Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell, is a book about decision making. More specifically, it is about snap judgments — the decisions we make in the blink of an eye, without thinking. What Gladwell shows is that there is a lot more to that split second of decision making than we might think.

Gladwell explores the concept of “thin-slicing” which he defines as “a critical part of rapid cognition” and “the ability of our unconscious to find patterns in situations and behavior based on very narrow slices of experience” (23). He also explains how all of us use thin-slicing in every day situations and how this is particularly important in how we interact with others.

One interesting section of the book titled “Listening to Doctors” (39) focused on how we talk to people, and proved that when people feel “rushed or ignored or treated poorly” (40) the quality of care, or the information that they’re given doesn’t matter as much. Although the book referred to Doctors, I think we can learn a lot from this; the quality of our interactions with patrons can mean so much. It’s not just about what we say to people, it’s how we say it.

Another concept in Blink that intrigued me, is the process of finding out how others make decisions. Gladwell states that there is a right and a wrong way to ask people what they want, and points out that simply asking people what they want, more than likely will not work. And it’s not because people are lying, it’s just that truly knowing what you want is more difficult than it seems. What you think you like might not actually be true. Therefore, finding out which Library 2.0 services our patrons really want is a more difficult task than we might think.

Blink Animoto

p.s. If you haven’t it already, check out animoto — I had a lot of fun making this video :)

Over the summer I signed up for both Shelfari and LibraryThing. On June 10th, I created my accounts and spent about 5 minutes on each site, after which I decided to use Shelfari. I’m not sure what exactly made me choose Shelfari over LibraryThing. What I remember is being a bit overwhelmed by LibraryThing, and thinking Shelfari was easy to use and had everything I needed at the moment. I’ve been using Shelfari ever since, logging in about once a week to add new books and catch up with friends.

After spending a bit more time examining LibraryThing, I found that my first impressions were mostly right … but there is more to LibraryThing than what I saw at first glance.

LibraryThing

I like LibraryThing, even though it’s not as intuitive and user friendly as Shelfari. It has a ton of options, which can be good and bad, depending on what you’re planning to use the site for.

I love the edit book option, because it allows me to add as much or as little detail about each book as I want to. For instance, I can add the exact reading dates, or the date I acquired the book, I can add a summary, comments, a review — you name it. And of course, any librarian will love the cataloging options that are available.

I also really like the Local Events link on the home page and the Early Reviewers section where you can score advance copies of books (how cool is that!).

What I found frustrating is the collections manager; to be honest, I still haven’t figured out how to add the books to currently reading, to read, favorites, and the other collections. I’m trying not to search the forums for this info, because there has to be a way for me to figure this out on my own, but sadly I still haven’t found it (maybe this comes with the paid option? I don’t know). I also can’t figure out how to add friends or contacts, or even if that’s possible.

This is what I mean when I say LibraryThing is not as intuitive; I should be able to figure these things about without having to Google them.

Shelfari

Shelfari on the other hand is much more simplistic; I almost want to call it the dummy version of LibraryThing. I can see more library users, rather than librarians or serious bibliophiles liking it, especially teens (although I have made a couple of friends that are librarians).

Instead of a collection, you add your books to a shelf, and you can organize your books by currently reading, plan to read, read, favorites, books you own and books on your wish list. Of course this option is available on LibraryThing, but on Shelfari it is just so easy to use.

I also think Shelfari is much more visual, there are more images being utilized and the text is much larger, which makes the site more user friendly. I don’t feel lost in Shelfari because it is more limited; there are only so many things you can do and you get a sense of that as soon as you start exploring your account.

With LibraryThing I get the feeling that the options are unlimited, that there’s so much more you can do, which as I mentioned before, can be both good and bad.

Shelfari vs. LibraryThing: Which Social Networking Book Site is Better?

I wouldn’t say one is better than the other, simply that each has something different to offer.

Here are a few closing comments:

• Shelfari uses ads; although they’re not overly intrusive and they are book related, they’re there. LibraryThing seems to be entirely ad free, which is a plus.
• LibraryThing has a ton of options and I’m positive that I could spend my entire day on the site without getting bored for a minute. However, it can be a bit frustrating and you might have to spend more time figuring out how things work. Shelfari is simple, really easy to use, but has less options.
• You will get emails from Shelfari with reminders and notifications, probably to make sure you don’t forget to use it on a regular basis. You don’t need an email address to sign up for LibraryThing.

The choice is yours — sign up for both Shelfari & LibraryThing and see which one you like more. Just make sure to give both a fair chance.

I’ll definitely use LibraryThing more often, now that I know more about it.

Let’s Be Friends!

• My Shelfari Profile: http://www.shelfari.com/thehiddenrock
• My LibraryThing Profile: http://www.librarything.com/profile/kasia0303

There are a couple of topics I’m considering for my research paper.

heart & trust

The first is what intrigued me during our first weekend in class; the importance of positive human interaction in libraries.

How we can encourage kindness and trust through library 2.0 technologies.

How social networking can be the vehicle for creating closeness and connecting library users with each other and the library staff.

How an online community for library users can create excitement and passion for services, programs, library materials and the library itself.

This topic would also lead to an analysis of how libraries can create a positive presence on the web; and how the physical and virtual spaces can remain consistent and interconnected, one being the extension of the other.

I’m thinking this would be more of a list of best practices that libraries can use to evolve their online presence and start utilizing library 2.0 technologies with their users in mind.

decisions & change

The second idea that I’m considering was inspired by my recent readings of Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink and The Tipping Point (two great reads, by the way).

There are a lot of ideas in the two books, but what I found particularly interesting, and what I think would be extremely useful to libraries, is understanding the process of finding out what people really want before deciding on making a change (Blink) and then how to make that change really happen (The Tipping Point).

In reading Blink I learned that in order to find out what people really want, asking them is not the way to go because usually people don’t know what they want. This seems counterintuitive at first, but the truth is that people are not always good at explaining what they want, and more often than not, they really, truly don’t know what they want. This is why it’s so difficult for libraries to find out what technologies or services their patrons would like see implemented; asking them simply doesn’t work.

The second part of this is change; in The Tipping Point, Gladwell shows why some ideas take off and become popular and others don’t. There are some really important and practical lessons that libraries can learn on how ideas spread. So that once you find out what your users really want you’re able to implement that change in the right way and ensure its success.

So the questions I would be dealing with are:

1. how can libraries identify which library 2.0 technologies should be implemented, or simply what’s the best way to find out what patrons really want
2. how can library 2.0 technologies be implemented with success; how will patrons find out about them and learn how to use them

Wow, I guess writing this out really helped me decide which topic I should go with; I could go on and on about each, but at the moment I’m leaning towards my second choice :)

I never really got involved in virtual communities until I started graduate school here at Dominican in 2007 and also started working at my current job. Before that, I was always at the edge of the circle, as Nessbaum-Beach put it “lurking,” reading and paying attention but not actively participating. But all that changed with Library school and my job at a tech company. This is when I started to participate in discussions on blogs, instead of just reading the comments; posting questions and answers in forums, instead of scanning for information; and making friends with complete strangers, instead of hiding in the shadows.

What I was surprised to find, is how fun and exciting it can be to be a part of a virtual community. I was always interested in the conversation, but for whatever reason (fear? lack of knowledge?) I never participated. Once I got involved in the consumer phase and started enjoying being a commenter on my favorite sites and blogs, I began contributing, although I’m still not sure how confident I am in this area. I guess it just takes time for everyone to get comfortable with the whole idea; some people only need a minute before diving head first, while others (like me) are more hesitant and uncertain.

http://www.thetransparentlibrary.org/classes/LIS768/LIS768VirtualCommunities.pdf

How will virtual communities impact libraries and the field of information science? This is something I tried to keep in mind while reading through this week’s resources. We know that virtual communities will continue to play an important role in libraries. What our goal should be now is to figure out how to foster that community atmosphere and turn it into something positive and beneficial for the library. I liked Nessbaum-Beach’s tips on creating a healthy online community, such as:

• “Have the philosophy that everyone is a leader.”
• “Community organizers should view their role as part of the community, not feel they own it.”
• “Ranking should be made on the value of the contribution, not the number of times you post.”

These are just a few of the practical pointers from her post, but I think they can make a positive difference for libraries that need help developing their own virtual communities.