Thing 16 -- Library 2.0 perspectives

I read "Away from Icebergs," whose 3 pitfalls to avoid were right on, I thought. First, most libraries need to move away from the "just in case" collection; we will have even greater specialization (as we do now in the global economy) where a few libraries are archival and the rest are more "just in time" libraries. Second, we can't rely on educating the user. This one is also spot on, but difficult for those of us who are school librarians to give up on. I find it hard to give up the control feeling that I will be the one to impart all library and tech knowledge, yet every time I do manage to give it up, it is more rewarding and more effective. The students teach themselves, each other and me, and there is true learning going on. I am trying to encourage my teachers to give up the same element of control -- tough in an elementary school. Third, the users won't always come to us. Again, it's tough to let this one go; I keep them coming to the library sites even at home by ensuring they can get to my portal of sites. I also know they won't, so I have as many conversations as possible about evaluation and internet safety. I should think about how this works with print sources too, not just technology. How to help them to navigate the whole world of information and explore it as their own guides.

I also read "Into a New World of Librarianship," which really got me going. I really liked his thoughts about controlling technolust (purchasing for the sake of gadgetry, which can be a challenge) and making quick decisions yet good ones (really tough for me to act quickly). And of course, how much the 2.0 librarian will be creating a lot of useful tools on his or her own in the library. Daunting but in an exciting way!

Thing 15 -- Technorati

Technorati is a great tool. 23 Things' explanation was comprehensive and helpful. I had been using Technorati during the week or two before the election. It was pretty fascinating to keep track of such an important American phenomenon through the bloggers' perspective. It's a whole new way of experiencing news and so many bloggers have become unintentional media moguls through their reactions to important news stories or the fact that they were in a certain place and time.

This assignment led me to explore it further, taking a look at the photo and video features. It's also exciting to see what is out there in images right now. This meant an hour long detour checking out "where the hell is Matt?," the guy who dances around the world. I got a chance to show my husband and kids, and this led us to a fun hour of thinking about the world and places and people; it was wonderful, totally non-linear, and not at all how I'm used to learning things. It's good for me to open up these new possibilities of learning, but it does keep me from doing things like cleaning my house!

Thing 14 -- delicious

I was so looking forward to this lesson, because I have wanted to try delicious ever since the BLC conference when presenters were easily sharing great links with us, all within seconds!  I found it a little difficult to get started with adding the browser toolbars, but now that they are added, it's a piece of cake.

I actually use a social bookmarking site as a makeshift library home page.  It's a site called "portaportal," and while not as snazzy as delicious, it allows me to put links our students and teachers need to use in one place.  there is no tagging, however, and it's more of a practical way to keep all of our websites easily in one place.  I do recommend it for that situation.  I was actually thinking of setting up my own portal, but I thought I would use delicious for my stuff and see how I liked it.  So far, so good!

Thing 13 -- Library Thing

Library thing is cool. It was fun to make this list of books I have read, see others who shared my interest, and have the chance to easily read and write reviews and make connections. I hadn't expected to see a tag cloud, but of course, it makes sense, and it was fun to see which authors were bigger on my cloud. I am thinking of all kinds of uses for Library thing among students and teachers where I work.

Thing 12 FD toys

I just added the code for a gadget on the blog; I tried the fd toys gadget of the "where have you been" map. It worked the first time and I was quite surprised. Not sure if I can add to it, though. I wanted to try this one so I can create a family blog and we can keep track of my niece's travels as she studies in England this semester. Hope it can work.

Blogging Workloads

Now that I have a reason to have a blog (assigned for homework) it feels more legitimate to me. And now that I have several very good blogs I use for work-related information RSS'd to me every day, I find that I have even greater respect for bloggers. I used to think it was a self-indulgent exercise, keeping a blog, and now I find I am very disappointed when a blog that I like has nothing new for the day. It's a lot of work for these good bloggers and a different sort of pressure than, say, writing for a newspaper.

We are all out there waiting in the "cloud" for great stuff; it feels more connected and personal than just reading a book or watching a commentator on TV. I guess that's the point everyone is making about web 2.0. It's just taking me a while!

Thing 11 -- Facebook

I have actually done it; I have joined the scariest part of the web 2.0 world -- a social networking site. And it is less scary in some ways, yet just as scary in others, as I thought it would be. I was happy with the controls I could put on my privacy and I found that it was easier than I thought to upload a picture of myself for the world...but within a couple of days I was contacted by people wanting to be my "friend." How did they know I was even on Facebook, I wondered? And now I am getting information on their friends (and I guess they see me as well). That is blowing my mind a little, still. I find it amazing and still somewhat intrusive to know that so-and-so is having a beer right now, especially if they are a friend of a friend. I am still an uptight Yankee at heart, I guess, and it is good for me to have these social connections broadened for me.

I joined the Library 2.0 group and already I have found some interesting stuff on it. And I have gotten completely distracted by fun apps like "flair." So there have been productive and totally non-productive aspects of Facebook for me.

But this is the best part of all; I just read that very few educators have Facebook or MySpace accounts; this is a problem if we want to be able to work with students who all do. We should know something and have tried some of these 2.0 tools, so that we can lend our opinions to our students with some kind of authority. How can I really talk about online safety if I haven't exposed myself to the risk and seen exactly how it feels to be online and whether it actually is risky?

It was the exercise I dreaded the most but it has turned out to be an excellent learning (and very real life) assignment.