Librarian Style

Think Tank Question 4

2008-07-17T16:57:00.000-07:00

What is the one 21st Century tool that you cannot live without? Why?

Well, I tried to think of something more original, but I have to say the Internet (as made sense of by Google).
I would miss my podcasts, but I could do without my iPod. I often forget about my cell phone for days at a time; I don't have cable TV or a TiVo or a BlackBerry or a PDA.
But being able to actually answer all those random idle questions ("do people use more oranges or lemons in the US?" "who was Edward Everett?" "what was the Korean War about?") is something I'm completely dependent on now.

Think Tank Question 3

2008-07-17T16:45:00.000-07:00

What concerns about the future of libraries keep you up at night? Why?

Lately, especially since reading Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer, I've been thinking a lot about "what will I do when the apocalypse comes?" and what skills I have that would be useful in a world with no electricity.
Right now, we spend a lot of our time (at my urban, lower-income area library) helping people make sense of technology that they didn't grow up using. In the future, will we be doing the opposite, showing former computer programmers how to raise chickens and make their own clothes?
I'm part of the first generation to grow up with personal computers, and it's hard for me to imagine life without them, but that's my biggest worry about libraries in the future--not that we won't adapt to new technology, but that we will grow so dependent on it that we won't be able to function without it.

I think as long as we remember our role is to help people make sense of the world through information in whatever form it takes, we'll always be relevant. Just don't weed all those old Foxfire books!

Think Tank Question 2

2008-07-17T16:36:00.000-07:00

If you were going to design a new house, what are the key elements that you would consider? Why?

The first thing I would consider is what I was going to do in the house, and design it with that in mind. I like to cook, so I would make sure there was a nice big kitchen that was well-organized, and enough space in the garden to grow vegetables and herbs.

Along the same lines, I think it's silly to have a huge bedroom, because most of the time you spend in there you're asleep.

In general, I would want to design it so that you could naturally and easily accomplish daily tasks without constantly being frustrated by inconvenient hallways or doors that open the wrong way.

I would also make sure that it was located somewhere near work, because the less time spent in the car the better, and in an area with a sense of community and houses that aren't all exactly the same, because I like some variety in life.

Think Tank Question 1

2008-07-17T15:33:00.000-07:00

Describe a project or activity that you have worked on that was outside your comfort zone. Why was it uncomfortable? How did you adapt? Were you glad you took on the project or activity? Would you do it again?

One that comes to mind in relation to this subject is that a few years ago I was asked to be the chair of the Reference Committee for the San Diego County Library system.
This was uncomfortable for me because I hadn't had a lot of experience being in charge of a group before, other than as a camp counselor or head cook!

It was also difficult because it was a new committee, without a very clear mission other than to somehow switch to selecting reference materials centrally instead of having each branch do it separately. We had to figure out all of our procedures as we went along, without interrupting the flow of reference items to the branches. It was a bit chaotic at the start, but we came up with ways to streamline the process while still giving branches input.

For me personally, it was also a little difficult being in charge while also the youngest person on the committee, but I did adapt to the role and became much more comfortable directing discussion and running meetings that actually end on time! I'm very glad I had this opportunity--it has been a lot of fun and a privilege to work with a group of really experienced and dedicated librarians.

Statewide Reference Think Tank: I Want to Play!

2008-07-15T17:46:00.000-07:00

So apparently the California State Library is going to host an event in August to talk about new reference trends and "to rethink and redesign the California Statewide Reference model."

AND, they have invited librarians such as me to apply to participate! This is very exciting, since I have always wanted to be in a think tank.

The other cool thing is that you can submit your application via blog. So here we go. There are 4 questions, which I will address in separate posts and link back to here as I go.

ONE: Describe a project or activity that you have worked on that was outside your comfort zone. Why was it uncomfortable? How did you adapt? Were you glad you took on the project or activity? Would you do it again?

TWO: If you were going to design a new house, what are the key elements that you would consider? Why?

THREE: What concerns about the future of libraries keep you up at night? Why?

FOUR: What is the one 21^st Century tool that you cannot live without? Why?

Thing 23: Final Thoughts OMG

2007-10-19T15:13:00.000-07:00

Hurrah, Thing 23!

This has really been fun. I've enjoyed the camaraderie between all of us as we've tried new things and found cool ways to use them in our lives at work and at home.
Like Elizabeth, I hope we can find some way to keep that going even after we all finish.

I think for me the heart of the web 2.0 experience is the idea of "mashups", which allow us to combine these different things in so many new ways. I also like how so much of the innovation is decentralized, so that people can build new applications all the time and share them to everyone's benefit.

Thing 22: Teaching Someone Else

2007-10-19T15:05:00.000-07:00

There have been a number of these that I've shared with other people.

The wiki I started for the reference committee went over well, and I hope we can use it more extensively in the future.

I taught my mom how to use Flickr, which came in handy when there was a fire at the camp my parents run and they needed to get information about it out to a large number of people.

I've helped out some fellow 23Thing-ers with their blogs, and showed them how to add nifty widgets.

I have been asked several times to explain what the heck an RSS feed is; not sure if it made any sense though!

Thing 21: Podcast Searching

2007-10-19T14:52:00.000-07:00

Since the Yahoo! podcast site is shutting down, I checked out podcasts.net.
I don't know, it's okay.

I like iTunes better for the "people who liked that also like this" function. Neither iTunes or podcast.net have very good categories, although podcast.net does have tags, which is nice.
Generally I think the best way to find good podcasts is to search on blogs for recommendations. Otherwise it's just too hard to find the good stuff.

One podcast I have discovered lately (recommended by someone in this post on notmartha.org) is How Much Do We Love, which is just two friends hanging out and talking about stuff they think is awesome. It reminds me of the conversations I have with my friend Steven. Super fun.

Thing 20: YouTube!

2007-10-19T14:38:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite things about YouTube is how one person will make a certain type of video and then a bunch of other people will make one too.
One example: people seem to love videotaping their toddler eating a lemon for the first time.

This one's my favorite--he just keeps putting it back in his mouth even though he hates it.

We're planning a poetry reading at our branch next month, and at the request of one of our patrons I'm going to try videotaping some of the performances and posting them on YouTube. Watch this space for updates!!

Thing 19: My Google Maps

2007-10-18T19:26:00.000-07:00

I had waaayyy too much fun with this one.
This is a map of all the Pho restaurants that are reviewed on my favorite San Diego food blog, Mmm-Yoso! .
My personal favorite is Pho Ca Dao on El Cajon Boulevard.

View Larger Map

Thing 18: Online Productivity

2007-10-18T18:10:00.000-07:00

I've used both Zoho and Google Documents before, and they both seem to work well. I'd give a bit of an edge to Google Docs just because I use Gmail, but Zoho really has a lot of options, including wikis and database applications, that look pretty neat..

I don't actually have much reason to use something like this, just because I pretty much only use this kind of program at work, and we have our own methods of document sharing that work well enough for our purposes. (All hail the S: Drive!)

However, if I were taking on some kind of collaborative side projects, this would definitely be the way to go. Especially since it means not having to contaminate my beautiful iBook with Microsoft software!

Thing 17: Editing the Infopeople Wiki

2007-10-18T17:09:00.000-07:00

I added the following to the "Mashups" section:

Many Web 2.0 sites offer "widgets"--little bits of code that can be inserted into a blog, Myspace, LiveJournal, Facebook, or other social networking application. This allows visitors to your site to see what you're reading on Goodreads, or follow your Twitter stream without having to go to another site.

Thing 16: Wikis

2007-10-10T14:42:00.000-07:00

Hooray, I already did this one!

About a month ago, I started a wiki using pbwiki.com for the reference committee to use. It's working pretty well so far, although they make it a little too complicated with two different ways to sign in, and I also was kind of irritated that once you delete a wiki you can never use the same name again.

Still, I like it for keeping track of our meeting agendas and various bits of information we want to keep handy. I'm hoping to use it more in the future to keep track of the core collection plan we're working on, but that part is still under construction.

Thing 15: Perspectives on Library 2.0

2007-10-10T14:11:00.000-07:00

One of the blogs I really like is Librarian.net, which is run by Jessamyn West (no relation to the author).
She also gives talks at libraries and library conferences on "Library 2.0"--basically how to incorporate web 2.0 technology into your library.

She links to the "Top 10 Library 2.0 No-Brainers for Public Libraries" .
Here's a quick list (with whether our library does it), but you should really read the whole article:

1. Include Mozilla Firefox on all Public Computers. (I wish!)
2. Add the Deli.cio.us Extension to Firefox as part of your suite (No)
3. RSS feeds for library news and programs (minimum) (Yes)
4. Have straight-forward guidelines for blogging (including a statement that you encourage staff to blog) (No)
5. Have some kind of content managey system for staff information sharing (Yes)
6. Have a public blog and allow comments (Some branches do)
7. Collaborate with Partners using Google docs or Zoho (No)
8. Keep a flickr page with some interesting pictures of library programs etc. (Not officially)
9. Make sure Instant Messaging, Gaming, YouTube are allowed on your PCs (Yes)
10. Engage teens with technology (We try)

Actually, we don't do too badly with this list. Most of the ones we don't do are related to the public access terminals, and it's notoriously difficult to make any changes to them.

Thing 14: Technorati

2007-10-09T15:39:00.000-07:00

I think Technorati is a little too big and unwieldy--there are just so many blogs that it's hard to find what you want simply by using tags, especially since most people don't do a very good job of tagging.

Still, I like the feature that lets you see who is linking to you.

Something in a similar vein is Blogshares, which adds a sort of fantasy stock-market aspect to the whole thing.

Thing 13: Del.icio.us

2007-10-08T15:00:00.000-07:00

Hm, del.icio.us was one of those websites I had a brief passionate affair with and then we sort of drifted apart.
I just went and looked at my account and apparently I bookmarked about 250 things in 2005, about 50 in 2006, and about 3 this year.

Still, I think it's a really great idea and the reference committee is working on a del.icio.us account to use for SDCL.
Check it out here.

Thing 12: Rollyo

2007-09-20T12:16:00.000-07:00

This is an interesting idea, but I think for most of my searching Google does just fine.
One application I did think of was a recipe search--there are certain sites I like to use for recipes (for example egullet or 101 Cookbooks) and certain sites I don't, like Epicurious or about.com.
So I made a Rollyo engine for recipes, if you would like to try it out.

Thing 11: LibraryThing

2007-09-13T15:31:00.000-07:00

Back when I used to work at headquarters, I made a LibraryThing account for all the advance copies we would get from the publishers.
It's still here, but it hasn't been updated in forever.

I also have a membership for my personal library, but I've never gotten around to adding my books to it. I even got a little barcode scanner to use--maybe someday I'll do it.

Thing 9: Twitter

2007-09-12T19:41:00.000-07:00

I'm really kind of opposed to the idea of Twitter--do people really need to know what I'm doing at every hour of the day?
...although I think my real fear is that I'm going to be sucked in and spend even more time online than I already do.

But if you care, I'm putting it on the side of the blog there so you can see what exciting thing I'm doing right now. Or I guess whatever I was doing the last time I updated it.

One thing I will say--they make it really easy to add the little widget to your blog.

Thing 10: Image Generators

2007-09-12T17:00:00.001-07:00

Hey, you can have your cake, you just can't eat it. Probably just as well.

Things 7 & 8: Bloglines and Library Blogs

2007-09-12T16:23:00.000-07:00

I've had a Bloglines account before, but I never used it much. I like Google Reader much better for RSS feeds. One cool thing about Bloglines, though, is that you can subscribe to a feed of people that link to your blog, and know what people are saying about you. I don't think you can do that in Google Reader, but otherwise I really like their interface better. Plus, you can integrate it into your Gmail home page with the Better Gmail extension for Firefox, or have it part of your iGoogle page. (How many web 2.0 things can I mention in one sentence?)
And if you're not already using Gmail for your personal email, why aren't you? It just works so well.

I like the library blogs that tell funny stories about things that happen at the library.
A few favorites are:
Ref Grunt, who just keeps a list of everything he gets asked at the reference desk.
A Librarian's Guide to Etiquette, which has useful advice for librarians on how (not?) to annoy your colleagues.

Thing 6: iGoogle

2007-09-04T18:16:00.001-07:00

So, the thing I've been playing with recently is iGoogle, which is a personalized "home base" kind of page where you can put together your own combination of page elements to use as a jumping-off point for the internet. I used to use My Yahoo like this, but I like Google's a lot more--it's got a nicer interface and more interesting page elements.

Here is a screenshot--if you look at the larger version on Flickr you can see that you can have your email and RSS reader all on one page along with useful widgets like a weather report or dictionary or news headlines.

I like these kinds of things that pull a bunch of little tidbits together in one place, so I don't have to spend a lot of time checking all over the internet to keep my finger on The Pulse of Tomorrow.

Thing 5: Retrievr

2007-08-25T14:54:00.001-07:00

This is nifty--you draw a little sketch and then it tries to match it with photos from flickr.

It kind of works.

Thing 4: Flickr

2007-08-21T16:41:00.001-07:00

rare books room
Originally uploaded by kaitlyn rose

This is a picture from my friend Kaitlyn's Flickr photostream.
She is a librarian at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. How cool is that?

Flickr is fun for a lot of reasons--I like their simple interface, and the many different ways you can make connections between pictures.
I just wish you didn't have to connect it with a Yahoo! account. (Or for that matter have your Blogger and Gmail accounts connected.)

A little separation of online identities is a good thing, I think.

Flickr

2007-08-21T16:35:00.001-07:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Thing 1

2007-08-21T16:25:00.000-07:00

So, I listened to the little podcasts and watched the presentation about the 7 Habits of Lifelong Learners.
I think the easiest thing for me will be to play, since I love fiddling with new things and finding out how they work.
The hardest will be beginning with an end in mind, because I usually like to just go with the flow and see how things turn out. However, trying to finish the whole program by the deadline will give me a good goal to shoot for.
I also filled out the learning contract and solemnly promised myself to hold myself to it or I would have to take myself to small claims court.

I also watched the webcast of the class about Web 2.0 for Library Managers.

Should we still charge fines at the library?

2007-08-18T08:58:00.000-07:00

Jessamyn at Librarian.net asked the question today, and it has sparked some interesting discussion here.

Myself, I like the idea of not charging fines. At my branch, we make a big effort to get new people to use the library, and they are often not really familiar with the whole concept of libraries.
They also usually have kids (which is a recipe for lots of late items) and I think it really turns people off to suddenly be told that they owe $20. A lot of them don't come back, and I probably wouldn't either.

Web 2.0 Odyssey (Things 2 and 3)

2007-08-17T15:43:00.000-07:00

So, I've decided to sign up for the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County's Web 2.0 tutorial, which gives a tour of "23 things" every librarian should be familiar with in order to keep up with the 6th graders that come in every day.

Here is a list of the 23 things, in case of interest:

1. Read this entry (that's right, the one that you are reading now), and this FAQ to find out about the program and to make sure that you are eligible to participate. Remember: to take our challenge you must take or participate in at least one of our Web 2.0 events.
2. Set up your own blog on Blogger.com & add your first post.
3. Register your blog by sending an email to infopeeps@gmail.com with your blog's URL and begin your Web 2.0 journey. We will then add your blog to our blogroll that you see on the sidebar of this blog so everyone can see what progress you are making.
4. Explore Flickr and learn about this popular image-hosting site. Set up an account and join some groups! And remember, blog about what you learn!
5. Have more Flickr fun and discover some Flickr mashups & third party sites.
6. Look at some of these library websites that are using Web 2.0 to enhance their offerings and create a blog post about anything Web 2.0-related that you think would be useful in your library.
7. Learn about RSS feeds and set up your own Bloglines newsreader account.
8. Locate a few useful library related blogs and/or news feeds and add them to your Bloglines account.
9. Sign up for a Twitter account. Track your activities using Twitter for a few days. Think about how Twitter might be useful linked on a library website and blog about your Twitter experience.
10. Play around with an online image generator. Blog about your experience(s).
11. Take a look at LibraryThing and catalog some of your favorite books.
12. Roll your own search tool with Rollyo.
13. Learn about social bookmarking then create a Del.icio.us account and add and tag some Web 2.0 sites.
14. Explore Technorati and learn how tags work with blog posts.
15. Read a few perspectives on Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and the future of libraries and blog your thoughts.
16. Learn about wikis and discover some innovative ways that libraries are using them.
17. Add an entry to Infopeople's Our 23 Web 2.0 Things wiki.
18. Take a look at some online productivity (word processing, spreadsheet) tools.
19. Explore My Maps on Google Maps and create a map for your library and add a picture of it to the map.
20. Discover YouTube and a few sites that allow users to upload and share videos.
21. Discover some useful search tools for locating podcasts.
22. Teach someone else how to use one of the technologies described above and blog about your experience!
23. Summarize your thoughts about this program on your blog.

I have to admit I'm familiar with a lot of these already, but I think it's going to be fun to discuss them with other staff at my library and see how we can incorporate some of these ideas in our work.