Cheryl Ann Peltier-Davis - The Cybrarians Web 2: An A-Z Guide to Free Social Media Tools, Apps, and Other Resources

The

Cybrarians

web 2

First printing

The Cybrarians Web 2: An AZ Guide to Free Social Media Tools, Apps, and Other Resources

Copyright 2015 by Cheryl Ann Peltier-Davis

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Published by Information Today, Inc., 143 Old Marlton Pike, Medford, New Jersey 08055.

Publishers Note: The author and publisher have taken care in the preparation of this book but make no expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for incidental or consequential damages in connection with or arising out of the use of the information contained herein.

Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book and Information Today, Inc. was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed with initial capital letters.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Peltier-Davis, Cheryl Ann.

The cybrarians web 2 : an AZ guide to free social media tools, apps, and other resources / Cheryl Ann Peltier-Davis ; foreword by David Lee King.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-57387-512-7

1. Web sitesDirectories. 2. Free computer softwareComputer network resources. 3. Libraries and the Internet. I. Title.

ZA4225.P44 2015

025.0422dc23

2015000244

Printed and bound in the United States of America

President and CEO: Thomas H. Hogan, Sr.

Editor-in-Chief and Publisher: John B. Bryans

Project Editor: Randall McClure

Associate Editor: Beverly M. Michaels

Production Manager: Norma J. Neimeister

Indexer: Candace Hyatt

Interior Design by Amnet Systems

Cover Design by Dana Kruse Stevenson

infotoday.com

To Andre and Antonio

Contents

Last autumn, Cheryl Ann Peltier-Davis asked me if Id be interested in writing the foreword to her new book. When she told me what it would be about, I jumped at the chance.

Why? Because The Cybrarians Web 2 is a really useful, at-your-fingertips resource covering some cool online tools, apps, services, and resources.

Lets say you are a new librarian (or youre not so new, but the web is stilllets be honest hereslightly foreign to you at times). Your supervisor suddenly gives you a small project; maybe your assignment is to research social news aggregators. Now, you know next to nothing about social news aggregatorsin fact, you actually havent heard the term social news aggregators beforeyou just know the supervisor wants you to find something to help her track local and national news on her iPad.

Okay, then. What do you do next? If youre like most of the modern world with easy access to the web, your next stop is your best friend (or should I say frenemy) Google. You sit down and start randomly typing in search strings. Youll probably search for things like:

Online news alerts

iPad news apps

iPad news trackers

Hopefully, youll find some potentially interesting articles to skim through, and perhaps some articles will be from iPad app blogs or computer tech sites like Macworld and PC Magazine .

Eventually, you will find something that points you in the right direction because you are a good librarian. Youll complete the projectafter lots of searching, reading, skimming, and possibly playing around with random iPad apps. But guess what? Theres an easier way: You can keep The Cybrarians Web 2 on your deskand in your library, right? (Buy two copies!) Just picking this handy book up, you can find information on four social news aggregators in the space of a minute.

Each of these social news aggregators has a chapter devoted to it. Coverage includes an overview and description of the tool or service along with useful features and current trends.

It gets even better. After the overview comes a How Cybrarians Can Use this Resource section, detailing how the resource fits into a librarians arsenal of tools.

Wow.

And thats just the four tools focused on social news aggregation. The Cybrarians Web 2 provides an in-depth look at 61 tools, apps, and resources. Im a huge geek whos very familiar with the modern web, and Im familiar with about 40 of them. The Cybrarians Web 2 is as current as it is useful.

Thats actually why Cheryl wrote the book. To help you and me . Her goal is to assist the library community in the discoverability and use of these resources. While her first volume of The Cybrarians Web (2012) focused on tools that many of us now know, like Facebook, Twitter, and WordPress, this second installment focuses on some lesser-known but still extremely useful tools that can help librarians in the workplace and beyond.

I have to say, I now have some homework to do. I need to check out most of the nifty tools Cheryl covers that I havent yet discoveredlike Aurasma, an augmented reality service; BrandYourself, an online brand reputation service; and Popplet, a visualization tool.

Who knew all these tools were out there? Cheryl Ann Peltier-Davis, thats who. So join me, and lets read on and learn.

David Lee King

davidleeking.com

This second volume would not have been possible without the support and assistance of my cybrarian friends and colleagues. My inspiration is drawn from your dedication and commitment to adopt and use leading-edge tools that sustain libraries for present and future generations. I am also inspired by the developers of the resources covered in this book, whose timely innovations provide the groundwork required for the extensive research that went into writing this work.

I want to thank the reviewers who posted insightful evaluations and comments on the first volume and the many requests for work on a second iteration. Thanks also to David Lee King for his advice and willingness to write the Foreword for The Cybrarians Web 2 . I extend my gratitude and acknowledge the very thorough review of the first draft of this manuscript by my colleague and friend Arlene Batson-George, who voluntarily took time out from her busy schedule to meticulously go through each chapter.

Thanks to Randall McClure, editor extraordinaire, who brought extensive knowledge, extreme patience, and generous support to the project. I also wish to thank John B. Bryans, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher at Information Today Books, for his ongoing encouragement and enthusiasm for my work.

Lastly, thanks to my two sons, Andre and Antonio, and source of inspiration Antonio Caraballo, for their support and understanding during the long hours I spent in researching and writing this book. I could not have accomplished this task without your help, and I hope it inspires you to follow your dreams, to believe that nothing is impossible, and perhaps to one day write on a subject about which you are passionate.

www.cybrariansweb.com

In attempting to provide a useful annotated listing of internet resources, one of my challenges has been to ensure that the descriptions and strategies keep pace with the technologies themselves. To that end, I have created a companion website rich with web links to (and updates for) the 61 resources covered in the book, along with reviews of new resources, a link to my personal blog, and space for reader comments and recommendations.