Thing 20: Books 2.0, part four

Wired for Books is an impressive site. Quite a collection of author interviews that can be downloaded by mp3 and listed to later. It is available for educational use too.

I really liked the BookVideos.tv site. I watched a few author and book videos and enjoyed them. This one's a keeper.

Reading Group Choices looks like an excellent resource for book groups. Many recommendations and discussion question starters. This one's a keeper too.

I next looked at LitLovers and liked this site even more than Reading Group Choices. Very comprehensive and a much longer list of books and book guides. Another keeper and even better resource for book groups. This is one I'll go back to for my own enjoyment and edification.

Thing 20: Books 2.0, part three

I looked at some online book communities. I'm impressed with BookGlutton's software and interaction among users for reading and discussion. This site seems to be for the really serious reader.

I also looked at Readerville. It had thoughtful comments on various books.

But the one I liked best was Overbooked. I had trouble with the page loading but what I could see impressed me and had a more popular literature feel to it. I'll go back to it later and perhaps I'll get the full page to load properly.

For me personally, I like to look for books to read, but really don't care to discuss them online. I think Library Thing and my Facebook book page give me enough interaction with reviews of books.

But these sites are good to keep in mind to recommend to those who do want the social interaction of discussing the books that they read.

Thing 19: Other social networks

I read the WebJunction article on social networks. I've used WebJunction before and refer to it and watch webinars. Love WebJunction, lots of library info in one place.

I looked at Ning; a bit too alternative for me. I also looked at Gather and realized I had signed up for this before. I had high hopes for this since they are hoping to attract NPR listeners and I am a great fan of NPR. But in looking at it again I remembered why I didn't pursue it; I really did not find a group I was eager to join.

I also looked at Good Reads and remembered I had looked at that site too. No groups there either that I was eager to join.

I think the book section of Facebook and Library Thing is fulfilling my social networking desire for book groups.

Thing 18: Facebook

Facebook was easy for me. I already have a Facebook account. I started this as a way to keep up with a long distance child. But now I have grown-up friends too!

I looked at some of the suggested librarian Facebook groups. I searched for a Florida library group and found that Florida Library Association has a page. I missed that announcement, or it wasn't pertinent to me at the time. Now that I know about Facebook (and check it almost everyday), FLA Facebook page makes sense.

I joined FLA Facebook and posted a message.

As of this writing there are 157 members of FLA group on Facebook. I know there are more librarians out there!

Back to Thing 11

I looked around at the sites Digg, Reddit, Newsvine, Mixx. I'm going to like Newsvine since I like to read all sorts of news topics. Got sidetracked on reading an article.

I submitted a link to Reddit since I already have an account there. My son told me about this long ago tho I have not used it much. I had to copy and paste the URL in. Delicious was much easier to use since it grabbed the URL automatically.

On the page I chose to submit, I counted 30 social networking sites (all with cute little logos) where you could submit the link. Too many,information overload!

Thing 11: Social networking

I started on Thing 11. Watched the video--love those videos. I also looked at Mixx. I'm a bit familiar with Reddit and Mixx looks to be similar.

I've seen the share and article tools on various websites. Now I know better what they do.

As to use in libraries...there are many links we can make between these sharing tools, and with bookmarks such as Delicious. I can see some value in a library setting but wonder if these links would be used. I wonder if others feel like I do sometimes...too much information.