Library Thing

I like the concept of Library Thing as a community building tool. I could see it being used for book clubs and even for library patrons to recommend books to other patrons. That said, as a beta product it still has a way to go.

Was anyone else annoyed that they had to keep redoing an author search to add multiple books by the same author. I can't speak for anyone else but when I happen upon an author that a like I usually end up steaming through their entire works. What Library Thing needs there is radio buttons that allow you to go down and select multiple items from a list. I know it is a picky point but one that slowed things down quite a lot versus who quickly I could have added items.

The other part that needed work was the suggest a book section. It was clear that the search was not very deep. When I did a search for I, Robot I got more books by Asimov and books with the word robot in the title. I imagine this may improve as the tags are added by users but again it is something that will need to be fleshed out to really take Library Thing to the next level.

The kids at the cabin near Park Falls

The kids at the cabin near Park Falls
Originally uploaded by bkopetsky

Flickr

"Digital cameras have changed how we take and store our photos."

Truer words were never spoken. Up until my oldest daughter turned 3 or so we shot through rolls and rolls of film. For a while I think that we kept Fuji and Ilford in business. Of course as a first time parent of the cutest child ever born we felt the overwhelming need to document every single move she made. Hell, we probably have a pic of her first dookie somewhere.

Then came digital, more importantly, high quality digital. The pictures are easier to shoot, do not need to be developed and can be stored on your computer. They can be altered with software. More importantly they could be organized and easily retrieved. They can be copied and emailed. Now here we have Flickr and other sites like it. We can now easily share every photo we take, with the world if we want (provided that they want to see it).

Okay, wait; we are supposed to be talking about libraries here I think. So what can Flickr and the like to for us in the library? Well, the easy answer is that they can host our pictures. The fact is that photos take space on our servers and use up bandwidth as they are transferred to the viewers computers. So why not allow someone else to share the burden.

More important than taking away from the hosting load I think that the ease of use on these sites allows novice users to do what it would have taken someone experienced in web design hours to do. This allows you to save that expertise for more important projects yet always you to develop that all important bound with your patrons and the community.

So to spin it back to my kids I have thrown up some pics for all of you to view and adore. You will notice I do not appear in any of the pictures (this way you can all keep your appetites). My wife does not appear in any of the pictures because she is usually taking them. So above is one to start things off and the link to the rest. Click here to see all the pics.

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

First Post

So alrighty than, here is my first post as a blogger. My wife used to blog all the time but I guess I never had much to say I figured anyone else would want to read. I know with this opening you will all be tuned in each week to see what comes next.

I did notice the life hacker extra at the bottom of this weeks information and I figured I could share my experience with a similar site called 43folders.com Maybe you have heard of it maybe you haven't but it is similar to life hacker but focuses on both tech and personal organization.

If you you are looking for a little life guidance you can also check out 43things.com (sorry its a 43 theme today). This is a social networking site (which I am sure we will learn much more about later) that lists peoples goals for the week, the month, the year and their lives. The site uses a techniques called links clouds which increases the font based on the number of people who have similar goals. As I look on the site today (9-22) it appears many of the users are hoping to get hitched this year. Anyway it is kind of like a shared New Year's resolution list, except that is posted so it constantly hangs over your head and anyone in the worked can see it, anytime. Okay, so maybe it is a bit different than a New Year's resolution but you get the idea.

Okay I am going to sign off now before anyone starts looking for a tall building to throw themselves from.