Category: librarian

The whales are surfacing

An article in The Guardian discusses “Facebook whales”, individuals with more than 1000 ‘friends’.

I personally have currently got 42 friends, all of whom I either know in real life, or know of professionally. I’m polite and add people that ask, if I know them, but if I don’t really have any interest in them, I delete them a few weeks later. I can’t even begin to imagine how you would try and manage that size of a network (allegedly, humans cope best with a network of between 100-200 individuals), and to be fair, Mr MacLeod does actually admit that he doesn’t read the news feed. Which leads me to wonder why he uses the site, if it’s not for keeping up with the activities of the people he’s interested in? Is he just friend collecting for the show-off element: “I’ve got SO many more friends than you, I’m so much more worthwhile”?

Anyhoo, I’d definitely like Facebook to develop a way to turn off certain peoples feeds, or certain activity feeds. I don’t need to know when a friend has added another friend..or that they’ve left certain groups (although when they join them it can be handy, but I don’t particularly care if they no longer want to be a member of that group, I’m a big enough girl to be able to play on my own). It just clogs up the feed, and the more your network grows, the more clutter you’ll get in your feed, as Mr MacLeod has found. A way to cut down what’s coming in as a feed would be very handy. Does this sort of option already exist?

On a related point, at a speed networking meeting last week for my professional group, we had a chat about sites like Facebook, Bebo, and even the grandfather of them all, MySpace. Of 5 of us, only 2 had access to these type of sites in work, and those 2 were unsure if it would be officially frowned upon if it were ever to come up formally. And these are meant to be forward thinking, cutting edge legal firms, governmental bodies and universities. Of course, the option is there to try and persuade our employers that we need access to these sites…but in a library context, we were hard pushed to find a good reason why we should have access. “Networking” is a wonderful word, but when you’re trying to justify to a fee earner, whose time is charged in minutes, why you should spend your minutes on a site that gives no business return…can you ever win?

Genius!

Ok, Library shelving units are not known for being highly active, right?
And if you install a motion sensor for lighting, you tend to want to put it in an area of high activity, yes?
So, what genius put a motion sensor on the lights in the Library area, so if the shelves don’t move for 30 mins, the lights go off? I have to make sure to get up from my desk every 30 mins or less, to make sure they stay on!
Sensor is (hopefully) being moved this week (I actually pointed this out before the move, but I’m just the librarian, what would I know about the activity levels of the library shelving…)

And yes, this means I spent yesterday unpacking and shelving 62 crates worth of library…I have many interestingly coloured bruises (knees and legs I understand, but how did I bruise my hand?!?), an aching back and shoulders…but the result is a lovely new library area! And that’s a mahoosive improvement on the previous library layout!

Today, I’m a happy librarian…who’s considering throwing her bookworm toy at the sensor instead of dragging herself out from behind her desk next time the lights go off…!

I’m back!

Between frantically finalising my portfolio for my Chartership application with CILIP, catching up before holiday, going on holiday, catching up AFTER holiday, running back and forth to vets with a suicidal cat…it’s been a busy month! Not to mention the fact that me and my library are moving to another floor as a result of expansion, which just so happens to occur when I’m on holiday, and means I’ll be crossing my fingers that it’s all packed up properly, then reshelving the whole lot in its new location, whilst covering two offices as my boss is then on her holiday next week…my firm do like us to multitask!

In the meantime, I’ve been reading about Wyoming libraries mudflap girl campaign, Sony’s ‘sexier than a librarian’ campaign, favourite library blogs have been surveyed, virtual picket lines and demonstrations in Second Life, social networking and its business usefulness / timewasting, Enquiring Minds Want to Know has moved to a snazzy new site, The Annoyed Librarian has annoyed many,…oh, it’s a social whirl!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, James Mullan was interviewed for IWR, and kindly mentioned me as a blog he reads…I’m trying to revive my posting to make that less of a futile activity than it has been for the past month!

Also, have had my article on the pros and cons of using a wiki for a Chartership portfolio application published in Impact, the journal of CILIP Career Development Group…although access is for members only. If anyone feels an overwhelming urge to read it, just leave a comment and I’ll work out a way of getting it to you…

Now…off to continue the clearout of ‘stuff’…it’s amazing how things reappear in the library / on my desk when other peoples desks are being cleared…*sigh*

Silent Blogger!

I still exist, have just launched into a frantic and concerted effort to pull my portfolio together for Chartership, so all other activities are on hold, and that includes commenting on or posting to blogs…although it doesn’t include reading them, so I’m still busily reading, just not visibly ‘active’.

I’ve been having fun compiling my portfolio on a Peanut Butter wiki, which has many advantages….and disadvantages! Overall, I think it’s helped me to organise and compile things far better, despite the many frustrations with formatting quirks between it and Word! Have written an article on the process of using it, which hopefully shall appear in some journal somewhere in the near future…

Now, all I have to do is have peeps read it, comment, redraft, and submit…and hope the Board pass it!