Saturday, March 14, 2009

Widgets, Gadgets and Guides Oh My

So a big theme this morning in the Cyber Zed Shed has been widgets and the creation of new tools to incorporate into library websites. One small note these sessions of been PACKED to the gills. It seems that in the future ACRL will have to consider putting the new innovation and technologies section into a larger room with more seats. It seems that the many many of the participants are seeking out new technologies to integrate into their libraries whether it be for teaching or providing reference services.

The first presentation discussed Sprout which is a free online widget creator. Cool stuff. The second presentation discussed building online subject guide that is being built by developers at Cal State Fullerton. These subject guides are created with the intent of making guides easy to read and filled with interactivity.

Here are some of my notes from this one:

Library Subject Guides
Widgets, Gadgets and other Enhancements

Cal State Fullerton

What are guides? Pathfinders handouts , lists of reources

Why do we have them?
Quickly point users to resources
Give users somthing to take away.\

Users have changed have guides?

too much info and readers tend to skim

searching and searching and searching . . .

Solutions te

technologies that enhance and simplify guides.

Simple search widget


Go from being inactive to interactive
One wideget searches wsites we selected
The library takes a degree of information ownership
(you can brand it: google will take out ads)

Mike who presented blog page is:
www.imnomarian.com

whenever he builds a new widget he posts it to his blog.

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