Colin's Sydney Blog

Exercise 11
Exercise 11- Extend 2.0 technology in Gordon Library.

Observing Gordon Library I can see that much advancement in technology is moving but always not at the fastest pace. After commenting on some very advanced libraries, I will comment on Gordon's possible advancements.

 Looking for the most advanced libraries, showed many such as New York, Washington and Chicago showed little outward sign of much available technology. However Seattle Public Library (http://www.spl.org) and London Public Library (londonpubliclibrary.ca) show a lot of changes to there computer interface and community programs. Seattle is stronger in the organising of study assistance and language help especially for children . London Library is stronger in the software area allowing clients to tag comments and encouraging them to respond to organised classes and also in the access of many databases This organised communication could often be much more effective in routine areas than Facebook type sites in organising classes and purchasing suitable material. Facebook type sites would be better for discovering unexpected interests etc.

 I could see great improvement in services installing their levels of service as follows to Gordon Library.
                       ( Ideas for Gordon Library from Seattle Library)
                        Online Tutorials for schoolchildren every day from
                        1pm to10pm.English,Science,Maths & Social Studies.
                        Dial a story             
                        Online resources and tests for study in holidays.
                        Chat on line 24/7 365 days (including Spanish- maybe Chinese
                         in Aust.)
                        Databases : Britannica etc (4)                           (Children)
                                           Homework help (6)
                                           Young children (4)


                         Language programmes: English, French, German , Italian , Spanish  (Youths)
                         School support department
                         Support for parents and cares for their children's study
                         Teens forum
                         Podcast for teens
                         Esl lesson for 6 foreign languages
                         (Ideas for Gordon Libary from London PublicLibrary)
                        100 databases (e.g.Infotrac News Stand)      (Youths/)Adults)
                         Meetings organised through the computer
                        Clients may comment, tag, review, or add to their bag in activities on
                        the computer.
                        Advanced search facilities on their catalogues
                        Language and ESL classes dtabases
Gordon has a few information/reference databases (such Australian. Bureau
 of Statistics) but could find many more to be useful. Adult fiction (novels)
 is catered for by a few databases and  fares better than other areas. Reading
 involvement could be increased in electronic reviews. The library has a small
reading club which appears more for a small social activity, not that this is not important.
 The library send an electronic newsletter to members every month.
It also has a Facebook membership, to communicate with members and the public
 in general. Local studies is a more traditional area and the library has always
maintained a strong interest in the Kuringai municipality history.

I can see more could be done in using technology in other areas such as video conferencing for people isolated from each other.