LibraryTechtonics

On my way to work this morning for a Saturday shift at the library, I heard an an interview on WBUR with Matt Richtel, author of Hooked: a thriller about love and other addictions, which included an interesting look at how the internet is shaping how people think and socialize, as well as how humans as a race are evolving to simply best use the tools at their disposal.

I haven’t read the book, but this little snippet from the NPR site just a nice job of summing up bits about the book that I heard in the interview:

The New York Times writer quickly found himself weaving aspects of his day job — covering technology in Silicon Valley — into his own reflections on relationships. The result is his fast-paced thriller about wired-world intrigue and lost love.

The book sounds very intriguing, and I’ve added it to the To Read list in my Books application on Facebook (you can read an excerpt online). What was really worth the listen (7m21sec) was the part about the social impact of the online world on real life (RL), and just how people are really designed to change and adapt depending on what tools are made available to them. So, really, in a sense, the way that the online world is changing society is somewhat of a natural progression, and adaptation to new life tools.

I’m a big believer in increasing the everyday usability of libraries as a place and a social infrastructure (as opposed to the technology, which I’m a fan of, too; I’m just not talking about that right now). The best way to do that is to understand our users, and adapt their use of tools to services, resources, and tools in libraries. It’s not always just about having the wiki or blog or MySpace page, but understanding the *culture* behind it. Once we master that, I think I’ll truly believe it when Cori Doctorow says that “librarians are cultural heroes*.”

* I met Cori Doctorow at a presentation he gave at MIT a while back. Upon telling him that I was friends with John Klima, a fellow librarian with whom Cori has worked in the past, he promptly said that I, too, must be librarian, and that “Librarians are cultural heroes.” I remember it fondly.

Here’s a shout out to my D&D peeps, mad props for your shiny skillz.

I meant to post this before ALA, because I received the Libraries@Random before I went to Washington. Because, you know, D&D is gaming, too.

Dungeons & Dragons @ Your Library!

Most of you know about Dungeons and Dragons (D&D), but in case you’re not familiar with this phenomenon, it is a huge hit with teens and adults! D&D is an ongoing activity played with books, paper and pencils, and it requires creativity, imagination, and cooperation (with a bit of math and reading thrown in).

For more information on hosting a D&D event and for fantastic giveaways, visit the Wizards of the Coast Booth #2947 at ALA!

Resources are available at www.wizards.com/dndlibrary and you can email Wizards of the Coast directly for information at dndlibrary(at)wizards(dot)com.

I particularly love the “How D&D taught me to use the library” bit, but I kinda hate that the documents are .pdf files in .zip files. That aside, low-tech gaming is still very cool. Enjoy!

This is sort of on-topic with my recent summer reading thread, and a bit of a stump speech for the library school education reform I tend to discuss more in person than on my blog (these days, at least).

So here’s the list:

It’s never done that before: a guide to troubleshooting Windows XP by John Ross
Why? If librarians could learn to approach technology problems the way they approach reference, I think it would tear down a wall that keeps librarians from trying to get it. This book, in my mind, does that really, really well. The type’s a bit small for my taste, making it look a bit overwhelming, but really, it’s the most practical and readable troubleshooting guide I’ve read. If the layperson can use it for tech self help, then certainly a librarian should carry it in the mixed reference arsenal of books, Wikipedia, Google, databases, and ask-a-person resources. And, I believe that every librarian should have some minimal troubleshooting skills, either learned in school or some other way.

Send: the essential guide to email for office and home by David Shipley & Will Schwalbe
Why? Because everyone has problems with email. *Everyone*. I think of this book as the HOWTO file on email with some Emily Post sprinkled liberally in for good measure. Anyone who is subscribed to a listserv will read this book and nod their head knowingly, recognizing all the cardinal sins of email in everyday practice. You’ll either recognize that the horror has been inflicted upon you, or realize with horror that you’ve inflicted it upon others. Library school students, potential and current, read this book. Library schools, I beg you, add this to your competency curricula. If you teach email classes, recommend this book to your patrons.

High definition: an A to Z guide to personal technology by the editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries
Why? Everyone loves a good dictionary. If you’re reading, say, It’s never done that before, and you come across a term that was mentioned and defined earlier, but you can’t remember the definition, this dictionary will come in handy. I think it should be read start-to-finish by people who know little about tech. A word a day on the workroom whiteboard or something. And yes, while you can get by with the define: widget built in to Google, this is way more fun to snuggle up to.

Windows Vista: the missing manual by David Pogue
Why? Some libraries are moving to Windows Vista because they must, or because the new computers they buy have it installed, and there are no other options. This book gives you the real skinny on the quirks, the differences, the things you need to know. Yes, I did interview the author for the PLA Blog, but I wouldn’t be pimping the book here if it wasn’t worth it, trust me. New librarians will need knowledge on the new operating systems available to libraries (if I could get my hands on a copy of the 2nd edition of Ubuntu for Non-Geeks, then I’d know whether or not I could recommend that, too; either way, you should try to get your hands on it and give it a looksee.)

And everyone is kinda confused about it.

I’m sitting the ALA Council meeting, and Aaron Dobbs wanted to contribute to the conversation. At the beginning of every ALA Council meeting, the “rules” for the meeting are read to the representatives, which includes:

RECOGNITION

(4) A non-Councilor may speak only if granted permission to do so by Council or by the Presiding Officer.

Heidi Dolamore, Councilor-at-Large, after consulting with Michael Golrich on how best to proceed in allowing Aaron to speak in relation to the rules of the meeting, properly requested a “suspension of the rules” to allow for Aaron Dobbs to make a comment on the discussion at hand.

Loriene Roy put the request to a Council vote (although she has the power to grant this request *without* the OK from Council), and the vote was no. Aaron left, somewhat loudly, but came back shortly, with the intent to blog his experience. Not long after, there was a break in the meeting, and people started to trickle over to where we were sitting.

Wow, was everyone confused. A member was trying to speak to Council, with the aid of a Council member, following protocol. The simple fact is that there were few people listening to what was really being requested, and the request was not properly grokked, so people voted no, but ended up not understanding what they had really done. Several people noted that, if they had understood what was going on, they would have voted differently. Some argued that maybe this wasn’t the place to allow members to participate at all. Yet more wanted to know what the protocol was to actually present a member for comments in a debate. And advice was given to Heidi on how this should have been presented, that her best bet was to request to have Aaron recognized, as opposed to requesting a “suspension of the rules,” when either request should have been sufficient, possible flash interpretations aside.

The net result: a member wasn’t heard. The request could have been worded better, granted, however, the request was placed (using pretty technical language, given what the rules say), and the member was turned away. Council should have been listening better, and should have seen and granted the uncommon (I wouldn’t say rare, because it happens, but still, it’s not-so-common) opportunity to open participation to the few members who actually pay attention to these meetings, especially since the proper protocol of being presented by a Council member was followed.

If you’re a member of ALA, you should start paying attention, too.

My friend CC Chapman, a super smart podcaster, just posted a episode of his Managing the Gray podcast about social networking sites. A listener inquired on CC’s views on “social networking burnout,” and CC’s response is an excellent rundown on how he uses each site.

To be honest, how he does it is how I do it, right down to the marking “read all” on Bloglines (when even I bother to check it, these days). I think that most adult “civilian” social networking junkies use these social networking sites the same way, but for students and kids it would be very, very different. It’s interesting to consider the differences in use of the technology by different audiences, and ponder how those cultural differences will transfer into library service and program offerings, online *and* offline.

It’s an excellent example of how one person with Web 2.0 know-how wrangles all the accounts, deals with consuming all the content, keeps in touch with all the people, and uses each site for different purposes. Worth a listen, totally.