This is such a great story about using user-generated tagging to find a book for a patron based only on what the book was about. It shows the ingenuity of a resourceful librarian and how social networking tools can be encorporated into daily reference work.

She tells us all the things libraries *should* be doing right now:

Instant Messaging Blogs Wikis Skype User Comments Photo Sharing Avatars Video Reference Podcasting Videocasting Media Listening Stations Text Messaging Updates & Reference

Some 2.0 Services We Want in All of Our Libraries...Right Now 2.0 worthy Catalogs Social Bookmarking Tagging Social Networks Better Library “Spaces” RSS Feeds Mash-Ups Widgets Marketplace Shelving Twitter/Microblogging

Well, maybe not everything at once. But she does point out what to do: advocate to the higher up's, plan, why 2.0 services are important, and what makes a project successful. Very useful information.

Wed, Oct 22, 3:00 - 5:30 (EST)

Live Webcast - http://si.umich.edu/jsb
Submit your questions via e-mail.

A leading proponent of open access to all knowledge will consider the consequences of the connsolidation of information into the hands of a few private organizations when he delivers the keynote lecture at the fourth John Seely Brown Symposium on Technology and Society, sponsored by U-M's School of Information.

Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive and director of the Open Content Alliance (OCA), has been a critic of proprietary services like the massive Google Books project, which does not make the books it scans available to other search services. The project recently scanned its
one-millionth volume from the University of Michigan libraries.

Following Kahle's talk, a panel of experts will comment on Kahle's ideas and discuss the possibilities of "Library 2.0" -- the next generation of libraries, which will capitalize on all that the digital age has to offer to benefit patrons, including social networking, 24-hour services,
and user-created content.

The event is free and open to the public and will be followed by a public reception.

Please visit http://si.umich.edu/jsb to learn more about the event or to view the Webcast. During Brewster Kahle's keynote talk and the Q&A session that will follow it, submit your questions online to jsbsymposium@umich.edu.

From the Text a Librarian website, it claims to be easy to set up and easy to use allowing libraries to be up and running with the service the same day the sign up. Checking out their demo and how-it-works page it doesn't look too difficult to encorporate it into an existing email or IM service. Plus Q&A pieces are retained in a web-based format that you can share with your patrons as an FAQ resource.

With more and more people using text messaging as an everyday way of communicating this is definitely an option libraries should consider. Another access point for you patrons!

The first, I received as a "gift" for attending a workshop on interactive tools for instruction (with a concentration on reference). The second I bought about ten years ago because I felt guilty for not having it in the house. The third was my going away gift to college (twenty years ago) coupled with the American Heritage Thesaurus. I keep it because it has all my markings and notations from those great years of intellectual expansion. The last time I looked in my print dictionary was when I was searching for a 10+ word that started with 'E' in my daily cryptogram puzzle about three years ago. I can't remember the word right now but it's marked on the page I where I found it!

Even though the medical reference book is about 10 years old, I use it quite regularly, meaning about once a quarter. Every time I look something up in that book I thank myself for subsiding to my guilt on that purchase. I have no plans to replace it with a newer version at the moment.

The World Almanac - I think my husband looked in it once since we've had it to look up a bit of fleeting trivia.

I should also mention that while I don't have # 3. Oxford Atlas of the World specifically, I do keep a "Map Drawer" in my built-in buffet of all maps and various atlases I have picked up through the years. I love maps. I'm fascinated with them. I could go on, but that's about all you need to know in this posting.

So, reading through the comments section of Shapiro's post (92 at the time of this post). I found it interesting the range of resources listed, but more interestingly by the librarians promoting reference sources (yea "New York Public Library Desk Reference", fun read and a good research project for those that want to see what types of questions are being asked in a library, but it's not part of my personal financial budget).

Most interestly, are the posts of the lovers and haters of print and online reading. I liked the one comment saying "Does a desktop with an internet connection count?" as a reference source. I think that's how most people view their computers these days. Then there are the ones that are adamant that online never ever replace print sources because reading online text for any length of time gives them headaches. But the lovers and the haters never really answered the question of if they even have any reference books in their home library. And here are the haters reading the blog and posting about how they can't stand the small font. It makes me wonder if they actually have any reference books in their home library at all or where they actually go to find resources/sources of information. It's a tangent off the initial argument but that's where the comments were taking my thoughts.

So regarding my own home library reference collection - I don't have any plans for purchasing or replacing the ones I currently have. I will, and have been for a while now, default to online sources - especially those accessible via my online public/academic library. Sorry publishers.

Remember in the 5th grade when everyone was given a piece of paper with instructions on it and the teacher told you to read the whole thing first and then go back and begin doing what the instructions said? Shortly after distributing the paper, you heard people clapping, barking, and basically making fools of themselves as they read through the instructions and did what it said. Then you got to the end and it said something like, "Don't do any of the above, this was just a test". I think it's just human nature to do first and then read instructions.

So this is what I'm doing with Google Chrome but I've already got questions and am trying to go back and find the answers and not finding them. Before I get into my questions, I'll go over my initial discoveries and likes:

-Hey! They've combined the search field and the url field in one box!!! Wow! that's so cool. I can search for something or enter a url and it will begin adding search string suggestions as I go along for either.

-It automatically imports my bookmarks and favorites upon download. Very convenient.

-Like the new font look. Different, refreshing (but I'm such this will fade soon enough).

-Be like spy! I can click on "New Incognito Window" which will open a new window that I can search/view pages and it won't appear in my browser history or search history and it won't leave cookies or other traces of me behind. Sweet!

-Pages load super fast! Not sure if this is Google Chrome or the fact that I'm playing around with this at 7am and there's not much traffic at this hour. But Google does say in their cartoonized About section (Note: we should all take a lesson from Google on how to put together an engaging About section!) that it is suppose to increase speed of pages.

Now some questions:

-Where is the home button? How do I add a home button to the tool bar?

-For that matter how do I customize my tool bar? Arrange bookmarks, add plugins and tool bar buttons as well as much more? Google Chrome has really streamlined their tool bar section, I think I'm too spoiled with Firefox in this regard. I like playing with my tool bar and adding/deleting things that are conveniently one click away like my Delicious tags. Haven't found where I can add this yet.

-Why do tabs of pages I'm viewing have to go away when I create a an application shortcut? Note: need to read more about why creating application shortcuts are useful and what they all can do.

That's all for now. I still need to explore this further but I like having the option of another browser like this. It's definitely a step forward in design, architecture, and usability.

Hey, if you're interested in more info about Google Tools, Little Green Bar has a great write up on Amazing Google Tools that is well worth the time to read - even before you dive into them w/o reading the instructions!

The Minneapolis Community and Technical College Library has launched a
half-hour long radio show on BlogTalkRadio. Listen to our inaugural
show at:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/MCTC-Library

We discuss incorporating humor in teaching and learning with Craig
Hergert, MCTC English faculty member and part-time stand-up comedian.

Our show "airs" live every two weeks from 11-11:30 a.m. on Friday
mornings. Our next live show is Friday May 16. Or,
you can listen to the archived shows at the above link anytime after the
live show ends.

Registration is available here: http://www.oclc.org/support/training/netlibrary/successlive/default.htm

Personally, I love using NetLibrary. I think it's an untapped gold mine not only of resources by of organizing books and the content in books for leisure and research. People are always amazed at the capabilities within NetLibrary whenever I talk about it in webinars. Now get the info straight from the source.

I have thought of a couple of updates I would like to see integrated into NetLibrary to make them more appealling to the general population: 1. When saving a book to your personal account have an amazon.com-like feature of "...other people who have saved this book also saved these books..." and 2. Allow us to contribute and share content kind of like LibraryThing or looking at a way to connect it to outside content such as author info like Open Library.

I invite you to take a look at the AskMN's site to get a better understanding of what is being offered to patrons. Also, if you're interested in participating in the cooperative or would like to hear more of the benefits and specifics of participating in AskMN or would like to point your patrons to the 24/7 service for additional reference help beyond your library's hours by placing a link to the service please contact me, Carla Pfahl, directly at pfahl001 at umn dot edu and I'll be happy to answer your questions.

You can check out Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College Library website, http://www.fdltcc.edu/web/Library/ReferenceHelp.html to see a great example of adding the AskMN service link to your webpage.

Presentation slides: http://www5.oclc.org/downloads/research/webinars/smilingonline.pdf

MP3 audio of the presentation: http://www5.oclc.org/downloads/research/webinars/smilingonline.mp3

Additional resources

Learn more about the Seeking Synchronicity project:
http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/synchronicity/default.htm

Visit OCLC Research to learn more about current projects:
http://www.oclc.org/research/default.htm

New sites are cropping up, such as the recently-opened beta of Shyfter, which allow users to not only share their feeds, but also discuss specific posts in one place.

Another post I ran across today I wanted to share is from TechSurfBlog. I today's post the author talks about Blogging Less, Twittering More. An interesting look at what may be a larger trend as people find blogging to take up a lot of time and twittering to, maybe, fill in the holes.

Here are some of my notes from today's session:
Age groups identified:
Boomers - born between 1945 - 1964
Gen X - born between 1964 - 1979
Millennials - born between 1979 - 1994
(subgroup of Millennials - Screenagers - born between 1988 - 1994)

Contrasting the differences between Adults and Millennials in reference to chat:
Millennials approach chat (vrs) as a social engagement
Adults approach chat (vrs) as a more formal, goal oriented process

Millennials more open to trying new things.
Adults more apprehensive, want to know what they're getting into
On average, Millennial tendencies in vrs:
-abrupt endings (no good-byes)
-impatience - want something instantly
-rude or insulting - but seeing this decline
Can't determine from research if these tendencies are just because of age or a characteristic of generation as a whole.

Reasons for choosing VRS:
1. convenience, convenience, convenience
-immediate answers
-lack of cost
-available 24/7
-efficiency
2. enjoy medium
-millennials find much more enjoyment
-lack of intimidation (of face-to-face interaction)
Millennials want quick answers
Screenagers:
-greater connection to the librarian
-opportunity for dialogue
-elimination of geographic boundaries
-less intimidating than the ref desk
-librarians reactions more clear
-easier to express thanks to a librarian

Non-Users: Reasons for not using VRS
-may use libraries not necessarily vrs
-qualities of the individual librarian - appeared knowledgable/trustworthy
-(FtF) perception that librarian is too busy
Boomers and Millennials - Reasons for not using vrs:
1. Didn't know it was available
-service availability
-librarian can help
-24/7 availability
2. Satisfied with other information sources
Boomer concerns:
-computer literacy - not good enough
-complexity of chat environment

Important to both VRS Users and Non-Users
1. Librarian Qualities
-knowledge of sources and systems
-positive attitude
-good communication skills
2. Accuracy of answers/information
*they found that is boost accuracy if the librarian clarified the question
-answer specific question asked
-clarify question before you push general info
-make sure it has specific and exact answer to user's question

For all types of queries:
-clarify the question
-use a follow-up question (does this answer..., do you have another question...)
-finalize interaction with the user

Implications for Practice
1. Communication critically important!
-difficult process
-generational differences
-user education
2. Greetings - crucial moment, capture it!
-chance to establish personal relationship
-use self-disclosure to build rapport
3. Recognize that any user may be impatient at times
-question complex?
-context - what do they need this info for? assignment, research, son's homework?
4. Encountering Rude or Impatient Behavior
DO use common sense and intuition
DO remain polite, use humor, if ok
DO apologize as appropriate
DON'T take it personally
DON'T mirror rudeness
DON'T reprimand user
5. Encourage Non-User to try VRS
-creative marketing
-promote full range of reference options
-reassure young people chat is safe

In Conclusion:
-use basic interpersonal skills
-chat and FtF are very similar interactions
-relax about time pressure
-be yourself and show your smile