Investigative Exercise 10: Evaluation 

1. Write a substantial post about the use of 2.0 technologies in your individual library service of your LGA. 

 

Leichhardt Library has embraced the opportunities that Web 2.0 offers libraries today, and publish content on a variety of different social media platforms. This allows the library to cover as many bases as possible, and give people information in a way which is convenient and can help to personalise the library's services for them.

 

Leichhardt publishes content on the following social media platforms:

Facebook, on which pictures, text and links are posted, including topics such as the services the library provides, history, art, facts and general knowledge, movies, book and publisher news, as well as locality specific information and services. This allows patrons to see whatever content the library posts in their Facebook feed, which is very beneficial because of the popularity of Facebook, and the amount of time a great number of the population spend on it daily.

https://www.facebook.com/LeichhardtLibraryService

 

 

Blogger

Leichhardt Library have a blog on which information regarding local history is posted called Local Notes. This includes things such as oral history, pictures, city section maps for the local area, WW I&II memorials,  directories.

Pinterest, Leichhardt have a board on which images and links of pictures relating to books, reading and research, graphic novels and local history are posted.  

 2. Discuss what is available in any  three  of the following library service areas:
There is a great deal of information available for local studies and Information and reference via the Leichhardt Library's web 2.0 services. The most specific source for both, is the Local Notes blog, mentioned above. This contains pictures of local areas and how they have changed, pictures of local businesses, accounts of years gone by, old maps of local areas, Memorials for soldiers from the local area who served in the First and Second World Wars are provided in a separate blog, called Leichhardt 500. There is also local knowledge, general research information and pictures posted on the Library's Pinterest board.

Leichhardt library also has a blog for parents of babies and young children, including anecdotes, information on things such as children's storytime, reading lists, as well as songs and rhymes for children.

 

 

Investigative Exercise 9: Community Profiles

Investigative Exercise 9: Community Profiles

I live in the council are of Leichhardt.

Leichhardt is a suburb in Sydney's Inner West. It is located 5km 

west of the CBD. Leichhardt is known as "little Italy", but changing area demographics has resulted in a much lower Italian population over the last few years.

Leichhardt's library is located in the Italian Forum, which is a developed area that never reached it's intended potential, as rent prices for stores were expensive as a result of the high cost of construction.

Leichhardt Town Hall

Leichhardt Council Website

Leichhardt Library Website

Investigative Exercise 8. - CURRENT AWARENESS POST

Investigative Exercise 8. - CURRENT AWARENESS POST

The first video is a TED talk about web companies tailoring online content to personal tastes, and influencing the results of news and search results. The inadvertent result of this is users becoming enclosed within in a "filter bubble and don't get exposed to information that could challenge or broaden our worldview." Eli Pariser puts forward the point that "this will ultimately prove to be bad for us and bad for democracy", and delves into the need for a updated equivalent of journalistic integrity for the technological age.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8ofWFx525s

Investigative Exercise 7 Podcasts

Investigative Exercise 7 Podcasts

The Search for R. H. Mathews, an Australian anthropologist

State Library of NSW

This podcast shows how Mitchell Library's old card cataloguing system, which had hundreds of R.H Mathews' publications indexed, resulted in a biographical exploration of his life and the world around him.  
http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/podcasts/events/martin_thomas_nba.html

Investigative Exercise 6. Social Bookmarking

Investigative Exercise 6. Social Bookmarking

Some of the reader reviews have content that is helpful, and to the point, while other reviews are filled out with information that may not be as useful to readers, including personal opinions. The nature of these reviews is so that it is not necessary for library staff to read and review titles. This means that there may be much more content reviewed, but does meant that reviews may not have the same criteria and guidelines that they would were they written by staff. 

I think that this is a useful service for libraries to provide, but I think it should be necessary for staff to approve reviews, to moderate posts, and ensure no offensive content is posted.

My local library, Leichhardt, only has staff reviews available on the library catalogue

Investigative Exercise 5 Social Networking

I think that libraries should participate in social media, because it allows libraries to engage with people who aren't present in the physical library building to an extent not previously possible. Libraries can use social media to reach and communicate with people effectively, as social media plays an increasingly noticeable role in the lives of people in the 21st Century. The use of social media by libraries, can help to cement the notion of libraries as connecting points to digital resources, and is therefore important for the library of the future 

Exercise: Investigative Exercise 4 Youtube

Nancy Pearl on the value of libraries, through her own  life experiences. "When you walk into (a library), you're the equal of anybody else and your options are unlimited."