2010 #libday4

January 26, 2010 · Posted in A Day in the Life of a Librarian · View Comments

I took these notes today as part of The Day in the Life project, if you would like to read more please see the wiki, if you’re interested in how it all got started read this post

My title is Digital Branch Manager, I work for system that serves 4 counties with 8 branches (9 counting mine).

In the morning before work with coffee in hand I turn on my PC to check Facebook, Twitter & my gmail account.

I see a trackback to my transliteracy page so I check out the post, Sunday Night Ponderance from Andy Woodworth. I leave a comment with my 2 cents and resolve to finish the new transliteracy slideshow by the end of the week so I can post it next Monday.

I proof read my post on the echo chamber, set to publish later in the day.

First thing I do at work is review my notes from last Friday and create the day’s to-do list.
I then proceed to:

update the website including adding job seekers page, created by staff
hand out monkeys
email director about borrowing her nook to make videos on using ebooks
check on day in the life – wow! holy hash tag on twitter!
work on Kiwanis club presentation for Tuesday. 15 minutes to talk about digital services.
answer a lot of emails
sketch out plans to do screen-casts of downloading Overdrive ebooks & eaudiobooks
turn in an invoice to be paid

At 3:30 I’m driven home by terrible headache blame attempts to kick my diet pepsi habit. I rest until 6:30 then time to get back to it. I put the tea kettle on and:

check gmail, answer & send emails
response to blog comments
peruse #libday4 tag on twitter, realize so many people are participating there is no way I can keep up and respond to all of them.
looked a pool on flickr
looked at Davids post on foursquare. Realize despite having no interest in anyone knowing exactly where I am ever, I should check it out. I sign up for an account and install it on my Pre. It can’t find my location. awesome. I give up and get back to work on my presentation for Kiwanis.
chat with another libraryland person about the connection between place of employment and personal blogs.
chat with a different person about upcoming interview & give what tips I can
text back and forth with yet another person about transliteracy

At 10 I turn off the computer and phone and put in some down time before bed.

Tags: <day, digitial branch manager, librarian, librarydayinthelife>

Thinking Outloud About The Echo Chamber

January 25, 2010 · Posted in Digital Services · View Comments

Last week while I was traveling Net Potter brought to my attention a discussion happening on Twitter about the echo chamber (#echolib). This is an incredibly important topic to be thinking about and discussion to have. I’ve been thinking heavily about the ideas of the Echo Chamber and the Bubble lately (well last longer actually).

Let’s talk about the Echo Chamber first – let’s face it most of us are preaching to the choir. Chances are if you didn’t believe in what I write and agree with me (most of the time) you wouldn’t be reading this blog. Chances are if I read your blog and/or follow you on Twitter I agree with you. I occasionally wonder if this is any different from a pack of high school aged “cool” kids, one of them says something and the others say “right on man”! We’re just puffing each other up. What about the unconverted? What if (gasp!) we’re wrong?

In December when I decided to take a two week break I quoted from What Matters Now: “The echo chamber we’re building is getting larger and louder.” – Connected, Howard Mann. I was thinking about and concerned that I am only preaching to the choir. That blogging and twitter are not making the difference I want (hope) to make.

When Seth Godin posted about libraries I loved watching the reaction that went across the web, I even wrote a long comment on Toby’s blog post*. But at the same time the little voice in the back of my mind said – “you are preaching to the choir” and indeed I got several “right on man”s from it. Not that I’m ungrateful for the words of encouragement and support from my colleagues, its always wonderful to hear they don’t think I’m an idiot. I do believe there are positives from the echo chamber – its good hear you are not alone, to have other like-minded people to share ideas with, this is important for motivation & inspiration. Just don’t forget there are others out there who don’t agree with you.

I’m worried though, that as Howard Mann, said “the echo chamber we’re building is getting larger and louder”. At the time I posted the comment I was just thrilled to put my 2 cents in. But later I wondered are the people who don’t agree with me hearing this? Chances are they don’t read blogs, or if they do they don’t read this one, or that they were out-of-town this week. Even if they did see it one of the disadvantages of the web is you don’t have to wait for the opposing viewpoint to finish speaking before you start your response and they don’t have to listen to your response. The web makes it easier to shout louder and longer. Shouting louder into the echo chamber provides support for what you’re yelling and diminishes the chance of hearing a dissenting view-point. Or engaging in real conversation.

Are we, the twittering, blogging, technology inclined shouting into the echo chamber? Are we only puffing each other up? Do we care that this defeats our purpose and goals? I guess it depends on your goals. (Some I’m sure, are just happy to have choir to preach to.) But for most of us, its not. If we’re too busy telling each other “right on man” who’s engaging in discussion with those who don’t agree with us? Because let’s face it, they aren’t reading your blog or following you on twitter.

*I want to be clear that I have the utmost respect for Toby and believe his post on his blog and The Huffington Post were appropriate and well thought out. I am not disparaging them in any way, it is a just a recent incident I could use to make a point. I was and am thrilled to see so many great people responding to and thinking about this issue. You’ll have to forgive me, but I have to say it to them -right on man! :-)

Tags: <advancement, echo chamber, librarian, Libraries, library, preaching to the choir, Technology>

10 Best Links from Twitter – Week in Review

January 8, 2010 · Posted in Links, Read This · View Comments

cc image used courtesy of Leo Reynolds on flickr

If you follow me on Twitter you know I share and retweet a lot of links. I don’t know how you treat Twitter but if I’m not paying attention when something is shared I miss it. So I’ve been thinking I need a way to share those links ones on the blog. I thought I’d try to blog a best of the best of Twitter blog post each Friday.

I really don’t want to do an automatic recap of my Twitter posts each week and force you to wade through all of my conversations, so I’ll be hand selecting the 10 best links each week. I hope this is useful. Please feel free to let me know of any links you think deserve to be in the list!

New Year’s Resolutions – four New Years resolutions all librarians should be making. yes, really, even you.
Trends and Technology Timeline 2010+
Because it’s that good: 10 Exciting Ways To Waste Your Training Dollars
Jenica’s IOLUG speaker’s notes on online identity – you’re online you should be thinking about your identity, Jenica offers some great tips and information.
XO-3 concept design is here! this looks so awesome how could you not want one?
5 Reasons Why RSS Readers Still Rock – even though I weeded mine during my break I still rely on it heavily, I just can’t be on Twitter every moment of every day.
10 Librarian Blogs To Read in 2010 – because we all need more blogs in our FeedReader
The Future of Reading: Don’t worry. It might be better than you think. – great article a must read. My favorite quote “Always deny the apocalypse, John. You’ll usually be right, and when you’re wrong, no one will be left to say, ‘I told you so.’”
8 Things Every Geek Needs to Do Before 2010 – I know it’s already 2010 but if you haven’t done these things you need to!
Quotable Facts About America’s Libraries - the new Quotable Facts from ALA is out. Did you know Americans spend more than twice as much on candy as they do on public libraries?

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Tags: <best of the best, blogs, future of reading, librarian, links, new year's resolutions, online identity, rss readers, Technology, timelines, top 10, Training, trends, Twitter, XO-3>

Library Day in the Life Round 4, January 2010

January 7, 2010 · Posted in A Day in the Life of a Librarian · View Comments

butterfly, because its pretty

Yes it’s that time again, time to start thinking about participating in the Library Day in the Life Project. Will you blog, Twitter, take photos, or show video? or some combination of all?

For those of you not familiar with the project in a nutshell library works of all types document a day or a week of their work life. You can check out the original blog post, my explanation of why I do it, or the wiki for more info.

Due to the high number of participants in July 2009 I’ve made some changes to the wiki hopefully will create a little order for those trying to follow along. I moved the previous list off the front page to its own page. I created a new page for Round 4 January 2010 and added a number column to the table.

I also made some changes to the format based on my observations from the last round.

Include your job title & type of library in your blog post or video to help readers
For the Twitters a hash tag for #libday4 (if you have a better one let me know, speak now or forever hold your peace).

Round 4 of the Library Day in the Life Project will begin on January 25th 2010. Any one who works in a library can participate. You may share your day (or week) on your blog, Twitter, Flickr and/or YouTube (or any other way you choose. If you have none of these don’t worry, just create a new page in the wiki and post your day there. Once you decided on your format(s)

Create a PB Wiki account (it’s free)!
Add your name, your job title (so we can see what you do at a glance) and a link to your blog, Twitter, Flickr and/or YouTube account to the wiki.
Start capturing your day.
1. Include your job title and the type of library you work in at the beginning of your post.
2. Include a link back to the wiki
Bloggers, Flickr & YouTube users tag your posts with librarydayinthelife. Twitters use the #libday4
After your first post come back and edit this page to change your blog link to a link to your tagged posts. please link directly to your day in the life post(s) and not to your blog in general.
Add your Flickr photos or videos to the Group on Flickr