Delicious

I'm tired. I don't get it. I can't get it to work. I don't want to log in to one more *&^%ing thing in order to save a bookmark that I can either just (1) remember, (2) put in my favorites, (3) RSS feed to myself, (4) put in my google reader, (5) write on a post-it note, (6) not use if I can't be bothered to remember it anyway.....

I give up on this one. I have no idea how a librarian could use it and don't care.

TAG You're "It"

Tagging. Using spray paint to cover a wall of library books.....
no wait.

Tagging. Adding little notations to items (in the library world) that can link like things together.
The trick is that "like things" means different things to different people.

So, a Harry Potter book could have tags of Fantasy, England, Rowling, etc. But it could also include Wizards, Dragons, Reluctant Heroes.

The idea is that users could "tag" items in the libraries catalog and thus create links between items and suggestions of places to go to find more items like that one.

So we could have the LC headings of Cookery AND we could have users' Tags linking cookbooks to other items on entertaining, gardening, nutrition, health, chefs, etc.

I think it is a fun idea and one we might want to explore. Users would participate in the process!

Instant Messaging

The new 23 Things topic is Instant Messaging.
I have used AIM before and it has been okay.
I have used the new communicator at work as well.

Libraries could use some form of IM for quick reference questions. For longer responses or more involved conversations, a librarian could always take the question via IM and then respond later via email.

Does usage ever get so high that it would be difficult for one librarian to be the designated IM reference librarian for an hour or so? Probably not. But you wouldn't want to try to keep up with it when you are on desk since we get called away from the desk by patrons now and then.

Another advantage of IM over a phone call is that you could copy and paste into an Instant message. We could have some "Canned Responses" that we could drop into the IM reply. Everybody would get the same "official" response to recurring questions that way.

Digg.....er....ado!

Much ado about Digg. I went to the site and found some cool stuff by using their groupings/headings. I found I was not all that interested in the general top "Diggs" of the last day or so. I was more interested in those that were listed under "Technology" or "World and Business."

If only there were a way to have "libraries/books" as a heading! That would be ideal for me.

I wonder if we could use the same concept in our library. For instance, could we tap into what our patrons "DIGG"? That would help us know what programs, communication, or other ideas were most important "dugg?" by our patrons. Instant feedback!

Tweeting

I have signed up for Twitter in the past and posted a few tweets. As a personal choice, I don't tweet anymore. It was interesting, but not vital. I figure with Facebook, text messaging, and emails that I am connected as I want to be to my Followers.

However, I can see its uses for libraries who have Twitter Followers. We could tweet out news on a daily basis. News about new parking garages, holiday hours, special programs, resuming children's programming, summer reading, noteworthy books, book sales, festival info. Then if we wanted, we could even try 140 character book reviews each Friday or Sunday. That might be fun.

Let's see:

Lost City of Z by David Grann-In 1925, explorer P. Fawcett disappears w/ his son in the Amazon jungle. Join the search! Gripping nonfiction.

Hmmm. 140 characters would be a challenge!

Picasa

Just created the Picasa account and uploaded a couple of digital photos. It was very fast and easy. I can see how this would be a very good way to quickly share digital photos. You could have them loaded into Picasa before the program was even over! Nice way to share library ideas with other librarians.

Communicator

Now we have a new "communicator" at work. Not sure how we will use this Instant Messaging technology any differently than we would our email. If you're at a computer and your email is up, you get a notification when a new email comes in. Seems this would be about the same as being notified of an IM. Now for chats, I can see the relevance. I just haven't been in many chats since about 1996.

We'll see how this pans out.