IM and VBPL

Since I'm one of the people who has been providing IM service, I didn't find it quite right to send the poor person on duty 500 fake questions since they wouldn't know which ones were staff and which were customers! Honestly, I feel like we need to do something to advertise the service, but how? Those who would be using it would probably not be coming in the building. Would right on the first page of the website be best so they don't have to hunt for it?

Just signed up for a regular Meebo account other than my account I've been using for work. Hoping I can get some friends in Fort Worth to sign up as well so we could chat real time.

IM and Libraries...

I think IM and Libraries could be a great service for some people, but I don't think we're there yet for most. Fact is IM really only works well for quick questions like "Are you open on Sunday," "Do I need a library card to access your online databases, etc." Those are the kinds of questions I've had while being stationed at the IM service point. I've only had one "Actual" reference question and, in fact, had to call the person to get more information about what they were looking for. Easy reference questions aren't normally asked by people online, because they would look things up on Google or another search engine if they are technology savvy enough to be using IM. I think IM would be a perfect service for OFF service hours, but then, of course, we'd be needing to have enough staff to work OFF service hours. Otherwise, we'd have to have a service agreement with libraries in another time zone and I don't think that is a great service to customers. Having used those myself, I find that I was always wanting questions answered specific to the library system I was asking, only to be told that the person answering was from a completely different library and couldn't answer my question.

Searching for blogs

I tried searching "reader's advisory" library to see what I'd come up with. Interestingly enough, you come up with a whole lot of people doing Thing #17 with Charlotte! Feedster isn't up at the moment - looks like they are doing some work on the site. I've only ever really used Technorati before, so it was interesting to see some of the others. Topix is a bit too busy for me on the home page - I like my opening pages simple so you can get a feel for what you need to do. (I'm the same when I shop in person - few things in the beginning gets me farther in the store!) Syndic8 has the same busy look to it - much prefer Technorati.

Using the search tools and not finding the reader's advisory blog that I do makes me realize I need to add some tagging to get it picked up. (Or maybe I won't so I can limit reader's a bit to the VBPL staff.)

RSS Feeds

RSS can be a wonderful thing to keep up with the times (and the Post and the Boston Herald!) quickly and without pressure. The trick is the no pressure part, so when you miss reading your bloglines account a couple of days, don't feel like you need to read the 200 posts from CNN. I have CNN in my account and they often post the same story several times during the day. It can get overwhelming.

The Feeds are great ways to scan upcoming news though, particularly if you are choosy in what you are feeding. I limit mine to no more than 5 or 6 at a time, and I"m quick to delete them if I find I'm not reading a lot of the posts or if they get overwhelming.

Web 2.0 Tools

It's exciting to know that there are forums using Web 2.0 tools where aspiring artists, authors, and musicians can share their work with the world without the need of having an agent, a publisher, or even a chance at people who will enjoy it!

The Library 2.0 got off to a slow start with me. I wanted to jump in a little faster to get to those items I'm not familiar with, but it's been exciting watching staff helping each other and getting excited about creating their own content on the web!

Learning Habits

My biggest downfall in learning is having confidence in myself as a competent, effective learner. I don't like to fail, even though I realize that I've learned the most in my life at those times when I've stretched myself to learn something and fallen on my face.

I'm a good student otherwise and always take responsibility for my failures if they are there and my success if I've caused it.