Friday 9 July 2010

Reflections


Time for a pause for reflection and for a look back over the last few weeks. Some things I've loved and some I'm not so sure I'll use again. Blogging is top of my list of favourites (I've even persuaded my uncle to set up his own blog!), Doodle is pretty good too. I'm not so sure about iGoogle and Google calendar, just because they seem to duplicate things I am using already (bookmarks on the web and the Outlook calendar). But this could be because I don't have a computer at home and so I don't need to carry my bookmarks or calendar with me.

For the library: Slideshare, Flickr and Twitter all have great potential. Slideshare for sharing information and providing induction for students; Flickr for all kinds of publicity and Twitter for getting information out to our users. Currently, I am least at home with Twitter - but I will definitely be using it for the next academic year. I'm also planning a blog for the Old Library and our on-going cataloguing project there.

I'm feeling much more confident about web 2.0 and much more willing to "have a go". The instructions from the Cam23 blog have been brilliant and will be a great resource for continuing to explore in the future. I HAVE found it hard-going at times. But I've found it more and more easy as I've been going along - so the learning process is definitely gathering pace!

I did the VARK test and my style of learning is multi-modal (not a great deal of help!). However, I don't need VARK to tell me what I already know: I tend to ask people to show me how to do things! However the Cam23 programme has shown me that having the patience to follow written instructions can be VERY productive. It's a great way to learn - so a big THANK YOU to the Cam23 team!

So much for good resolutions!

Somehow doing one "Thing" a day to catch up didn't quite work... but I'm almost there and I'm so grateful for this week of reflection.

I enjoyed a browse around Delicious and thought that Stanford's Green Library page was excellent. This is a great way to provide links to specialist resources and to share them with others.

I can see that Delicious would be particularly useful for Faculty Libraries because they have a specific subject focus and the librarians have specialist knowledge (so it's great to see the libraries of the Judge and Philosophy using Delicious). For a College (generalist) library it is possibly less useful, given the number of subjects we cover. Also, it is not so useful to duplicate effort put in by more specialist libraries! However, I can see the benefit of using Delicious for supporting scholars using our Old Library and special collections.

I particularly enjoyed Emma's links to knitting patterns and this has prompted me to join Ravelry - a knitting site I heard about a while ago! OK, it's not work - but don't they say "All work and no play..."?

Wednesday 7 July 2010

Favourite Flowers

A trip to Norfolk in glorious sunny weather was an opportunity to take some floral photos! Here are some pics of roses from Peter Beales (Attleborough) and blooms from Blickling Hall.

 

Roses and day lilies at Peter Beales


Glorious roses at Peter Beales






Dovecote and roses at Peter Beales





Black iris at Blickling Hall



Rhododendron at Blickling Hall







Wild orchid at Blickling Hall




Skye blue delphiniums at Blickling Hall