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Browsercandy

Utilities, add-ons, extensions, and Web 2.0 stuff, some of which I have had time to play with, and some of which I eye with interest for the future. See also Apps I use.

But first, core competencies

20 Technology Skills Every Librarian Should Have: By Jenny Levine.
Basic Competencies of a 2.0 Librarian, Take 2: A revised list from David Lee King.
Librarians and Technology: Minimum Competencies
Learning 2.0: Designed to encourage library staff to explore Web 2.0 tools and technologies - 23 learning 2.0 things.
Library 2.0 in 15 Minutes a Day: From the Library Instruction Wiki - a guided tour through some essential stuff.
Technology Competencies and Training for Librarians: A 2007 Library Technology Reports issue, 43(2), by Sarah Houghton-Jan. LTR is available in full text in Academic OneFile, a Simmons e-resource. While this is more about how to implement a training program than it is about specific competencies, the Appendix is a great collection of citations to exisiting comptency lists and educational resources.

Directories

APIs and Mashup for the Rest of Us: From Digital Web Magazine.
Back to School with the Class of Web 2.0: Part 1, Tools and Part 2, Office Apps: A guide to helpful applications for teachers by Brian Benzinger.
The Best Free Software: PC Magazine's list of 157 apps includes some Web 2.0'ish stuff.
I Want To: Web 2.0 Resources: A directory organized by broad categories
RSS4LIB: Directory of Exprimental Library Tools: Links to the sandboxes where libraries try nifty new things out.
Screen Sharing Tools: Blogged by LibrarianInBlack.
Web Browser Extensions: A directory from Library Success, a best practices wiki

The apps

At the moment, my Firefox is pimped with del.icio.us tagger, Google Broswer Sync, Google Gears, Google Toolbar, MultiSidebar, Sidebar on Right, Snapper, and Zotero. Of social tagging sites, I use del.icio.us (a little), flickr (a lot), and LibraryThing (for my Tolkien collection, and also because the LT librarian is Simmons alum Abby Blachly). Oh, and I have a couple of things hardly worth mentioning on YouTube

Book Burro: Sniffs out a book on a page and offers you its prices at bookstores and whether it's available at your library.
Cite Bite: Lets you create a link that will not only point to but also highlight (on the fly) text on a Web page.
Clipmarks: Keep clips of pieces of Web pages.
Dapper: Create your own content (e.g., a feed) from any Web pages (the more well structured the data, the better).
Drupal, Joomla and Moodle: Drupal and Joomla are open source content management, widely used as learning platforms. Moodle was developed ab initio for learning support.
Google browser stuff: Google Browser Sync (syncs your bookmarks, persistent cookies, and saved passwords, so you can move between your various machines easily; one of the first Firefox extensions I installed.); Google Notebook (you clip and organize it, Google stores it for access anywhere.); Google Toolbar (all sorts of functionality for Google apps and other stuff).
Google Docs, Open Office, Zoho: The office tools you need, Webified.
LibX Browser Plugin for Libraries: For users' browsers - recognizes books and articles on a Web page and attaches a library symbol on those available to users, also offers library-specific pulldowns and right-mouse options.
Microformats: Not exactly browsercandy, microformats are "simple conventions for embedding semantics in HTML to enable decentralized development".
NetVibes: I use this as my private portal onto all the other stuff I do on the Web. Other folks use iGoogle, Pageflakes, SocialThing, and other similar tools.
Pipes and Popfly: Data aggregators and manipulators for making mashups.
PortableApps.com: Put everything you need on a flash drive (Firefox with all your personal settings, e-mail, office suite, calendar, etc.). Free. With no ads. How do they fund this?
Slideshare: Flickr for PowerPoint presentations - with voiceover. Lots of tutorials and conference presentations.
Snapper: Easy to use Firefox screen capture (in PNG).
Zotero: Manages Web references - captures citation data, exports to style formats, and lets you store text, images, PDFs, and so on. Will be even better when server-based (goodbye RefWorks).

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