Thing 22: Developing your own 23 Things for your library

Although we started out with five of us participating in the library, at this point I am the only one likely to see this project to completion. Unfortunately, the stresses of Summer Reading Club and the fact the Information Services had blocked access to many of the function from desks on the public library floor made it difficult for many of our librarians to complete these tasks.

I am committed to the belief that if we want to reach our public we must hang out where our patrons do and it is not just the young adults who spend time on Twitter and Facebook! One of our volunteers in Tech Services is an 88 year old retired gentleman who is one of my Facebook friends.

I have done a lot of thinking about how our library can best use some of this technology and I believe that the first step is to get as many people as I can to complete as many of these "things" as possible. For one thing, I believe that will help eliminate the fear of the unknown. We have been able to establish a twitter page for pushing out Summer Reading Club activities. Recently City Hall started a Facebook page (which was rather nice when our fiber line recently got cut--they posted updates on the repair progress which those of us with Smartphones could access.

I have learned a lot in this process and tried many things that I otherwise would not have tried. Some I liked a lot and will continue to use and some I was just not comfortable with and will probably never use again, but learning them all has helped me to make a better informed decision and made me want everyone to get on involved so we can collaborate on our decisions. I plan to work with some of the staff to get them to eventually complete the project.

If you have been reading my blog, by now you probably realized that I admit to pretty much being a Geek, but I don't see technology as the only answer to a problem. There are still some things that can be done more efficiently without technology. My philosophy is that I should use it were it makes my life easier. If it doesn't simplify thingsk then don't use it.