stay tuned!

okay so 23 things is done(see the last 2 entries) but the blog isn't. today is my last day of "work" but family and friends can stay tuned for updates over the next few months. happy reading!

step #20~canuck chicks rock!

okay so i have spent a bit of time playing around with last.fm and i have come to the conclusion that this might just be my favourite part of 23 things! you see i am in love with a canadian singer, jann arden. she is so canadian you can hardly hear her anywhere outside of canada even though she has won countless awards and has about a zillion cd’s out and european/north american tours. but since i moved here to the land of cheese and chocolate i haven’t heard her and even missed that she had a new cd out!!!!!! horrible!!!! what kind of pathetic fan am i? but now thanks to last.fm my troubles are over! i can listen to her again. and what is also super duper about last.fm is that the majority of the other recommended tracks and artists are people i regularly listen to like other canuck chicks like amanda marshell, chantel kraviatzik and sarah mclachlan. and other great artists i totally enjoy like indigo girls, shawn colvin, melissa ethridge and the likes. there were some where i thought what in the world is this? but still the majority have been dead on to my taste. even the artists you find via via via have been to my liking. i can over look the fact that each song is a different volume and requires adjusting if the music stays this good. i also really like the info. they provide over the artists. i’ve always enjoyed reading bios over artists and now i don’t even have to look them up myself, they are provided! i enjoy that!. the one thing i don’t really find interesting for myself is the “making friends” option. i don’t really see this as a social networking opportunity for myself. i can see how one could desire the social aspect of it. chatting with other people who all enjoy the same music as you, meeting up at the same concerts and such but really…i don’t feel the need. what i do feel the need for is to see if i can use last.fm on my new smartphone! now that would be something totally super duper! i’m off to play some more…

step #23~the end

this time around i'm just going to fill in the answers cause i'm really not sure how else to do it. i hope that's not too boring...

wat waren je favoriete Dingen die je onderweg hebt leren kennen en gebruiken?

well i really like netvibes...i use it daily and really find it handy for keeping my web stuff organised. i also really like last.fm. i liked spelling with flickr for a bit of creative mindless fun and have used flickr to share photo's with family and friends.

wat heeft dit leerprogramma “gedaan” met jou en met de organisatie waar je werkt?

personally this learning program has really just helped me to get off my lazy butt and try the various things i had already read about and talked about or passively experienced. it has created the opportunity for me to take the time to actually do things i had just never gotten around to.

it has been really interesting to observe how people here have responded to having to do 23 things. at first there were a lot of negative murmurs and every once in a while there still are but there have also been quite postive conversations that have not only brought co-workers further in their journey towards library 2.0ification but also just plain closer as co-workers. it has been great to see people being more open to asking for help and trying to help eachother out. i have really seen that as a postive from this experience. and lets face it having done it we are all a step...or 23 steps closer to being able to lead the 2.0 pack. the majority of us are still sheep following along with the trends and that will always be i think. but we are now better equipped to help those following after us.

waren er dingen die je verrasten, als onverwacht resultaat van dit programma?

i think i was more suprised by the team building effect of the program then the actual contents of the program itself. it has just been so postive in that respect. i feel like we should do something else like this to keep it going.

wat kan er gedaan worden om 23 Dingen te verbeteren?

a more advanced option would be great for people who are already quite handy with web2.0 applications. there were often more advanced options that were seen as like " if you really like this then dig a bit deeper" but that's not quite what i mean. i mean like other programs and such so that when you know all about podcasts and social networks you can check something else out. is that clear at all?

En vul aan: “23 Dingen is voor mij …”

for me 23 things is a great learning tool that has the potential to help inspire librarians and being the libary to the next needed service level. but i think it is just the beginning. now it is time for us to try things out and incorperate what we experiment with into our libraries and see how we can better our selves and our services.

thanks management for the great chance for a bit of fun, team building and even learning!

a librarian's 2.0 manifesto

A Librarian's 2.0 Manifesto from Library 2.0: An Academic Librarian's Perspective. Copied from the original blog post.

• I will recognize that the universe of information culture is changing fast and that libraries need to respond positively to these changes to provide resources and services that users need and want.
• I will educate myself about the information culture of my users and look for ways to incorporate what I learn into library services.
• I will not be defensive about my library, but will look clearly at its situation and make an honest assessment about what can be accomplished.
• I will become an active participant in moving my library forward.
• I will recognize that libraries change slowly, and will work with my colleagues to expedite our responsiveness to change.
• I will be courageous about proposing new services and new ways of providing services, even though some of my colleagues will be resistant.
• I will enjoy the excitement and fun of positive change and will convey this to colleagues and users.
• I will let go of previous practices if there is a better way to do things now, even if these practices once seemed so great.
• I will take an experimental approach to change and be willing to make mistakes.
• I will not wait until something is perfect before I release it, and I'll modify it based on user feedback.
• I will not fear Google or related services, but rather will take advantage of these services to benefit users while also providing excellent library services that users need.
• I will avoid requiring users to see things in librarians' terms but rather will shape services to reflect users' preferences and expectations.
• I will be willing to go where users are, both online and in physical spaces, to practice my profession.
• I will create open Web sites that allow users to join with librarians to contribute content in order to enhance their learning experience and provide assistance to their peers.
• I will lobby for an open catalog that provides personalized, interactive features that users expect in online information environments.
• I will encourage my library's administration to blog.
• I will validate, through my actions, librarians' vital and relevant professional role in any type of information culture that evolves.
  

Posted by Laura Cohen on November 8, 2006 01:01 PM

step #22~the evolution of the library…

1. Lees twee of drie artikelen over Bibliotheek 2.0 uit de bronnenlijst (engels en/of Nederlands). 2. Schrijf een blogpost waarin je je gedachten weergeeft over één van deze artikelen
3.Meld je aan bij de Nederlandse Bibliotheek 2.0 Ning community met je cursusaccountgegevens. 4. Schrijf een blogpost over waarin je iets schrijft over hoe jij tegen Bibliotheek 2.0 aankijkt.

okay so me being i in all my super geekdom glory am convinced that you can make a great parallel between the history of the library and the history of the church. in fact, i am convinced that in some respects the two even go hand in hand. however, i am aware that no one is interested in reading this comparison but me so i will save everyone from extreme boredom and refrain. however, i came to this conclusion while reading the articles about library 2.0 and that the whole idea about library 2.0 being about the evolutionary process of public access. if you think back, even just in library history, that has been a trend from the beginning. moving from monastic libraries to closed stakes to open stakes. library 2.0 seems like the next logical step where we as librarians continue to move from keepers of the information treasure chest to being the tour guides. yeah, we have made several steps towards that already but if the patron still can’t understand our way of doing things then we have to change to meet their needs. and as the times change so do the needs and our way of meeting them need to change too. that doesn’t mean we throw everything we’ve done out the window but it does mean that we need to be open to compromise without compromising our core. i think really the Librarian Manifesto sums it all up very well. it does not at any point say that we as librarians throw our current system out the window but that we let ourselves be receptive to the changes of the world around us and attempt to incorporate those into the library world so that we can continue to do our job effectively. we need to evolve our ideas, our programs and our services in accordance with the desires of the user and changes of their culture while being open to failure, criticism, input, and remaining positive through the whole process. I think that that is basically what we have been doing very slowly over the last few hundred years…normally in response to a crisis of some sort… and now we need to make that step a bit faster to keep up with the extra fast moving people of this time period…and we do this in response to the crisis that if we don’t, we not only stagnate, we find ourselves out of a job. this is where something like bibliotheek 2.0 ning and library 2.0 ning are super handy networks that help us as librarians help each other to track trends, evolve our services and give each other feedback on how we are doing. the evolutionary process is much easier of you do it as a team and not just on your own. Instead of being the single salmon fighting the current you become one of many going with the flow, moving forward together…but don’t worry, at the end of this story you don’t die like the salmon, you evolve to a higher level of service, standards and patron satisfaction. and that is really what being a librarian is all about.

step #21~ pop rocks and diet coke

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due to technical difficulties i have been forced to temporarily skip step #20 and move on to #21…the aquabrowser…what do i think? i like it! i like the cool interface. it has the potential to let patrons and in particular students make actual use of the OPAC and maybe just maybe even make it fun! it fits with the professional look of applications, social networks, gaming and the likes that students now view as the norm. heck even i view it as the norm and like the eye candy of the new browser. i like the idea of a social browser too where patrons have input into how they find things like with a tag cloud. maybe it will help people find what they are looking for. sure a tag cloud doesn’t replace standard search methods made possible by fastidious cataloguing but it can enhances it, since student brains definitely work differently then cataloguer brains. i like the idea of reviewing and ranking too. students can give a heads-up to there fellow students “like this was super great for my paper about nietzsche” or “don’t be fooled the title says this is about hair but really it’s about rabbits” but i think it would be great if this could be done by both users and librarian to provide a fuller picture of the book…in an academic setting i think this is important so that students don’t discard an important book based on a fellow students poor review or vice versa…in a public library i see this as less of an issue. and i like that you can make lists of books you like, were useful you wanna read, etc. super handy when you are working on your these and you realise you forgot to cite a book and have to find it again or when you want to tell you mom about this great book you read last month but can’t remember the title or whatever your scenario is…but all of the things that i have named as advantages do beg the questions…is it necessary to cater to the student with a new sexy OPAC or should we as the library continue to indoctrinate users and force them to follow our rules…and i think it is both. we should provide a stimulating interface with input potential while sticking to our core business of providing information and teaching students proper researching techniques to do so. one shouldn’t replace the other it should bring things to a new and better level like a glass of wine is said to enhance the flavour of your dinner…i have heard anyway. i personally prefer diet coke but that only really enhances the taste of like pop rocks… know what i mean? so maybe the OPAC is the diet coke and the aquabrowser is the pop rocks? okay i have seriously digressed. i’m moving on…does this country have pop rocks? okay i’m really moving on….step #22…