19. GoodReads

For item #19, we had to take the tour of GoodReads.  The tour wasn't really a tour, it just takes you to the how it works page.  That didn't really bother me because I've been a member of GoodReads since October 2011.  I use it to keep track of what I'm reading and to keep in touch with members of the Library's book club.  I can also see what my friends are reading.  It's similar to Library Thing, but its web design is slicker and there's more emphasis on fun stuff like quizzes, trivia, reading challenges, etc.  Whenever someone joins the book club, I always recommend this site to them.  It's basically like Facebook for book nerds.

18. Library Thing

For item #18, we are supposed to visit Library Thing and take the tour of the site.  Library Thing is a lot like a site that I already use- GoodReads (which I will blog about for item #19).  You sign up and then create a library of your books and  books that you want to read.  It has a lot more details for the books than GoodReads and it lets you modify or add things to a book entry, which GoodReads doesn't allow.  I also liked the idea of the Local tab, which lists book-related events and venues, but there were only events for Henrico libraries listed and some of the venue listings were out of date (e.g. Borders as a local bookstore).  As a whole, I liked Library Thing but probably wouldn't use it as I already use GoodReads.

17. LibraryElf

LibraryElf is a service that allows you to keep track of your library materials, mostly to prevent overdues.  While this seems like a great idea, I don't think it would help our patrons all that much.  First, we aren't even a supported Library, so you can't sign up.  Second, although you can get alerts for a single card for free, if you want to be able to track the items on multiple cards (like for your kids, etc.) or receive text message alerts, it costs $20 per year.  Financially, unless you're incurring lots and lots of fines, this doesn't really make a whole lot of sense.  Especially when you consider that you can access your account on our site for free.

15. Web 2.0 Photo Tools

a. I took the tour of Flickr.  It seems like a good place to upload photos.  I liked that there were flexible privacy settings, so that you could set a group of photos as for family only or for friends only.  I'm sure that there are photos that you don't really want your grandma to see.  Although this seems like a good site, I'm not sure I would use it.  Facebook already allows you to upload photos and Flickr requires you to have an account to see photos.  None of my friends are on Flickr, so I'll just stick with Facebook for now.

b. I visited Picasa, but it doesn't look like there's an introduction video.  So I looked at the new features of Picasa 3.9 and then went through the Getting Started guide.  I liked that this isn't just about a site to upload photos.  You can also download the Picasa software to edit your photos, make them into movies, upload them to your blog, etc.