On Library 2.0

This has taken me more than a few days to digest. I read, browsed, re-read and searched and surfed and then observed my library and the society I/we live in. Three of the articles/blogs struck me as the most interesting and pertinent and thought provoking: "icebergs", because I am in a small library trying to navigate around hazards and avoid behemoths that would swamp me in their wake; "a temporary place in time", because she emphasizes the speed of change of current technology and also the different faces of our profession and the personal human side of the interactions and conversations; library2.0 debased, was fascinating as I am a skeptic and am generally the devil's advocate in any discussion. I loved following the threads in the entire blog- exchange and reading/hearing all the comments. That was the best experience I have had yet in "listening to a discussion" on the Web.

Two events in the past week in my personal life have brought home the impact of the digital age directly. Attending the school programs of two of my granddaughters (one in high school and one in middle school) in an affluent suburb of Omaha I was impressed and distracted by the number of digital recording devices in the large audiences. It is polite to turn off your cell phone at a performance, but does no one feel intrusive holding a glowing screen at varying heights during a Christmas cantata? Will they enjoy the program more at home on a 42" flat screen than they would have just looking, watching and listening in the moment?

Then the Man of the Year issue of TIME magazine arrived, and the beginning pages were a picture spread of Barack Obama and his campaign. The power of the Web in his election is undeniable, because even the venerable TIME sends you to Flickr for 100,000 more photos. A two-page spread (page 44) of his rally in Manassas, VA the night before the election does not show the candidate or the huge crowd, but instead a forest of arms holding digital cameras.

Information overload! I believe we still need editors and librarians and collectors and collators and sorters and some way to direct this immense flow before it overwhelms us. Library 2.0 is a tool, a means to better end. Certainly it will be used judiciously by some, wholeheartedly embraced by others, ignored by the entrenched and hopefully morph into variations useful to the range of uses it is going to have to serve.

I did some browsing on SlideShare and decided that I wanted to see if I could be entertained and amused with a slide show - not just educated with a Power Point presentation. Without the person/presenter a slide show can be just awful, although very informative. I really do much better with human interaction and the opportunity to ask questions, etc. Looking for facts on Slide Share did turn up some possibilities, but I think it will take more time and searching. Another tool in the toolbox though.

Are You A Professional

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: humour test)

Opening an account on delicious was certainly easy, but then most of the opening steps have been. It was interesting to do some browsing, and Holdrege PL's site was very a good indication of what you could do. Wonder who is responsible for it? Are the entries in response to a reference question from a patron possibly? Or local events?

Howsoever, I can see an immediate use for the delicious account in my personal life: I use more than one computer and in more than one physical location. Being able to put all my bookmarks in a single location is going to be great!!! Adding tags, comments, etc. will make it easier to use them without racking my brain as to which one is the most logical to use for xxzzyy. It might even require me to do some long delayed house cleaning - why did I save that one anyway? Oh, I meant to say weeding.

LibraryThing | Catalog your books online

LibraryThing | Catalog your books online

I now have the ability to "Tweet" someone. Why do I want to do this? I feel inundated with information and items that require attention or action or time as it is now. I barely get through the e-mail, snail mail, parcel post, voice mail, telephone calls, personal interactions and other events in my day. Maybe if I still had underage children that I wanted to monitor on an hourly basis, but hovering parents can't even do that; a newly found love interest; teenage navel-gazing? For heaven's sake, doesn't anyone value privacy and solitude anymore?

bookshelf

Going to try and add a picture on my bookshelf.

I could fall in love with Library Thing! I just started my shelf with the six books I have read in the past two weeks for leisure reading at home - the thought of being able to go up into the attic and catalog my own collection, and then keep track of what I read from the shelves at BHPL and what I ILL, and then what I listen to. If I ever get a webpage built for the library (heard a rumor that help with a new project was coming in 2009 for "idgets") it would be wonderful to post new titles available. Will share it with the Book Circle members who are always asking permission to make little marks in the books they read.

Boy, asking for a comment on technology could open a real floodgate from all of us. I read the other posts and found many that echoed my feelings, and many that seemed to make me feel left far, far behind! I started on a Tandy so long ago that I can't remember the year I bought it; I progressed as my children grew up and were exposed to computers in school and then in college. The Apple years didn't last very long, but they were a lot of fun. I took a few courses at the local community college to try to program (out of necessity), but soon decided that other people were paid to do that work.

The real impact came when it became apparent that computers and related technology would be the driving force in my work, my children's future, and our everyday lives. The first workshop I attended about THE INTERNET was wonderful - I just wasn't sure what we could do with it that day; or even begin to imagine what it could become. Although Al Gore did.

Cell phones, public access to GPS, wireless broadband, automated catalogs in libraries, circulation statistics at the touch of a key, Google as a noun and verb and part of our daily life, instant gratification for knowledge and shopping and communication and impersonal relationships, and hours spent isolated from other human beings. These are some of the technological changes in our society in a very short time period. Both good and bad.

I love the drudgery that technology has released us from - number crunching for example - but I also hate the impersonality of it. The buzzwordof multi-tasking makes me feel inadequate at times; if you can't juggle 7 1/2 things successfully and still stay ahead of the curve. . .

Using the trading cards and magazine covers could be a real treat with kids! I am thinking of SRP in 2009 and Being Creative. This theme has been rattling around in my brain and I have not been sure what to do with the older elementary - this might be a big help; especilally if I can work at it and become a little more proficient.

I just tried one (a trading card) with a snapshot of my granddaughter and I can see the possibilities. The logistics with a group of youngsters might take some scheduling and planning, but it would be worth it - I think.

Flickr really is a lot of fun; but I agree that it can be hard on bifocals and I spent waaaay too much tome playing with it. Oh wait, we are supposed to be playing, right?!?!!! I must admit that this had finally gotten me to organize the pictures on my digital camera into files on my computer, back them up on a flash drive and now I will post them all on to my Flickr account as another security measure. I will also do the same for the pictures I take at work in a separate account.

I also accomplished inserting a photo into this blog posting; a meeting of the board of our local Friends Foundation. I don't seem to move as quickly through these "assignments" as some of the other participants, but I keep plugging along.

I started a Flickr account about 18 months ago and then let it languish after the workshop. I did post a couple of pix to the "pets", but then got caught up in too many other activities. Playing around tonight, I remembered how much fun Flickr is, and how intriguing and beautiful it can be - weird also! Found a lovely picture I wanted to include in this post but after trial and error, found the clues about fair usage, etc. I am still working on trying to put a picture into this blog post, but will try again later.

#7 - as I said before, too much information!! I have to be very selective in adding feeds. Need to delete already as the guilt will crush me. I do have quite a list of favorite sites and RSS feeds already in my Explorer so. . .

Okay, I knew what an RSS feed would do and have used a few. This is my first try at setting up Bloglines and adding my fellow learners. I am not sure that I have them added, but I did try. I have always just clicked the symbol before and added it to my favorites list in Explorer. By the time I read two daily newspapers, two newsmagazines, listen to NPR and some TV news I am almost "newsed" to death, and use the RSS feeds for areas of interest to me personally and professionally. Unshelved has been a favorite a long time; as well as several other humor spots.

I may try Google when I have another afternoon to play.

I just finished chatting with Susan using IM, and after some searching for a few basic instructions it was fun. I was surprised at how dense I was, or at how deep I had to look for a simple instruction/keystoke/function. We are so fortunate to have the staff we do at NLC to hold our hands through this project - they have the patience of saints.

I am not sure that I would use IM as a patron asking a reference question to a library. One of our best services to the public is the "personal touch" and human interaction. They depend on us for assistance when they cannot solve a reference or search problem, and putting technology in the middle could be off-putting to the majority. At least with the population in a mostly rural area. More sophisticated audiences and patrons might enjoy the speed (?) and impersonality.


I was somewhat disappointed that more of my family does not use IM. The next two generations think it takes too much time compared to texting or calling, and my niece in the State Department e-mails me at very odd hours.

Now how do I figure out the permalink? I can find the date and time, but can't seem to manupulate them.

Now that I am trying to set goals and identify strengths and weaknesses - I think I know what I need to do: I can't add more hours or days, so it comes down to discipline. And the ability to pick and choose which of the new skills we will encounter along the way that will be the most useful to me. I do know that my toolbox will be more full of people less of things. I need help from mentors, others who have gone before, and experience!!

Jumping off the cliff

OK, Now I have taken one step towards Library 2.0 and entered a world that I have been avoiding/sidestepping. I know that doing this will make my library a more progressive place, and better able to reach patrons. It is also going to stretch me and my mind - notice the title.