Ask Away seems like a great resource for the general public. Librarians could probably find answers to most questions faster independently. I asked a question about winter preparation for a hydrangea bush. The 24/7 librarian was prompt and provided a response, but the answer was not sourced and she suggested I speak with someone at an outdoor nursery. It’s hard for me to divorce my librarian brain and look at this as a non-professional, the 24/7 aspect is certainly a plus but I have more confidence in p2p local service.
p.s. Sadly, this is not my hydrangea.
Filed under: Musings
I have spent some time this week exploring the world of podcasting. There’s a lot of interesting recorded information and entertainment out there. Podcasting seems to have much more commercial “infiltration” than the other 2.0 features we’ve used. I have not yet found that many library generated podcasts, but I’m not done looking (I have to spend more time on I-Tunes). I have been thinking of library applications. Perhaps the most obvious is as a suggested source of information for patrons. Imagine doing an author study and being able to listen to the author discuss his/her work! Podcasting with a video component (vodcasting?) could also be a useful tool to introduce patrons to library resources such as genealogy databases, or downloadable audio books, etc. Libraries in multilingual communities could also provide podcasts in other languages.
Filed under: Musings
I am lucky that I have the opportunity to search these databases on a regular basis. I spent some time on the ones I use less frequently and I spent some time on TryItIllinois offerings. Then, just for fun, I did look at the Historical New York Times for my birth-date. It was not a big news day. However, reports included reportage of Elizabeth Taylor’s first divorce (from Nick Hilton) and atomic bomb testing in Nevada. (Yes, they did test here. This was intended to be a deterrent to the Soviet Union.) Perhaps my favorite article was a report about the first demonstration of the new desk sized (that is desk sized, not desk top) computer, Maddid, developed by Northrup for defense purposes. It could be operated by one person! With push buttons! It could store 10,000 digits! It could do the work of the usual warehouse sized computers! Imagine.
