The 23rd thing: Survey

Here we are back in library world. Whoops...too late for the survey.
Respect to all my library colleagues who finished on time. May the force be with you all in Library 2.0 and beyond.
Susan...aka Jade X. Libris

The 22nd Thing: Resolutions & tools

So here we are at the end of the road and back at the circulation desk, where we see about 600 people through the door and handle about 1400 items per day.
Truth be told, it's hard to keep up with that workload and it is, after all, our first priority....when workload data is counted, we don't get points for spending time in the virtual world....circulation rules!!!
The excercises in 23 things were a pleasant diversion. Some things are more useful and relevant to my library situation than others . I can say some staff would like to make a career out of attending to their Facebook pages, be they library or personal. All in all, it was a good learning exercise. It is sad not to have a nexus of collaborators to continue the good work.
It was good to gain some confidence but intimidating and sometimes disheartening to see how quickly so many others progressed. But hey, everyone should feel like a slug at sometime...helps with the empathy factor.
My resolution would be to return to many of the things presented in the exercises and to try for mastery. The other part of that would be to actually visit the many other blogs.....I know I was truly impressed with some of what was being done by some individuals and in some libraries.
And now it is back to Jade's library. Welcome to my world. It's for real.

The 21st Thing: Student 2.0 Tools

The research and assignment calculators could be particularly useful tools for students who were busy texting or twittering when their teachers covered "how to do a research paper" in their student 1.0 classes. If you can catch the students early in the "due date" process, the calculators can help provide a framework and a structure to help guide the search for appropriate library material. So many students are clueless about the process.
Summer reading lists queries might provide an opening to informally introduce students who visit the libraries to the calculators, perhaps along with http://www.bibme.org/ in order to allow them to have time to experiment with these before the school year starts. For teachers, I would probably include a link on the library website, perhaps making this one of several tools, including library databases, that teachers might find useful.
Teen volunteers might also enjoy learning about these and demo'ing them or blogging about them on the library website.

The 20th Thing: Books 2.0

“What the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation,” he wrote, confessing that he now found it difficult to read long books

-Nicholas Carr.

The blog exercise asked what we witness at our library. Relating to the above quotation, I witness a stream of teenagers who spend their afterschool time on the internet with no purpose other than to look at booty shots and social network sites. I am not sure exactly what set of skills is being acquired by their doing this. I have another story to tell....for several years two middle schoolers skipped school to spend their time on computers at the library. They spent the whole day playing games and chatting. A call to their school brought absolutely no concern. Now they have returned as young adults....they never finished high school and the only jobs they can get are flipping burgers. All the time they spent on the internet.....what good has it done them??? I see too many kids who are rudderless wasting their time on seedy websites. I see too many adults who don't have the basic skills necesary to fill out a job application.

I've watched library checkout skew to DVD's over books. It's now close to 50 per cent. Many people utilize the library as a free video store. They never check out a book...not for themselves and not for their kids. I've watched kids be turned loose in the library for entire days while their parents are glued to social networking sites, and get irritated when the kids start crying or want something to eat. How sad.

The many sites mentioned in Books 2.0 are worth a look and offer opportunity for those who still read books to gather together in their name online. Bless them. In a few years they will probably be regarded as cultists for appreciating the written word in ancient book form. Some of the sites seem to duplicate info found in the library press with regard to book reviews.

The articles mentioned were interesting. It remains to be seen what will evolve with the future of the book and of public libraries as we presently know them.

The 19th thing: More Social networks

If you would like to join the herd, wherever it is headed, you can find a social network that will appeal. No doubt about it...from baking to bonding, it's all there....most with way too much self-important sounding commentary and way too little information.

Yep, that's the herd factor.....not much direction, but hey, let's all go anyway, there might be something there.

Munch and moo and a whole lot of cow patties down on the virtual farms.

The 18th Thing: MySpace and Facebook

Libraries are finding their way to social networking sites to play to the demographics they represent. An example is Jax Public Library teen page. The thinking is that teens already using social networking will find their library info accessible on these sites and perhaps be more participatory.
The challenge for libraries outside of content is site maintainance, if it has to be paid staff doing it.
Personally, I have tried both sites mentioned but do not care to have a presence on these type of sites at this time. But for those who like to have a door open to their personal and professional lives at all times and invite people in, good for them. I do think it was a comedown for Facebook to drop their edu requirement. It was a better site with only college membership.
And as for My Space....I can't say how many times I have witnessed 15 year olds pretending to be 23 on My Space and 14 year olds looking at booty shots on Urban Chat, thanks to the library.
You better be careful who you choose as friends.

The 17th Thing: Pod casts

I looked in the podcast directories that were presented. I'm not sure how useful many of these are, outside of the news casts, assuming you want to eternally be in the newsloop, but some are mildly entertaining with varying quality. Once again, this seems to be dominated by commercial and professional producers, and CNN, PBS and sports seem to dominate the "most viewed category"
I suppose if you were out on a trail like the one pictured here, and really had a desire to get your newsfix, you might be able to be podicated on your Ipod or MP3 player. But why would one even want that? If however, you were in some boring and purposeless staff meeting, a podcast might be just the thing to transport you to a better place more deserving of your attention.
Ill try to get a podcast here later. Before I download any additional software, I need to query some knowledgeable sources about what would be best.

Thing 16 You Tube

I chose Matt Dancing because a coworker sent it to me and I thought it shows how a clever person can get a dream job by imaginatively using YouTube

The 15th: Rollyo

Tho I tried out some of the search rolls featured on the site, none came close to giving superior results to Google. I guess my world is still small enough and the queries I deal with simple enough that I don't feel the need for such power searching. Perhaps if I were a reporter on Frontline and needed to use multiple search engines to cover salient topics, or if I were an expert in some field...let's say Geology...it might be worth the effort to commit to making searchrolls that were limited to that field.

I tried to access a library resource searchroll, but it was "private". I accessed one on a topic that I have a lot of experience searching, and I wasn't impressed with the results, certainly not enough to create my own searchroll or link to that one. Sorry, but this "thing" is just not high enough on my list of priorities to spend any more time on, because the return is just not worth the investment. It's not inherently useless; it just isn't something that I need in my worklife at present.

The 14th Thing: Productivity Tools

The online productivity tools are useful life/project organizers, particularly for those who need to collaborate in working groups across professional lines, or for volunteer organizations. They can function as a kind of intranet which all members can access thru the net without being limited to inhouse office applications for sharing files, and ideas and tracking progress on a particular project. This is good. Tools like Backpack do have portability...also a functional feature if you have a meeting where data needs to be shared beforehand, but people may not always have access to their real office.

The personalized pages/calenders available thru Google, Yahoo and other providers are useful in providing a single access/departure point for whatever one feels is useful to keep current; however it is important to remember that all these "preferences" are being tracked, analyzed, filed and marketed ...the more you show, the more they know and it is wise to keep that in mind with anything offered "free" by ISP's or others.

"In the middle of the journey of our life

I found myself astray in a dark wood

where the straight road had been lost sight of."

-Dante Alighieri

The 13th: LibraryThing

Another frustrating learning experience. After dutifully following instructions to "paste this code to your blog" we get ......nothing!!! No explanations of why this won't work, no alternative methods to use and no amount of help from experienced colleagues could correct the problem.

So much for Jade's Virtual library. Here, instead, is the bricks and mortar library where at least you can get there from here.

"The creative process is a mystical path...we do not enter it after we get everything else out of the way....there is lots of dead material when we don't honor the live thing."

-from Jade's library...A Walk Between Heaven & Earth. A Personal Journal on Writing and the Creative Process by Burghild Nina Holzer

Thing 12: Wikis

Wikis are a useful tool for building on a specialized knowledge base or set of experiences through collaborative enterprise. The end product is dynamic, current and relevant, as committed users bring a level of expertise and oversight to insure that entries are correct and information is valid.

Focus and organization are important, or the community will not be motivated to participate in and maintain the site. Good uses are project evolvement, research and resource sharing and internal organizational collaboration.

"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts...."

23 things: the Eleventh: Social Media

Frankly, these seem focused on the trivial and the useless. Is it really critical to the unfolding of the universe that Japanese Giant Hornets have been spotted or that John Bolton followed by Ann Coulter are cracking comments on which US cities they would nuke!! Not all things on the internet are inherently worthy of time and attention. And access to the internet does not make one a journalist or commentator worth reading.

"Liars and panderers in government would have a much harder time of it if so many people didn't insist on their right to remain ignorant..."

-Bill Maher

23 things..the 10th: tags and social bookmarking

The best feature of delicious is that you can move to any computer and your bookmarks are accessible. Nice if you would like to access those on your home computer from other locations. If you are working on a research project and simply want to direct others to useful sites you have found, so they skip searching for them, that's efficient. I am sure with some thought, library staff could use them for assignment queries that come up but are ephemeral in nature, so that staff efforts are transparent to all.

Tags are useful but are like personal filing systems in that not everyone files items in the same way. Tags can become as unmanageble and useless as all those physical file folders you made and don't remember what you put in them as in "did I file that in "banks" or "finance"?? In order for tags to be useful, you have to have a clear idea of what they will be used for. For example, photos that are tagged "staff" could number in the thousands, however photos that are tagged "staff" and "children's programs" might make an easier search of it.

What shall we tag this one?? How about "Bear Lodge" which was the Native American name before it became known as "Devil's Tower" and the aliens landed there.

23 things: the Ninth...More Sharing

The tools for slidesharing, etc presuppose a level of familiarity with photosharing, video sharing and other applications such as powerpoint which are necessary to use them efficiently and with the desired results.

They would be most useful in situations where there is little inhouse support or network availability for shared folder, intranets and other inhouse archival options. They would also be useful for those individuals who want to put their creations outside the workrealm and they do allow individuals access to tools that are normally in the province of graphic designers, and/or PR staffers.

Most of these little "explorations" require hours to achieve the most basic result and this blog entry is testimony to that. Instuctions such as "copy this html" the result of which is decidedly not what was promised ....mosaics, slide shows, videos...but rather some undecipherable coding rather than the images one was seduced into thinking would be easily transferable. The level of frustration is keen and the time wasted cannot be recaptured, nor does it lead to enlightenment and subsequent mastery. This, instead of the "mosaic" or"slideshow", is all you get today.

"What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls a butterfly"

-R. Bach

23 things...IM..best use.

The best use of Instant messaging I have found is its use in talking to deployed soldiers in Iraq in real time. It is so important to their families & loved ones.

There is nothing quite like having someone sign off IM with "Mortars just hit..gotta go find my guys" to end a real time conversation. IM is seductive, and it spoils you, especially if it is the only realtime contact you have with those you care about. But you don't have the body language and nuances of personal contact to let you know how someone is experiencing what you are saying....and without those clues, it is sometimes difficult to judge the effect of your remarks. And in the context of WAR, one wonders what of historical value will be lost when there are no longer real letters to discover and to remember who we were. There's not much time for reflection in IM.

More things...8 and 9

cedar key,
originally uploaded by firerainbow.

So many ways to alter images and present yourself and your messages in the virtual world. Such very public selves. I am a believer in Sanctuary...the sanctuary of silence, of books, of a place alone.

The Art of Disappearing

When they say DOn't I know you?
say no

When they invite you to the party
remember what parties are like
before answering.
Someone telling you in a loud voice
they once wrote a poem.
Greasy sausage balls ona paper plate.
Then reply.

If they say We should get together
say why"

It's not that you don't love them anymore
You're trying to remember something
too important to forget.
Trees. The monastery bell at twilight.
Tell them you have a new project.
It will never be finished.
from Words Under the Words
by Naomi Shihab Nye

Jade's Library Tat....the Seventh Thing

With Image Generators

the Possibilities are Endless

23 Things: The Sixth...Flickr mashups

I chose this word because this is what it takes to do this. Could it be done better and faster with a pre-2.0 tool?? Yes, it could. But the object of the exercise is not efficiency but play. And like magic, words and objects appear....or frustratingly they do not appear, as happened many times in this exercise. And like magic, our time for play has also disappeared as we once again move from the 23 play things to the 43 real things that compete for our library time.

Ten thousand flowers in spring, the moon in autumn

a cool breeze in summer, snow in winter.

If your mind isn't clouded by unnecessary things,

this is the best season of your life.

-Wu-Men

23 Things: the Fifth...Flickr

New York Public Library

New York Public Library,
originally uploaded by AdamBaronPhoto.

"Libraries are the memory of humankind, irreplaceable repositories of documents of human thought and action. The New York Public Library is such a memory bank par excellence, one of the great knowledge institutions of the world, its myriad collections ranking with those of the British Library, the Library of Congress, and the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Virtually all of the Library's many collections and services are freely available to all comers. In fact, the Library has but one criterion for admission: curiosity."
-from the NYPL home page.

23 things....the fourth: RSS

RSS feeds are appropriately named as they can fill the great maw of the Mythical Virtual Beast of the Unguarded Inbox, until one finally surrenders, acknowledging defeat and reaching for the Delete Key followed by the button that says "Unsubscribe"

Yes, the applications are many, and just think how thrilled our library patrons would be if they could have a daily nanosecond by nanosecond feed that would alert them the very instant a New DVD was cataloged and let loose for patrons to put on hold. Yes, they would be like virtual DVD vultures, hovering over their alerts, so they could be the very first to place the item on hold.

I won't go on to say what happened when I tried the RSS feeds of a library which shall remained unnamed. Let's just say I was underwhelmed when "new at your library" linked me to a static poster of a single event. So I would say before you subscribe to anything, assess the worth of its contribution to your life in terms of the time you spend on it and choose wisely.

"Just because you can, doesn't mean you should"

-The Darwin Awards

23 Things...the third: Blogs

Interestingly, many blogs with popularity and "authority" as determined by Technorati are underwritten by commercial news enterprises.

It seems from their analysis that most bloggers come from the wealthier side of the street, are employed in some enterprise which is market driven, and are between the ages of 18-35.

A search with the keyword "library" yielded only nominally interesting or unique results with the exception being this:

The Nation's Oldest Public Library Is In Danger of Closing ...
21 Jan 2009

23 Things....The Second: Web 2.0

Some memorable lines from Web 2.0:

"In order to be adept at navigating L2 waters, the old fiefdoms need to disappear. L2 requires drastic and sweeping changes to our internal cultures and will require some form of institutional enlightenment"

"But if our services can’t be used without training, then it’s the services that need to be fixed—not our patrons."

Protocol error communicating with authentication server; please try again later
--message when attempting to access Florida Electronic Library

"You can lead a man to knowledge but you cannot make him think."

-Darwin Awards

First Steps ...23 Things

One should not follow instructions blindly without giving thought to the end result.

A hand moves, and the fire's whirling takes different shapes:
All things change when we do.
The first word, "Ah," blossoms into all others.
Each of them is true.
-Kukai (774-835)
from "The Enlightened Heart"