This week’s module is all about Creation and we were tasked with going out there and creating something! After reading fellow student Jessica’s recent blog post on Using Glogster for Reader’s Advisory, I was inspired to have a go at using Glogster myself. This tool can be used to essentially create dynamic online posters with animation, sound, video, and hyperlinks that can be shared/embedded through a variety of social media means. Jessica quickly saw the potential in using Glogster as an interactive reader’s advisory tool, creating a Glogster poster (a glog?) with historical fiction reads for teens.
I look for any excuse to shoehorn one of my favourite bands The White Stripes into anything, so naturally the glog I threw together showcases the collection of White Stripes material at the Vancouver Public Library. In retrospect, the VPL holdings for White Stripes material is fairly meager with limited availability so it likely wouldn’t be an ideal candidate for promotion.
The drag ‘n drop interface is pretty intuitive, if a bit clunky (particularly on a small screen). It requires no programming or experience with graphic design since one simply uses preset images/animations/etc. or uploads their own content. What I found cool was that Glogster works well in conjunction with VPL’s Bibliocommons catalogue in that you can directly link to item records, so each of the items in my poster will take you to the page where you can place a request. Naturally, there are design contraints in the ability to fully customize certain elements and I occasionally had to fight to make it do what I wanted to do instead of what it wanted to do (though this is no different than PowerPoint or any other tool– negotiating affordances!). Overall, it’s a pretty nifty tool that brings down barriers to easily creating flashy widgets and has potential as a library tool for highlighting its collection. It would also be a good tool to direct young patrons toward to make their own creations.