Having an instructive and crazy time doing things 1, 2 , 3 and now 4! Starting off is easy - it's when you decide to customize that things go pear shaped... So many choices, so many clicks that do something you haven't expected, so many clicks that don't do ANYTHING at all. Thank heavens for the cancel button!!
Well iGoogle was fun (in the end) after the shock of finding out that I already had an account (well I must have created it for a Google application at some point) plus the dreaded password (which I couldn't remember). Half an hour later, I hit on the right password and was on my way. I spent happy hours (is this the best use of my time I ask myself?) customizing my site and choosing toolbar images for different pages. Then I added links to some blogs and to Copac and did some searches. I have never used Copac (Worldcat, RLUK and the ESTC are my choice) so it was good to explore it.
What can iGoogle offer libraries? It is a great aggregator of information for an individual user - through the choices you make information comes to you rather than you having to go looking for it. However, there are disadvantages: the iGoogle account is password protected and so is not a suitable platform for disseminating information. By setting preferences it could make you lazy and narrow your options by taking away some of the serendipity of web-searching. The main advantages: 1. It helps individual librarians to organise their professional lives, through gathering links and blogs in one place; 2. It helps librarians to understand the different formats we need to use to get our information out to our users.
We already use an RSS feed for new acquisitions - but I have now added some more RSS feeds to my browser toolbar: arcadia@cambridge ; 23 Things Cambridge ; Dan Cohen's Digital Humanities Blog. I'll keep adding feeds when I find useful ones in the future.
These 23 things are taxing at first but once you get the hang of them they are fun!
Hello Dominique, welcome online :)
ReplyDeleteI fully agree with your observations and thoughts about iGoogle. I suppose it's very helpful to keep track of your bookmarks when you work on different computers.
Very good point - of course! Wow I hadn't thought of that.
ReplyDeleteHi
ReplyDeleteDefinitely good if you move computers a lot. I find it distracting though and as I'm usually at one workspace prefer my favourites and the libary website as home page. BUT I do use iGoogle at home. I guess that says a lot for its personalization functionality. In fact one of the best things about it is the google calendar gadget. So useful for checking up on work committments out of work!
I have to fess up here! I don't have a computer or laptop at home ... yes, I'm still in the dark ages. But iGoogle sounds great for managing links and the calendar at home. I'm getting so into all these 23 things that a laptop is next on my shopping list (after the expense of my summer holiday in Venice!)
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