Time to put the writing in the blog

I have been neglecting this blog. There's no excuse, really. I have about a dozen things to write about. I guess you've learned another thing about me...I procrastinate.

Think back to May 3rd. Yes, I know, a long time ago. Back to the MLA Conference...I was sitting in a session called Social Networking: MySpace and Beyond. Linda Braun, pictured above, was the speaker. The session was supposed to talk a bit about the legal ramifications of social networking sites. I honestly don't remember talking about that since I was so interested in the sites she took us to. I could probably blame one or more of these sites for my procrastination...it was research for this blog, of course!

The first site she talked about for almost five seconds was http://www.justin.tv/justin go ahead, click on it...she called her "newest addiction" and I can kind of see why. It's a man that walks around with a video camera on his head all day and just lives life. Okay, so I'm not as interested as some people might be, but I get it. People are interested in other people's lives. How is this social networking? Well, if you look under the live streaming video you will see a chat board. People talking about Justin, or not, but either way it is definitely social! Yes, that introduction intrigued me.

She then defined Social Networking as "connecting with other people with the same interests" and mentioned http://del.icio.us/ (yes, I'm expecting you to click on that one too) I couldn't believe there was another social network I hadn't heard of. del.icio.us is a place where you can bookmark websites that you like. How is that social? It keeps track of how many people also have that link saved and gives you a list of those people. Here's an example:

I have this link saved http://www.virtualshoemuseum.com/vsm/o.php?id=583&col=shoe_type&sub=extreme next to that link it says that there are 8 other people who also have that link saved. When I click on the link for those people it actually lists them. I click on one of them and I can see all of the other links they have saved. I can also view her network of people or add her to my network of people. See? Social.

Linda also spoke about MySpace. Finally, something I could relate to. I have a MySpace page which I go on frequently to check my messages. It is definitely a Social Network! You sign up and create an account. Then you can search for friends. My friends are either movies I like, restaurants or store I frequent or people I actually know in real life. http://www.myspace.com/libdee is my URL. When you click on it all you'll see is a picture of me and a box that says things like SEND MESSAGE, ADD TO FRIENDS, etc. (Feel free to add me to your friends if you have a MySpace, but make sure you also send me a message so I know who you are.) The reason you are only seeing that is because my profile is private. That's one of the things I like about MySpace. I can choose what I want people to see. I have 323 friend which I added by searching for people by first and last name or they found me by searching mine. I can post bulletins which only my friends can see. (i.e. if I am having a cookout and I want all 323 people to know about it I'd post a bulletin) I can also send event invites. This is kind of like evites but only to your MySpace friends. It makes it so I can pick and choose who I want to invite to my cookouts and they can RSVP on there as well. My friends post comments about me that the whole world can see, which I have set to private so I can read it and accept or deny if it's posted. If used wisely, MySpace is a very safe online social networking site.

What does this have to do with libraries? Well, there are so many different way it pertains to libraries. There are actually libraries that have MySpace accounts.

http://www.myspace.com/infoisland

http://www.myspace.com/hennepincountylibrary

http://www.myspace.com/gtlibrary

http://www.myspace.com/uhlibraries

This is a great way to get information out to users. Hennepin County Library actually has a search engine for their catalog right on their MySpace page. What a great way to get teens...and possibly 30-somethings...to be interested in the library. If your patrons are your friends on MySpace you can post a bulletin about anything and, more than likely, they'll see it and maybe even read it!

Del.icio.us can be used by libraries too! Let the patron know where to find you on del.icio.us and put links to whatever you think they need links too. You could have links to your events page or your catalog or your MySpace page...the possibilities are truly endless.

Social Networking is here. It's now. It's what our patron's are doing and what we all need to do to get through to them. Great session, Linda, thanks!

...and, of course, my quote for the day "Procrastinate now, don't put it off."

Book 2.0

I went to the Book 2.0 session at the MLA conference. I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I knew we'd be hearing from, Sean Stewart, one of the authors of "Cathy's Book." I thought about purchasing the book before the session to familiarize myself with it a bit. I looked at it and someone told me it was a great read for teenage girls. I decided not to buy it.

Sean told us all about the experience of an interactive book and how the readers experience can go beyond the book if they so choose. He mentioned how the character has a myspace page and that if you call the number on the book you actually reach the character's voicemail and leave her a message and retrieve her messages if you've read the book and figured out the code by reading into the clues given. It's like "Choose-Your-Own-Adventure" with and entire online community to help you. Suddenly I was upset that I hadn't bought the book.

Cathy's book has been out for about 6 months now. When they were trying to market the book they gave every teen two books. One book was for their own reading pleasure and the other book was to be left somewhere where another teen would pick it up and, hopefully, read it. It's supposed to be someones lost diary so this was an ingenious idea!

The author is already 50 pages into a sequel and is planning to stop writing after the third book is done. It will be very interesting to see if and how the websites and phone messages will coincide with the next two books. Think about it. A book is forever. My daughter will someday read this book. Will the phone numbers still exist? Will the online community be the same? The story will remain the same, but will all the fun choose-your-own-adventure-like be able to stay in place? I find it fascinating. That's why I bought the book. It took a few days to read it, and all I can say is COOL! It took me back to the mystery novels I used to read as an adolescent and, yet, it is different. There is a whole online phenomena taking place around this book.

I hope you didn't start reading this blog expecting to hear more about the book. I have a lot of trouble writing about books or movies without giving it away, so you'll have to read the book for yourself. Let me know if you do!

Getting my children involved

Yes, I'm going to be the proud mommy for a minute and talk about my daughter.

Caitlyn didn't have school Monday and, although I didn't want her to, she came to work with me Monday. She's a very well behaved child for the most part, so it wasn't a big deal. She helped me a bit and played with her brother's PSP and colored and suddenly it was lunchtime! I thought maybe she would eat a grilled cheese sandwhich from Crossroads so I hadn't packed a lunch. We got our food and sat down to eat. She took a few bites of her chips, which was all she had for lunch because the grilled cheese "looked funny," and she said, "Mommy, are we going back to the library alone?"

I wasn't really sure what she meant so I said, "When we're all done with our food we'll go back to my office. We can't bring this food in there."

"I know. But why are you in the library alone?"

"I'm not. There are a lot of people in the library right now. It's testing time."

"Then why do you say 'I'm in the library alone' when you answer your phone?"

After I composed myself I let her know that I actually say "Interlibrary Loan" and we both laughed for a long time.

I love kids. I was a kid myself once. -Tom Cruise

Who would have thunk?

I have a very professional label for my non-librarian self! Paralibrarian. I love it! It has such a nice ring to it...maybe I won't get my MLS after all.

Last week I attended the MLA conference. I had never been before, and my lovely name badge said so right on it! FIRST TIME ATTENDEE. Well, it did get a lot of people to ask if I needed help a lot. I won't miss the label next time, though.

My experience started with a breakfast especially for the MLA Paralibrarian Section. I even got to vote for the officers as a new MLA member. I didn't have the guts to second any motions, but I'm thinking I might get courageous next time!

After breakfast they presented the awards for OUTSTANDING PARALIBRARIAN OF THE YEAR. There were 18 nominees from all over the state. Laurie Christie from Morse Institute Library in Natick was the winner. Laurie's Director wrote an outstanding letter about her which ended with the great statement, "Laurie makes everything perfect." She got up and thanked her "guinea pigs" and told us that they do whatever she asks. What a great honor for her. Congrats Laurie!

Then they gave out the award for PARALIBRARIAN ADVOCATE OF THE YEAR. There were 4 nominees. Marjorie "Marny" Oaks from the Reuben Hoar Library in Littleton was the winner. It was said the she won because she "does" for her library and it's staff members and she created an environment of excellence. She got up and thanked her staff members who were there and said, "nobody can advocate for people who don't want to be advocated for." I had the pleasure of having lunch with Marny, and what a wonderfully humble woman she is.

Lynne Riley, from WPI, is on the Executive Board for the paralibrarian section. I spoke with her briefly about the P.A.R.A. (PAralibrarian Recognition of Achievement) program. She convinced me to start right then and there. It's a nice achievement to add to a resume or to get so you can simply say you did. We all need that sometimes. I'm not going to go through the whole process in this blog (I think it's getting a bit long already) but there is a website you can go to and print out the program guidelines. I truly encourage you to do it if you are a paralibrarian and you are looking to take your career in libraries a bit further. I've already started, so I'm on my way!

...and, as I always try to do, I leave you with a quote...
Read, mark, learn and inwardly digest.- The Book of Common Prayer

Get a Life!

...a second life, of course. What a great and interesting concept Second Life is! I attended the annual meeting for CMRLS back in October where a woman from Simmons spoke about all of the wonderful things happening on the internet. She finished by mentioning Second Life. I was immediately interested. I came back to work and logged on. After a month or so of just flying around and not really finding anything interesting, I deleted the free software from my computer and never gave it another thought.

Until yesterday.

SirsiDynix Institute has some great web conferences that our Electronic Resources Librarian takes advantage of often. This one was 2nd Life & Info Island: Library Service in a Virtual World with speakers Michael Savers from the Nebraska Library Commission and Rhonda Trueman from Johnson and Whales.

Second Life is a 3-D virtual world built and owned entirely by its residents. Right now there are over 4.7 million residents in Second Life and, once again, I am one of them.

In my opinion this virtual place is not a game. It's more of a place where you can do almost anything with the right know-how. There are small games within the world that can be played, but it's not necessary to play these games to appreciate the Second Life world.

Walking around in Second Life I have learned that everyone has their own reason for being in there. Some people are in there simply to see what all the hype is. Others are in there for darker reasons which I don't need to talk about. Yes, we still need to be careful even in Second Life.

Then there are the people who are there to teach and/or learn. Michael Savers talked about the different learning environments he has seen such as Victorian Times, Ancient Rome and the Globe Theatre. There is even a heart murmur simulation and molecular models. This means we can teach people all over the world about Science, History, culture and almost anything else we can think of. All we need to do is create it in this virtual world.

There are also virtual-live events held in Second Life. US Congress has held events there. Henry VIII has spoken there...okay, so we know he's not alive, but that's the beauty of a virtual world! There are book discussions, author events and parties. Live U2 concerts have even been streamed into 2nd Life with virtual Avatars that look like the actual band that is really playing across the world!

There are also groups in 2nd Life. These are groups just like we join in YAHOO or Google. If you sign up and start playing around in 2nd Life you might be interested in the group Librarians of 2nd Life. There are groups for almost anything. I belong to a group for people who like the Grateful Dead. I get messages about when they are playing and about how the concerts were.

The Alliance Library systems have created an entire Island for libraries. They have named it INFO ISLAND. So far there are 10 ALS islands and 9 associated islands. Anyone can own land and build as long as they have a premium account and the know-how. The great thing about places like Info Island and, another great one, Cybrary City 1 and 2, is that it's a place where libraries around the world can create partnerships and collaborate by holding workshops, discussion groups, and do networking across the globe without having to travel.

Nothing is perfect, and Michael Savers made sure to bring us back to reality by letting us know 2nd Life's flaws:

• You need to have at least the recommended hardware or the world simply won't work correctly.
• It can be like a chat room where anyone can talk to you and you have no idea who's listening.
• You don't have to spend real money, but it helps if you want to build or own land.
• The more people in the area you want to be in, the more lag in that area. (lag is when someone talks and their mouth moves a few minutes later...and it's very annoying)
• Let's face it, your boss won't consider this work.
• The more fun you have the more you want to be there...it can be very time consuming.
• People are generally polite but people will still fall on your head. (This really made me laugh! When you're going around the world you normally teleport there or fly. I like to fly from place to place, but landing is never easy. I have landed on many people and so will you.)
• Don't expect to recognize your friends by their looks. (it's true, you can, and will, change your appearance as much as you want...today you might be a punk rocker but tomorrow you might want to look more like a ballroom dancer. It's fun, but can get confusing to your cyber friends.)
• So many updates. (After this web conference I went to my desk and downloaded the software and tried getting in, but 2nd life was in the middle of an update so I had to wait about an hour. If you have an event you'd like to attend, get in there early or you might miss it.)
• System Issues. It happens.

I suggest you sign up and check it out. Make sure you have the minimum requirements first. My name on there is Ladee Beck. Feel free to add me as a friend. Here are some places to check out to learn more:

http://www.secondlife.com/

www.infoisland.org

www.del.icio.us/travelinlibrarian/secondlife

www.travelinlibrarian.info

Please Allow Me to Introduce Myself

I'm Dee, the library lady. I work at the College of the Holy Cross in Dinand library. I'm not actually a librarian, which is why when people call me such I let them know I'm just a lady that works in the library, and that's where I got Library LaDEE from. (Hey, it's not exactly rocket science) I am the Interlibrary Loan coordinator for borrowing books, as opposed to lending. I'm sure none of that is really important to you so I won't bother explaining. One last thing you might want to know about me is that I try to make light of everything, I try to be funny and sometimes I try to hard. Once you can read past all that, though, I hope you find my blogs interesting and MAYBE even informative!

I have been planning since last year around this time to start a blog for Dinand Library, but I never really knew where to start. Which is probably why this blog is starting off so slowly.

Why did I decide to start this blog today? Good question! I got an email from Beth Gallaway about the MLA blog and I was completely inspired. I have registered to attend the MLA annual conference in May and I plan to write about it anyway, so why not write about it here?

If you haven't signed up for this yet, let me be the first to recommend it. You can go to Masslib.org for all the information. I was a little intimidated at first. I don't have an MLS yet, so I didn't think this would be for me. Then I read into it a bit and realized there are a lot of things that I am interested in that they'll be talking about. There is a whole bunch of paralibrarian stuff (not exactly the technical term for it, but it works). There's even a section on blogging. So, stay tuned and I'll have much more information about that.

I'm going to try to remember to end each entry with a quote:

But what can a man see of a library being one day in it?- James Boswell