YouTube, blog & Goodreads

So much great information and so many great ideas today!  Inserting a YouTube video would allow me to include a book trailer for the book I want people to discuss.  I had thought about being able to include an image of the book cover (pictures almost always work as attention grabbers) but hadn't thought about the video aspect.  I've starting using QR codes around the library to get people to go to an author's site, etc. so this would be an extension of that.  It would be really amazing if I could get students to create their own book trailer and post it to the blog!

Our previous librarian was using "Goodreads" as a book discussion forum, which allows students to create their own shelves of books they've read, are currently reading, or want to read.  Only a few students seemed to be still using this, but I had planned to "relaunch" it with a lot of advertising.  Now I'm thinking about the blog & the things I can and can't do with it, I have to decide which way to proceed.  I also have to figure out the way to make the blog work with the "weebly" site - working out the links, etc. although that might be the least of my worries.  I guess I should be sure I can connect the 2 before I go too far if I decide to use the blog!

Gadgets

If I end up going with a blog on my library website the gadget of "follow by e-mail" could be a good addition.    That way, students and staff who choose that option can be notified if I add something to the blog - a new question or reflection, etc.  (I think I am understanding that correctly anyway!)  That could help bring students back to the site more often if they receive reminders about it - keep in their awareness.  I will have to explore what other options for gadgets will make sense for the same/similar purpose.

I also saw that there was an event gadget as well.  Although my site will have updates posted to the home page with events listed there, this would allow people to see them when they go to the blog as well (or instead).  The more I can advertise an event, the better!

Blog or group?

In my first post, I talked about possibly using a blog as part of my library website to encourage book discussions.  This morning in class we talked about creating "groups" and how to use them.  I think it was Matt that clarified the difference in purpose between a blog and a group.  He said a blog is for personal reflections that others can read & respond to.  A group is for a group of people to talk about/discuss a topic.    That makes it sound like a group would be the correct choice for what I want, but I'm still unclear of how to form the group & will need to possibly look into this more.  I have seen other librarians use the blog format, so I know that it can be used.  I'm not sure if one really will be more advantageous over the other.  Part of "more advantageous" might include ease of use for me and the students/staff.  It sounds like with the blog, if it's on the site, anyone can respond (although I will want to monitor what ultimately gets published) and no one will need to be "invited" to participate.   Hmmmm.   Thoughts?  Reactions?  Suggestions?