One of the inputs of “If This Then That” (ifttt) is a weather feed. It allows you to create an action based on the current weather or tomorrow’s weather. I was wondering how this could be tied in with libraries, to see if it’s of any use. I suppose if it’s not upbeat weather people might rather be inside than outside. This is simplistic I know, but I only thought of it an hour ago. 
So maybe ifttt could be used to promote library services based on the weather! That might be suggesting reading a book borrowed from the library, attending an event in a library on a cold day, etc.
Rainy Walk (c) moionet/ Flickr
So, as an experiment, I set up a few ifttt tasks that would automatically send out a tweet from my personal account suggesting using library services based on the weather. For example:
Chilly tomorrow! 8C. Not staying in, but don’t fancy staying out all day. Anything on in the library? http://ow.ly/6OzL6
Clear tomorrow! Think I’ll spend the afternoon in the park with a relaxing book. http://www.worldcat.org/genres/
Snow tomorrow! :-O I’m stocking up with tea, chocolate, a good book & staying in. http://www.worldcat.org/genres/
Oh no! Rain tomorrow. Get a decent book from your library tonight & stay indoors tomorrow. http://www.worldcat.org/genres/
I’ve set these up already and the triggers work, so it’s looking promising already. I just need to come up with a few more creative and sensible reasons for using the library that ties in with the weather. Or maybe you can? All ideas welcome. Thanks.
Richard Hawkins (@usernametaken10)
/ October 6, 2011Ha! I love this!
How about:
- Overnight frost giving you problems in the garden. Get down the library and pick up some gardening books
- Snowed in? Bet you wish you’d picked up some books from the library to read!
OK maybe these are not great but perhaps they’ll inspire you.
Richard
garygre
/ October 10, 2011