Twitter and Libraries

Found this Library joke by searching for Librarians who twitter, seems that Librarians who twitter also blog!

In general Librarians use twitter to share information and ideas; Libraries use twitter to promote their resourses and services. One of the services provided by Vancouver Central Library is hosting weddings - well I would never have known that without twitter but I'm adding it to my list of places to visit around the world. Many of the tweets provided by Libraries (I looked closely at Rodney and Vancouver) do not actually answer the question "what are you doing" rather they inform people about events, provide links to websites with reviews, recommendations, news etc. and some individuals send topical messages e.g Happy Halloween.
Tweets do seem to be written in a new language; as a newbie I'm finding it hard to follow conversations and threads but I guess it will come with practice. I found the messaging from some of the Libraries using twitter to be one-sided; not many patrons following. I do wonder how widespread twittering really is? Or how widespread it might become ? Shall we worry about this tweet ?
 "stereotypical library dying." "hipster staffers . . .who . . .use twitter. . . Edging out old school librarians."

My tweets are likely to be old school e.g.

bookchat today 10.30am bring a recommended book bring a friend c u @ECBLibrary

read the help gr8 stories of real people in tough times, touching and scary at same time but hopeful ending Enjoy!

Searching Twitter

I searched for book groups and found readinggroupies who maintain that "Book groups are the new rock n' roll". Since I am part of 5 books, I must be doing lots of dancing :) This particular group is a network of reading groups in North London and they swap titles, trip details, event times and answers to quizzes.

In the same search I found Neighbours, a huge network of people across Dublin who run book clubs, tax evasion clubs, parties (halloween is next) and something to do with fire engines to name but a few.

The search engine was good because it found book groups, book clubs, reading groups and reading clubs - different names used in different countries; without me having to suggest alternatives.

For my third party search engine I chose Twoogle (loved its mashup name) and got 189 million hits. It looked just like an ordinary google search and only found the word twitter in the text of the website. At least in the first few pages of results there were no twitter sites. Adding twitter to the search string looked more promising and I found the Twitter Moms Book Club which is a webiste with a tweetboard but the book discussions happened on the website not by tweets. I guess 140 characters is not enough to really say what you think about a book.

Twitter and twittering

I chose to look at Margaret Atwood's Twitter link. http://twitter.com/MargaretAtwood 2 hours later I am ready to write my post. There was so much to look at and so many links to follow - there is some truth in the idea that twittering is time wasting, it can certainly be time consuming but I guess it's just like getting carried away while surfing the net!
I read an interview with Margaret Atwood during which she educated her interviewer about tweets and twitpics. She seems to use Twitter to tell people about her book tours, launches etc. and to have conversations with her followers ( she actually has 9,811 followers). Can't wait for my hold on Year of the flood to come up.

My second choice related to some information I was looking up for a customer http://thesalon.blogspot.com/2009/07/kiwinew-zealand-musicians-on-twitter.html is a list of NZ musicians who Twitter. I was so pleased to find it but it does not help my info search as I'm looking for classical or world music but it was interesting. The list is provided so that members can network with each other, do some promoting of and find out about gigs etc. Obviously this can extend to any group/category of like minded people. I think there is a librarians who twitter list somewhere.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

A story about civil rights in Mississippi in the 60s. A feminist, humanist perspective narrated by a white woman but writing the voices of black women maids. Touching, frightening, so many adjectives to use - are we making any progress on understanding each other?
A long and worthwhile read.

Syndetics summary

Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step in Kathryn Stockett's New York Times bestselling debut, The Help . . .Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can look like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. and why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. and sometimes lines are made to be crossed.In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women - mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends - view one another.A deeply moving book filled with poignancy, humour, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't.

Creative Commons

I love the CC iniative - it is in the true spirit of sharing.

a) The CC licence for this Get with it! programme means that readers are free to share and remix the contents.

b) This photograph, and others by Girolame of skiing in the Pyrenees, is available for copying and adapting
http://www.flickr.com/photos/girolame/3445288710/



CC fits the freedoms that Richard Stallman has been explaining in his talks around New Zealand recently. Listen to his interview with Kim Hill here http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/20091003
or his address to the LIANZA conference here
http://audio-video.gnu.org/audio/#LIANZANEWZ2009

OpenID

I do like the sound of OpenID - but I would like to take it even further! In fact I am in favour of having one universal ID for everything; driver's licence, passport, flybuys, etc. and can see this expanding into digital ID with a digital fingerprint, eye recognition etc. Life would be much easier if we could do away with plastic cards, usernames and passwords.
OpenID run by google just means they have a monopoly over the services that I subscribe to - not really open is it?

Online privacy and security

Well this is a dilemna. Whilst I am pleased with the strict controls on using my credit card over the internet, I am frustrated by the requirement to change my password every six weeks on my work computer. Internet security is both a blessing and a nuisance.
As a librarian promoting the use of digital facilities it is important to pass on information to other people so that they feel safe using social networking, banking and public opinion applications. Personally I don't see the world as any different; in feudal times everyone knew what everyone else was up to in the village. When I was growing up in a small community news of my whereabouts and who I was with always got back to my parents pretty quickly!
Surveillance may be now digital but is it always threatening?

Remarkable creatures by Tracy Chevalier

Devoured this book in a day (only stopping for more strepsils and panadol)
http://www.elgar.govt.nz/record=b2388780~S6
Big themes of fossils, friendship and feminsim.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/aug/29/remarkable-creatures-tracy-chevalier

Happy reading!