Week 8 Thing 19: Out Here on the Perimeter There Are No Stars

Thing #19 being next on my list, I spent some very enjoyable time this evening exploring a number of different sites on SEOmoz’s Web 2.0 Award Winners short list.
Lulu was entertaining. The site is eclectic in the extreme, and therefore unsurprisingly piques my interest. The eccentric-sounding titles for sale in the book section were immensely fun for me to explore, and the music section had some intriguing items in it as well. One particular item in the Comics & Graphic Novels section caught my attention… Okay, I didn't read the blurb, but. Great title. *g*
Also, the very democratic method of publishing through Lulu pleases me, though it does demand a very high degree of evaluation of any potential purchase. I’m certainly not likely to buy a download from a writer with grammar errors in the blurb! I like the option to purchase downloads instead of paperbacks, so I expect I’ll be a customer there at some point, once I’ve established some rudimentary rules for quality checking.
Next on my list to explore was Biblio, which I found easy to navigate and full of treasures. I did, in fact, find a copy of the book I raved about in another post selling for one dollar! (The book in question was The Hot Jazz Trio by William Kotzwinkle). Simple searches there seem easy enough to run, and more complex searching is quite convenient and nets useful results. I think I’ll be using it consistently.
The third site I spent a little time exploring was Netvibes. I like the idea of a customizable start page a lot. Somehow, though, the site seemed so cluttered, that it strikes me as more of a distraction than a useful addition to my browser. How many of those widgets do I really need? Also, the themes, wallpapers, and focus of the site didn’t quite appeal to me much. I think I’m going to try to set up my own blog or livejournal, possibly wiki, as a starter page instead. I should be able to find the widgets I need, and Firefox extensions provide a lot of the same functions in my browser frame.
Thing #19 was a lot of fun. I’m glad I did it from home, though, because I could never have completed it at work within our limited time budget for the Things. It would have taken me weeks at one hour per week.
Any of these three sites could be useful for library work, given the many possibilities of patron needs. Biblio and Lulu are both media vendors and could help us provide rare or specialty materials that our patrons need. It is also conceivable that the library system could publish collaborative works through Lulu. Netvibes, used at the circulation desk, could be customized to allow for quick reference responses. I know the weather widget alone would cover the questions of whether rain is imminent. *g* I do feel we should take advantage of some of these things while they are being developed, because library workers are great beta testers, and our presence on these sites may mean we can collectively influence the direction of their development in a good way.