Facebooking and other social networks...

It's the last week of the learning journey and it's social networks. I have to say up front: I am a Facebooker, albeit a slightly ambivalent one. I'm really not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing. I'm 'Facebook friends' with many many more people than in real life, including people from school who I wouldn't necessarily be in contact with without Facebook. Is this good? Do I need regular updates on people I haven't thought about for 15 years, let alone spoken to? It is vicariously interesting though and quite addictive, to lurk on the outskirts of others' lives. (That sounds a bit stalker-ish, but you know what I mean.)
Anyway, I guess because so many people are like me and have made Facebook (and similar sites like MySpace) part of their daily lives, institutions and organisations who want to make contact with certain communities should be out there, in these virtual communities. This does not mean that we approach them in these spaces - that is scary commercial-like targetting of people! No, we are there, to be found, in a virtual way, in the same was as we are here, on Macquarie Street, to be found, by anyone who cares to look.

Penguin does it again

How do they do it? I have to say, Penguin has one of the best brands around. Their marketing is always spot-on. And I always, ALWAYS fall for it.

Office goes virtually free

I think I'm up to week 13 in my haphazard learning journey. Online applications and tools. We certainly don't need to be tied to a PC any more or even carry around all our electronic bits and bobs on a memory stick. The internet can store almost all our files for us and offer us all the software we need to create and manipulate our information. I imagine some of our clients using the internet are enjoying being able to create, access and use their documents without needing to access our network or even save copies onto a stick.
Computerworld recently compared the word processing, spreadsheet and presentation tools of three of the big names (Google Docs, Zoho and ThinkFree) to see if they are genuine competitors of MS Office. The results are interesting. It seems that these online applications 'have gotten good enough' to be of real use in comparison with MS Office. Guess we can all give Bill the flick now...

rare books and special collections in virginia

A deviation from the program - this week I've been in Charlottesville Virginia at Rare Book School. I took a course called 'Introduction to Special Collections Librarianship' which was taught by Alice Schreyer, Director of the Special Collections Research Center at the University of Chicago. Most of the students in the class were librarians or administrators of university special collections, which meant that the course naturally emphasised this area of SC librarianship. We discussed the theory and practice of SC librarianship, with a focus on rare book collections, although we did speak extensively about manuscript and archival collections. Among other things, we covered areas such as access, reservation, digitisation, using SCs in teaching and outreach (including exhibitions), the phenomenon of 'hidden collections', and the recently-drafted document outlining core competencies for SC professionals. It was a really interesting week and a great perspective on how the SC community in the US functions (actually, quite an eye-opener in some ways, especially in terms of funding and the positioning of the SC profession within the general library community). I've made copious notes, of course, but can I read them???

Mash it up

Well, this week was kind of fun (though it did take an awfully long time to be creative). A lot of what is on offer out there is a bit pointless, except for fun, but there are some exciting possiblities. Talis ran a library mashup comptetition a few years ago and some of the entries were intriguing. The winner was John Blyberg who created Go Go Google Gadgets, a suite of library gadgets which could be added to your personalised Google desktop. Blyberg is also the creator of the fabulous Catalog Card Generator.

Anyway, I spent a long time on Bighugelabs trying to choose a toy to use, then another very long time on Flickr, agonising over whether I could pinch someone's photo, despite my usual scruples about copyright (I did use it in the end - and I acknowledge a fine photo by The Kruger.) I'm not sure which value this illustrates - it covers all bases really. It is supposed to be a positive message by the way!

Pod on...

Podcasts are great! There is a lot of scope for us to be using them in LibraryLand, in fact many many libraries and cultural institutions have been offering them for years. They add another level of 'interactivity' to a website (although I dislike the word 'interactive' relating to websites - that's the whole point of the internet, isn't it?)
The Natural History Museum in London has a fantastic program called Nature Live Online. Every day at 12.30, there is an informal talk by one of the Museum's researchers or curators in the Nature Live studio in the Museum. The talks are also shown via live webcast and the onsite and live web audiences can participate in the discussions. The webcasts are then archived and are available online (currently Brilliant.
SLNSW could be podcasting lots of events which already occur here at the library - public talks, staff talks, training sessions for use internally, 'how to' guides for clients etc. I actually love the last idea. My concept of 'how to' guides for clients and potential clients could include short podcasts on how to apply for a reader's card, how to fill in a stack slip, how to use a locker, how to book a PC in the reading room, tours of resources in the reading rooms etc etc etc. It would go a long way to demystify the library for clients and familiarise them with procedures before they even get here! Let's go!

A rose by any other name ... might sound really silly

You know what I hate about 'Slam the boards'? The name. Why oh why are librarians continually trying to make themselves cool, or down with the kids by coming up with these ridiculous names? It's right up there with the continuous desperate attempts to make science or Christianity cool (no offence intended to anyone scientific or Christian). It's just a little bit embarrassing and you're mostly preaching to a converted audience already (no religious pun intended). If people want to use your services and you're providing a good one, they will! You're not going to get in a whole lot of newbies and convert them to the wonders of what can be provided by librarians/scientists/God by giving the service a hip and happening name. In fact, I'd argue it looks a bit desperate and dates really quickly.

However, having gotten that off my chest (deep breath) the idea is great. People are asking questions in these places anyway, so there may as well be people like us who make reference a business out there answering them. Just don't make me wear an 'Ask me anything!' name badge.