Last Friday I was a panelist with three other library professionals at the Indiana Online Users Group fall meeting, where we spoke about our personal experiences using Facebook, Twitter and more. It was an interesting discussion about a controversial topic. Talking about social networking always leads me to reflect on what I’m doing right, what I’m doing wrong, and how I define “friendships” online. I use Facebook for three different reasons:
- to stay in touch with family and friends
- to network with other library professionals
- to network with other business people in the Fort Wayne community
I have basically three types of “friends” on Facebook: family, friends, colleagues. The first two are self-explanatory, but my colleagues consist of people in the Fort Wayne community and library professionals outside of ACPL.
Since the official communication channel for ACPL is our interlibrary e-mail, I don’t feel like I need to keep connected with most ACPL staff via Facebook. Certainly lots of ACPL staff use Facebook, but I’ve had to ask myself how many ACPL are friends that I share interests with outside of work. Keeping in touch on Facebook doesn’t seem like a good way to communicate with other ACPL staff. Also, I am afraid that having a conversation via Facebook excludes other ACPL staff, who are not using Facebook, from the conversation.
I do think that making and keeping friends on Facebook with other library professionals and community professionals is valuable. I like that I can pop into Facebook for a minute or two, check and see what people are talking about, and pop back out. One audience member seemed a little shocked that librarians use Facebook during work hours, but not having used Facebook herself, she was under the impression that people are looking at it for hours at a time. This is simply not the case.
Making connections with people in our community is one of the most important uses of Facebook on the job. I am friends with newspaper staff, city government staff, other IT professionals, and other nonprofit professionals. It’s important and valuable to understand what people are talking about. Just this morning, I saw that our local PBS station had send out a tweet about a program that aired this weekend, and referred Twitter followers to the library to get the book! 
I was able to re-tweet their post to our followers. And the relationships formed and grown between myself as an individual and other individuals in my community–not their institutional personas–those are gold. Because of these relationships, I’ve helped arrange a book signing with a book editor and I’m filming a video with a library user this afternoon.
When I was a branch manager, I felt it was not only friendly, but my responsibility, to get to know the people who walked into my building every day. I learned their names, asked about their families, chatted about work, discussed books…every day. It wasn’t unusual for me to spend several minutes in conversation, walking around with patrons, talking about our day. Serving your community is about more than checking out their books. It’s about forming relationships. So we should do this any way we can. Even on Facebook or Twitter. The rewards are endless, I promise you!
We need to use social networking tools without fear. Really, it’s OK to Facebook! Of course, this is only my opinion. 
This is the video that made me want to start making my own. It’s about eating haggis; it’s interesting, short, decently made, and shows anyone can make a video! (Don’t worry, no preaching…)
I should also mention that today Sean showed me an easy way to shoot myself on video while walking. Simply attach the camera to a tripod, hold the tripod up with the bottom of the legs wedged into your hip, and go!
I will be attending and sitting on a panel at the Indiana Online Users Group fall meeting this Friday. See you there!
Fall 2009 Program
Hot or Not: Managing Your Digital Identity
November 13, 2009
Have you Googled yourself lately? What do others see when they check you out? What does your Web presence say about you? The IOLUG fall program will focus on managing your digital identity and organizing your personal, professional, and organizational roles.
| Schedule | |
|---|---|
| 9-9:30 | Registration—with continental breakfast. |
| 9:30-9:35 | Introduction to the day by Tom Smith. |
| 9:35-10:30 | Morning Keynote – Yes, You Are Speaking In Public: The Implications Of Building a Personal and Professional Online Presence (1 Technology LEU) – Jenica P. Rogers, M.L.S., Director of Libraries, State University of New York, Postdam, New York. |
| 10:30-10:40 | Questions |
| 10:45-11:45 | 3 Breakout Sessions
Online Public Identities: The Unexpected Dangers (1 Technology LEU) Jenica P. Rogers, M.L.S., Director of Libraries, State University of New York, Postdam, New York Tips and Tricks (1 Technology LEU)
Facebook Basics (1 Technology LEU) Hands on computer lab on setting up Facebook and learning a few of the “ins and outs of social networking. Twitter basic will also be integrated into this session. |
| 11:45-12:30 | Lunch and Biz meeting |
| 12:30-1:20 | Afternoon Keynote – Organizational Digital Identity (1 Technology LEU) – Toby Greenwalt, M.S.L.I.S., Virtual Services Coordinator at Skokie Public Library |
| 1:20-1:30 | Questions |
| 1:30-1:45 | Break |
| 1:45-2:45 | 3 Breakout Sessions
Funneling Social Media Feeds (1 Technology LEU) Toby Greenwalt, M.S.L.I.S., Virtual Services Coordinator at Skokie Public Library Tips and Tricks (1 Technology LEU)
Facebook Basics (1 Technology LEU) Hands on computer lab on setting up Facebook and learning a few of the “ins and outs of social networking. Twitter basic will also be integrated into this session. |
| 2:45-3:45 | Panel on Personal Experiences with Digital Identity
Melissa Kiser, M.L.S, Information Technology Librarian, Allen County Public Library Kayla Gregory, Libraries Marketing Associate, Purdue University. Malissa Hostetler, Graduate Student in Library Science at IUPUI Lisa Lobdell, Graduate Student in Library Science at IUPUI |
Yesterday as I was shelving books at the Dupont Branch, I found a copy of Halo: the Ghosts of Onyx by Eric Nylund, which I set aside to check out for my 13-year-old son, who is a huge fan of the Halo video games. It came as no surprise that my bright, creative, ADD-riddled son who performs poorly in school picked the book up and read the first 35 pages within a few minutes.
My friend Christi was telling me about a book she’s been reading: NurtureShock : new thinking about children. She is a children’s librarian and she told me about some particularly interesting chapters which describe why teens rebel, why they lie about it, and why they are bored all the time. This book is definitely on my parenting reading list now!
Then today I found an interesting blog post from Stephen’s Lighthouse with twelve reasons people read:
Why Do People Read?
I also think we need a better discussion on why people read. It seems basic but do we really understand why people read? Here’s my modest unranked list of twelve reasons off the top of my small noggin (add to it in the comments):
1. To learn
2. To engage in hearing other’s opinions (to agree or disagree or just to understand and be empathetic)
3. To develop more knowledge about myself and develop as a whole person
4. To be entertained and laugh, to engage and interact
5. To address boredom and the inexorable progress of time
6. To research and keep up-to-date
7. To participate well in civil society (everything from news to voting)
8. To be informed (and maybe smarter)
9. To understand others (individually and culturally)
10. To escape our day-to-day lives
11. To stimulate the imagination and be inspired
12. To write and communicate better through reading others
13. To teach
14. To have something to talk about
15. To connect with like-minded people
My son was complaining the other day about how bored he was, so I’ve been trying to find ways to engage him. He’s also recently become intensely interested in classical music, mostly because that’s the elective they’re studying this quarter at school. Bless his little heart. He’s bored out of his mind, but he fascinates me when he really gets into a subject.
I’m going to keep the Halo books coming, and when he’s done with those, we’ll find some more equally captivating books to read. How do you engage your teen(s)?
IOLUG Teaser from Toby Greenwalt on Vimeo.
Deb Noggle, Tecumseh Branch Manager
ACPL’s Deb Noggle, manager of the Tecumseh Branch Library, appeared in Sunday’s Journal Gazette in an interview about vampire fiction! Check out the 5 questions and a podcast of her interview.
Check out this article that the newspaper ran about promoting services on YouTube. It’s great to see our local media talking about what we’re doing to promote the library!
Region starring online
Video makers find audience on YouTube
Stefanie Scarlett
The Journal Gazette
Libraries and tigers and UFOs – they’re all stars on Fort Wayne’s various YouTube channels.
Here, you can watch a tiger enjoy hydrotherapy and see whether a convention morphs into an episode of “Librarians Behaving Badly.” Listen to a local chanteuse belt out her version of Beyoncé’s “Halo” and follow someone’s driving tour of downtown.
Besides those cats who just want to have fun, some local residents are using the wildly popular site (www.youtube.com) as a marketing tool. Their efforts haven’t gone viral yet, but you just never know. Read the rest of the article
Check out this page that describes in further detail what Anythink means. Anythink is the new brand of the Rangeview Library District in Colorado!
