Week 3: Social Networking Tools

This week I thoroughly enjoyed exploring several features of Facebook. I created an account, used the Friends menu to locate other librarians and wrote messages to them. Also I browsed more applications of Facebook such as Events and library catalogs such as UAB Catalog, PubMed and WorldCat. I added these applications to my Facebook profile.

Participants of the MLA Web 2.0 class also created an account in Linkedin, we joined Linkedin, set our preferences and used the Added Connections feature. Then we viewed examples of libraries that have MySpace sites.

My experience with a few of these social networking tools was enlightening and very positive. As I'm learning more about these tools, I'm discovering the versatility of applying these tools.

I can definitely see many of the benefits that MLA and other professional organizations can harness by utilizing social networking tools. For example MLA can post announcments and events; members can RSVP to events on Facebook and other members can view everyone else's response.

If someone needs reference assistance, in a few moments literature searches can be performed by using WorldCat, UAB Catalog, PubMed and other applications that may be added to one's Facebook profile.

Of course, there are some privacy issues when using social networking tools but I feel that the benefits of using these tools exceed the privacy concerns.

Bravo to all of our Web 2.0 instructors.

Week 2: Wikis

During this week, class participants had an interesting discussion about blogs vs wikis, which took place on the MLA Learning 2.0 CE Course Blog http://sns.mlanet.org/snsce/?p=15#comments.

Here's the link to the discovery exercises/assignments for Week 2: Wikis
http://sns.mlanet.org/snsce/?p=8

Class participants each created a wiki, and my wiki is called NSMC Health Sciences Library Wiki: http://nsmchealthscienceslibwiki.wetpaint.com/?t=anon&t=anon . As the weeks proceed and we build on our skills, my wiki will grow. So far I created some images of medical books that could be useful in displaying new acquisitions in a library.

This week, as one of our assignments, we were to add blog rolls to our blogs, which I did successfully. Please see the two blog rolls: MLA Web 2.0 101 Blogs and MLA Web 2.0 101 Wiki listed on my blog: http://unconventionalmlibrarian.blogspot.com/

Week 1: Blogging and RSS Feeds

During this first week long session of our Medical Library Association Web 2.0: Second Generation Web Tools course http://sns.mlanet.org/snsce/, participants learned the benefits of blogging and RSS feeds. The Discovery exercises/assignments for week one are listed on our class web page: http://sns.mlanet.org/snsce/?p=4 .
Each of us created a blog and set up subscriptions of RSS feeds from web sites of our own choice.
I created a blog called Unconventional MLibrarian and here's the link: http://unconventionalmlibrarian.blogspot.com/ . I enjoy watching my blog evolve each day, and now I realize how addictive the act of blogging can become.

I also set up some subscriptions to RSS feeds, which I thought would be interesting to health sciences librarians. Here are a few RSS Feeds I subscribe to:

• BLACKWELL SYNERGY: Obesity Reviews: Table of Contentshttp://www.blackwell-synergy.com/action/showFeed?ui=0&mi=m0vym&ai=ym&jc=obr&type=etoc&feed=rss
• CDC Emergency Preparedness & Response: News & Announcements http://www2a.cdc.gov/podcasts/createrss.asp?c=135
• CDC En Espanol http://www2a.cdc.gov/podcasts/createrss.asp?c=151
• CDC HIV/AIDS Preventionhttp://www.cdc.gov/hiv/rss/hiv.xml
• PUBMED Search for 'autism" http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/erss.cgi?rss_guid=0pl7xcKL0j7cYwBuwG_vNl60kE6oW00xYp63PxIfsRt

After this week of intense hands-on learning about Web 2.0 technologies, I feel very comfortable and confident that I can embrace any blogging challenge and create blogs for all types of libraries as one main responsibility of my reference librarian role.