What are some ways that you as a librarian/info pro will make use of widgets?
I use a few widgets like a Delicious tag cloud and Goodreads on my blog. I really like the recipe from the Web 2.0 practice site for a subject guide using Delicious tags and RSS. I think that would be really helpful not to have to manually update subject guides all the time. I wish that my library's website would allow us to use things like widgets and RSS. Sadly, since it is a county site we are rather restricted in what we can put on it and how it will look. There are only two people at my branch who are authorized to add or change content on our area of the site and neither of them are me :( I think they use something like widgets to manage the sidebars and links though, something called Vignette.
If I had the ability to change our website or if we had a different one that would allow the kinds of widgets that were featured in this week's lesson I would definitely use Delicious widgets either by tag or newest added. I think photo widgets like Flickr or maybe Picasa are a great way to get content from those sites and put it where patrons can really see it.
I think the MeeboMe widget is the most useful of all. Using MeeboMe widgets on a library homepage allows visitors to chat right from the page. This is a great way to offer virtual reference. I'd really like to offer that for my library, I think it would benefit the staff and the patrons immensely.
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Good point about the Delicious widget being useful in a library. We use it in our library- not only for the tag cloud, but also as a way to share useful links. We all have our own delicious accounts, in addition to the library's delicious account. We send interesting and library-relevant links to the library's delicous account, and then use Google Reader to publish those links (with the tags) to the library's wiki. I'm responsible for publishing them to the wiki, and I do it the same day every week, so everyone knows when the wiki will be updated, and can then go and check it out. I think this once weekly updating is a little more manageable for busy staff, as opposed to an inbox where emailed links trickle in through out the week.
Kelly,
I think you are right on about including Flickr widgets on library pages. Pictures add such visual interest to pages, especially library pages, which can be an overload of text information.
What fun it would be if a Flickr widget could be used to add an online display of sorts when talking about a special event, holiday events, or the library's collection! For example, Lincoln is a BIG DEAL here in Illinois, especially this year (as 2009 is the bicentennial of his birth). Adding a flickr widget of the Library of Congress' Lincoln photo collection at http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/sets/72157613324367705/... would be an easy way to add some graphics to a library's online announcement about their Lincoln items or related events. Likewise, although LOC doesn't have a whole category about the railroad and Chicago, you could search the tags and share the resulting slideshow (http://www.flickr.com/search/show/?q=chicago+railroad&m=tags&w=8623220%4...) if you were having a program on such a topic.
Whee! The possibilities are endless!
Unfortunately, I think a lot of libraries are still of the single webmaster mindset and only allow changes by one or a few people. Web 2.0 tools have opened up a whole new realm of easy web creation, and the old single webmaster mindset really slows down the sharing that could occur! Many websites are still designed (on the back end) to be manually-updated, and I can see why a single webmaster would need control over this. But upon redesign, I think it's really important that sites be designed to integrate portals in their CMS system (sorry....I'm not a designed....not sure of the real technical terms) for each department/team/section that can be updated regularly without a webmaster's assistance.
I use Delicious but have yet to use the tag cloud. I like tag clouds since it's easy to head to some particular information based on a tag.
Flickr is another site I need to familiarize myself with. I know many people who swear by Flickr for personal photographs and tags. You make a very good point about libraries using Flickr to share information.
Offering chats from within a web
page using the MeeboMe widget is an excellent idea. I agree that such IM chats have the potential to offer virtual reference to library patrons. Thank you for sharing your ideas.