#17 1/2 Explore Facebook

A few months ago, as part of the staff chat project, I joined Facebook to test that site for a possible platform for our Queens Library chat. Obviously, we did not select that format, but I have maintained a peripheral interest in Facebook. It is an easy format to maintain ongoing contact with friends and strangers and find out more (and more) about those people. Overall, it has been a positive experience and I can easily see how people can spend hours a day on this site. The fact that I have 12 friends surprises me a little. Not that I don't have friends, but that it is so easy to maintain with little enthusiasm. That being said, I welcome more friends to share fun thoughts and have another venue to maintain contact, which is what it is all about.

#17 Add an Entry to a Wiki

At first, this seemed like a great opportunity to participate in a new Library 2.0 tool that I have come to enjoy (see posting #16). However, once I started asking myself, "what should I add or create for a wiki", I froze. I could add something to an existing Wikipedia article, but what would be appropriate? Adding to the Queens Library entry? The YALSA entry? Maybe the "Paul is Dead" entry as I know lots of clues? There are other wikis I could have added to, but I couldn't pull the trigger. Finally, I got it. I created a new Wikipedia entry (no easy feat to find something not there) on my father's hometown in Belgium, where I spent my childhood summers. I created only a few lines to start and figure I will go back and add to it, along with anyone else who has something to say about this tiny village in eastern Belgium. Wikipedia adds the hotlinks and makes it look very professional. I am very pleased with my entry, except that it is now my new ongoing projects, and I really didn't need one of those. Here is the link to my article or just enter "Barvaux" in the search box. Enjoy. Barvaux, Belgium in Wikipedia

#16 Wiki Me This

I have become a real fan of wikis as I see it as a comfortable middle ground between the tech savvy and the more traditional librarians; between the open access idea and the more fix site format, and between the free-for all anyone can add content to the site selected by the professional. The examples given were good examples of what is out there. Many wikis from public libraries that I have gone to do not let users alter content, but may send them to an area where they can, and some are the anyone-can-post variety. Some are a combo. I am a big fan of Wikipedia and have gotten much information that might be considered trivial (anything I would want to pass on to someone else or is important does have to be verified). However, using a wiki for community information seems the easiest, and most useful, for community based libraries like ours. We just completed our assignments on Web 2.0, which scares a lot of traditionalist (including me, a little), however, what better venue for a wiki then coordinating a wiki for community resources. I remembers soon after I first started working at Queens Library that we used hundreds of hours of librarian time to compile a community database. Wouldn't it be best to now have the actual community participate in an endeavor such as this? I think it would be a great start, both for the library and staff and for the community for when they are prepared to start doing more, they, and we, will be ready for the next level.

#15 On Library 2.0 & Web 2.0...

I have come to find that I entered librarianship at a unique time; 14 years ago there was no internet in our public library and the only technology was the catalog and things to listen to music on, which we did not provide. Today, it seems that we, and I, are always feeling a little behind. That is a horrible feeling for a librarian, and a profession, who are in the information dissemination field to feel. I have come to learn a little about what we are now calling Library 2.0 and Web 2.0 through necessity and this project. However, after reading the OCLC Web 2.0, it stills come back to what I have always known about serving the public in a library, we should be customer service driven. To me, Web 2.0, which is user-centered change is simply responded to what, but more importantly, how, the user wants/needs to interact with the library. To be customer service oriented is to be tailoring the services to our users, known and unknown. Only now, we do need to go to the customer; instead of providing them with sites, we need to be sharing resources where they are. I really liked Rick Anderson's article, although i disagree about one thing. I do think we need to reevaluate the "Just in Case" collections and also give up the customer coming to us and instead integrate where they are, but I disagree that we need to give up "User Education". So many public library customers need us to be the experts and we need to make sure we can help them get to where they want to go or else they too will not be able to participate in the latest whatever. It is easy to get left behind and who else is going to assist the public, certainly no one but us will do it for free and correctly. There is a role for us to play here. Finally, I will give the link here for myself, and anyone else who cares on the OCLC Nextspace articles as I am sure to come back to it. The Wikipedia entry on Library 2.0 give great resources which will certainly change as we move on. Enjoy. www.oclc.org/nextspace/002.6.htmI.

#14 Getting not-so-technical with Technorati

Interesting. I have signed up my blog, this one, with Technorati by posting the link they gave me. It search out the link and was able to connect my blog and it was "created" in their index. However, when I try to find it using the search tools, it does not come up. How is that possible? How do I know? When I do a search for "clash librarian", nothing comes up. You mean to say that there are no blogs in the universe with these two words? I have even done advance searches. If I put my entire blog address in the search field, it does come up but then I did a search of a word that I know is in my blog (Croton) and that did not come up. Lesson learned? Sometimes the technical is not-so-technical.

#13 Tag! You're It!

At first, I read all the accompany literature for this task and watched the videos and tutorials and found myself starting to get confused. And then, I went to the site, set up and account and it really was easier then it seemed. I thought the tips was the best of the accompanying links. There was one problem in that when I wanted to place the del.icio.us button on the web browser, my computer did not allow me to do it without permission. The way around this was to simply add it as a link and place that on the bottom of my tool bar. I added links that I thought were a little special that I use and when I saw how many others in del.icio.us used them, some of them were unique and some were very common. I do see this as a great tool and will continue to use it. You are welcome to take a look at my links as I have added the site to the right of my blog. Enjoy.

#12 Roll Your Own Search Engine

So I went to Rollyo thinking that it was something that it is not. I wanted to have a search engine that would only search certain terms in a variety of search engines or sites but I guess that is a meta-search engine. Instead, I set up a Rollyo account to....to...do what? I have to say I am not sure what the function of this is except to direct me, or those that use "my" search engine to their advertisers. When one does a search on say, "Belgium", on one of my choices, one is directed to some good sites, but why use this instead of just going to the original sites. I think Google is another good example. Why do a search on Rollyo instead of going to Google directly. I would like someone to set me straight as to how to use this correctly.

#11 Thing this: Librarything

I have friends who have used Librarything.com and they used it to catalog their personal library collection. As many librarians, and bibliophiles, I have too many books in my personal collection that I can not stand to throw out no matter what the condition. Why do i keep them? Does it make me feel smarter to see them on the shelve (some of which I have never read)? Do I feel it projects a superior imagine when others come over to my apartment and see them? I don't know. I do know that many times I look at a book that I read and remember what I felt when I read it; the time period in my life at the time; and the people I have shared it with. I have placed 15 titles in my Librarything.com account of books that continue to have impact on my life, whether I read them recently, or a while ago. If any of these strikes your fancy, let me know. I love sharing similar books with others.