Myspace

I created a simple Myspage page, http://www.myspace.com/bookcalendar . I wanted to see what the craze was with social networking sites. It really is not that fascinating to me. When people sign up to use the computers in the libraries, they often go to myspace to post messages or look for hot dates. I guess, I am not part of this generation. Sometimes, if I am not careful and I look to closely, some of the things I see make my eyes burn and pop out of my sockets a bit. It can be a bit explicit or suggesive.

My colleagues often speak of Myspace with hushed tones. I don't think librarians understand social networking that well. Being a librarian in many ways is a very traditional job. There is a sudden invasion of new computer programs and applications which change the way reference can be done. Unfortunately, this is being approached in a quite haphazard way.

Blow up the reference desk, use blackberries to answer reference questions, carrie your laptop around the library to do reference. Roving computerized reference, the wave of the future. I can imagine carrying around a tablet pc in the future and actively looking for people to help. I would be in a star trek style uniform with a big librarian tag on the front and back. I wish people would think through a little bit more as they implemented new technologies.

I also went on Facebook today. I had a bunch of people sign up as my friend. Yesterday, I had one freind. Today, I have seven. It is kind of interesting. Maybe, I will build a unique offbeat literary network. It also showed me a bunch of places that my freinds joined as well. I joined a publishers group and posted something.

I had one person join me on Myspace as a freind. Then I searched for groups that were related to librarianship on Myspace. There were very few, much less than on Facebook.

I think as a potential professional networking tool, Facebook is much more useful. If you are looking for a hot date or a chance to discuss the latest rap song which the teenagers do at our branch, try Myspace.

I finished reading Scott Gier, Genellan Planetfall, on the Baen Free Library Site. I didn't realize it was part of a larger series. Scott Gier has a website devoted to the series. I may read a few more books in the series. Only the first one is free. This is the classic way to hook you. The first one is free, then you have to buy the book or borrow it from the library. This is why it is profitable to give away older books if you are a publisher. http://www.genellan.com/