Last, or...

Reflecting on this exploration I am pleased with myself for being familiar with as much of it as I was, I know more now and that’s the whole point.

The younger staff have even greater familiarity out of the box as it were.
I can't believe I am enjoying Twitter ...its such a trite and fluffy thing but its a good moments distraction on the desk. I got a face book page...me! Who'da thunk it.

Folksonomies and tagging… Can't say they’re for me but that could change. Tagging, it’ll depend on the context. Gmail uses tagging to organize your mail while still retaining an useless, ugly un- organized inbox...I'd be much happier with folders. On the other hand Gmail does an XLNT job of filtering spam, our email server, not so much tho things have improved lately...tho I'm still getting plenty of offers for Angelina Jolie XXX videos. Yeah, like I’m going to click on that. Better still I’m going to respond to the fake eBay message telling me my account has ben compromised. There must be enough stupid people out there…

We should have a publicly available system blog, and post twitter updates, not because other libraries are doing it, no, but because this is what we need to do to have a viable presence on the web and a viable future as an institution. For internal communication, a BBS is absloutely the way to go, our blogs get the job done but they aren't as effective as a message board for two way communication.

We're coming around. We (meaning our leadership) need to listen to our up and coming L2's, L1's, LA's, and circ assistants they are our future. They have even greater familiarity out of the box as it were. There are cultural differences due to our age and exposure to the tools of the information age. The wisest thing for the leadership to do is give us the benefit of their experience and let us try some of these things and in some cases, just let go.

This exploration is a beginning. We have a long way to go, but we’re moving in the right direction so lets kick it in gear and go!

Brian Oberle, HAR