TwitterTime, Thing 7

Like a lot of the 'things' so far, I use Twitter in my personal life. I think of it sort of as a constant status update to keep friends up date on what I'm doing or feeling at any time. I created a special twitter just for my blog, check it out on my sidebar. I guess I could use it to keep co-workers posted about what I'm doing and where I am at any one time. 'In the drive up' or 'Working on Record sets' or 'At first floor desk' or 'Lunch time.' It would be quick and easy, but I'm not sure that much value would be gained by use at work. For me at least. I definitely see it as a cool communication tool for librarians to interact with contacts outside their libraries. It seems like a great tool for discussions on library topics, technology, events, etc.

Meebo though, I can definitely see how this could be really beneficial for programming or contact with other libraries or branches. Librarians could meet with colleagues remotely or create group chats for homework help. And the best thing about it is that you can use any IM provider. I would also love to see IM used inter-departmentally to communicate about busy service desks, cancelling holds, and other minor issues that could be handled quickly or efficiently through chat. It would also be a fantastic tool to contact a supervisor about a difficult patron without having to leave the desk or pick up the phone and risk upsetting the patron further. Or to contact a co-worker with a question while you're on the phone with a patron.

Communication Tools, thing 6

I sure do love email. My first email address was back in middle school, through some random provider that my friends were using. I quickly 'upgraded' to the more mainstream Hotmail. I tried Yahoo! mail for a while but never really warmed up to it. For the past several years I've been using gmail and have been very happy with it. What I like best about Gmail is its intuitiveness, a quality I think Yahoo! mail and, especially, Hotmail lack. I love the way emails are sorted into conversations, making it super easy to keep track of multiple replies.

MCPL uses Microsoft Outlook as our email provider which I pretty much can't stand. The awesomeness of Gmail makes Outlook feel ridiculously clunky and dated. In circulation, most clerks don't have their own dedicated computer so we are stuck with the web version of Outlook. Most of the time I use Firefox as my web browser, but Outlook isn't fully functional with Firefox so I end up with multiple browsers open at once. I wish MCPL would convert to gmail, like Boone County Public Library. I think email itself has definitely made communication easier within the Circulation department. But I think something like gmail or a blog or a wiki would make communication even easier. With Google Talk we could communicate even more quickly about missing holds or busy service desks without having to call or email.

I also really like Gmail's new SMS feature, where you can send text messages to your gmail contacts from Google talk. This can be really useful if one party can't get to their phone while the other party is only available by cell. This feature could be used for communicating with the Bookmobile or security and maintenance.

Silly Trading Cards, Thing 5

Ahh, online image generators, they make it easy to make really really ugly crap. But they can also be fun. I can see how these sites could be very useful for library programming. It would be fun to create themed name tags or special bookmarks, especially for young adult and juvenile programming.


Also, it is winter at my blog! Checkout the snow :)

RSS, thing 3

RSS could totally make my life easier if I let it. I have a ton of websites that I visit everyday via links and bookmarks and typing in urls just to see if the sites have been updated. I don't know why I haven't fully embraced RSS as a way to simplify the process, but I haven't. So I'm starting now, with Google Reader! I already use gmail for basically everything, so it's pretty awesome (and so easy) to just click on that little link at the top of my inbox to check out my websites. Especially for work and library related websites, RSS can be a huge timesaver. Having all of your regular websites in a handy little list makes it so easy and quick to keep up with their updates.

For me so far the main negative of a news aggregator is that you don't get the full experience of the website you're visiting. Designers and bloggers work really hard to make their websites visually interesting. By using an aggregator you're giving up this visual experience in favor of speed and productivity. Also, I think using RSS feeds makes it really easy, for me, to skip headlines and articles completely. But that's probably just my own fault, I also have thousands of unread emails in my gmail inbox. I read the important stuff of course, but in the interest of time I also overlook dozens of emails a day.

Google Reader is super simple to use. I love how you can see the full posts or just the headlines of the your websites. I also like the differentiation of websites and blogs, very convenient.

Web 2.0, thing 2

"Remember, L2 is about being relevant."

I think the whole idea of Library 2.0 is really exciting. Computers and technology are now an essential part of learning and education in a way they have never been in the past. And it's so important that libraries incorporate this change into their mission.

Of course a balance is necessary between the traditional library and library 2.0. I don't think the demand for physical copies of books and movies will disappear in the next five, or maybe even 10, years. As our increasing circulation demonstrates there will always be patrons ready to embrace our (FREE) services. But in order to stay relevant we will need to evolve along with the rest of the world. Library 2.o will allow us to connect with all types of library patrons. Maybe we will eventually offer movie and music downloads, instead of physical dvds and cds, to patrons who are just looking for entertainment. And for patrons seeking information the possibilities are even greater. I love the idea of librarians being able to connect with patrons via google chat from their home.

Basically, technology is awesome and libraries are awesome. So of course they can be awesome together. But it's going to require lots of training and major decisions on funding and resources. I think this 23 things initiative at MCPL is a great way to start the process toward embracing Library 2.0.

Flickr, or Thing 4

I admit, I am addicted to Flickr. It's so easy to find pictures about anything and everything. The organizational features of tags, sets and collections allow you to sort your images as finely as you'd like. The community aspect of Flickr is awesome, there are tons of groups you can join to share your pictures with people who share your interests. The photo editing application attached to Flickr, Picnik, is pretty good for quick and dirty editing of images. It's quite easy to use but can be slow to load even on the fast internet connections.

I have two Flickr accounts. One thing I don't like about Yahoo/Flickr is that you can't have two Flickr usernames registered under one Yahoo account. Because I didn't want to add my work pictures to my personal Flickr, I had to create a whole new Yahoo account to keep my pictures separate. This is actually one of the things I like best about Blogger, you can have multiple blogs under one Google username. So I don't have to log out and back in to manage all of my posts and settings. And I made a LOLcat at BigHugeLabs for everyone to enjoy ;) Featuring my darlings, Lizzie and Mr. Darcy.

We visited in October to check out their RFID system. The trip was actually super informative. It's always interesting to see how other libraries work. It turns out a lot of the things I do in my position are actually handled by their Collection Services department. The most intersting thing about the trip, for me, was to discover that their library actually used Gmail as their email client. If only we could use Gmail! Document sharing, labels, easy searching, and it's free! Anyway, I've created a special set from this visit and added tags to all of the pictures. You can also see a slideshow of some of these images without even leaving this blog, just check out the gadget to the right.

Oh hello,

Welcome to my brand new 23 Things Blog. I will keep anyone who happens to find the time to read this up to date on my progress.

This is my second Blog using Blogger/Blogspot/Google. So far so good. I've used Livejournal in the past and like it a lot, especially for all of the available layout options. And the community aspect is great. But lately the new advertising is driving me crazy, it's all over! So I like that Blogger doesn't force you into ads.

P.S. How long do I have to keep my silly avatar up?