"Slamming The Boards"

*We currently have a suggestion box in the library where clients can submit their suggestions or questions to the manager, she will answer them and post the reply on a noticeboard kept in the foyer for all to see. This would be the perfect application.
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The specialist groups could again utilise this tool. We receive questions from HLS members all over NSW which could be posted on the website and answered by the remaining members. This would prevent the need for people to double up on questions and answers and provide ongoing universal information. It would almost be like having an ongoing meeting but with a broader audience.

*Book clubs are limited to the time they actually get together and meet to review a book. It would be great whilst reading the designated title to go online and interact with more than one librarian along the way to share and question.

*It is always difficult to get people to take the time to fill in a survey when they come to the library, they often have too many other things to do. An online survey that was interactive (this is related to the suggestion box to a degree) might encourage people to expand more on what they really want to say and feel more comfortable to ask about the directions the library is taking. People who take the time to question or participate in this way should be the kind of people who are really interested in their library and the path it takes. They could really become a part of the process of directing our public libraries into the future based on their needs, expectations and desires.

Tagging- Two heads and more are better than one.

There are always difficult assignments that students bring to us for assistance with research. When these assignments initially appear (you just happen to be on the desk) it can take literally ages looking for information that only just skims along the surface of providing the answers needed. Then the Reference Librarian has to investigate (with his or her extensive knowledge of research) and compile a folder of resources for the students to come with the same questions. This is methodology of the past. Quick reference tools such as tagging not only provides just that a quick and easy access but tools that have been provided by a number of people with similar expertise. Often when a number of experts are researching they inevitably turn up different results and therefore the pool of information is so much richer. This makes the Reference enquiry so much more manageable. See my account at http://del.icio.us/horsenround888