would be useful for those looking for a new read.

Google Books

I've used Google Books a few times. As a student it was sometimes helpful in working out which pages would be the best to photocopy from a book I could get in a physical copy at the library. Although I have used Google Books in the past it is not something that I would use regularly.

eBooks

I've never really embraced eBooks much for my own personal library. I love that they exist for students because I was once a Distance Education student so I know first hand how useful eBooks are for an assignment. Despite not seeking them out for my own personal reading, my roommates have been using Kindles and after seeing them and hearing all the virtues (i.e how many books you can carry in one lightweight kindle) I'm a little envious and it has definitely made me interested in looking further into eBook readers and eBooks.

My local library does offer eBooks. The ACT Library service offers several eBook services, and also has this handy page for users.

Thing 7 and 8: The Time Saving Capabilities of RSS

RSS readers and feeds are certainly helpful for keeping all news and blogs updates in one place. I also like that its a simple procedure for adding an RSS feed (although I too had to do a lot of cutting and pasting, but I assumed that might be because I'm using a Mac). Compared to clicking on five different websites, the RSS feeds are much more streamlined. I've added these to Google Reader.

In terms of using this for my work or personal life, I have added some personal interest RSS feeds including one for library comics and one for PhD comics (yes, I'm a bit of a comics fan :)) So I can see myself using this to check these sites that I would normally click on every now and then. In terms of work I have used RSS feeds at my previous workplace for ideas for the library blog (latest news & especially latest library news) and I also used it for research blogs for the subjects I was responsible for listing the latest information or research.

I think that RSS feeds could really aid librarians to help patrons find the latest research or information on a given topic. There is so much information out there that I think RSS feeds are really useful to us as professionals in helping us keep up with our favourite blogs, news etc, and in turn our up-to-date knowledge of various topics can only benefit the patrons.

Thing 6: Gathering Google

Google Docs
Has some great features that I can see being really helpful to students and the general public. I really liked that it auto-saves frequently so that document changes are not lost. I can imagine for stressed students this is a very helpful function, plus with the collaborative nature saving time having multiple versions and conversations by email seems like a great idea. I think that it also has great potential since you can see in real time when someone is editing the document. I would use this again, it seemed quite easy to use, especially if you are familiar with Word.

Google Maps
I've been using Google Maps for awhile now. I really like the street view option (great for when I'm looking at accommodation and checking the location, or just need to see where I'm going). I have also used Google Maps frequently to get directions, and work out travel times and distances.

Google Scholar
As a student I used Google Scholar a lot, especially when doing a literature review. In addition to my database searches via the library website I found Google Scholar another source of information. I like that you can search across a large volume of information and for academic students having their university library preferences being set up can aid students to locate a vast array of knowledge that they have not have found otherwise.