Good day to all who read this.

I have fallen a bit behind and as a result this posting takes place after WLA, so I will start there.

This was my first WLA meeting and as a library newbie I found a lot to catch my interest. Most everyone was very nice and welcoming though I still felt a little like a fish out of water. I especially enjoyed the seminars on training. In my pre-library life I spent about ten years training in various forms and positions so much of what was being talked about was a rehash of what I had already done with a library spin on it. The seminar on Training 2.0 did give me some very good ideas that I am hoping to implement in the coming months, so stay tuned ...

Okay, lets get back on topic now. In regard to surveys I have always felt they are useful for catching the things you missed. What I mean is that we all have a pretty good idea at the things that we excel in and the things we need work on but surveys can sometimes pick up specifics that get lost in the big picture. Those little things are obviously important to someone and the nice thing is that many of those "little" things are easy to implement. I do not need to pass it through three committees to implement greet patrons when they come through the gate I can just suggest to the staff that it is something we may want the work on.

I am speaking mainly of open ended questions in surveys because I have found that these really give me a chance to see what people are thinking and feeling. Sometimes you get someone that will take a survey as their turn on the soap box but even in these cases there is usually something that you can pull out to reflect on.

With online surveys you get two things. One, the person completing the survey has some level of anonymity so they are more likely to speak their minds (this could be good or bad). They are typically not rushed for time and they are not obligated to do it, so you can assume they are completing your survey because they care and have something to say. The second benefit is that because they are typically doing this in their home there is time for them to simmer down if they recently had a less than positive experience in the library. You may still get a negative review of your work but it should be more on topic than your typical angry rant.

So that is it for now. I'll type to you later.

Okay, last things first. Do these pet tote people not realize that what they are doing flies in the face of everything good in the world? There is a reason why God and/or evolution or both gave dogs four legs - so they could walk on their own.

I don't find this cute it is disturbing.

Okay, end of rant. I feel better now.

Now to get back on topic. You had asked on the PP wiki how we can use RSS in our personal lives. For one it gives us one stop shopping to all the things we may be interested in - and what kind of American doesn't like that idea.

In the case if other blogs I can see when something new is posted without having to pop in everyday. Even on news sites I can see immediately when new stories go up.

The draw back is that you have to worry about information overload. Even with ten feeds coming in there is a lot to digest. Thinking of sites like Slashdot it can be hard just to keep up with one site much less ten of them.

Last and probably least is the url to my Bloglines http://www.bloglines.com/public/bkopetsky