Thing 14

Please see my entry on June 30 for Delicious

Thing 13: Tagging

My own slowness actually helped me out with this "thing." When I read the Tagging post for 23 things, my initial reaction was "nay nay" I don't care for tagging, it is anarchy, I like controlled vocabularly, etc etc. But then I took a class this summer on graphic novels and experienced my own library catalog frustration. I needed to find a manga title to read for my class and I used some website resources to find suggestions on titles. I searched the catalog for a few but nowhere in the record did the word "manga" appear. I was unsure if I had the right title, so I dragged myself up to the 5th floor and discovered A LOT of manga titles that never appear in the catalog, if one searches for keyword: manga, unless it is in the title. Our library catalog has recently incorporated Encore to create a more user centered experience of a catalog interface. Tag clouds, popular choices, relevant searches, etc. Users can search the catalog and create tags to better define and refine titles. I have tagged several titles with "manga" and rated several works within the starring system. I think we should encourage user tagging of library resources as a complement to controlled vocabularly.

Thing 12: Twitter

Once again, my best laid plans collided with grad school, full time job, and sanity. So I am woefully behind on 23 things, but I'm determined to finish, even if it's in December and I've lost my chance for a completion certificate.

Oh Twitter, you are a fascinating demon. The last time I heard about you, well, when don't I hear about you(?!) it was last night on the drive home listening to NPR reporting that Paula Abdul announced on her Twitter account that she is leaving American Idol.

I'm not sure how I feel about Twitter, most of the people I "follow" on Twitter are addicts and tell me every single banal activity they are in the midst of: "getting gas" "on the way to lunch" but as I, once again extol the glories of Mr. Stephen Fry, his tweets are fantastic, witty and engaging. Of course my tweets tended to fall on the annoying and banal ("finished my class project" "watching Frasier--again") but as much as I am annoyed by the world's obsession with Twitter I am heartened by the recent use of protesters in Iran who used Twitter to expose the situation to the rest of the world when websites and news organizations are blocked and restricted. The tweets also protested media coverage of the situation, especially CNN. My favorite analysis of the situation: "As much talk as there is about Twitter and other social media supplanting the likes of CNN in covering breaking news, they're really another source rather than a replacement—and Twitter users know that as well as anyone else. Thus, they want—and demand—big news organizations to step up, nimbly and responsively, to cover fast-changing events like this."
Iran's protests

Thing 11: Instant Messaging

Oh my, I started instant messaging a long long time ago, 1998. Before we married, my husband and I conducted a very long distance relationship with the help of AOL's IM. He was in UK I was in TX. I don't IM as much as I used to, I think I burnt out. I do have IM capabilities through Yahoo and I have used the Facebook chat option.

For libraries I think IM is a great way to provide virtual reference and assistance. At my library we offer general chat reference and the subject librarians have virtual presence for subject specific reference. What I love are the questions from users inside the library, "I'm on 6th floor, where do I find X?" just as much as users who are IMing from home. It's all about getting to where our users need information and assistance--point of need! (sorry I've been reading a lot about virtual reference for my class) :) Also, it's fantastic for users who live miles away from a library, feel uncomfortable communicating orally on the phone, and who simply prefer to be more anonymous.

So my current IM service is Yahoo Messenger and my username is viaggio74.

Thing 14: Delicious and why I'm so behind

Okay, so I've skipped Things 11, 12 + 13, I will do them, honestly, I've just gotten so behind with work and school and also because I have a very negative attitude about Twitter that I haven't worked myself up into a positive happy place to do thing 12 just yet. Now Thing 14, already done it! About a year ago one of my MLS instructors mentioned Delicious and I thought it sounded really cool especially as I travel to several different computer terminals during the day. I have my computer at my desk, the Spec Coll reference computer, downstairs on the main reference desk, and of course my home computer. With Thing 14, I realized how I abandoned Delicious even though it could really help me. So I'm going to revitalize my account right now! Of course there are only 3 sad little bookmarks but I'm going to keep adding--it's my July resolution!

Thing 10: Ning

After watching the tutorial and browsing on Ning I was really excited about the possibilities of creating your own social network and creating profiles for each network. The flexibility and customization options are so cool and I thought 'this could kick Facebook/Myspace butt', oh but then I read the blog post about Ning and the information it is using to directly market members. There's a more recent blog post "Ning to Clients" from the same site 23 Things sent us that reveals even more devious actions by Ning. I'm less impressed.

But I'm going to go back to my initial optimism and muse on the networks I discovered. On the ALA network page I found a colleague of mine and was able to find her blog as well. I shifted over the Texas SLA network, not a lot of activity and browsed through Lone Arrangers a network for solo archivists. They have a really creative page I like their group "Archivists Adoring Austen" which led me to search "jane austen" and I found this odd network: "Liberty Jane Studios" which is dedicated to people who love creating/buying trendy clothes for an American Girl Doll: Liberty Jane. Wow, that is very specific. I don't know who Liberty Jane is but there is a lot of activity on this network. Huh.

Thing 9: More Facebook

More Facebook. For this "thing" I needed to join three groups. Well I'm cheating slightly because I've already join a few groups, but they are library related! :)

1. The London Library Staff Alumni (because I used to work at this fabulous library in London and I miss it so) The London Library

2. NextGen Librarians--I actually joined this because 23 Things and a blog I read, plus I know one of the admins, she's a fantastic librarian!

3. Stephen Fry Friendship by Proxy Group--because I sincerely adore Stephen Fry and he is such an advocate for libraries and is all around Awesome! And whenever I think about Stephen I have to watch my favorite QI clip (his tv show Quite Interesting).

I also am a fan of my library: University of Houston Libraries. As I mentioned in my earlier post about Facebook I'm not one for joining alumni groups, especially High School, there's a reason you move away from high school. The friends I have from HS days are the ones I want to keep. I've also discovered the Facebook can create quite a lot of bad feeling amongst "friends." Example: A friend of mine shares other mutual friends and has been reading their posts about getting together for lunch but they never include her. Result: feelings hurt.

Now I don't want to be completely negative about Facebook because I do think there is potential to reach out to library users, provide reference though social networks and market library services and events.

Thing 8

I succumbed to Facebook about a year ago after a friend of mine in England invited me. I have kept my list of "friends" pretty small, because basically I don't need or want to be friends with everyone I went to high school (there's a reason I moved away from my hometown) or everyone I went to college. As it may be very obvious, I am a very private person and revealing everything about my life through a social network is not natural for me. But it has been a great way to keep in touch with people from England and the friends I really want to keep in touch with. My brother has a Facebook account and he has over 800 friends, how is this possible? I also know people on Facebook who want to have as many "friends" as possible regardless of the connection. I have a few work colleagues who are my friends on Facebook, but I've also tried to keep this to a minimum because I worry about revealing what I consider personal (aka not-related or work appropriate) to my boss. I'm not on Facebook posting about my late night clubbing or how wasted I am, but I don't want or need that much togetherness.

After I joined I got my mom to join because it's the only way she can keep in touch with her granddaughter and my brother's family. They live on Facebook. They are obsessed with Twitter (Thing 12--should be interesting) but do I need to know that my sister-in-law is driving through town listening to music? Really??? As Hugh Laurie says: "As I look around my friends' tweets I see banality on all sides. I don't understand the purpose of it"--thank you, Bertie.

I can get very freaked out about privacy issues online and after reading the instructions on North Texas 23 Things Blog about not using your email account to find friends on Facebook (which is what I did!) I'm now wondering what freakish big brother information Facebook is compiling about me and the fact that I used the "Which Simpson character are you" application last week???

Things 6 & 7

Luckily for me I can quickly play catch up on these things because I already have Google Reader and a lot of RSS feeds. My main priority at the moment are job feeds. I'm graduating in December and will have to find a "real grown-up Librarian" job and I'm preparing myself for what's out there. I also receive a lot of Library feeds from LISNews, Librarian Internet Index, Tame the Web, Library Stuff, Librarian in Black, etc. And of course my celebrity gossip sites: Go Fug Yourself

Thing 5--Finally!

I finally got around to doing Image generator, I hate being behind! One of my all time fave films is This is Spinal Tap and if you know it you know this sign:

Thing 3, 4, 5: Flickr & Image Generators

Browsing Flickr is a lot of fun and provides me wonderful time suckage. I shouldn't be amazed but I still am how many people put so many personal photographs online. I've used Flickr for presentations and to look at images from places I used to live as well as photostreams of friends. I don't take a lot of photos so I don't know how effective a Flickr account is for me personally, but for work it's a great tool!

Here's a link to a cool photograph of the escalators at Swiss Cottage Tube Station in London. This was my tube station when I lived in London.

The spell with Flickr is a cool app, but I need to spend some more time with some of the other flickr mashups(it's been a busy 2 weeks!)

Library 2.0

I see Web and Library 2.0 all around me at work. Some of the problems I see involve our attempts to implement Web 2.0 and concerns about retaining some control over content. A few years ago my department attempted a wiki to train student workers on reference desk policies and procedures. But when it was suggested that we allow students and staff to comment or make minor edits there was immediate resistance and in the end the "wiki" became a static page of rules and procedures. But it hasn't all been negative there are really exciting developments. I'm excited when I see librarians willing to experiment and try things out without worrying if it's the perfect software or application. Web 2.0 to me is about experimentation and collaboration. Try it, share it.

I agree with Stephen Abram that immersing yourself in 2.0 is the best way to understand 2.0. That's why I decided to commit to 23 Things this summer instead of constantly saying to myself, "I want to use Flickr, maybe when I have some more time" because I NEVER have more time. Committing to this program forces me to shut up and do it and deal with all the unintended consequences. The video from the Shifted Librarian was kinda trippy but a good visual explanation of the evolution of Web 2.0. But what it mainly made me think about is our reliance on machines and how much of us is out there on them. By writing this blog I am giving more information about myself and it is, to me, more personal than revealing my credit card information to Amazon.com. I've always had a love/hate relationship with the Internet, using it to connect with friends, family and needing it for news and access to food, culture, entertainment and education. But I worry about living my life online and the consequences of so much "exposure."

Blogging for 23 Things

This is my first homegrown blog ever as part of North Texas 23. This is an experiment, we'll see how well it works!