Reading Pile

School holidays....among other things I intend to get some reading done.

Staff Holiday Reads

This week in the library we put together a collection of suggested holiday reads for the staff and invited them all into the library for morning tea. Lovely to see some staff members who don't frequent the library.

This week also saw the completion of a huge task to allocate the graphic novels a collection of their own ( they were separated on the shelves but lumped into the fiction) and attach a graphics sticker to the spine. 

'Elanor Oliphant is Completely Fine'

Gail Honeyman

A book recommended by a friend also completed this week.  The book tells the story of Elanor  Oliphant who is anything but completely fine at the beginning of the story. She lives alone, without family or close friends managing  to support herself financially and drinking lots of vodka on the weekends to cope with her loneliness. Elanor is socially awkward, people think she is odd. Details of her disfunctional relationship with her mother and her horrible childhood are gradually revealed throughout the story.As the story unfolds, so too does an unlikely friendship with a co-worker and his family, drawing Elanor out of her isolation and suggesting better things to come.

Task 10: Finalise

I still need to gain invites to a few more class members blogs to comment.

Task 9: Review

I enjoy working in e-blogger. It is a format that I am familiar with as I have had a blogspot for a number of years. I know how to use it and can quickly upload images and text and customise the look of my blogspot without too much angst....I enjoy using e-blogger. It is familiar, safe and known. You are the sole author on e-blogger and although  you  can invite comments from your readers, the control of content and image is all yours.

I have not had much experience using a 'Wiki' and am not as comfortable using it as I am with e-blogger. I do however like the fact that a wiki can allow collaboration on line amongst several people using the one document. I feel you would need to communicate really clearly any changes that you make to the working document and be flexible and adaptable to suggestions from others. Wiki's invite collaboration so you need to be open to working as a team.

I feel that a library should make use a  variety of social media platforms to inform and update their library customers. Facebook, instagram, you tube, pinterest and twitter would all be great helping library staff to advertise, inform and document library activities.

A library blogspot could be used to update library activities on a regular basis. Informing customers of upcoming events, new books, special celebrations and book reviews using text and images. Library customers can be encouraged to comment on posts providing library staff with valuable feedback.

designreflect.com

Task 8:Photo Sharing sites

I have a Pinterest account that I sometimes use. I do enjoy looking through all the photos posted by people and I like the fact that you can organise your own 'Pins' into categories and you can generally search by typing into the search bar  a broad category like 'books' as I did today.

Many, many images are at your fingertips. Quite a few are not watermarked. The image below is one that I found after searching for a while and chosen because I like the feel of the space with the large windows, lots of natural light, and lots of books to read. A gorgeous place to relax and read.

www.steppingintopm.com

Setting up a Pinterest account for your library would be a  great way to organise photographs taken in the library publicising events, showcasing new books, school holiday activities, seniors workshops, and bookclubs. The photographs can be sorted into boards or categories. A great way to make sure that the images shared are easy to search.

Task 7: Video Sharing Sites.

Coffee Break with EBYR

I used the tags book club and  video sharing  to highlight this post, as the video I have chosen to use  discusses starting a book club from scratch, member numbers, choosing books, discussion starters etc. Something I have always wanted to initiate in the library that I am working in. I enjoyed the video and unfortunately they are no longer currently posting, however  there are one hundred other bookish video's posted by Ahna and Katherine......not enough hours in the day......!!!!!!

The library could use video sharing to inform their library patrons about the library itself, a behind the scene library tour, or sharing videos from other libraries (with correct attribution) to inform people of events or information that may be important, relevant or interesting.

Task 6: Social Networking: Facebook

I enjoy social networking.It allows me to gain an insight into what is happening in my field of interest and to connect with like minded people. Without it my access would be quite limited. Social media makes it easy to network. The photos, video's and the 'immediacy' of posting makes it fun and interesting. Posts and sites that you have 'liked' on facebook   will then appear in your news feed keeping you up to date as updates are made. Searching for sites that may interest you is easy via the search bar at the top of your facebook  news feed.

Above the online book club that I have joined and am enjoying very much.

Social networking can be an invaluable communication tool for a library. Setting up several social media platforms such as facebook, instagram and twitter can help to convey information to our library customers, informing them of upcoming events, opening hours,  location, services provided, links to the library catalogue and a way for customers to provide feedback and comments about the services provided and their effectiveness.

Task 5: Class Wiki

I am not that familiar with 'Wiki's' however I did enjoy exploring what you can do with one. I like the idea that it can be a collaborative document that several people can contribute to and edit.

I uploaded the above photo of myself and my daughter to 'Jan's'  page within the Wiki, then answered some questions about social media and played with font and text colour.

You have all the usual bits n pieces in your tool bar for creating a document. You can insert  links, photos and videos. Text can be created and justified as usual or made into bullet lists.

I can see myself using a wiki in the library setting as either a collaborative document amongst  staff when planning an event, display or research task. I can also see it being used in the creation of libguides or with groups of students working together collaboratively on an assignment.

Online Book Club

I have joined an online book club. Life is busy so it suits me that I  can contribute when I can  find time. I actually finished the book in time for the discussion meeting.... I enjoyed the interaction with the other members and their 'take'on  'The Heart Goes Last'  by Margaret Atwood.

September's read is 'Ghosted' by Rosie Walsh.

Will get to work on this book after my Tafe homework is done!

'Ghosted'

by

Rosie Walsh