Tag it just a little bit!

I love Delicious. At conference a couple of years ago a presenter used it during one of the sessions, and I was really impressed with how simple & portable it makes using bookmarks.

User Testimonial: I used to have scads of bookmarks saved, but when I really needed them they were inevitably on another computer or saved in another browser, or I couldn't remember what heading I'd saved them under.... Now I use Delicious, and all my bookmark headaches just faded away.

Seriously, though, I use Delicious daily to keep track of newly discovered links and favorite pages that I use on a regular basis. I imported all of my years' long list of bookmarks from Firefox, and now I can access any of those from wherever, too. (I've actually added a bunch of the tools we've looked at in the course of this project so that I can find them again when I want them.)

Actually, one of the best ideas I've heard about for using Delicious in a library is creating a library Delicious account and adding a shortcut link to the toolbar of the browsers on the library's staff & public workstations. Then, as the reference desk or other staff find worthwhile links, they can add them, and the links can be accessed by any of the other library staff or patrons from any computer in the library. I haven't actually done this, but I do think it's a great idea.

I like the ability to sort tags, and also to view how many others have the same items bookmarked. I like being able to add my own comments/notes about sites. I also like the fact that it's now possible to edit tags - that way, if I forget and add an "s" on the end of something, capitalize differently, or if I have a site saved under an old browser bookmark, I can consolidate similar items easily under one tag.

Previous editions of Firefox actually ran Delicious as a plug-in. Unfortunately, with the last two version upgrades, the plug-in hasn't been available, but using the toolbar isn't difficult at all.

While I currently use Delicious mainly for keeping track of my own sites, I'm intrigued by all of the searching options provided. Flexible, easy to use, available anywhere - It's a great tool.

Facebook & MySpace: Socializing virtually...

I already have a Facebook account, which I check sporadically and use mainly to keep up with friends I no longer manage to snail mail regularly. I'm considering MySpace, if only to keep track of what my teenager's up to.

I think though, that here's where I draw my line in the sand, at least for now. Social networking with sites like LibraryThing, using Flickr & podcasting to create buzz; those are tools that I can use.

But Facebook & MySpace aren't anonymous and aren't intended to be, really.

They're also configured in a way that's less than professional - do I really want to allow my professional self to be "bought" & "sold" by other users?

Setting up more than one account per person is, I'm guessing, frowned upon. Or at very least, creates a slightly confusing navigational challenge for friends, patrons & co-workers....

So if you're going to maintain the accounts as YOU in your public persona as a librarian, that's fine - but better warn your family, because comments from your best friend or your mother might get a bit awkward....

• My Facebook account was created (not on work time 0r machine) for me to keep in touch with my friends and family.

• I don't plan to use it for work, as that sort of defeats the "social" purpose of the account.
  

Of course, Facebook seems a bit more relaxed about allowing "institutional" accounts than it used to be - and many libraries have a presence there all along.... But I think this is one of those semi-gray areas that I'm not going to pursue for my institution. My personal account is going to stay personal.

I can, however, see the potential benefits of using a network familiar to students/patrons to announce new resources, lectures, events, etc. There are certainly plenty of libraries out there - the ALA has a profile (I'm a friend!!) - that do exactly that. I'm just not sure I'm personally ready to take that plunge. Maybe when DWU gets around to setting up an account....

Out of curiosity, I decided to go looking for accounts documenting academic libraries experiences with Facebook or MySpace. It's a fairly mixed bag...

• Five Weeks to a Social Library (no longer updated, unfortunately) relates the trials & tribulations of social networking discusses a few pitfalls of a somewhat unsuccessful attempt to go where the students are.

• Meg Kribble at the All-Purpose BiblioBlawg discussed her take on social networking sites about a year ago. She goes farther to briefly describe a few other social sites such as Ning and Twitter, finding that all of them have their uses, but not all are equally useful.

There were others, and I'm sure by this point there's plenty of professional literature on the subject, too. For now though, I think I'll stick with Facebook being for me, not my library, and see what happens down the road.