Twitterpated

June 27, 2008 at 1:43 pm (Learning 2.0, Library 2.0, Twitter, humor, professional development, web resources)

I’ve been Tweeting at the refdesk for a few days now, and am pleasantly surprised how easy it is to incorporate even into a busy reference shift.  To fall back on a stock phrase, “This changes everything!”

Things seemed to be going well. Then I read David Lee King’s Twitter Best Practices So Far, only to learn I’d made a bunch of n00b (that’s “newbie,” for those of you who don’t speak l33t) mistakes. For about five seconds, I felt as if I’d sat down at a formal dinner and used all the wrong forks! Then I was just grateful that we’re all experimenting together, finding out stuff, and sharing it.

The folks at CommonCraft, who are known for their delightful and instructive how-to videos, have one on using Twitter. Check it out:

I’ll be firing up the console again at 3. Maybe by then, I’ll have figured out how to upload a cool background image, like the one the folks at the Hubbell Library in New Orleans.

The bigger-picture question is, as always, how would tweeting benefit CLP? Thoughts?

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Yet Another Week of Progress (YAWP!)

June 20, 2008 at 1:55 pm (Learning 2.0, Library 2.0, Twitter, professional development, web resources)

In which we look up from our pile of projects and give a status report.  This past week I:

  • Started collaborating with Ryan H. on a voluntary Library 2.0 staff training program.  Working with Ryan is great:  he’s very left-brain, I’m very right-brain, and together, we make things happen.  As many libraries have done, we’re modeling our plans after the eponymous Learning 2.0 program designed by Helene Blowers, when she was with PLCMC.  We are, however, tailoring it for the needs of CLP staff and, ultimately, patrons.
  • Attended Jonathan Zittrain’s lecture at the HYP Club with Ryan and Irene Y.  Am now quite keen to read the book!  Privacy, generativity, information ethics…all the stuff that librarians care about and deal with on the daily.  He’s a great speaker, too; the most interesting thing, though, was the disconnect between the substance of Zittrain’s remarks and the questions asked by the audience.  In addition to the digital divide, there’s a cognitive divide.  And since the brilliant nerds aren’t about to slow down for the rest of us (also nerdy, but perhaps not quite as brilliant), we’re going to have to become more and more proficient at staff training, to keep up, and bibliographic instruction, to translate to the huddled masses.
  • Database stats.  JSTOR’s stat module claims that NOBODY used JSTOR in the month of May 2008.  I find this very hard to believe.
  • Signed up for Twitter, heaven help us all.  Am vaguely toying with the idea of adding tweets to Eleventh Stack, but want to see what the group thinks.  I’m going to try tweeting from the refdesk this afternoon to see how it goes.  You can follow me here.
  • Finished and submitted my bio and program info for the PaLA conference.  My Facebook friends were very helpful in this regard:  I set my status to say “Nag me until I finish,” and oh, did they ever.  The tools are neutral – it’s all in how you use them!

And now, to the refdesk!  More excellent adventures, news and updates next week.

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PC Rollout Day. Also, playtesting the shiny.

June 11, 2008 at 4:38 pm (Learning 2.0, Library 2.0)

Our new PCs arrived at the crack of 7 a.m., and the rollout has gone mostly without hitches, save for some printing issues.  Patrons have coped admirably, too, with the temporary inconvenience; a surprising number of folks were here this morning for non-technological reasons, which is always reassuring, too!

But technology marches inexorably forward, and, not wanting to be left behind, your heroine marches forward, too.  The Reference Department has the temporary use of a Samsung ultraportable, and I spent a good chunk of the day playing with it. My gut impressions:

  • Before we do anything else, we need to fix Millennium, as it won’t load.  RK and KL are working on this.
  • The wireless connection works all the way from the bottom of the basement to the top of eleventh stack, making this a nice, lightweight option for helping people on the fly, or doing things like weeding without having to ferry cartsful of books around.
  • The tiny keyboard is a bit vexing, especially for someone without texting chops.  There is, however, a visual keyboard, and a stylus to go with it.
  • The stylus is also quite useful for other navigation functions, so if you’re handy with a pen, you can now transfer your skills to the screen.
  • I’d like some sort of carrying case/gunslinger bandolier.  It’s very light, but I’d like to be able to strap it on and walk around handsfree until it was needed.

In short, I’m mostly impressed and would like to see this as a permanent staff tool.

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In which the alchemist posts another infrequent update

June 3, 2008 at 6:38 pm (Library 2.0, blogging, conferences, news, personal, philosophizing)

I’m starting to wonder if Twitter wouldn’t be a better tool for updating this blog – that way, I could give you little “day in the life” samples from an actual workweek, as opposed to infrequent summaries.  Especially as I’m thinking about starting two more blogs, one professional, one personal.

At any rate, here’s what I’ve been up to:

Eleventh Stack now has a link and a custom flash on the CLP homepage (mouse over to “Discover More” to see!). The results of this placement were noticeable almost immediately: we’ve been getting an extra 20-30 hits per day, and at least 10 new newsreader subscriptions, and I’m hoping that number will continue to grow as more people discover the blog. It also means that yours truly has become much more fussy about edits, updates, and content. I’m thinking it might be a good idea to rotate team leadership once the project reaches the 6-month mark, just to make sure other folks on the team get experience with the coordinator role.

At any rate, I’ve also been writing “how we did it” handouts for the branch managers’ meeting tomorrow. Because I’m a big fan of “open source” projects, I’m including the agendas from the three planning meetings we had, so the branch managers can see exactly what our group process was, and how it fits into the CLP strategic plan, org. structure, etc. There’s also a list of questions branch managers should ask themselves before they start a blog project. These include “How comfortable am I with projects that require uncertainty and experimentation?” and “Am I willing and able to give staff at least 30 minutes per day to blog?”

As usual, I’m also:

  • answering reference questions
  • purchasing for the collection
  • collecting database stats
  • troubleshooting database issues on the fly, with the help of IT
  • sifting through the Library 2.0 blogosphere to keep up with issues and trends

And, on top of that, I’ve just been accepted to present at the PaLA conference this November, so I’m going back through both my blog archives and my project files in order to create the best possible presentation.  I’m really proud to get a chance to show off some of the things our library has done to not only become a 21st-century library, but also to define what that means for us, as opposed to just doing things because they’re shiny and cool.

On a somewhat sad note, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the recent passing of a great librarian, Dr. Amy Knapp, whom I want to be just like, if I ever grow up. In library school, Amy taught fledgling librarians how to search effectively. Outside the classroom, she was a gracious model of library service, warmth, wit, humor, and compassion. In short, she was a blessing to everybody who knew her, and her passing creates an obligation, I think, on the part of the rest of us, to continue the excellent work she began.

And with that, I leave you to return to the reference desk. It’s very quiet tonight, but there are plenty of people in the room, so I’d like to be mindful of them, just in case.

 

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