Delicious @ the desk

I took a neat class this week called Delicious at the Ref Desk. It was all about using the social bookmarking site Delicious to create a network of useful web sites for use at library service desks. You can get a flavor of the opportunities by viewing the class blog. Annette Gaskins at Harford was the primary driver of this course. Definitely start with the "Social Bookmarking in Plain English" video.

I think it would benefit us as a small staff with diverse knowledge and abilities. Each branch would get their own Delicious account and include the others in their network. We each could add the web sites and apply as many tags (descriptive terms) as we want. Then we would make sure that Delicious opened on each staff machine. Staff could search for tag names within the network and retrieve a list of web sites to use to answer patron questions.

What do you think? It might be easier than creating a shared bookmarks file across the system.

SLRC's Sights and Sounds has created a Delicious site and so has Harford. take a look.
My delicious bookmarks are at http://delicious.com/jetaube

Quick links to free streaming tv shows

Gizmodo has provided links to your favorite TV shows (full length, free and legal).

"Our Internet TV remote has the best links to every prime-time show currently streaming online at full length."

Tween Visionaries web site at FCPL

Tween Visionaries (http://tweenvisionaries.org/) from Frederick County Public Libraries is a fun and colorful way for tweens to get their message out there in a way that they want to deliver it.

From the web site, "Tween Visionaries is a site by you, for you. If you are between the ages of ten to thirteen, and have something to say, share it here. You can write, draw, talk or present your feelings about a local or global issue. Explore, create, and enjoy!"

Books & Babies & Debbie

Three Cheers to Debbie and George's Creek for their Books and Babies Program!

Perkonomics - trend watch

Perkonomics - "a new breed of perks and privileges, added to brands' regular offerings, is satisfying customers' ever growing desire for novel forms of status and convenience." According to the latest issue of trendwatching.com , what are the exclusive offerings that companies offer to build customer loyalty and generate "buzz."

If you ask me, the library already has mastered the art of perkonomics. With your library card, look at all the perks you get: unlimited amounts of information, entertainment, and access to materials you could not otherwise afford, and much of it from your own home or office computer.

Maybe we need to work on making the library card less of an everyday thing and more of a status symbol.

What do you think?

OpenCongress.org

OpenCongress.org from the Sunlight Foundation summarizes bills in everyday language and monitors related news and blog coverage. Users can follow a legislator's voting record and submit comments on proposed laws. (from Oct 2008 Wired magazine).

The website posts

"OpenCongress brings together official government data with news coverage, blog posts, comments, and more to give you the real story behind what's happening in Congress. Small groups of political insiders and lobbyists already know what's really going on in Congress. We think everyone should be an insider.

OpenCongress is a free, open-source, non-profit, and non-partisan web resource with a mission to make Congress more transparent and to encourage civic engagement."

Congressional Earmarks

Congressional Earmarks (spending measures inserted by members of Congress into bills that direct taxpayer dollars to their pet projects) are the focus of the web site earmarkwatch.org. Accordign to the website, "

Here's your chance to investigate earmarks–those spending measures inserted by members of Congress into bills that direct taxpayer dollars to their pet projects. Are members using earmarks to meet pressing needs? Reward political supporters? Are they good public policy, or vehicles for pure pork? Every earmark is different, and we currently have over 3,000 of them online, ready and waiting for you to dig into.

The research framework we're providing asks you specific questions about the recipient of the earmark and the member who sponsored it, and provides links to the sources of information you can search for answers.

You will also have an opportunity to provide additional information from your own research. We offer some suggestions and ideas for additional information you can find, but feel free to follow your own instincts."