Thing #7 - Communication

Using Web 2.0 tools.

Email. This is how we recieve many of our reference questions, along with telephone calls and people dropping into the library office. The limitation with email is that the librarian then has to call or email with any follow-up questions that are a normal part of the reference interview.

IM. Interesting article by Aaron Schmidt and Michael Stephens. Personally I enjoy IM reference. You can open a window, chat with someone, and while doing other things, wait for the answer. For me it is more convenient than trying to call a reference desk and wait on hold for several minutes. I think it would also be useful for a quicker reference interview than email, you have the patron online with you, so you can ask questions immediately instead of trading emails or voicemails. Maybe setting up a reference IM box on the Intranet would be worthwhile.

Texting. I think texting will be very important in libraries. It is so prevalent and we cannot ignore it. In my library, most of the patrons have Blackberries, so texting is irrelevant for them, when they can easily just email their questions, but I can see how important it would be in a public library setting. It seems like more and more people I know are starting to text more often. It makes for a quick interaction, but works well in certain situations.

Web conferencing. I've used webex for a number of online training courses. It is a very helpful tool. I love how you can hear and see what the instructor is doing with very little lag time, if at all. It is so convenient to just sit in your office for a training session instead of having to travel somewhere for a short session.

Twitter. I don't use it, but I've started exploring it. Not sure if it has any relevance to my library, but it is worth investigating.

Thing #6: online image generators

I tried out the trading card. It was so much easier than I expected.

This may be fun for a national library week promotion.

I also liked the Hockneyizer, but have a lack of photos on my work computer to play around with.

Thing #5 More Flickr fun

I'm not sure how useful mash-ups are to my library. I guess using Flickr for image searching may be helpful, but I don't create that many handouts. It was a fun exercise to see what is out there, and to spend some time palying with the different tools.

Thing #4: Photosharing with Flickr

A photo from Flickr by jhurrah "Prague Castle and Church of St Nicholas by night July 2006."

I'm not sure if Flickr would be a useful tool in my library. Possibly to take photos of our space to have on our Library section of the Intranet for our company, or to share new titles, like the CSB & SJU Flickr accounts. I especially enjoyed SJU's READ posters with their staff.

I have not really used Flickr yet, but now I started an account and may use it to store some of my photos. So far, I have used my blog to share photos with my family and friends, but Flickr is also seems like a good place to do that.

Thing #3: Set up an RSS account

Done! I already subscribe to a few too many feeds with Google Reader. I will have to check out some of the MINITEX blogs.

Thing #2: What is library 2.0?

In my opinion, Library 2.0 is all about change. The tools we use and the jobs we do are morphing and the library needs to be flexible in adapting to the new changes ahead. I have to agree with Stephan Abram saying that we need to immerse ourselves to learn about the changes that are happening. Some of our patrons, whether in public or special libraries, are using these tools at home. It can only help us to know about what is available, whether our libraries have use for all of the tools or not. Yet at other times I have to agree with the Annoyed Librarian that Library 2.0 can be an over hyped idea, and change should not happen just for the sake of change.

I have a bit of an advantage at this because I am a GenX/GenY librarian, and have used some of the 2.0 applications. I use Skype often, have MySpace and Facebook accounts, and have my own blog. But, I am still learning 2.0 and working on how to integrate what I know and what I've used into my workplace. What will be helpful to my patrons and what will fail? What should I try?

Thing #1

I admit, this is not my first blog. I have been blogging for about 2 years now, just for friends and family. I was excited to see that a second round of 23 Things was starting, because I have not had a chance to try out some of the other 2.0 tools like Flikr or twitter. I hope to learn more about some of these tools and discover new things that I've never heard of.