A necessary paradigm shift to Library 2.0

I've been with JPL for only a little bit more than a year. I decided to work in the library because I am a lifelong fan of the service the library provide and I am passionate about helping others. I likewise believe in the role of the library in the community and JPL's vision: Start here, Go anywhere fits how I see this organization perfectly.

Modesty aside, I am confident in my own capacity to adapt to the change Library 2.0 challenges us to. I'm not a techie but I believe that as long as it helps achieve a particular goal, technology can and will be an ally. What Library 2.0 brings to the table is a necessary paradigm shift in how we achieve our goals vis-a-vis our role in the lives of the citizens of Jacksonville.

I read the other day in the news that the city is cutting $1million dollars of book funds. That is a huge amount that will definitely affect the way we "traditionally" serve customers...that is to make available more copies of printed titles they desire. But this financial challenges should also be seen in the context of how our customers' needs are evolving. Are there certain cost-effective ways to address certain needs using web 2.0 technology?

I likewise have high hopes when we started this training. I feel that it is not anymore just a mere option for the 21st century librarian to see how this technology has revolutionized the library of tomorrow. It is coming. That's the inevitable. Sure, there will always be customers who will never care about this but more and more people will come to the libraries with a different set of expectations that we encountered say 5 years ago. In this light, I'm a bit disappointed to see less and less of our staff participating in this training.

But hopefully we ought not give up on them 'coz taking this course is in the heart of JPL's continued desire to remain relevant for this great city's future.

getting more from the blogging community with technorati!

Blogging is the ultimate tool for one to truly experess thyself!

With almost 133 million blogs and 1.6million updates everyday, there is a wealth of interesting blogs out there waiting to discover. But the sheer number can be overwhelming specially for someone who is just starting or an ordinary library customer.

What's cool about technorati is it gives an organized, simple yet flexible way of getting you linked with the "right blog" for you. One can search via major categories or even by sheer popularity of the entry. I tried to search for learning 2.0 and I found out that there is a similar training right now being done at the Columbus (Ohio) Metropolitan Library. I read the blog entry for their system and this particularly interests me coz we're in a similar setting, CML is a highly rated public library system in the nation and I used to live in Columbus. :-)

I also see Technorati as a site to compliment the news sites I read everyday. Now I can read what the mainstream media reports forst and then search for interesting comments being posted by the blogging world in minutes. Pretty interesting stuff!

yummy...magnifico...del.icio.us!

My wife and I browse/use hundreds of websites on a weekly basis for a variety of reasons. For my work at the library reference desk, we access dozens of sites a day as part of the process of helping customers. Be it seaching weird trivia, filing tax forms or just exploring social network sites, being able to go to the correct website is vital in providing excellent reference work.

Personally, I have bookmarked almost a hundred of websites already ranging from fave recipes, travel sites, parenting page to online travel guides. I also make it a point to send the link to friends and family to share websites I find potentially useful.

Social bookmarking is a convenient 2-in-1 tool in both saving, organizing, and sharing websites. Navigating through the PLCMCL2 account gives me a glimpse of how useful this is for formal research or just sharing useful information to others. I envision it as my online index cards that I can't only confer with my thesis adviser but to mfriends and peers as well.

Start here...Go anywhere. Explore JAXCAT!

Hey friends...

Thanks for always visiting My Own Little Corner. If you've made it this far, you're probably aware of my amazing journey learning the ins and outs of web 2.0. This wonderful opportunity wouldn't be possible without the support of the Jacksonville Public Library!

JPL always strives ways to serve our customers better. Our online catalog is an amazing tool which enables our clients to access our database of materials and really go anywhere! Thanks to the gadget link our web 2.0 leaders created, you can now access JAXCAT through this humble blog site.

Enjoy!

Eric's Library Thing!

This is a simple yet potentially useful site to connect with other people (library professionals or not) with similar reading interests. Due to the variety of books I listed in my catalog, the closest person I found with similar books listed have about half of my titles. But I guess as the membership increases, there will be more people I could hook up with with atleast majority of my fave books.

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/ericsor

On Image Generators

I have fun with applications that play around with the tons of pictures I have so having a jigsaw version of our recent trip to disney was pretty cool. I also played around with wordle and find it amusing as well. I tried all the words associated with the cheers for my college team and may use the image when I do attend one of their games!

More Finding Feeds Tools....Yeah!

Activity # 9 provided links for some other sites which are potentially helpful in subscribing to newsfeeds that interest me. Honestly, I am still more comfortable in checking a new site first and then looking for that friendly RSS icon if I do decide that it is worth subscribing too. Other than that, the search tools of bloglines are also very helpful and get basically everything else I want.

I did try feedster.com but for some reason I couldn't get in to the site. Maybe I tried to access it when it's down or undergoing maintenance. Topix.com on the other hand is pretty cool 'coz it automatically detected that I'm accessing a computer in Jacksonville and immediately gave me a variety of links for local news and blogs. I didn't particularly find the syndic8.com that appealing but I may have to explore it more too.

In the end, these additional tools are pretty cool and provide more options to the user. One just needs to decide which is best suited to their taste and needs.

RSS could lead to Reference Super Service!

Using RSS/internet feeds has been very vital to my daily blogging life. Since I have a good number of friends from four continents updating their blog sites everyday, this technology has enabled me to keep abreast with all their blogs in a very efficient way.

Our latest web 2.0 activity made me look at internet feeds as a possible tool to further improve reference desk service to the customers of San Marco library. The reference team could try to make a list of web sites/feeds that most commonly cater to the specific needs of our customers. We could likewise hook it up with blog sites from other libraries as well to keep us in touch with the bigger library community. Hopefully, this will be another one small step for the public to truly go anywhere!

Surgeon General's warning: Blog moderately

I strongly believe of living a life in moderation.

In a world full of extremes and people living in the fast lane, it is often a real struggle to keep oneself grounded and not "fall off the cliff". This, in a nutshell, how I feel about technology. I feel that I'm blessed enough to keep up somehow to survive with the new developments. However, I need to always remind myself not to go overboard and remain focused to the most essential things in life.

One classic example is technology as a means to communication. I served s a volunteer for two years in a far-flung community with barely any cellphone signals. Letters take weeks (even months) to get in and I have to make do with what we call now as "snail mail" to get in touch with family and friends. Probably because of the extreme isolation, I felt like I just won the lottery every time I get mail.

Fast forward ten years...

It takes me about 15 minutes to upload 50 pictures of a recent family trip, compose a brief blog of what happened and BOOM...the almost 100 contacts I have in my blog site have access to it in a matter of seconds after the upload. Hours later, I already get comments from people across the globe how cool the pictures are, blah, blah, blah.

But do I consider my blog site more valuable than the letters I received as a volunteer? Naaah.

At the end of the day, I still see this technology as a mere tool to connect people. The speed, ease and the added aesthetic effects don't necessarily translate to deeper friendships or stronger bonds. I've seen a number of couples just "talk" most of the time using chat rooms or text messaging and feel that they are communicating enough with their partners. Tsk, tsk.

With this, let us proceed with caution and continue to enjoy blogging in moderation.

having fun with 'mosaic maker'

One of the most important use of web 2.0 for me is the power to organize the thousands of photos I have of my two lovely daughters. I particularly liked big huge lab's mossiac maker for the option of being a little more creative in organizing my album.

Here's a basic mosaic sample I did using a number of my little angels' pictures!

Friends and Food @ San Marco

Of all things I enjoy in life, being with good friends while sharing good food ranks among the highest! So it is definitely a great blessing to work in an organization that make time to be with friends... and yes, excellent gastronomic treats!

This photo is one of the many small gatherings we have during the year. Shown here at the San Marco work room are not just staff members but special library friends as well. Bon Apetit!