IM

Even though I had IM accounts years ago, I never used them -- mostly because I really didn't feel the need to be online at the very same time as someone I was e-mailing. I like e-mail for the personal convenience and the ability to do things in my time continuum rather than someone elses.

I IM'd Susan and we had a very nice brief conversation using Google Talk for the Week 3 thing. I didn't have to wait very long for an initial reply, which really suprised me since I was trying this over the noon hour.

Would I IM? I don't know. I'd need to feel that what I had to communicate needed an immediate response, but the person I was trying to communicate with would also have to be online at the same time I was. I'd probably wonder if my communication was important enough to demand that immediate attention. Could it be broken into short enough bits to make IM efficient for the communication?

It could be used for reference questions, and is in many libraries. I see three drawbacks. One, that the service would only be available during the hours that a library was staffed, while an e-mail reference question can be sent at the customer's convenience, even if the library isn't open. Two, someone would need to staff the computer(s) that the IM was on, and the staff might feel tied to that desk in order not to miss a message. And three, with limited staff there could be conflicts between helping the customer in front of you and the one trying to get through with IM and the one trying to get through on the phone.

The positive aspects of IM for reference include the ability to clarify a question with the customer, to answer a remotely asked question in close to real time, and the ability to provide written information rather speaking the information while the customer writes it down (as in telephone reference).

Masses of people use IM. Will I? I really don't know.

NLA Conference and 2.0

Last week I attended the annual conference of the Nebraska Library Association. Many of the presentations were very Library 2.0, including the keynote session by Annette Lamb. But what really grabbed me was an early Friday morning session on creating archival finding aids. The presenter's advice: create it from the point of view of the user. Now that's very 2.0 customer centered service even though it's very low tech at the moment. I attended a session on LibraryThing next, and what stood out to me was that the institution's cataloging policy did not allow customer-needed non-LCSH terminology (that is, local subject headings), so their way to get those terms was to use LibraryThing. Or, one could just use local subject headings, keywords in a searchable abstract field, or other keyword searchable fields in a cataloging record to provide access using terms the customers need and want to use. Then I attended another archives session on one of the open-source archival management tools I'm currently considering for use in my library. There were many excellent sessions during the conference and I certainly continued my lifelong learning through my attendance at NLA.

Lifelong Learning

Having just watched the 7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners, I'm not sure I agree that habit 1 should be "begin with the end in mind". I'm a very creative person, continually learning, but the learning journey is as important to me as reaching a specific learning goal. I like to get sidetracked and see where serendipity takes me, learning all along the way -- things I wouldn't have set out to learn. If I'm beginning with the end in mind, I'm working on solving a specific problem or overcoming a specific challenge; I may learn along the way, but learning is just one tool used to get to the end result.

The easiest of the habits for me are play, accepting responsibility for my own learning, and teaching or mentoring others. And I do have confidence in myself as a competent, effective learner despite my learning digressions. I'm sure I will digress over these next several weeks of the Nebraska Learns 2.0 experience.

First Blog Post

Wow. I can't believe how easy it was to set up this blog. I've just started working on Nebraska's Library 2.0 challenge. And this was the first step. What's an old music librarian like me doing with this? Trying to learn a new song or two.