Exercise 16 - LAST POST – COMPLETING YOUR ASSESSMENT

Assessment completed and submitted email to teacher for checking and grading.

Blog Exercise 15– commenting on other blogs

I was unable to view other blogs, when I tried to accept the invitations to view the blogs, the invitation would not allow me access to the blog. 

Blog Exercise 14 – invite classmates as readers to your blog

I have invited the following people to view my blog:

• Brendan O'Brien
• Lai Foong
• Yang Lu

Blog Exercise 13– changing the arrangement of your blog

I have made several changes to the layout of the blog. These are:

• I have moved Contributors below Blog Archives on the side bar.
• Changed colour of nav bar to black – to fit with the rest of the blog style.
• Added a search bar to allow readers to search the blog for specific posts.

Blog Exercise 12– changing the colour/ background of your blog

I have made several changes to the blog. The background colour of the blog is now black, and the main text is now white. The blog title and post titles are now red headings.

Investigative Exercise 11 Recommendations

In my last post I talked about how Sutherland Shire Library service currently uses web 2.0 technologies. In this post I am going to discuss some of the recommendations I would make to improve the usage of these technologies by examining other libraries and what they use and where these libraries could set the example for Sutherland shire libraries to follow.

St. Joseph County Public Library in the United States is a great example of a library that is maximising its use of web 2.0 tools to promote the libraries services to children and get them involved in the library and in reading. The library has an extensive YouTube channel which they use to post content ranging from story time sessions to promotion material as well as training materials. Copying this model for the Sutherland Shire service is one recommendation I would make as it involves children in reading and also allows them to comment on the videos saying what they liked and what they would like to see in future, data which the library can use to plan and organise their sessions for what the children want. The St Joseph County library site also runs a program for children to read more, where they create a log on the site saying what they have read and how long they have spent reading, with prizes based on their results. This is another fantastic way to engage children with reading from a young age.

St. Joseph County Public Library YouTube

St. Joseph County Public Library Homepage

St. Joseph County Public Library reading program for kids

For teenage and young adult members of the library, St Joseph County also uses a recommendation section where teens can list the recent books they have read and share their interests in book topics and general topics with others. There is also a section on the page for reviewing books so that teens can let others know what they thought of the book. The page works as its own form of social media with teens able to make a profile page, follow others, and message others all with the aim of sharing interests in reading and use of other library resources. The Hennepin county library in the United States also does a similar system however they use established social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter to share and connect with their patrons, providing a space for them to share their reviews of books, films etc with others.

Hennepin County Library 

St. Joseph County Public Library teen reviews

The Kansas City Library makes great use of web 2.0 in its promotion of it local studies areas on their website. The library uses a weekly RSS feed to update patrons with new information each week and which also serves as historical tool as it gives information and resources as to what was happening that particular week throughout the history of Kansas City. The library also makes use of a program called history pin, a variation of google maps which has ‘pins’ with various iconic buildings and their history. Similar to what Sutherland library already does, the Kansas City library interviews local community members for their records.

Kansas City Library “This week in history RSS” 

Kansas City Library HistoryPin

By implementing these various tools into their web 2.0 then Sutherland library will be able to vastly improve its digital presence.

Investigative Exercise 10 Evaluation

The Sutherland Shire Library Service makes use of several web 2.0 technologies and websites. The library service has active social media pages, using Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest to actively promote the library and its events to the public. The library service also uses RSS feeds to keep people up to date with events and as a Vimeo page where it posts videos of various library events and conferences such as author talks, training sessions and programs and other videos used to promote the library.

On the main page of the library website they also have a comment section, asking people to leave feedback about the library service in an attempt to involve the community in helping to further develop the library services by seeing what people have to say about the library and what areas people think can be improved.

Areas that the library makes use of other Web 2.0 technologies in the services it provides are:

Local Studies – The Library has uploaded a series of podcasts detailing interviews with long term residents of the Sutherland Shire.

These can be found here

Children’s Resources– The library has several learning games on its website to allow children to practice literature, spelling and mathematics.

Adult fiction – In the Library catalogue there are sections that allow people to submit their own reviews of items they have read/viewed and also allows people to create their own tags for books which other people can then use and add to in turn.