Blogging Librarian

Inspired by Ruminations‘ Top 10 favorite learning tools, here’s my top 10 list.

1. Firefox / Safari - I use both browsers interchangeably though my current default browser is Firefox as I like the extensions it allows me to install that helps in my learning. However, Safari seems to be a little faster in processing the pages, but I’ll have to sacrifice the extensions. So, normally, I’ll have both browsers open. By the way, Safari 3.0 Beta is also available for Windows XP and Vista.
2. del.icio.us - A social bookmarking tool that allows me to store my bookmarks online and I’m able to share with others if I want to.
3. NetNewsWire / Google Reader - Most of my learning and reading is through my RSS feed reader. When I don’t have access to my MacBook Pro, then I’ll rely on Google Reader.
4. Google Search - I’m sure everyone uses Google Search, particularly librarians. Just need to know how to use this very powerful correctly.
5. Wordpress - All my blogs run on self-hosted Wordpress. If you are not into self-installing, then they have a hosted version that you can sign up for free at Wordpress.com.
6. Flickr - Since I moved to digital photography about 5 years ago, I’ve got tons of photos that have not seen the light of day as I had no way to display it online. The difficult way was to create a website and put all the photos up there. Or the new and simpler way which is simply upload it to Flickr. However, I’ve also started using another photo-sharing site, Zooomr, which has the same functionalities as Flickr but with a little less restrictions on what you can put up.
7. YouTube - A great place for me to find out what other libraries are doing as overseas libraries, particularly in the States, are quite fond of putting up videos of their events as well as promotional videos.
8. iTunes / iPod - Great place to download podcasts to find out what’s happening. And when I’m not at my MacBook Pro, then I’ve got my video iPod with me.
9. Wikipedia - It’s a good place to find some understanding of any topic so that I can do further searches on Google or NLB’s cataglogue though it can’t be totally relied on for factual information. However, there were some unscientific tests done that showed that the accuracy of information was higher than Encyclopedia Britannica in the subjects of science and engineering.
10. Amazon / Bookjetty - I usually come here to look for the latest books published as well as the bestsellers lists so that I can make informed decisions on the requests to acquire books. And Bookjetty allows me to search for books on both Amazon and NLB’s catalogue at the same time.
11. Gmail - I use Gmail for subscribing to library-related mailing lists.

So, what are some of your useful tools of learning as well as your thoughts on the tools I’ve mentioned above?

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