Thing 12: IM and VBPL Ref

As earlier indicated, I think IM and reference are a great match! Wouldn't it be great if we had IM availability anytime the library is open! I would be curious to see how often IM is being used currently during the hours we're open for IM. usage is only going to increase from what we're seeing now.

I know that every service we provide needs to be tracked and measured. Seems to me we can save the logs for x period of time and use them to determine duration and frequency of IM's from patrons.

and finally, i think it's great that the library is willing to explore new areas to reach customers where they are. but how far do we go with this? e.g. the topic of using video/virtual reality games is controversial, but we do offer workshops on the wii, etc. my neighbor, the traditionalist, would be appalled, no doubt. what's the connection to IM? i'm trying to say that IM is just another way to do what the library has traditionally always done - help people answer their questions. i would expect us to deliberate much longer and harder about whether to buy a wii than whether to implement IM as a real service - not just a homework helper.

and finally, i'm glad to see that the city internet site actually offers 24 hr support for live online assistance. and guess what tool they use ?? IM!

end of rant. isn't that what blogs are for??

Thing 11: IM and Libraries

First off I read Marshall Breeding's article on IM and Libraries. He is insightful as ever. What strikes me most is this: this article was written in December, 2003!! Here we are 4 years later and still talking about how wonderful it can be - when it's actually old news by now.

I am a big fan of IM. Back in December, 2003, I was using it in a corporate environment. In fact, as an IBM employee back in 2001 I was IM'ing my colleagues - all for business purposes to be sure... Anyway, we used the official IBM product called SAMETIME, which took care of the authentication and security issues prevalent with other products. I must admit that at first it took some getting used to. Once I started working VO (virtual office) i found i couldn't live w/o my IM. I'd be at home working and when i'd get stuck with a particular piece of code, i'd just open up that IM window and have all of my colleagues at my disposal. (no, not in the disposal...)

and if someone wasn't answering an IM, i'd send it anyway, knowing they were online. i knew i'd get a response quicker to a pending IM than to an email.

what was especially helpful was to have conferences via IM. all 5 of my team members would be contributing to the same discussion - each of us in a different zipcode.

then once i was hooked on the instant access to my "buddies", i decided to use it for personal reasons. Feb 2004 found me in france and missing my friends and family. i wasn't ready then to hop on the SKYPE bandwagon, but i was ready to load AOL IM (AIM) on my machine. that was great. still had to figure in 6 hours time difference, but it was great to have FREE conversations that could last as long as i could type.

note: since then i've gotten disgusted with the hog that is AIM and refuse to have it on my machine! thank heavens for web-based IM tools.

so that's my history with IM. now that i'm in a library setting, what do i think about IM for libraries?

go for it! i'm so glad we finally got virtual reference hours. it's a shame there were so many hoops to be jumped through, but hopefully we'll find it was worth it. i think we shouldn't limit the hours to those when kids are doing homework. i think we'll find that many adults IM too! even Pew studies indicated back in 2004 that 4 out of 10 online americans use IM. no doubt that ratio has gone up in the last several years. needless to say, we'll have to be staffed for that eventuality - no small feat, that. isn't it a shame we let staffing and technology "concerns" get too much in the way??

i believe IM is not only great for communicating with patrons, but also for staff to staff communications. it's just like email. sure, we survived fine without it before we had it. but now that we we have email, can you imagine life without it? same would be true for internal IM'ing.

and another thing - i found that by IM'ing my colleagues (in my former life), cleaning up my inbox and sent folders was alot easier. you IM someone with a simple question and get a quick answer immediately. close the window and you're done. via email, however, you've got 2 more emails that you've got to manually delete. if an organization is really concerned about email space, they should consider implementing IM on the intranet!

and for what it is worth: i wonder if mr. breeding still stands by his prediction that email will eventually take second chair to IM'ing. same sentiment echoed in the AP-AOL IM Trend survey. personally, i don't see it happening any time soon! i happened to notice that the AP-AOL trend just has one category for adult - ages 19 and up. seems to me there's a big difference in online habits of a 19 year old versus a 40 year old versus a 60 year old! maybe the 19 year old will be always accessible online and therefore 24x7 IM'ing is fine for him. as for me, however, i prefer being offline a good bit of the time, therefore i'll stick with Email which kindly waits until I'm ready for it.

Things 9 and 10 - RSS

Alrightly, i figured this would be a topic sooner or later. Fortunately, I had already subscribed to several RSS feeds via Google Reader. I went to various talks at conferences in which various readers were being discussed. everyone discussed the same debate: web-based or local?? Given the thoroughness (that's a euphemism) of the network where i do most of my networking (ie. at work...), this one was a no-brainer - had to be web-based. google reader had good reviews so i went with it - sounds like a good choice compared to bloglines, tho frankly, i know nothing about the latter. had no problems, however, in setting up google reader. the only problem i had/have is remembering they're out there and oh yeah, i should check them once in awhile. something coming to my email inbox will get my attention - something sitting in a rss collector...well...can get a bit dusty.

so - rss finders...i checked out feedster, but it's down temporarily for renovation. then i checked out topix.net, but was immediately offended. too much info! and why they automatically assumed i wanted info related to virginia beach -no doubt based on my IP address, i found it way too presumptious! and based on their top 10 news articles, i'm frankly skeptical of the validity of these feeds.

i took a quick look at syndic8.com as well as technorati. don't think i'll be using technorati much as i do not have need of finding blogs - at least not yet. so far - my favorite search tool for rss is syndic8.com.

that being said, i don't think i'll be using syndic8 much either. honestly - who has time to go out searching for new stuff to read? i know working in a library there are some really avid readers in this world, but where do people find time? as if email, mail, newspapers, books, and e-content isn't voluminious enough - one's going to go out and find rss to increase the bombardment?

not me! yes, i said i've signed up for several rss feeds and use google reader. but do i ever check them? once in a blue moon! the rare time i'll sign up for an rss feed is when i'm already on a website of interest and they offer rss - like the NPR site. and even then they languish in poor ole google reader, but i've already told you that.

guess this old dog will need to spend some time thinking about how to use rss to make my life simpler...just as soon as i read my existing feeds...

Things 4 and 5: Web 2.0 and Library 2.0

Just some random thoughts on the 3 articles I read:

1. Into a new world of librarianship:
- Yes, we as a library need to expand our scope in exploring trends. I like the author's advice that we need to look outside the library into the business world to see how technology is impacting users. No doubt this idea appeals to my previous life from the business world.

- Planning and Getting content. Yep, we need it, but in our system we also need bandwidth and some autonomy to run our "business" as we see fit. sigh...

- Control "technolust"? why, who ever heard of such a thing! oh yeah, i know what they're talking about. just because i can get a message on my voicemail and then forward that to my email and then forward that back to my cell phone, does this mean that i should? just because i can buy a hummer, does that mean that i should??

- Embracing Web 2.0 tools: i just wonder what students learn in library school these days. i can tell you that back in the mid 90's, there wasn't a whole lot of technology going on - much to my disappointment. and heaven forbid one should mention using a search engine for reference help! don't you know that NOTHING on the internet can be trusted??!!

2. Away from the icebergs:
- reliance on user education. the author says: "if our services can't be used without training, then it's the services that need to be fixed - not our patrons." hmm, i'm not sure about this. i know where he's coming from and it's a valid point. on the other hand, it sounds like we're dumbing down the library! let's make it all as simple as a push of one button so nobody has to think anymore. and if it's more complicated than plugging in a wii, let's not deal with it... ??? is this what he's saying? sure we need to have faceted searching, but we also need to give our users a little credit, too. they may not be satisifed with a pat answer and may want to go deeper for something more difficult to find but more valuable to them.

- just in case collection...here, too, i think the author makes a valid point, but may go a bit far. i got into a discussion over the thanksgiving holiday with my neighbor about how libraries are changing... how some are considering not keeping items if they don't circ - even if they're classics! my neighbor was horrified and i think we all should be. let's not throw trade shakespeare for britney on dvd!

3. better bibliographic services:
- pushing and packaging metadata - i'm all for it!
- adopting web features like submitting reviews, tagging, etc - i'm all for it!
- broaden relevance ranking: sure, keywords are important, but wouldn't it be great if we could also sort a hitlist by most popular checkouts for example!

i'd love to continue this topic, but i have to go investigate rss feeds from our catalog...no promises...

Thing 2: thoughts on lifelong learning

would you believe it took a project at work to make me find the discipline and time to create and perpetuate a blog. and believe me, some of them do perpetuate! but i'll vent under another post. this one is dedicated to homework...

so i've watched the video, graciously provided by charlotte mecklenburg - thanks! and here's what i find the easiest as well as hardest habits of learning.

like 99.9% of living breathing human beings, i find having fun to be very easy. i'll always make time for something that amuses me e.g. petting an animal, or cruising the bay in my kayak. okay - maybe that's not learning, but it's fun assuming you don't capsize or get bitten.

anyway, i also find it easy to use technology - it really is our friend - used in moderation as in all things. i also have no problem in creating a toolbox of things that will aid me in learning. of course, i can't always find a screwdriver when i need one, but i know i've gathered it at some point.

what else do i find relatively easy...seeing problems as challenges in certain cases. if it's a technological problem - then i can really dig my teeth into it to which my colleagues will attest. it may take awhile, but patience and logic will prevail! some other types of problems cause a bit more angst such as interpersonal ones - unless it's someone else's personal problem and then it's so easy to solve, right?

as for what i find to be more difficult...hmm...perhaps having the end in mind. i usually have a goal when undertaking learning, but it may not be the end one. e.g. i wanted to learn french and the francophones in my life tell me i've done well with it. if you ask me, however, i should have been more specific in my goal - like i want to be able to understand the french radio or tv, so i can appreciate those perplexing french films in their 'version originale'. except if you watch some french films like "cache" it won't make sense no matter what language you try. think i'll go for swahili next time.

and i suppose i find it difficult to tackle the teaching/mentoring piece. i usually enjoy it once underway, but i have to get over that mental block of "well, i know there's someone out there that knows this stuff better than i do..." gee - guess we hit on another one - the having confidence thing.

at the same time - i do believe the choice of words we use to apply to ourselves is extremely important. words have energy and thoughts are the precursors to reality. but don't get me started on that topic, either. this is library homework after all.

Thing 7: la premiere

why didn't i create one of these while living in france? would have been much easier to blog than to update my static html site..