What Worth a Wiki?

Wikis cause great controversy and I would like to go on record as saying that I recognize that all wikis are not the same, not all wikis are problematic, and even "the wiki" (we all know to what I refer) has a place. One of the purposes of supporting librarianship as a highly skilled profession is to allow us continue foster an environment in which we provide mediated information exchanges between patrons and sources. Some wikis are produced by libraries themselves. A little while ago I encountered the subject guides of the St. Joseph County Public Library. I was so impressed by them I looked to see if there was a way we could do something similar, either electronically or on paper. I later discovered that Michael Stephens was the library's technology librarian wizard at that time. All roads lead to Michael. Anyway...the SJCPL Subject Guides are really awesome and I would love to implement something like them here. Here is a very interesting article from ALA TechSource about some of these issues. Click here.

It's Delightful...It's Delovely...It's Del.icio.us

I don't use it. I recognize that Del.icio.us is useful. At work I have my personal bookmarks and TelRef bookmarks saved on my H: drive and exported to all of the stations where I sit. I have a couple of favorites on my home laptops, but so far I have not wished for a full range of bookmarks at home. If I want to look something up, and my reference books (yes, I am a librarian with a ready reference collection at home) I can usually find what I want by going to sites that I know by memory or by initiating a fresh search. If we did not have the shared drives, etc. at work I am sure I would employ Del.icio.us or a similar system for my work-related resources.

Technorati is a neat name and a helpful resource. The problem with the vast amount of information that is out there is that there is always the fear that you are missing something. I am fond of quoting, "the man with one watch knows what time it is, the man with two is never sure." We are always chasing information and always in danger of missing something, finding contradictory information, or finding opinions rather than information. Blogs can be that mix of information and opinion that provide the insight you seek or make your head explode. Technorati can help you find the topics of interest to you, whatsoever they might be.

I have read these Web 2.0 articles before. OCLC NextSpace replaced the the OCLC Newsletter. I enjoy Michael Stephens. His blog is linked on the Professional Collection blog, In the Know for those of you who want to keep up with him and some of the other big names in Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 land. Our profession has always evolved and will continue to evolve and there will always be those who think that we are moving too far from our foundations and others who believe that our mission should be to go where the information needs are. Bibliographic instruction changes as the methods of recording, retrieving, and conveying information does. As the services we offer change, so must our enhancements. The difference now is that we have more methods of discussing our challenges and sharing our ideas. We don't need to rely solely upon 2 conferences a year, a couple of journals, and correspondence between well-connected peers. We don't even need to exchange email. We have blogs, Web pages, virtual reality, and any number of social networks. Libraries have always faced similar issues of budget cuts, new media, homeless vs. tax payers, growing pains, etc. The difference is now our kiss and cry area is global. I'm all a-Twitter.

Social Applications

MySpace is certainly the best known social networking site with Facebook a close second. The use by libraries to reach teens is a fun possibility. Many libraries are using social networking tools to obtain and retain patrons whose interests are beyond the traditional offerings of public libraries. Every day we encounter new opportunities for shaping the evolution of the public library. Seeing where technology is already implemented out in the world and then determining what else we can do with it is very exciting. Florida's Ask-A-Librarian has a MySpace page, for example, and we are part of that service. I would love to see LCLS develop a serious e-presence. P.S. Tom is a Libra. His page is filled with comments from people who don't know him but want to. They are faux socializing, reaching out to a seemingly accessible person who has a automated program that "friends" them upon joining MySpace and who, himself, has millions of friends. That word seems devalued in this context.

Billiard Game: After numerous attempts and numerous losses I won this match when the computer sunk the 8 ball. I'll take it. Steve Mizerak of the computerized pool table I am not. I'll stick to a real pool table. Generally, I like computer games and video games. I play the simple variety like Bejeweled as well as more complex like Myst. I also have 3 different video platforms at home and games of all types. I have never joined an online game although technically Second Life is considered a massive multiplayer online role playing game (mmorpg) and I volunteer reference for Alliance Library System. There are certainly applications for libraries in Second Life, but the technical aspects of the software prevent our patrons and staff from accessing Second Life via LCLS computers at our current standards.

Week 5

The above image was created using a sketch generator. The original photo was taken from the front car of the monorail at Disney World. Riding in the front car with the pilot is super awesome! My street sign was also created with an image generator.

I have looked at LibraryThing before and find it interesting conceptually. The hand scanners that could be implemented in a used bookstore or book sale to help me control my "vast holdings" of 1950s and '60s cocktail party books and 1960s and '70s fondue and hors d'oeuvres books would really be about the gadget more than anything else. I don't truly need to catalog my books. Even though I maintain 4 blogs, I am rather a private person and don't want my collections out there for the world to see. So I would not ever place my personal book inventory online. I also like to control the amount of unnecessary information that I place out in the electronic world. Even if I were to delete my account, I'm sure that information is still out there. As for the potential of LibraryThing as a readers' advisory tool...well, there are limitations in the software of the Web site as well as in the tagging by the users. In general, I prefer to use NoveList and lists generated by librarians as more authoritative.

Rollyo is something that I had never looked at prior to today. I can see how it would be appealing to have one-stop shopping for all of your basic Internet needs however I like to poke around. I like having favorites but I also like happenstance. Stumbling upon a new site because I searched for something and then clicked and clicked has led to some of my most fun discoveries for work and pleasure. One potential danger of streamlining the Internet process to a handcrafted set of sites, databases, and searches is that we might tend to become very limited (authoritative, but limited) in what we offer as results. I guess I have not yet felt that I have needed to organize my reference tools with Rollyo or something similar.

RSS Feeds

Back in March when I launched the blog, In the Know, for the Professional Collection I made sure to include an RSS feed because the primary purpose of that blog was and continues to be to keep LCLS staff aware of new materials arriving into the Professional Collection. If one were to subscribe to the blog via the RSS feed, every time I update the blog the subscriber would receive that information. What a perfect system!

As I mentioned in my post about my goal, a group of us are involved in a online book discussion group. An RSS feed also would keep a subscriber current on posts there. If we were to have a public book discussion online, patrons might like to subscribe through an RSS feeder to be alerted when new posts had been made.

I check in on several blogs and Web sites on a daily basis (sometimes several times daily) but I have chosen not to register with any aggregator because I enjoy the thrill of clicking on a site and finding new content. In rereading that sentence I find that it would be difficult for it to sound more geeky, but it's true. I have my favorites saved in folders and I spin through them or there are groups of them linked through my other blogs. I guess I like the journey as much as the destination.