LIS 722 – Reading Autobiography: Or why I read what I read.

I have loved reading from an early age.  I grew up in a household where reading was encouraged, be it the newspaper, magazines, books or cereal boxes.  If we wanted to learn how to do something, then read up on it and then give it a try. 

Being the youngest of four, I was heavily influenced by the reading choices of my siblings and parents.  My father was a newspaper reader and a collector of the classics.  Like the protagonist in King Dork, I have many of my father’s copies of books from when he was in college, my favorite being his 1918 copy of Pride and Prejudice.   Even though he had a degree in statistics, reading was an important part of his daily life.

My mother was probably my biggest influence as a reader.  She had kept books from her childhood (Louisa May Alcott, Anne of Green Gables, Hawthorne’s Tanglewood Tales) so I was reading classic children’s literature as well as the current.  As I got older, I remember staying up late in the summer, either reading or watching old movies with my mom.  Watching those old movies probably expanded my reading as much as anything else.  I would see that many of them were based on books, so I would search the books out and decide which I liked better, the movie or the book.  I still like to do that, Enchanted April is what I consider a great book with a great movie adaptation.  I am currently looking forward to Inkheart, as I read that Cornelia Funke had thought of Brendon Fraser as the father in the book and then she found out he was reading the audio version.  I would have been extremely disappointed with anyone else taking on the role in the film.

My mother also made sure that we all had bookcases in our rooms and encouraged us to collect books we liked and read and reread them.  As an English major, one of the basics I learned was that the one thing you bring that changes a book is yourself.  I have a number of books that I like to reread at different times, I always get something new from them because I am bringing a new set of experiences each time I read them.

To twit or not or not to twit? That is the question.

How quickly time passes.  It’s been too long since I last put some of my ponderings out here. (You would think my kids would have picked a better time of year for their birthdays.)  One thing I’ve been dwelling on is Twitter.  The St. Paul Pioneer Press recently had some articles about how some Minnesota companies were using Twitter for marketing, and Twitter-like microblogging for internal purposes.  Their columnist also just published a book ‘Twitter Means Business’.

I found it interesting in terms of how the companies would startusing Twitter with a business as usual attitude and pretty much fell flat on their faces.  They tried using hard sell tweets and met with little success.  Once they realized that this was about relationship, not the hard sell, they learned how to adapt.  I’m sure that this wasn’t true for all companies, if it didn’t work I’m sure that some just gave up. 

I also saw an interesting application for Twitter from one of our local news stations.  Before ‘Black Friday’ they asked viewers to share the deals they found while out shopping by tweeting #WCCOdeals. 

This just keeps me thinking about how many ways social media can be applied and I know that if we put our heads together we will come up with some great ways to use more of these tools for libraries.

LIS 768 Final paper, final thoughts, continuing the conversation.

Wow, hard to believe LIS 768 is over.  I’ve never been so sad to have a class end, no offense to my other class this semester.  I didn’t want to post my final thoughts until I had time to think over things for a bit. 

 I’ve been monitoring the other blogs and took Janelle’s suggestion to make my final paper a page, so feel free to click on Library 2.0 - The Cluetrain is leaving the station, who’s on board?   It ended up not being about social media and library public relations, like I thought it would, instead I wrote about the need for libraries to change their mode of thinking before any L2 tools can truly have an impact.  The two libraries I used weren’t the ones I originally planned either, I ended up choosing Hennepin County Public Library as being on the Cluetrain, and Ramsey County Public Library as being one that’s bought the ticket but isn’t quite all the way onboard.  I thought that this would be an intersting approach as its rather obviuos when a library isn’t on the train a all, but what do you do when the library isn’t completely on?  I think that this is going to be the situation for many of us as librarians and we need to be aware of what still needs to be done.

I got so much out of this class.  New ideas.  New colleagues. New friends. New skills. I am so into Twitter – not like Beth, in terms of tweeting – my numbers pale by comparison, instead I see the possibilities.  Professionally I am following YALSA, Library Journal, Michael Stephens, The Transparent Librarian, and I plan to add more.  I ended my paper by exploring one of the next progressions in L2 – Libpunk (see  http://tinyurl.com/6bqccy ).  How did I find this?  It found me.  I was friended by a librarian in Norway who tweeted about libpunk with the link.  I was because of this that I started going in a different direction with my paper.  That’s why I know that while LIS 768 is ending, the conversations are not over.  I am so onboard the Cluetrain and I am looking forward to the journey.

So fellow LIS 768 bloggers – Read long and prosper!

LIS 768 paper – Library 2.0: The 400 pound gorilla in the Library.

I’m writing a paper about Library 2.0 and/or PR 2.0 based on The Cluetrain Manifesto.  Written nine years ago, Cluetrain served as a wake up call to businesses that social media has changed the way business is being done. 

Written nine years ago, the manifesto might seem like common sense to those of us who read it now, but if you really look at what they’re saying you realize how few companies have adapted or are only now steering their ship on this course.

This is just as evident in the attitude of libraries and librarians today.  Some have hopped on the Cluetrain and others have wondered why this pesky train keeps stopping at their station.  If they’re not careful, they might find themselves with no trains stopping at their station anymore.

As I looked at this ‘train’ of thought, I was drawn to a number of Public Relation blogs that deal with social media.  The label might be different, but the message is the same and that might be what it takes to wake some libraries up to the fact that social media is not going away any time soon.  The more I thought about how some libraries ignore Library 2.0, it reminded me of the experiment where the people don’t notice the 400 pound gorilla in the room with them.  It seems so obvious to some people that it’s there, yet even when presented with evidence, others swear it was never there. 

In my paper, I will be looking at the trickle down effect The Cluetrain Manifesto  has had these past nine years.  The fact is that some libraries learned to stop worrying and love Library 2.0, while others approached it with fear and loathing.  To this end I will explore the “buzz” on two neighboring libraries, to see what the social media has to say about them, and I will look at how/or if these two libraries are embracing Library 2.0 concepts.  Which two libraries?  Now if I told you that it would be like reading the last page of a book.  Come back in a week when I post my paper for class.

Social Software and Group Projects

Group projects, previously the bane of many a class, this time a truly fun experience – all thanks to social software.  I was just reading over the comments section of our group wiki and saw that we had posted 99 times.  If we had to meet in person to get done what we did, this project would not be done.  Being able to look at the wiki and see what needed doing and who needed answers, at any time of day, was a very liberating experience.

I say it was liberating for a number of reasons. 1.  We had a group member who lives outside the Twin Cities metro area, so not having to meet in person was a huge bonus.  2.  We could work on our website at any time of day and post to our wiki (I think the average post time was after midnight.)  3.  We were able to vent and celebrate in a closed social environment.  4.  We were able to try out ideas and sound them off each other quickly.

In terms of the work done on the Extreme Library Makeover: Website Edition,  we used Drupal and it was amazing.  I sent out links to websites that had been created with Drupal and I know I started salivating at the possibilities.  Chris picked up the ball and established our main site after we had agreed on the theme we were going to use.  Lisa established our wiki and created the wish list for the library website, since we were creating it for her library.  My main responsibilities were the Calendar, Teen Zone, and Online Resources.  Drupal was great in that you didn’t have to write everything in code, (though Lisa challenged me and I did actually code whole pages from scratch, but because of security issues etc. -they didn’t end up in the fianl version.)  It was also a little frustrating when things didn’t appear how you wanted and it took a lot of futzing around to change it.  It was nice to be able to ask the others to look at what you had been working on and they could go to the website and take it for a spin.  If problems were occurring, we could deal with it, or we could celebrate another victory. In the end though, things worked well and I think we were all happy with the outcome.  I would definitely do projects this way again.

Check out what all our hard work produced at http://dev.tametheweb.com/.

LIS 768 -Take our website for a test drive

Chris and Lisa have posted invitations to our website and I want to echo that.  Check out what we’ve been working on at http://dev.tametheweb.com.  We’ve created a website based on the library Lisa works at and would love to get your feedback.  Roam through the pages.  Leave a book review.  Meebo the reference desk (Lisa, Chris, and Kay) with a question.  What do you like and what doesn’t work for you.  If you’re a Mac user, are there any problems with the interface?  What did we miss putting on the site?

We hope you enjoy the site!

Study shows people want companies to use social sites

I was checking one of the blogs I read and came accross this article from the Boston Globe http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2008/09/study_most_amer.html which looks at a survey done by a Boston company.  Here are some of the findings:

“According to the 2008 Cone Business in Social Media Study, 93 percent of Americans believe a company should have a presence in social media, while an overwhelming 85 percent believe a company should not only be present, but also interact with its consumers via social media. In fact, 56 percent of American consumers feel both a stronger connection with and better served by companies when they can interact with them in a social media environment. ”

If this holds true for their interaction with businesses, do you feel that the same would hold true for libraries?  I have no idea if any kind of survey has been conducted on this with libraries, but I think that the findings are significant, especially when you look at the results within certain demographics.  Men are twice as likely as women to interact with companies on social sites.  Also the 18-34 age bracket seems to respond to companies with a presence in social sites and feels that more companies should do this. 

 Looking at these results, I’m thinking that these are some of the people many libraries are not connected to.  They wonder how to reach them, but many reject social sites as the way to connect because that isn’t what they feel libraries are about.  If connecting with the people you aren’t currently reaching isn’t important, then what is? 

The Unshelved comic http://www.unshelved.com/ for Monday October 20, 2008 seemed highly appropriate with all that I’ve been reading.  A recent survey by Pew Internet http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/263/report_display.asp shows that gameplaying (on computers, consules, and cell phones) in pretty much universal with teens and that at least half of them are playing on any given day.  To deny that this is a way to connect with teens, seems to me the same as burying one’s head in the sand.  Yet the ‘Annoyed Librarian’, who has a blog @ http://www.libraryjournal.com/index.asp?layout=blog&blog_id=580000658&blog_post_id=1890034789 wrote in this post:

“I really wanted to end with some comment that the woman walked out of her public library with such misinformation, but at least she learned how to play guitar hero. Something along those lines. However, it appears I can’t. I visited the library website. They have storytimes, book discussion groups, talks by published teen Minnesota authors. I didn’t find anything implying they thought videogame literacy was especially important to promote in society. It seemed from the website like a good old fashioned library that was in the business of providing information and supporting literacy rather than resorting to gimmicks and fads to try to lure teens through the door any way they could.”

Read the blog and decide if they’re annoyed or just annoying.  One of the main reasons I took interest is this is about the Shakopee branch of the Scott County Library system.  Is a ‘good old fashioned library’ one that ignores what society is embracing? Does a library have to be ‘old fashioned’ in order to provide information and support literacy?  I don’t think that one is exclusive of the other.  Does that mean that all libraries need to engage in all of the new technologies out there?  No.  Instead they need to be in conversation with those in their area to find out what technologies their community is using and would like to be able to make connections with in the library. 

A longer rant then I normally do, but I’ve been listening for a while and it was time to have my say in the conversation.

The Cluetrain Manifesto -the end of business(and libraries?) as usual

The cluetrain manifesto : the end of business as usual / Rick Levine … [et al.].
Pub Info Cambridge, Mass. : Perseus Books, c2000.

This book is a sequel to a website http://cluetrain.com/, not the usual way things work.  And that is the point of the book, it is a challenge to rethink what business has become.  While some argue that the internet is just a phenomenom, the writer’s argue that this is a reconnection to how business was done before.  People have lost their voice in the old way of doing business, whether they be customer or employee.  The internet has helped to give people back their voice. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the arguments they brought forth.  One main point is that the internet and intranet have made it possible to have a global conversation.  While companies react as slow moving leviathans, people are organizing and conversing quickly thanks to the internet.  They also stress that the change is brought about by the people reconnecting with their voice, the internet and intranet are the tools that they use.  Business tries to impose it’s models on the internet, but with the constant change and consumers becoming more savvy, the old models don’t work.

Written nine years ago, the manifesto might seem like common sense to those of us who read it now, but if you really look at what they’re saying you realize how few companies have adapted or are only now steering their ship on this course.

This is just as evident in the attitude of libraries and librarians today.  Some have hopped on the cluetrain and others have wondered why this pesky train keeps stopping at their station.  If they’re not careful,they might find themselves with no trains stopping at their station anymore.

I thought I would list some theses of the manifesto that I found highly relevant to libraries.  Substitute libraries for company or business.

1.   Markets are conversation.

2.  Markets consist of human beings, not demographic sectors.

19.  Companies need to lighten up and take themselves less seriously.  They need to get a sense of humor.

25.  Companies need to come down from their Ivory Towers and talk to the people with whom they hope to create relationships.

53.  There are two conversations going on. One inside the company. One with the market.

54.  In most cases, neither conversation is going very well . Almost invariably, the cause of the failure can be traced to obsolete notions of command and control.

88.   We have better things to do than worry whether you’ll change in time to get our business.  Business is only part of our lives.  It seems to be all of yours.  Think about it: who needs whom?

These are all taken from the book and/or website.  The book is available to read for free online at their Cluetrain website http://cluetrain.com/.  Or you can just read the manifesto there.  I highly recommend it as it gives voice to ideas that you hadn’t realized you were thinking yourself.  As I mentioned in an earlier blog, this is something I’ve really connected with and plan on exploring further for a final paper.

Social Networking – Better late then never

I would definitely classify myself as a latecomer to social networking sites.  Whether this is because I am by nature a procrastinator, or I truly don’t have the time to devote to this, or I’m just out of the loop, when it comes down to it, I chose not to be involved.  Now that I’m learning more about them and the different types that there are, I am wading my way through and picking the ones that will work for me. 

I am looking at this as a two pronged effort – first, for my personal life & second, for my professional.  Many of the blogs and comments I’ve read about social networking deal with the ‘digital footprint’ you make when engaging on social networking sites.  While I plan on starting a Facebook account to keep in touch with my sister and niece in Ohio, I’m making sure I fully understand all the settings and ramifications before doing so.  I will be job hunting in a few months and the presence I have on the web is something I am now taking seriously.

People I know who don’t use social networking sites wonder when they would have the time to use them, or why they would even need to.  As a future librarian, I feel that I need to be engaging to what the library world is talking about and at least listening to what the regular world is talking about. 

I’m currently subscribing to the RSS feed called PR 2.0 http://www.briansolis.com/ which deals with Public Relations and Social Media.  While The Cluetrain Manifesto deals with the ‘global conversation’ that the internet has brought, Brian Solis points out that “listeners make the best conversationalists.”  Check out his post from August 8, 2008 where he introduces the Conversation Prism.  This is a visual of social networking sites and tools that any business or organization that deals with the public should be aware of. 

So, to those of you who aren’t sure what you would ’say’ on a social networking site, I invite you to take the time to ‘listen’ for a while.  When you’re ready to ’say’ something, I’ll be listening.

Favorite Youtube Videos

Practicing embedding Youtube in my blog -- so here goes.
Medieval Help Desk

‘Librarian’ by Haunted Love

Tour of Info Island

Love the diversity.