Thing 6. Online Image Generators

spider-man card, originally uploaded by JuniorLibrarian.

Thing 5. More Flickr Fun

I looked at a bunch of these tools that plug into the Flickr api. There certainly is no shortage of them. To be honest, I don't see much use for most of them. They're fun to play with a bit, but I'm not seeing the practical use. I look forward to seeing how other people comment on this task, maybe I'm totally missing it. I did create a montage with the 23thingsonastick tag at this site, but it doesn't appear to have saved it. So here is a jigsaw puzzle of a book cart instead.

Jigsaw, originally uploaded by JuniorLibrarian.

Thing 4. Photosharing with Flickr

The Library From a 4-Year Old's Perspective


Favorite Comic Books, originally uploaded by JuniorLibrarian.

I had a little extra fun with this project. My 4 year old son, we'll call him "X", helped me out. X has pretty much grown up in the library. When he was a baby we bought a second Pack 'n' Play so he could go to work with Mom. When he was old enough to start talking, he was the official greeter, saying "Hi" to everyone who walked into the library. Even now he typically spends 4-5 hours per week at the library, he's graduated to pulling the books out of the book return. I knew he needed to spend the morning at the library today, so I sent the camera along with him. I asked him to take pictures of his favorite things and things he thinks are important at the library. The above picture is of one of the superhero graphic novels he loves to read while he is there. On the right you'll see a Flickr badge that has the rest of his photo session.

I like Flickr. We have a pro account for our personal use. I'll admit that I don't use it much, my wife is the photographer in the family. It was good to take this opportunity to explore. I found and joined the "23 Things On A Stick" Flickr group. I geo-tagged the photos I uploaded and searched and found some pictures people had posted from our area. I know our library also uses Flickr to post pictures from their various events. Its probably one of the better Web 2.0 tools.

I hope everyone is enjoying their 23 Things Flickr experience as much as I enjoyed hearing X talk about all of his pictures.

Thing 3. Set Up an RSS Account & Add Feeds

I've been using RSS feeds for a long time. I like to add them to my email client, Thunderbird. That way I can catch up on my email and my feeds at the same time. I do also have them setup in Google newsreader as a backup, but rarely use it to actually read them.

I'm a systems administrator and one way I use RSS is at work. Whenever we make a change to a server, we post to an internal blog. I use the RSS feed for that blog to stay up to date with what is going on. Its also great for historical purposes. When was it that we made that change to the mail gateways? I'll just search for "mail gateway" in the blog and see all the related blog posts. A lot handier than the paper logbook used back in the old days.

I do read a few library blogs which a linked below.

Plainview Public Library
Library Technology in Texas
Library Web Chic
open-ils blog
And I pull three RSS feeds from SELCO. I do the "Regional News", "SELCO Librarian", and "Structures". I'm not going to link those as they can all be found from their front page.

I also pull a few feeds from /. and Lifehacker. I have a few other technology feeds, some from blogs of friends and family in other states, and my current favorite online comic xkcd.com.
I like RSS feeds because I don't have to go around polling everyone's sites to see if something is new. And I treat it similarly to how I go through my email. Deleting stuff that doesn't look interesting, reading some now, and flagging others to be read later. All said and done I have about 35 feeds so I can't read them all, but I can scan through them and find interesting stuff in all of them.

Thing 2. What is Library 2.0?

I'm going to subtitle this post as "Freewheeling about Library 2.0" as it is very much a stream.

I see libraries as places of connections. They connect us to the information. They connect us to government. They connect us to our communities. They connect us to the world. This connectedness fits right in with Library 2.0 and Web 2.0. I know at my local small public library the Internet computers are in constant use. The library is a place you can go create your online presence and connect. You don't have to have access at home. I also know that our library's wireless hotspot averaged more than one connection per day in 2007. So a library is a place to come and connect, even if you do have other options for access. My wife likes to remind me that libraries are the great equalizer. I know it is hard for smaller libraries to keep up in this 2.0 world. You have to pick and choose, or you'll get buried trying to keep up with all the different Web 2.0 tools. I see a lot of libraries making a blog as a portal for their online presence. I think that's a great choice. It makes the site much more dynamic, and not just a brochure for the library.

Library 2.0 goes beyond just the new Web 2.0 tools though. Its about finding out what the whole range of patrons are looking for today, and looking ahead to tomorrow. Its about finding ways to bring new people into the library. Plainview has a Teen Advisory Committee made up entirely of teens. They do fundraising for teen programs and come up with ideas for teen events. Open computer nights, DDR and Guitar Hero, Dungeons&Dragons classes, and a Family Wii Bowling night are just a few of the ways they are bringing in new people to the library. This keeps the library in both the minds of the current taxpayers(parents) and the future taxpayers(the teens). It makes the library a destination, a fun place, and an interesting place, plus exposes them to all the other services the library offers as well.

I look at Library 2.0 as an evolution. Its really the same things that libraries have always needed to do. Give people access to information in a way that is useful for them. The challenge is that last part. How long have sites like Amazon, Barnes&Noble, and Epinions.com been giving us recommendations based on other purchases, and letting us review items for other customers. The biggest problem I see in the 2.0 world is privacy. Libraries have historically been a strong protector of privacy, but to implement services like the above, you have to collect personally identifiable information and create a history. If we look at current public opinon, it seems that the majority of Internet users are not concerned(See the Pew Internet Life study titled Digital Footprints for information about that). Maybe we don't need to be quite so concerned about it either, we can allow users to choose how they want to connect to the library. We just need to give them the options. In the end its all about connecting the library and the user, whether in cyberspace or meatspace. I think Library 2.0 encompasses both.

Thing 1. Set Up Your Blog

I have blogged before, but generally I do a few posts and then abandon it. Its generally a low priority. I've used a few different blog sites/software. They have definitely come a long way in the last few years. I like Blogger because its very flexible. You can publish to your own hosting space if you want, you can edit the css if you want. So its good for the advanced user, yet easy enough for the beginning user. You can create a decent looking blog in just a few minutes.

I'm not excited about the Yahoo! Avatar thing. I thought they were all pretty cheesy. I guess I'll probably replace it with a picture at some point. I know, the teens/tweens are probably using the avatars and that is why we added one. Well, as long as I have that bit of cheese on there, I decided to throw a weatherpixie in the sidebar as well. :-)