Use the Media, Don't Be the Media

I haven't blogged here for awhile, time to do something about that!

Thanks to the lovely Tae, who suggested I blog on the topic of "cybrarians" and then in further discussion said:

I find the library no longer "feels" like a library - every librarian seems to be chained to their computer.

It's a valid point. In our current times of media change, are we forgetting what libraries are truly about? Are we so focused on embracing the fabulous new that we're forgetting the valuable old?

Now you know I'm an IT librarian, and that I'm also a passionate user of new media. Web2.0 and digital media are my career. However this doesn't mean that I feel that it's the ONLY way to obtain information. I recently wrote another blog post elsewhere on why I became a librarian, and that is solely due to a love of books and libraries (and lovely librarians). A love I've never lost.

Information comes to us in a myriad of forms these days. From the age old print media of books, magazines and newspapers, to 20th Century methods like radio and television, through to the new millennia media of the internet. As librarians, I believe it's our job to provide access to this information, raise literacy levels and encourage a love of reading regardless of the media.

Every library user is different. Each library user responds differently to various media. If they respond positively to online information and digital reading, then so be it. The same for print or audio/visual. One is not better than the others. However, that doesn't mean we can't give some encouragement to library users to expand their knowledge and skills to media they are not yet using. One of the great joys of being a librarian is that moment where you open up a whole new world of reading, literacy and information to someone with a good recommendation or a new set of skills.

I do understand the lure of the new, the sexy, the innovative, the gadget, the clever. Oh how I understand, I am an iPhone owner after all. But my hope is that we also know how to keep the tried and true, the reliable, the quality we've developed over time. I don't want to see us throw away great practices and traditional formats simply because something "snazzier" has come along to dazzle us with it's shiny newness.

However, that doesn't mean that we should just turn our backs on anything new, write it off as a fad, or "young people's time wasters" or full of nonsense. Every form of media is simply a tool, and if you know how to use it, indeed learn how to use it if it is new to you, it will allow you use the information contained within.

Basically what I'm getting at is that any time we lock ourselves into a label as librarians, be it traditional, or "cybrarian", we are at the risk of becoming one trick ponies. We're more valuable than that, and once we have our eyes open to the new while practicing the best of the old, we become invaluable.

Challenge Me!

Hello readers! If there are any of you out there still for this blog. I hope so because I am intending to keep it alive.

But I feel the need for a challenge or three. I feel a little stale with my blogging at the moment and would like some energy injected by you, my readers.

I would like you to challenge me to blog about a subject. Now as this particular blog is now devoted to libraries, reading, literacy, technology and things along those lines, the only limit really is that the subject will need to tie into those subjects somehow. It doesn't have to be directly related, but needs to be tied in somewhere.

I will attempt every single subject suggestion that is appropriate!

Leave me a comment with your suggestion.

Killing Our Libraries

killing our libraries
Originally uploaded by libraryman

It's a little dramatic, but a very effective statement.

Busy times are the times we NEED to innovate more than any other. Not because something is new or different, but because it offers us a way to save money, time and energy.

I love the slogan The Libraryman has made here. If you click on the image you will see it in higher resolution.

Never be afraid of innovation. Be afraid of stagnation and irrelevance.

Wanna Collaborate?

I have officially finished 23 Things some time ago, but I realised I needed to take a little time to revisit a few things that haven't fully gelled with me. Online applications were something that I knew what they were, but didn't really think about using them myself.

So I've gone back for a play and have decided to create a document that any of you, my readers, are welcome to join and co-create with me.

Fabulous New Things I Have Learned from 23 Things

The link above goes to a document I created about the cool things I've learnt, specifically that I like to use, not generally for what they CAN do. So if you want to co-collaborate with me on this document, and share the groovy stuff you have learned, let me know and I'll hook you up with the access.

For those of you friends who aren't doing the 23 Things but are reading this blog too, you are also most welcome to collaborate. The subject is about those cool Web2.0 things that are out there. What ones do you use (eg Facebook, blogging, YouTube, Flickr, mashups... all that stuff) and what do you do with them. I'm interested in hearing all the innovative, cool and fun stuff people do, and when we get going I'll turn the document into something I can publish here on this blog.

Let's play!

The Shanachies Visit BCCLS

It's time to tell you about the fantastic day I had when the Shanachies (Jaap van der Geer and Erik Boekesteijn from DOK: Delft Public Library) came to visit us here at BCCLS.

After meeting them at the SLQ UnConference, I was really looking forward to a longer workshop session with them here at BSQ, and for their reaction to Brisbane Square library. I was hopeful they would be as impressed with BCCLS as they had been with SLQ.


Introducing themselves to us and to camera for their documentary.

They gave a fantastic half day workshop, showing us lots of video of their trip around the US libraries, with lots of food for thought as to what lies in the future for libraries and librarians. They were full of great stories about what other libraries are doing around the world, and then finished the session by showing off lots of beautiful photos of DOK, the library concept centre in Delft, Holland, where they work when they're not travelling the world.


Showing us what they do, where they've been and what they've seen.

The thing that particularly impressed me was the fantastic gaming console unit they've come up with. Totally self contained with Sony PlayStation, Nintendo Wii and X-Box with a huge LCD screen in a portable, lockable unit that can be transported anywhere and plugged in with one simple power plug. No more messing around with cables or leads or what bit goes where. I would really love to see us have something along the same lines that we could use regionally for gaming events in the library. Actually, here is a video Jaap and Erik have produced to demonstrate it:


Gaming Flightcase from Jaap van de Geer on Vimeo.

How cool is that hey?

After the presentation, Sharan presented the guys with some fun gifts to remember Brisbane by:


Jaap re-enacts his encounter with a deadly brown snake. Somehow I think he may be exaggerating a little. While Erik meets Kevin the flotation crocodile.

After a luncheon down on BSQ13 (we just had to feed the poor guys, they were exhausted!) Sharan, Deannah, Deb from BSQ and myself took them on a tour of BSQ library. It was lots of fun to show them around, and I was so surprised that at the end of the tour when the guys wanted to conduct some interviews, Sharan put me up to be interviewed about Web2.0 and 23 Things! I was just there to be gopher and carry the bags!

They have put up the video they have made on to Vimeo, so I can share it with you here:


Brisbane City Council Library from Jaap van de Geer on Vimeo.

All in all I had an awesome day and I really hope to visit Delft sometime in the not too distant future so I can see for myself the magnificent DOK library concept centre.

Thank you so much to Erik and Jaap, it was a pleasure to have you here and please come back again soon.

Chocolate with Noeleen

Noeleen and I are practicing our image embedding in blogs. To demonstrate, here is some chocolate....

Seriously, give us all your chocolate and we promise not to hurt anyone.

UnConferencing in BrisVegas

Phew!

Had a few nutty busy days there, and life was pretty jam-packed. But I've had a couple of days of down time and I'm fresh and ready to tell you about something REALLY cool that happened this week.

Some of you may know that BCCLS had the Shanachies visit this week. Erik Boekesteijn and Jaap van der Geer of DOK, Delft Public Library in the Netherlands have for the past couple of years travelled around the world investigating library innovations and futures. Some of you may have been fortunate enough to come along and see the guys give their workshop on Friday morning, and I'm sure you'll agree that they are not only thought provoking and inspirational, but they're lots of fun too.

I was fortunate enough to go to the State Library of Queensland UnConference on Thursday, which was a really fantastic day. Erik and Jaap opened the day with a presentation on what they do which was lots of fun. After morning tea they had concurrent sessions on topics that the attendees nominated. The first I went to was one on gaming in libraries, chaired by Erik and Jaap who have done some cool things with gaming in Delft, like getting kids to create a library themed computer game called Dark Ink, Nintendo Wii tournaments with kids and the elderly, 24 hour LAN parties and they have created the most aweseome portable gaming unit that contains a Wii, an X-box and a Sony PlayStation as well as a big LCD tv, all in one box, with one plug and it's fully transportable and lockable.

After that, the next session was about engaging librarians and library staff in Web2.0, as well as extending that out to the entire organisation (ie councils or schools). We had just sat down in the training room at SLQ when Mary K from SLQ came in and said "Who had nominated a discussion topic that fits into this one?" I was sitting right by where she was standing so I owned up that I had, and she said "Thanks, you can chair the session then." Eeeep!

I was really pleased that I had Luke from CPL on one side of me, and Nataliya from BSQ on the other, so that I felt I had some BCC buddies with me! It wasn't so bad, with us being in the thick of 23 Things, we had plenty to discuss, and other public libraries were full of fresh approaches and ideas, and were also keen to see if we had overcome any of the challenges that they were facing. It was interesting to see that the same challenges were everywhere.

After lunch David West and Anne Spelman of Moreton Bay Regional Council Library Service gave a presentation of their Mash it Up Short Film Festival, which was a really cool and simple idea for drawing a new audience into libraries as well as injecting some imagination and culture. The day was ended by volunteers from the attendees giving short presentations on what their library service is doing with Web2.0. There are some interesting bits and bobs being done out there.

All in all a really rewarding event to attend, it filled me with lots of inspiration and direction.

I will be back as soon as possible to tell you more about the Shanachies visit to BCCLS on Friday as well, but this is enough for one post!

Mmmm.... Mashy...

I'm finally making a little time to actually do my own 23 Things. I feel like I'm way behind because I actually haven't had a chance to do the modules myself, I've been so busy making sure everyone else is plugging along.

But today I decided to dedicate some time to it, as I really wanted to have a go at some of the things I'm not really up on.

One of those, is mashups. I knew already what mashups were, and was used to using other people's mashups, but hadn't really done anything along the lines of creating my own. So using http://www.bighugelabs.com/, I made this wonderful poster:



Whaddya reckon? I'm over cuteness at the moment, I'm going for some HOT! Ole Cedric Diggory up there does well as a vampire. Absolutely can't wait until the Twilight movie comes out, that's going to be awesome. Mind you, I need to catch up and read some more of Stephenie Meyer's series. I just haven't had a lot of reading time which sucks. I'll have to do something to actively change that. I don't buy the whole "There isn't enough time." schtick really. My belief is that if something is a priority to you, you'll make time for it.

Right, I'm off to play with some more mashups!

Petting the Sweaty Things

Why do we get ourselves so worked up, and so stressed, and so frustrated over things that shouldn't really bother us. I get a lot of emails or read blog posts that are simply "venting", and I don't take them personally, but I do wonder why we let things work us up so much. Because when you let yourself get worked up, you send out all those worked up stressy vibes out and the person you're venting at gets all worked up... and it just snowballs.

Is the world really going to end if we can't embed a video on our blog? Will your house fall down if the link to a page doesn't work? Is a policeman going to break down your door and haul you off to the big-house if you have to do a module of 23 Things again to "get it"? Are you going to lose your job if your blog comes out all funny with gobbledy-gook? I think not.

I do understand, sometimes it really gets on my quince when something doesn't do what it wants to do. I've got one blog site that "eats" my blogs the minute I hit "post"... which is particularly traumatic when it's a 2000 word blog I've just typed up! But really, is it WORTH getting so irate at it that you find yourself spewing out a big long email or blog post of complaint? I think not. Sure, have a bit of a foot stomp and a curse... and then let it go.

Remember, you can always ask someone for help. That's how Web2.0 and indeed 23 Things works. It's a form of "viral" education. I blog, you blog, we all blog. I post a video, or a link, or some other fun doohickey, and then if you like it, you post about it, learning from what I've done. The same way I have learnt from what someone else has done. I know it is a change to how you normally expect to learn something, but most importantly, it's a far less formal and structured way of learning. There is no real right or wrong with this programme and Web2.0 technology. It's all about having a go and tinkering with new things, and learning as you do so.

And besides, I see all of your odd bits that "don't work" before you get to fix them, and not one of you yet has done anything that's made me go "OH MY GOD!!! Look what so-and-so did! The idiot!!" Sure, I've got a few laughs, but none of them are laughs that I haven't had at my own self at some point.

So, a few pointers in how to deal with things that don't want to do what you want them to do, or don't make sense:

1. Take a big, deep breath.
   
2. Save whatever you're doing so you can go back to it later.
   
3. Walk away... you don't have to finish anything NOW, THIS MINUTE.
   
4. Ask someone. Calmly. If they don't know the answer, don't take it out on them, just ask someone else. Ask one of the "helper" folks, and yes, you can always ask me (just remember I will always get to everyone eventually, but I do get a bit swamped.)
   
5. Take another big, deep breath.
   
6. Have some chocolate, it always works for me.
   
7. When you really want to have a rant, have the rant, but write it down and then save it.... don't hit send or post straight away. Pop it aside until tomorrow. It's more than likely you'll have got over it by then, and besides, the recipients don't really want that big blast of rant coming in their direction.
   
8. Do something different. Ok, so the video doesn't work. Go find an article of interest or read someone else's blog. You can go back to what you were doing later, but still feel like you're doing something 23 Things related.
   
9. And most of all, remember that this is supposed to be fun, relaxed, open ended training. The world won't end, I promise you. Nobody is going to write a big nasty report on you about how you were too stupid to embed a video, seriously. Instead, they're more likely to say "Oh, I couldn't do that either, doesn't that suck?"

And if you're really needing some help in the stress relief department, here's a nice video I found...

Well! I Never!

I've been stood up!

Ok, not me personally, but well... it feels that way. It could be the three rather hefty glasses of chardonnay talking though.

This evening I went to the launch of the QPLA Conference (Queensland Public Libraries Association) at State Library of Queensland. A rather lovely little soiree out on their tea-cup terrace, wine and nibblies in the cool breeze off the river. The guest of honour was supposed to be the absolutely divine William McInnes... but he didn't bloody well show up!



Now for those of you who don't already know, I'm possibly William's biggest fan. Have been for some... well, it will give away my age but it's about 20 years. I've run a fan mailing list for about 12 years, and a news-blog for about three. If you want to look at the news blog, go to: http//williamwatch.blogspot.com

He was supposed to be a guest speaker to launch the conference, and he just didn't turn up. The bugger! He'd better turn up tomorrow morning, he's the keynote speaker!

Well, if he's going to be like that, I'm going to go hang out with the other man of my dreams, Jamie Hyneman from Mythbusters. He'd never stand me up. I'm sure of it!



Yeah, you can all hang shit on me now.

Visiting the Troops

I know, I know, I haven't blogged properly for some time now. This last week has kind of run away on me a fair bit, I've not sat at my desk for very long. And with a full day of formal training tomorrow, and two library visits on Friday, I'd better get in and blog now before the rest of the week runs away from me.

I'm really enjoying these library visits I'm doing. For many years, getting out to the branches and talking to the troops was something that I just couldn't do. So I kind of felt out of touch, and that I never actually got to talk to people about the realities of library-land. So often I would only hear of issues when they became big, unbearable ones, that I missed out on knowing what those smaller, constant, highly annoying issues were. It's good to meet people I've spoken to on the phone but not met before, and to see some long lost buddies who I used to work with when I was out there in library land.

I also really hope that my visits infect all of the troops with my passion for libraries and what we do in the community. I hope to spread my fascination with new innovations, and also bring some more fun to what we do. Cos I figure if you can't be laughing about the absurdities of life, then it's a pretty sad existance.

Plus it is also really good to get some feedback. To know what bits we get right, and what bits we need to work on. Not to mention that you're all so welcoming, it's lovely to go out there and get a change from sitting at my desk talking to you by email or over the phone.

So thanks folks!

Ok, just so you don't think I'm getting too touchy-feely or serious with you all, here's a video of a dramatic cat...



Which of course pays homage to the dramatic chipmunk:

Now THIS is a Library Display

I've just read this article on Boing Boing:

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/10/03/library-celebrates-b.html

I absolutely love this idea. What a gorgeous window!

Serendipity....

It's been awhile since I blogged. I'm getting comments from the peanut gallery that it's been too long, so I figured I'd better devote some time to it today, because the rest of the week is looking a bit scary as far as schedule is concerned.

Hmmm... dunno what I'm going to talk about though. Creativity is hard to muster when one is extremely busy. Thinking....

Oh I know, let's talk about technology and it's role in libraries. Cos that's what this whole 23 Things/Web2.0 malarkey is really all about, isn't it? Expanding our knowledge of technology so we know what is happening in the world around us, and finding the bits that will be of use to us to help us do our jobs more efficiently and effectively.

I went through a patch where I felt like I was out of touch with libraries and that I wasn't contributing to the beautiful, wonderous thing that I've always felt libraries are. When I was a little girl, the library was this wonderful, safe haven where I could always go and be happy. I loved that I could always find something interesting on the shelves, and to me, the people who were in my library were just amazing. I idolised our teacher librarian. In fact, a few years ago I was in line at an author event (it was Michael Palin, if you're curious) and there was a lady in front of me who I was sure I knew. I was talking to friends and she turned and said "Your name is Kathleen isn't it?" and instantly I knew who she was. She was Miss Stubbs, my teacher librarian from my early years in primary school.

I was so thrilled to run into her, and even more thrilled that she remembered me. I told her that SHE was the very reason I worked in libraries today, and that all these years later, I've never forgotten how she would hold the box of new books for me to read first each month, because I'd already read everything else in our little library. I'd never forgotten her telling me about books that she thought I would like, or her reading to me when I turned up at the library at weird hours a bit lost and forlorn. It was really awesome to run into her again and be able to thank her for her influence and inspiration in my early years.

And it was around the time that I ran into her that I began to question if I was in the right place, working in Systems, with a very technology based job, rather than those books and reading and literacy things I loved so much and that formed me in my youth.

But once I got thinking about it, I realised that I don't believe that technology and reading/literacy are mutually exclusive. In fact, I really believe that technology enables us as librarians to do what we do in a much greater capacity than ever before. We can communicate to more people than ever before, in more formats than ever before, and particularly with the whole Web2.0 thing (and you probably all know how I feel about that term, Web2.0) we're able to share and collaborate more than we ever have done.

For me, the beauty of Web2.0 is that I can now know more about people. I don't mean that in a scary, stalker kind of way, but in that I can share things with people and they can share things with me. Knowledge is an awesome thing and I am personally always striving for more of it.

For a long time, technology was this big oogie-boogie thing that only a small percentage of the population could afford, access and understand, and it was quite isolating to be involved in anything technological. It used to be nerdy blokes who talked in this strange language and seemed to look down their nose at the rest of us who didn't have access or understanding of those technologies.

But along came Web2.0, and suddenly grandma's are putting their photographs on Flickr, mum's are blogging about their hobbies, sports fans are making videos to whack on YouTube, 50 year school reunions are being organised on Facebook and so forth, and we're all reading and viewing all this stuff. To "Google it" is now part of our every day language. And people like me, who are definitely not ever going to know the nitty gritty of technology (good gravy, I can't think of anything more boring than codes and stuff!) are able to do these things simply and almost always for free. We don't even need the "For Dummies" books any more because we can just Google information that we want. Who'd have thought?

And in relation to literacy and reading, I've found the internet constantly draws me back to books. Be it through the applications on Facebook for discussing books, videos on YouTube of author talks and even previews of movies that are based on books, social databases like LibraryThing, Shelfari and Good Reads, even podcasts of radio programmes about books and authors.

In the same sense that it draws me back to books, I do believe it draws people who might not be big readers to books and to reading in general. People who never pick up a book may be reading this blog right now. And reading is reading, no matter what the format. Perhaps reading a blog about books will be the catalyst to someone who might not otherwise pick up a book, to do so. Or maybe seeing something about the local library on Facebook or Flickr may be the thing that gets the person walking through the door next time?

I guess the real skill lies in working through the huge oceans of stuff out there and picking out what are actually useful tools out of all the fads and buzz sites. And one of the ways to do that I feel is to actually talk about this stuff. To try it out, to learn about it and to share ideas and experiences. So that's where that whole collaborative thing that goes with Web2.0 comes in, isn't it?

I'd love to hear what other people think about technology and it's place in libraries, reading and literature. Leave me a comment, or better still, blog about it and show me your blog! Let's collaborate hey?

I'll leave you with a little video interview with a guy whom I find fascinating, Michael Stephens. His blog Tame the Web is one that I subscribe to and read regularly, and it always gets my mind ticking over about what we do, and why we do it, in libraries.

Beautiful!

Library quote
Originally uploaded by alexandrayarrow

I'm a huge fan of Shelby Foote. I discovered him on Ken Burns Civil War series, and just fell in love with his humour, wisdom, words and that gorgeous accent.

I just found this photo through Michael Stephens Tame the Web blog, and had to share it.

Chocolate... Chocolate would help!

Mate, I'm knackered. For every one email I reply to, twenty more come in. Usually from someone asking me why I didn't answer their first email, that they sent an hour beforehand. I do get to all of the emails eventually, but because there are so many, it takes some time to roll around!

Chocolate would help. Seriously. Look at this chocolatey goodness:




However, that said, I am really enjoying the whole 23 Things project. It's stuff that interests me and that I find really time-saving and useful. I'm thoroughly enjoying reading all the blogs that have been shared with me, watching the Wiki grow, learning new things myself and being led to all kinds of wonderful information and resources. It's challenging and fascinating, despite the fact that I have to reset wiki access and passwords two dozen times per day!

I'm doing the Brisbane City Romp on Sunday. Quite looking forward to that, hopefully it won't rain. I'm in no way interested in winning the event but the challenge will be fun and I also hope we can raise some money for the Burnet Institute.

You know, I just can't take my mind off of chocolate for some reason. I wonder why...

It's not Tuesday today, I know... but I don't care!

A Teeming Social Life

I'm finally getting a little time to work on my OWN 23 Things today. Popular to contrary belief, I'm not an expert on the whole Web2.0 thing and I am learning a lot of this stuff along with everyone else. I have used some things quite heavily already, like blogs, MySpace and Facebook, YouTube and photo sharing, but a lot of other things are totally new to me too.

However, I am an intrepid tinkerer with this technology, and am not afraid to just play with it until I get it doing something that I like. I have no fear at all of any of the technologies that we are using in 23 Things so I guess I am a lot more gung ho than the "newbies" out there who are hesitantly having a go for the first time. I will sign up for things, faff about with settings and profiles, and generally just jump on in feet first. Mostly because I know that there is always the functionality to set it back to the original way, or change it to a whole new way. I'm not at all afraid to make mistakes because I know I can just change it straight away.

So today I have been doing the module on social bookmarking. It was interesting that it put things like LibraryThing in the same category. I guess that they are bookmarking in a sense, but I consider them more social databases or catalogues. Rather than just a collection of links, I feel they are a database or catalogue of my interests and tastes.

I use several of these sites regularly. My favourites are Shelfari, Good Reads, Bookcrossing and of course LibraryThing. I am a member of all of these reading/book sites and if you want to find me, just do a member search for "sleepydumpling". (Yeah and you can stop laughing at the username now, you lot!)

I also find these a great tool for keeping track of my own books, and books I've borrowed from friends. I tag them with things like "loaned to" or "borrowed from" so that I know where they are and who I have to give them back to when they're not mine. It's a great way to track series you are reading, and you can even put in due dates when they are a library book. How cool is that?

Another one I quite like is a music one, and it is Playlist. You can make up "jukeboxes" of your favourite music, and then you can embed those in your blog, Facebook and MySpace, all kinds of places. I make new playlists up with themes. For example, on Australia Day I did a playlist up of great Aussie music, posted it on my MySpace blog and then shared it with all my overseas friends. They loved it because they don't always get access to Australian music - particularly in America.

And if you are looking for a movie one, Flixster is good fun and really useful too.

So socially online, I'm pretty busy. I'm incredibly busy in my real social life too, but I find using some of these tools actually helps me organise myself and save lots of time, as well as a great way to meet new people, find new resources (books and music etc) and share my interests. I love to talk books, movies and music, and these give me another outlet.

Magical Meme's

the accidental bokeh heart., originally uploaded by Disco ♥ Tetris.

Well I promised that I would post meme's (little blog exercises) regularly to help you all with inspiration. So here's one for this week.

You know you've seen those READ posters put out by the American Library Association? Like this one?

http://prelectur.stanford.edu/lecturers/hofstadter/images/stevemartin.jpg

So your mission is to go to flickr, and choose a photograph, like the one I have chosen above, that sums up, or says something about your love of reading. Blog the photo and a slogan that says something about your passion for reading.

Mine would be of course the above photo with:

READ: It brings love and glamour to your life.

Remember, if you do this meme on your blog, you need to post the instructions on what to do so that someone else can do the meme from YOUR blog.

Happy meme making people!

Are there Only 23?

Right now I'm wondering if there really are only 23 Things, because for me, it feels like a lot more. Not that I mean that as a complaint, not at all. I just am finding that it is taking up HUGE swathes of my time at the moment, which is fantastic because it means that people are jumping on in to the 23 Things programme, and really having a go.

But I am finding that it makes my "normal" work pile up a bit behind it. I guess it is all about prioritisation, but with 400 people we hope to do this training, it's HUGE. And there are so many technical questions that folks have.

It gives me an awesome perspective though. Other folks find things I may never have noticed, and they bring them to my attention. Lots of "Can I do this...?" and "Is it possible to...?" or "How do I...?" And I'm learning that there is no shame in the reply "I don't know." But I will do my best to find out if I don't already know.

I logged on to the training module a few times over the weekend just to see if anyone was having a go, and was pleased to see that every time I logged on, there was at least one person online there as well. That's amazing!

I am getting out to the libraries to talk to people. In some cases (only a couple) it's my first visit to that library ever, even after almost 10 years working for BCCLS. It's really good to get out there and meet the folks I haven't yet met, see those I have, talk about what we do in here at Systems and Processes and why we do it, and find out what the REAL issues for our troops are.

This week I'm off to CDA, ASH and down to BSQ (for two rather mammoth sessions!) I'm sure I'll enjoy these ones as much as I have the libraries I've already done.

Feeding Frenzy

RSS feeds. I've been using them for ages at home, but I actually had no idea what RSS actually stood for until quite recently. Real Simple Syndication. Makes sense to me, it is real simple!

I'm using Bloglines for here at work because we have an older version of Internet Explorer on our staff PC's that doesn't have the RSS button enabled on it, but at home I use Internet Explorer to do it. I just click that button and it saves them in my favourites, and when there is a new post to read, it bolds them in the list in the favourites.

But Bloglines seems to work quite effectively for a work environment. I've been tinkering around creating folders so that I can have all of the blogs written by my dear colleagues together, other library interest blogs in a folder, a folder for museums and art galleries and photography sites, a folder for fun stuff and so on. It's a little cluttered looking but I seem to be able to navigate around it ok.

I'm looking forward to when we get the blog links in the 23 Things page up and running, so that everyone can see all of the blogs submitted there. We have had a few little technical glitches along the way, which has meant that they're not all visible yet, but as they are put up, they will go on the BCCLS blog so that everyone can see them until we get the glitches ironed out.

But back to the subject of RSS feeds, I can see a lot of applications for them for both internal use and externally to customers. Already customers can RSS feed things from eLibCat like the What's New lists, What's On, info about One Book Many Brisbanes, things like that. But we could also have blogs for libraries RSS feeding news about events and promotions out to our customers.

Internally, we could have our wiki up and running and if you are working on a certain task, like magazines or AV Incomplete, you could RSS to those pages, and receive notice of any updates on those topics, rather than all 400 of our staff getting an email about it when we don't need to know.

I don't really read straight up library blogs myself, as mostly they're about stuff going on at the actual libraries. But there are some interesting industry ones I like to read. Here's a bit of a list:

Michael Stephens' Tame the Web (lots of Web2.0 information and inspiration)
The Annoyed Librarian - a bit whingey and sour grapey... but raises some valid points.
Librarian Idol
Jenelle.net

There are lots of others, but I can't remember them off the top of my head, I'll share them later.

Flickr

Me - 23 Things Launch, originally uploaded by kath_read.

I've been flickr-ed.

Robert D took this photo. He neglected to tell me that I have the START button projected across my forehead.

Just you wait Robert, just you wait.

If you want to see the rest of the photos, go to:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=39644&l=3203e&id=660897148