Monday, February 18, 2008

Thing Two

Well, here I am, behind on the second thing of a 23 thing project. And imho, that's pretty much the essence of why people don't get more involved with Web 2.0; there aren't enough hours in the day. Yes, I know all about time management, and I watched Steven Abram's chat on Library 2.0, but as an example, things came up this weekend (we had the Second Annual Knit-Out at the Mall of America) and thus, I was unable to post as "scheduled" on Saturday.

I think that there are a lot of great applications for Web 2.0 in a library. I think that there are practical applications for users and librarians alike. We keep in touch through various venues – IMing, sharing favorites, opinions and comments, letting people participate in libraries no matter where they are. The interactive part keeps people “plugged in” to their library. Really, when you think about the dark ages, you wonder how anyone managed to wade through all that cumbersome paper, and (ugh!) those sluggish telephone calls, to find the information they were looking for or the expert they wanted to consult. I’m not sure I’d want to be the one monitoring the chatter on a public library FaceBook page for teen users, but I sincerely hope that the value it adds to services makes it worth it for the poor souls who do.

And that brings me back to why I’m doing 23 Things on a Stick – If I can familiarize myself with the tools, and think about how to use them, perhaps I can find a tool that will be useful to me and I can add it to my box.

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