i Am Librarian 2.5

Library Bladders

2008-07-25T08:38:00.000-07:00

..In which I describe in great detail where the bathrooms in the Salt Lake City Public Library are located..

The bathrooms are located on levels two through four, on the west yellow wall.

This has been a special issue of Library Bladders. Join us again as we discuss where the bathrooms are located.

Pushing 2.0 Down The Hill With Training Wheels On A Huffy Road Racer.

2008-07-19T08:16:00.001-07:00

The clamor of 2.0 has gone from the lions roar to a quiet hush of crickets chirping softly in the background. Technology was a wonder for a short time and now it would seem we are getting back to the regular daily grind we know so well. Oh, we have a wiki here to which we homage the two oh shrine of technical glory, however for the most part not a lot has changed on the face of this here SLCPL in terms of embracing that quirky, lovable two.

Now its back to playing banjo recalling those old folksy days of 'SHHHH!' 'SHHHH!' 'SHHHH!' until the next move is made on our website and we can truly call it two oh. In the meantime, I have taken up a role of intense Circulation Wiki editing to the final degree in an effort to retain those two oh skills.

Concerning this here wiki, (a rant) I find it would be best if we ousted completely the old Old Intranet, the New Intranet and replaced the homepage with the New New Intranet - the wiki combined with links to other areas of interest. Now that would be so 2.0.

Alas, I better stop with my witty word usage or I might be confused with the laser blasting action packed LEO Newsletter. I am not that vibrant in my display, I only come in 16 colors like your old Tandy 256k computer that you used to play Kings Quest on and wonder, "Can games get any cooler than leading Sir Graham to his death?"

Yes, yes they can.. and so can the use of technology. While retro is cool, futuristic, well its the future.

Go, 2.0 Go.

Thank You Two Point Oh!

2008-05-22T15:27:00.000-07:00

Thank You -

I will be sure to use it to further my literacy and promote the goodwill of the
community. After all, according to Spider-man, with with great power comes
great responsibility, and this is a great gift.

the laptop:
http://www.apple.com/macbook/specs.html

Shift Happens.

2008-04-02T19:39:00.000-07:00

Did You Know? 2.0
a video mostly for educators, works well with librarians.

http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com/

Scratch'n Pad

2008-03-27T08:29:00.000-07:00

Book Drop Schedule

9a12noon1p 3:30p4:30p5:30p8:30p

This is the end my friend.

2008-03-23T15:50:00.000-07:00

So this is it. The end. Thanks to my two readers who have suffered up until this point. I realize your obligation to read my writings. One of you is a tech rep and the other a wife. Your lot is hard, but the suffering is coming to an end on my attempt to find humor in an often humorless exercise.

I can think of hand-fulls, nay, octo-fulls of how web two oh could benefit the staff. Firstmost, we need to replace the tired http://staff.slcpl.lib.ut.us/ with the wiki http://wiki.staff.slcpl.org/index.php/Welcome. Second, we need to start generating ideas of items to place on the wiki at staff meetings, a brief discussion on how to improve it. Finally, but not really, there is always more, we need to assign a staff member, the tech rep perhaps, to encourage involvement and additions in the wiki by adding new ideas to it continually - ie. staff tour.

It would benefit the library to have someone take photographs at events and share them on Flickr and maybe some other socially inclined networks.

The most important above all else is to have a webmaster that will listen to ideas and coordinate with staff to make the ideas work and be feasible. If not, you can kiss your two point oh into one point oh oblivion.

I have other ideas, I am full of them like the stars in the sky. I have more corny poetic prose too, which I will spare you with both until the moment, the time arrives.

Its been a fun adventure. To my two readers, thank you. If there are more, Librarian 2.5 loves your reading too, who knows maybe you will grow up to be an Alpha Librarian someday.

Questions, comments, compliments, concerns, rants, raves, reviews?

Drop a line.

This may be the end of the two oh trainee course, but we have a precious relationship just starting.

your library friend,

Cory

NetLibrary hates your iPod..

2008-03-23T15:45:00.000-07:00

but you don't care because you got a Sansa MP3 Player from your tech rep in step twenty-four.

Sure its not forty gigs of music mayhem, but its practically free so be happy. You are now NetLibrary compliant to finish the last final exercise before the summerize.

Having been interested in the pod people, I thought it a good idea to search for Max Brooks Zombie audio book, which has been given many awards for its awesomeness, by the title of "World War Z".

Unfortunately, I ended up gnawing on "Interagency Fratricide: Policy Failures in the Persian Gulf and Bosnia" and "The Two Brothers," two audiobooks that held my interest as drying paint.

I did a few other searches and left quite less impressed of the NetLibrary. I was wrong, NetLibrary doesn't hate your iPod, it hates you.

The SLCPL Staff Wiki A Go-Go

2008-03-23T15:17:00.000-07:00

The lesson six of former is now up and going, and I have already offered my two point five cents to the Circulation portion of the wiki in the form of Standard Patron Notes:
http://wiki.staff.slcpl.org/index.php/Standard_patron_notes

The trick to wiki is to steal code, change and it make it yours. In the words of Picasso, "Bad artists copy. Good artists steal."

Go get get 'em Pablo.

PodPeople for PodCasting

2008-03-18T09:57:00.001-07:00

i once was a podperson that subscribed to podcast. then pods split. more came out. pod casts everywhere. i was three days behind. a week behind.. and then when it came into perfect terrible destruction of all of my time that was and had been, i ejected the pods with the delete key, exploding them into the universe never to be seen again.

i learned a great lesson that day. about aliens. about ray guns. more importantly, about how podcasts demand a lot of your time and attention. so pay attention. we are going podcasting.

Podcast.net was too busy to take my request. Too busy? This makes no sense. The only possible conclusion is that the pods had taken over and assimilated the inhabitants of the server control. Its rough housing podcasts when Burke is constantly trying to harvest them on your face. Such is the fate of podcast.net, a lost outpost to the face suckers.

.....more later...... gotta reload. explore the desk will regroup at eighteen hundred hours.....

regrouped later than usual. but you made it. good.

Podcastalley.com worked, and was easy to get the content I needed, and now I have the Library Survival Guide in case in I need to survive the library. I also visited the soon to become consumed by the mother of all pods Microsoft, Yahoo. No easy route finding podcasts here, though it becomes easier if you query 'library podcasts'.

I found Library Chic, some hip librarian who not only blogs, but podcasts. This is akin to patting your head and rubbing your belly at the exact same time. This chic chick does it seemingly well, though I have admittedly not listened to the cast, but have merely viewed the website content. Alright, I admit it. I didn't want to become addicted and become one of the Pod People. iPod, but feel no inclination at this time to venture down the Cast route again and fall into that downward slope of catchup.

Don't give into the experiment - it will consume you!

instead.....

.....zombies are way cooler than pod people.

The History of Online Video (briefly)

2008-03-18T09:28:00.000-07:00

Video Killed the Radio Star.
MP3 Killed The Video Star.
Video Star revolts, buys a YouTube top.
MP3 Makes Amends with Video Star, iPhone conquers all.

-------------cut here.

stop motion hardcore peep show.
a combination of mp3 and video.
everyone wins again.

made by myself and that girl that works in another department and happens to be married to me.

i want to share these peeps with the world, and let all know of the destruction of the peep tribe.

an excellent resource for peep videos and non peeps alike, perhaps we can have a Battle Core Command message from the library in the form of a youtuber video.. or individual videos for departments. i already got one for Circulation.

We are the Champions my friends of web 2.0.

2008-03-10T13:00:00.000-07:00

As I entered into the Hall of Champions, one gig flash drive, mp3 player in palm, I realized I was on the final stretch of the library two oh, with only four to go until the completion of the device of awesome proportions. Awe-some. The mad scientist lives on.

Today, we enter another hall, the hall of web two oh champions.

While champions for some, often after click-click-clicking I found myself with dribble for content on many of these so named resource 2.0 giants of the network frontier.

However, I found a slight amount of excitement drool over the graphic tools offered by colorblender.com How this is a web two oh tool is beyond me, I though more community was supposed to be involved, but I guess anyone with a site of customization can attach the adhesive 2/0 compliant label to their pants.

Finally, and I do mean finally, final, Tasty Data Goodies lets anyone create graphs to prove what logical has failed to prove. Have a great idea but not practical? Make a graph. Are you losing the election for Prom King? Use a graph. They can make anyone look better, be better or do better than they appear to be. It worked for thirty plus years for the news organization, and now through the miracle of the mouse, the monitor, the INTERNET, it will work thanks to Al Gore.

enter the lab of another kind...

2008-03-06T09:55:00.000-08:00

as a self proclaimed mad scientist of technological investigatory researches, google labs is something i am rather keen of exploring.

googlemaps streetview. stalkers, paranoid walkers beware or be aware. i like this tool for finding when and where i need to go or want to go.

most of the other lab tools we have covered, like google reader which throbs the brain.

google videos. you tube, i tube, but not my space, their space.

google groups 2. the sequel looks the same as the original and just as confusing.

these tools are already in use through the previous discussions. i don't think i need to replow the ground of ideology thrice.

get out of my lab.

2008-03-03T12:35:00.000-08:00

I have heard of stories of individuals collaborating on books through this here google docs (beta).

This entire movement could prove to be useful in collaborating proposals for the many committees
which exist, and they often don't take as long to load as any of the Office Suite.

For calendars, word on the technology upgrade is we will be having shared calendars through some
new email service.

Goffice has me get itching on purchasing an iPhone, but alas I am about simplifying my environment.

So many accounts that need to be registered for this exercise, bugmenot dot com.

Another down website victim, irows.com has expired and now is stale.

The others looked intriguing, but google you have my heart, my docs.

Confused? No. Tutorial'd: http://www.scribd.com/doc/16654/HOWTO-use-google-docs

format this!

Search Your Engine Spark Plug.

2008-03-01T09:26:00.000-08:00

I thought Google was thee search engine, but word from the hive is there are others out there, so exploration abounds:
* Exalead - preview browsing. now you can hate the website even before you visit. limited results because of the giant preview images.
* Wink - stalker-like tools enable you to search over 333,304,647 people on social networks. (hey, being stalked isn't so bad if its the right person. thats how i ended up married.) i did a query and came up with many places where i have treaded on the internet and realized i have stomped around in quite a few virtual bits and pieces.
* Gravee Gravee dripped unenthusiastically and didn't even return a query. That upsets my stomach.
* Clusty Clutsy, friend of Clutter, while cluttered, offers an insanely eyecandy'd opportunity to do previews of websites by clicking a magnifying glass, working much better than exalead's load-a-preview-for-every-link.
* Mooter A frightening logo. If you ever think of putting eyeballs into your logo don't. After getting beyond the 1984 Orwellian design, the results are interesting. Clusters of results. Maybe Clutsy should be named Mooter and Clutsy should be named Mooter. Clutsy=Cluster? idunno.
Click. Click. Click. You have to click a lot on this site to get results. Another comparison. Clicking=Bad? yes.
* Kartoo The creepy magic genie that follows my cursor with his eyes (see above frightening logo rant, apply to company mascots) tries to convince me of his amazing powers, but I just get lost in the mess. I don't know what kind of connections I am supposed to be making here, but this site is no where as effective as music plasma.
* Yahoo Yahoo was all back in the mid 90's when your choice of search engines was yahoo, dogpile and microsoft. Then in 1998 google descended upon civilization and yahoo users looked like yahoos. After trying out after all those googling non-yahoo years, the conclusion is still the same: stick with flicker, upcoming and the other services yahoo.. even your mail stinks in comparison to google.. and if you get bought out by Microsoft someday, you will be even a bigger yahoo which will forevermore be mocked.

The Future of Two-O

2008-02-28T19:59:00.001-08:00

First and foremost, enough of the hecklers, the nasty remarkers and the evil haters who think the library is set to become extinct. We have flying library harpies to take care the likes of you. What no flying library harpies? Wheres the flying library harpies?

Well we have a guy with a paddle. That paddle is real wood. It navigates around icebergs. I had a hard time reading this article because the man with the paddle, his eyes kept bearing into me. So I covered up half the screen and really studied where he was rowing his boat.

The “just in case” collection reminds me of why I have a blunt stick hidden underneath my bed. Just in case.. of the zombie invasion. Zombie invasion aside, our collection is changing to a more digital footprint, but the works of Amazon's Kindle and their associated alternatives have a couple hundred dollars to go and that feel of stretching open a paperback before they make obsolete of the library collection. Sometimes the IT folk stick the wagon before the horse, and this might be a case where the horse is being replaced by robotic beast with a broken circuit board or two. Really, what it comes down to are we happy with our horses, our books or are we going to throw them into the fire for robotic horses, only to become kindle? The web 2.0 has presented yet another mystery that we must solve.

I thought I was done with people starring at me when I read, but then a man and his mac are starring at me. His shoes are shiny. In his thoughts he states, "This librarian does not buy technology for the sake of technology. “Techno-worship” does not exist here. " Which I fear can happen with a lack of knowledge and keen curiosity for shiny objects known as technology.

This guy has a ruler and he is measuring all of your ports. Do you have a firewall properly installed? Did you know that OCLC is mentioned twelve times in the interview? I have a difficult time reading through this particular interview because a lot of it is non-specific and uses lots of big words keen on IT person, but not so understanding for the common folk, like me. What I do know is that this guy can do a lot of great things, and he has a big blue ruler to prove it.

Like a musician conducting the wonders of the symphony, we are invited into the vast wonders of two point oh. I enjoy this article, this is the first one to not talk jibba jabba and just get to the point of libraries and 2.0. The direction given on combining cataloging on tagging in a cohesive manner, is glue to my ears. ha! (pun intended.)

Oh boy. Big brother isn't watching you, but a lady with binoculars is. She too cuts the jibba jabba and gets to the core of her presentation. I like this person, they speak of going beyond 2.0, and me, I am 2.5, but hey if you want to up it to the 3.0, I am perfectly willing to go 3.5. But wait, she continues, there is more! She goes all the way to librarian 4.0! This is the best article. It gets five stars. Thats one more than librarian 4.0, and all the better. Look to the future Dr. Wendy Schultz!

Library 2.0 means community, it means bridging the virtual environment with the real one, which can be scary if all you have ever appeared on are glamour magazines and are a child of photoshop. However, in all cases, technology should never be put before the human. I have no attempt at making that amusing. I am serious. Up with humans. Down with robots. You can choose to learn the truth about 2.0....

Will you Take the Red Pill or the Blue Pill?

i am not a republican, they just color my world tour that way...

2008-02-28T19:47:00.000-08:00

create your own personalized map of the USA
or check out ourCalifornia travel guide

create your own visited country map

go west usa eh? i am a homebody, i have no spite for visiting other places, i just seem to flock back to Utah, and keep that reach short.

some day i am going to buy a kilt, a real one, not one of those fake ones, and i am going to visit Scotland. once in Scotland, i am going to learn how to become Scotchman and drink nothing but pure hardcore water. the cold kind. i will also storm a castle, with the tour guide leading the way, and conquer myself.

when that day comes, i will be able to world66 Scotland and other territories I lay claim to when I have that lay over.

Watch out world66, i am adding the world!

de.generator.

2008-02-28T19:20:00.000-08:00

from the generation or desk of http://metaatem.net/words/,

i am

mostly third and fourth cousin library related blogs.

2008-02-21T09:48:00.000-08:00

Sweet Sixteen. Oh how I never wish to return to you, but for your mecca of information, Librarian two point oh, I will return and locate a few Library related blogs.

Feedster, we mourn your death, but continue our quest towards RSS enlightenment.

For now, the cry of the patrons beckons me to un2.0 my learning session and go answer that plea...

Be back to edit real soon, if the anticipation kills you, enjoy this fun filled site:
weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

That was a long break. Days. Hope the excitement didn't make you explode. The library is a busy place.. plus I am worth the wait.

For feeding of my librarian morsels, I find Technorati reminds me of being feed by myspace which gives me indigestion due to all the adds and clutter.

I have become partial to the big 8, Syndic8, it feels like the Craigslist feeding, simple clean, easy and would you vote for this candidate-free.

Drop the tag "Librarian" minus the " or the " and you get a nice selection for the biblopathic that craves everything from The Days & Nights of the Lipstick Librarian to the more professional-like Education Librarian.

So now me and Syndic are pals, even 8 too, and we even have a local rss feeding coming to you.

(Topix is a mess like the hip Techno Rat. Avoid if possible.)

For the rest of the non-rss feed readers amongst us, (I too am one from time to time) be sure to explore the depths of feedburner, a free service where you can send feeds directly to your email.

Slightly Macintosh Love Fed RSS Feeder Fodder.

2008-02-21T09:35:00.000-08:00

As my browsing library friend would exclaim, "Oi Vey!"

Google Reader must be the biggest headache of an RSS reader I thought, then I remembered Microsoft. Never underestimate the power of Microsoft to make the worst worster or worstest.

I am under the impression that an RSS Feed Reader should be a nice manageable piece of software akin to the Vienna RSS Reader, one of those macintosh programs many of the readers will never be able to love. At least there is gaming for them.

Links, text, lights, action here action there. I subscribed to the ten blogs, reluctantly, but completed the assigned task. Akin to doing the minimal effort in order to drag it out, I RSS Fed Read Googles Reader. Gimme, my star, I am ready to move on to number sixteen on the hive listing.

Web 2.0 in a Real World Situation.

2008-02-19T15:42:00.000-08:00

Another sideshow/pitstop/detour in Librarian 2.0 workings for the roof that is on fire.

Lately, I have been scouring the Internet for apartment listings in a frantic effort to find a cheap place downtown, because last week I came home after Gallery Stroll to the neighbors shared unit malfunctioning with smoke coming out of outlets. The place hasn't burnt down yet, but I am not one to sit on a fault line. Oh wait we are, but I try to control how much damage I can personally take in. Flame off.

Enter Web 2.0. to the rescue.

Social networking site Craig's List ( http://saltlakecity.craigslist.org/ ) offers free listings on one of its many boards for apartments with specific categories like dogs and cats filters so you can find just the right place to make your own pettopia in SLC. Sure you get some flakes, but the potential for gold is greater than the classifieds if you keep looking long enough.
What is too high, what is too low? Leave that to a mashable, known as Rentometer (http://www.rentometer.com/us) where you enter your rental price at a given location and see how it compares to the rest of the renting market. The big light green blobs even take you further and offer apartment listings therein from rent.com.

..and if you are secure, comfy and aren't looking to rent then mash it over at mashable.com where akin to my previous posting of 2.0 listings, an extensive webpage is set up to guide you in your latest 2.0 adventures.

No apartment found yet..
Off to 2.0 search it.

cheers.

My Lib2.0 devastates your Black Lotus card

2008-02-16T10:43:00.000-08:00

((click on cards to be amazed by my magic internet card tricks of url'ing.))

A Fickr and Pickr Adventure.

2008-02-16T09:25:00.000-08:00

Often times when I hear 'flickr', I remember Boogerman, who enjoyed the video game world with the tag line, a pick and flick adventure.

A probable friend of Boogerman or interesting crossover foe, Captain Underpants and Boogerman are bringing farts, phlegm, belching, snot and all manners of disgusting to a civilized world.

This Flickr and Pickr adventure excitement extends to Flickr, where you flick to and fro through galleries of submitted pictures and you Pickr either your own or a group gallery and post it on your blog, through badges. An example of this is located

under the title "SLC Public Library Unofficial Photography". These photos are feeds from a Flickr group and the feed updates every time someone uploads a new picture to the group. It also cycles through the current photographs that are on the group, so every time you refresh a series of new pictures appear.

With technologies like these, the library could moderate submissions, and then have them automatically be updated on the main page. A bit like the Salt Lake City Government page, which updates a photo every time you refresh the page, except more of that 2.0 concept of sharing. An even more elegant display could be used under the technology of Flickrshow, a javascript Flickr slideshow that utilizes a simple crisp, clean interface and is compatibilite with photosets, groups and tags.

These are some amazing tools, though, if your not careful, it can be easy to get lost in Third Party Flickr Apps. While being able to do extra features with Flickr and any 2.0 tool are fun, sometimes they just end up be time wasters. The same can be said of the many Mashups, Crashups and Remixes of 2.0 technology, and six out ten attempts, my blog. Just keep perspective here and be a professional.

Boogerman and Captain Underpants would be proud.

I Can Has Librearean Two Point Oh.

2008-02-16T08:35:00.000-08:00

"What," might you ask, "should I write about if not myself?" Feel free to take creative liberties with the truth. Make up an alter ego. Become your pet cat. Have some fun with it."

-Tech Reps

..and now a word from my two point oh sponsors.

2008-02-14T22:46:00.000-08:00

If setting up your blogger was a cinch and myspace made you yawn in sync to the rest of your two point oh tasks, then its time to wake up and enter the world of Go2Web20.

G2W is a flash based resource which introduces the latest 2.0 technologies through a drop down menu leading to tagged interest. Or you can brave the depths of uncertainty through a search.

Its guaranteed to hold the interest of any member of the fast food give me the goods now and go computer generation or we haven't hit you with enough of our subliminal advertising from our leader hyno-toad.

do your Library Thing.

2008-02-13T09:08:00.000-08:00

While soft and comfortable in its icon interface, Library Thing makes it difficult to access simple options like "Put your library on your blog". However, I was able to circumvent, social engineer and strategically locate the correct linkage to bring my bookcase:

Entire book clubs could crop up from this idea, the Library Thing, and in fact they have. Part of being a community hero/ine, being 2.5 is looking to the possibilities of all these technologies, so strap in for a ride, I am dreaming here. again.

While SLC Reads is great, it needs to attract a larger range of audiences. Honestly, when I heard of the program I was quick to think(or not), that the entire community was reading the latest John Grisham. While they offer beyond Grisham, they only offer Children/Young Adult, a Fiction Selection and Non-Fiction Selection. This may seem complete, however, many of todays youth are involved in reading graphic novels. I don't expect graphic novels to be added to SLC reads, but to gain inspiration from the program. Akin to bringing SLC together through SLC Reads, I believe this library thing can bring many more genres to a similar structured program, encouraging the a wide range of individuals to share their ideas on graphic novels, cook books, automobile books and even more personal books - because if a book club was on library thing anonymity and privacy would be easier to maintain. Finally, if it was based in Salt Lake City, the book group would be able connect more easily to their city, to their community, and perhaps, when confidence was gained, the Library Thing could become the groups private gathering thing, and that in turn is a beautiful thing.

Tag's Folksonomy.

2008-02-11T12:31:00.000-08:00

Folksonomy. A folk band that tags random pedestrian crossing signs with hula hoops in celebration of the String Cheese Incident.

I am particular on my tags and how I use them. I will tag a web page as a reminder, but a blog entry seems more probable in finding what I want to find in it with a custom google search. So you won't find tags or labels on this entry e.g. scooters, vacation, fall. I won't be on the tag team, but hey, google is a good enough achievement for me. Maybe I will throw in the SLCPL2.0 tag, just to be a good sport:
SLCPL2.0

I might use this tagging idea for my other blog, Saltcycle.com to reach a larger audience. Similarly, I could see tags being use to reach out individuals within our community looking for particular topic resources.

Technorati.com itself is a mess of a site, needing some structural cleanup from the bottom up. It hurts my head like myspace did, and find returning to the easier to manage del.i.cio.us for my tagging needs.

I have found myself at times with too many tags, where library catalogs have been more concise in their presentation, tagging can be a giant mess, a cloud of headaches.

Forgotten in this mess of tags is map tagging, which could bring interesting results to the library.

Imagine, a map system created by the library and patrons go and map their location along with a picture of the book they are reading. Of course, that is one of many ideas.

What about people that don't have GPS? "Google Maps for Mobile 2.0 which will allow people without GPS-enabled phones to pinpoint their location on their handsets." -google.com

Imagine the maps, the tagging, the pictures that could be created with such a system. ..

Inspiring.

Social Networking & Wikipedia.

2008-02-10T09:31:00.001-08:00

This post is a bonus post. It combines the last two exercises of wiki and social networking and mixes them together in what will be known as a mashup of pure ideology. If you print it out and turn it in, you will win a prize. Hey it worked elsewhere. [0]*

After exploring Orkut today, a social networking site, I found out it is the #1 most accessed website in Brazil, followed by followed by 16.53% from India. [1]

I realized this and researched this after visiting the Salt Lake City communities and finding post like "how do u convert Indian B.sc degree score into gpa score?"[2]

The website itself is clean in contrast to myspace, no ads, but adds many nonsense features like "hotlist" and "crushlist". According to the Orkut help system, the lists are used, "When potential love interests visit this section of your profile, they'll be able to add you to their hot-list, crush-list or send you a teaser."[3] Boy howdy, I feel like I am third grade all over again passing notes that ask the girl in pigtails to check 'yes' or 'no' if she likes me.

When you are ready to interact with others and their profiles, txt-msg input floods Orkut in all of its obnoxious behavior, its as though the keyboards of the users have been replaced with phones, which is frightening is a frightening concept if you have ever seen the driving in India, imagine the drivers texting while driving. It would be carmageddon in the streets and spreading to the Orkut message boards with atrociously written half eligible writing. The real world and virtual world would both suffer. [4]

However, like many hunt-and-find treasure adventures that library staff envoke in, you find more alternatives, more possibilities. The end of the of the Internet has not happened. Yet. [5]

Enter the List of social networking sites provided by the number five activity on the hive, wikis, and the queen of them all Wikipedia providing it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites

This list among others provide possibilities of making you hopelessly social and form large posterior prints in the chair.

Another list provided by wiki, is the wiki list:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wiki

I prefer wetpaint.com, as they offer easy to use wikis that are free. It is not on that list, but that doesn't mean it needs any less love. Its on the "hotlist".

You can also search for wikis with http://www.wikia.com/wiki/Wikia. So if you get several patrons that are pasty, have blood coming from their mouth and are dragging their torn off legs while mumbling "brains" and you know its not halloween, you can rest assured several wikis exists on what to do in case of a zombie invasion by simple searching for "zombie". While your at it, for your safety put a hold on The zombie survival guide : complete protection from the living dead by Max Brooks.[6] Sure the person that has it out may not return it because they are turned into a mindless zombie devoid of responsibility, but hey that doesn't take away your responsibility from being a responsible librarian.

This is what differentiates the wiki from the book. While The zombie survival guide : complete protection from the living dead by Max Brooks happens to be a mere 254 pages researched by Max Brooks alone, the Zombie Survival Wiki[7] adds the knowledge of hundreds of users from all different Zombie backgrounds, and while many borrow heavily from Max Brooks, they all have their own unique way, their own unique vision on how to kill, run and avoid the zombie invasion.

Is the wiki more might than the book? No. However, when bringing several people together on a single topic, event or activity[8], wikipedia is a powerful tool.

One of the complaints I have heard about wikis are the lack of facts. However, if you check the references, and they are from reliable sources, than it should work out to be a valuable resource. If there are no resources, than it is as reliable as your friend getting bit by that zombie. Time to wiki up some knowledge on the Z-heads.

*No prize is being given at this time. As soon as the zombie outbreak occurs, a complimentary hard bound reference book will be given to utilize not in reading of the zombies, but rather splatting them akin to Splatterhouse of the 80s. [9]

its not myspace, its not yourspace, its theirspace.

2008-02-08T22:22:00.000-08:00

While myspace can be seen as an initial location for a library, I would be disappointed if most of the Internet resources went into its maintenance. Too often, you see the custom graphic, blarring track, blinking banner myspace site that the individual has tweaked again and again, with a link buried underneath it directing you to their site. Upon arrival, you find an obnoxious under construction sign complete with blink blink blinking yellow caution lights. We have young vibrant coders out there drinking coffee, trying code on. Their arsenal doesn't need to be wasted on tweaking the myspace, lets put them to work on tricky CSS, RSS tweaks and other mysterious codings that s and their like. As I feel the age of 2.0 and multitasking productivity has granted me certain copying rights, I am copying this and placing this on my library blog. So there.

And so it is here, and then some..

I worry about privacy issues in dealing with myspace, facebook and the assorted social networks. Which is why I am 88 years old and am from Idaho. Nothing against being honest, just don't feel like honesty stretches far from the individuals that bring you this advertisement:

Or this one.

Because its not myspace, its not yourspace, its theirspace and it should concern libraries to move away from such an environment as soon as something better presents itself because thatspace is sprinkling library services to advertisements. Ads should come from the library community affairs for the library, not from the News Corporation and its affiliates.

If a library has to succumb to ads, well, lets google ad it.

Sponsored Links
Online Library
Try us for Free! Easier Research.
Read books, journals & articles.
www.Questia.com/Online_Library

Maybe google will create their own social network? .. oh yeah they did.

Now just the matter of migrating the 300 million accounts.

Start with me!

http://www.myspace.com/zedbailey
(my myspace account, slightly modified to block almost everything.)

I'm My Own Wiki.

2008-02-04T09:14:00.000-08:00

[article] [discussion] [edit this page] [+] [history] Last Edit: 02/04/07

The wiki. The source of knowledge of many, the factual, well, that is all according to the P.O.V. To learn to write in a wiki, is as a new art form unto itself.

Instead of writing, "The book Wiki'wiki'oma'pedia sucks!", one would write "Several reviews have listed Wiki'wiki'oma'pedia as a less than desirable book, one in particular stating, "a poorly written piece of suck."(1)

(1) http://www.joeysedsandbarrysemphaticdiscoursereviewsoftextage.com/index/ov/cheesestik/

So if its not your opinion, but the opinion of a ~~major money making empire of evil intentions~~,(Needs better source for opinion) it should work well in your editing.

It should also be considered that the administration of a given wiki vastly influence the outcome of the wiki. Sites like http://www.wikipedia.org/ have a wide range of administrators, who according to a brother in another state, can be real nasty if you cross them wrong and send your precious work of 6 months of editing into a perfect disgusting oblivion through banning. (added to clarify situation)

Of course users, too can be tough to work out issues. You work an hour on a page for only to have it torn down faster than instant noodles.

Luckily, we have good minded people in this here library place, who are good at working through issues and after being through the burner of the toughest of tough patrons, will find working the wiki edge like e-z cheese. (generalization clarify P.O.V.)

All this mentioning of instant noodles and e-z cheese is making me... sick.

One of my favorite wikis is wetpaint.com as it is simple and easy to use.

It also has less discussions concerning the deletion of the article because you are in control as users can create the wiki. (added create wiki portion)

ie.
discussion

This entire blog posting is the wrong P.O.V. for the wiki. delete it.
MisterBobDob 02:23, 4 May 2005 (UTC)

Well, I am out of ideas so, go ahead and edit. Spice it up, take it down, modify it.

~~I will hope you make the right choice.~~ (redundant.)

As you can see with all the edits, strike through and associated material, I am my own wiki. While being Librarian 2.5 was a bit of status, being my own wiki just makes me look like a mess. I think I need collaboration. Lets mix this up SLCPL like its wiki two thousand 99. Just waiting for The Learning Library 2.0 Team to drop the key, then you will see as I bust a move..

*Note to self, editing your personal library blog is bad when you have sleep deprivation, but don't worry, its a wiki blog, so you can send in someone better to fix all your nasty spills. Note to others reading note to self, this note is to myself not yourself, so stop reading the note to myself, because you can make notes to yourself. Seriously. (Comment personal, no relevance to topic. Deleted.)

Master Wiki knows all. It is through our collective knowledge we are able to realize this power, this potential. (Reason for posting this?)

~~[article] [discussion] [edit this page] [+] [history]~~ (Moved to top)

the Librarian.

2008-01-31T08:22:00.000-08:00

I never understood the dynamics of the "Librarian" title. Not that I don't appreciate this title, its just that you never know when it is proper to use it. The patrons often see all of us as librarians because we work at a library. However, within the organization itself, the library title isn't simply taken, its given through the blood, sweat and tears of the Master of Library Science program which I have yet to embark upon.

So is it presumptuous for me to claim i Am Librarian 2.5? (more on the .5 later..)

Potentially, but rather than start an old school librarian riot of shhing into oblivion I offer the following:

The Alpha Librarian. Greeks and geeks alike agree, Alpha is in and has been since 8th century BC, so in order to donate the blood sweat and tears, we could clarify an individual that has acquired the MLS as an Alpha Librarian.

I am perfectly content with being a Beta, I never really felt ready for release and rather buggy at times, crashing at random into beds and couches.

However, despite the Greek titles could we forgo the hazing portion of joining the library? I don't feel like balancing ten books on my head in Library Square while I walk 100 yards getting pelted with rubber bands from the ever increasing library rubber band collection.

Onto the '.5'...

The .5 rather than 2.0 is not so much my ability to master .5 techniques, but rather as a beckoning to welcome the next technological revolution into the library system.
I am placing dibs on holograms, but hey I would be alright with self check-in.

So akin to Stephen Colbert's I Am America (And So Can You!) I encourage you too to become Librarian 2.5. Whether you run Alpha or Beta, I have love for all librarians, including you.