Thing #16: Wiki, Wiki, Wiki

Judging from these postings, wikis are a popular tool being considered by libraries. However, it would seem that in their purest form, with open editing and unfettered contribution, wikis would be very problematic in a library setting. Mischief, both silly and serious, and inaccuracies are hardly unknown to that mother of all wikis, Wikipedia. Some examples are posted at http://www.wikipedia-watch.org/vandals.html. Most users already know, or ought to be told, that while wikipedia is a valuable resource, it is unreliable and typically unacceptable in schools and colleges as a legitimate reference. In light of similar possible problems, any wiki that a public library sets up or sponsors would need close oversight. And while a link from the library's home page to a community wiki could be useful, as could wiki subject guides, library wikis might work best for internal collaborative staff efforts like projects and program development. There, the wiki format would be a great advance over current practices.

Thing #15: The Future

I enjoyed the articles so much. The authors' enthusiasm about the future of libraries was contagious, and I caught the bug. We all know that the coming of the internet has had an enormous impact on libraries in the last decade, and that we should prepare ourselves for a professional life of continual changes. It's the only way our profession and libraries have a future. Or we might as well put out the "Closed" sign right now and look into another line of work. But since we do think this is a valuable profession, and we certainly do want young people to consider it for their life's work, let's think positively. Let's anticipate that the powers-that-be will keep their eyes on the goal: those core values which a library stands for in the community and that make libraries essential in a democratic society. Changing technology can serve those ends, as the articles describe.
In particular, I got a kick out of Wendy Schultz' sweeping vision of the library of the future. She doesn't stop at Library 2.0. No, that isn't enough for this futurist. Ms. Schultz gives us a glimpse into the world of a 3D Library 3.0 and on to Library 4.0. The future may be books with avatars, favorite famous librarian avatars guiding us through virtual collections. In the 4.0 version, physical libraries will be knowledge "spas" with stimulating salon-like conversation and atmosphere, art and music, real and virtual book collections, leather chairs, coffee and single malt, along with all that technology has to offer. Great fun and hope I'm around to join her for a glass of wine (not the single malt type, me) at the library/knowledge spa. And I'm not taking anything away from her vision in saying that we already enjoy a few aspects of it already, even if it's not in 3D! In our library system, we are lucky to already have wonderful readers' advisors, an intellectual setting, stimulating atmosphere and real (ok, sometimes real bad) coffee. We even have our own almost-famous librarian (retired) avatar . Just check out Roberta Rood's Books To The Ceiling Blog ! http://www.robertarood.wordpress.com/ She offers insightful recommendations and her passion for literature is compelling.

Things #13 and #14: Tagging, Del.icio.us and Technorati

So much valuable info is out there in those tens of millions of blogs if only you can find it. One thing I learned from these assignments was that Technorati, the chief blog search engine, lets me narrow down my search for what is going to be entertaining or helpful to me by the use of tags, or keywords without a control list. And I can tag my own entries for sharing and retrieving. As for Del.icio.us, a social bookmarking tool, the podcast from the Otter Group was the perfect introduction to it, showing how you don't have to be a researcher or academic to make it work for you. One thing on Del.icio.us can lead you to another and another and another, and back to you. I can definitely see having an account with Del.icio.us.

Thing #12: Search Rolls/Rollyo

I registered with Rollyo and made my own search roll, "NewsJunkieNancy". The thousands, or tens of thousands, of individual website lists might sometimes help in Ref. work to track down obscure or ephemeral information but only if precise keywords are used. In the main, tho, there is bound to be enormous,time-consuming useless duplication as far as searching goes.

Thing #11: Library Thing

Thanks to Library Thing, I now have a new way I can keep track of the books I've read.

Thing #10: Avatars

It was fun picking from the avatar options on several of the image generators. What choices! I finally settled on one from Meez.

Thing #9: MERLIN and News Feeds

I looked at MERLIN and our own HCL contribution, and will check it periodically. Also feel more sure about how to use news feeds.