taking libraries 2.0 the extreme

Some good points are brought up in the discovery resources. For a long time, librarians have fantasized about the library being the "hub of the community;" I should know- I'm one of them. However, we seem to be the only ones. You just don't hear and read about people from other professions talking up the benefits of having the library as the Center. In theory, it is an excellent and logical idea. And in theory, the decisions we make and consequently our actions are more rewarding when we take advantage of the availability of information, which just in case you haven't figured it out, libraries don't have a monopoly on. Yes, we are always free but unfortunatlely we are not always convenient and often just the opposite of that. When cities began to grow we ditched the town square because it was no longer convenient and relevant. With an ever-growing online community libraries have a second chance to establish our usefullness. Tools like wikis, tools that are collaborative and a community effort, are essential to our survival. The trick to that is figuring out what we are good at and then taking it 2.0 the extreme.

Wordle Web 2.0

I enjoyed the NextSpace Newsletter. Some of the points I resonate with:

• Books are no longer commodites (however, they might again be some day.)
• How does one justify a "just-in-case" book collection? (Thank you Core Reference Committee, whoever you are.)
• As information increases, the need for experienced tour-guides becomes even more necessary (job security?)
• The analogy of icebergs. (Think the Titanic)
• Web 4.0. (A holo-deck- a holo-deck!)

Creating the above Wordle and future musing I was also consciously aware of my co-worker's harrassment by 2 customers in a row... first a guy commenting on his status as an "undershirt kind of guy" and then ALMOST SIMULTANEOUSLY our she-predator brushing by him a little too closely and adjusting her long bright acrylic claws a little too intently on his shoulder- seriously, I could see the indentations on his shirt.

However you see it- you just gotta love the library.

delicious

I condensed my work-related web-pages (BWI, OWA, ETC) into a delicious account, but what I really want to do is take a bite out of a cupcake that looks just like this one.

library thing

What I decided to do is to catalog the teen fiction that I've read, since that is my biggest readers' advisory weakness. I may or may not keep it going- time will tell. Anyone notice how depressing much teenage fiction is? "Uplifting" is one of my library thing tags, but I haven't used it yet. The book on the right is about the life-long frienship of two girls in the context of the Spanish Inquistion. The teenage angst themes portrayed are love, betrayal, romance, loyalty, and burning people alive (okay, maybe that last one isn't a common teenage anxiety).