You The Online Version

Since I bought the domain name www.agentramona.com I've had a lot of angst. First of all, I didn't want to be limited by the title of librarian and my real name was taken in various other ways. So why end a brand?

Because when I graduated from library school and sent out all my applications, I didn't realize Gmail was adding "sent on behalf of" and I worry my resumes that went into the netherworld looked like they were being sent by some kind of job search agent. But I have it everywhere! Or almost everywhere..Yahoo wouldn't let me have Agent in my name the last time I checked three years ago, but I got it today.

Anyway, so my new dilemma is the website. How serious..how fun..how librarish.. I'm not looking to take over Pitchfork with music content but I'd like to carve a niche for that, and blogging, maybe something other than running these separate blogs.

Or maybe this is why I have six pairs of glasses and wear makeup only when I feel like it. I'm interested in the fact of image but not in developing one, even though it seems that self marketing is so important.

Which brings me to Micael Porter's "You the Online Version" video I so enjoyed this afternoon.

You: The Online Version

View more presentations from Michael Porter.

I'd say he's got great ideas here but I have a lot more questions about accepting everyone on social networking services. While I think it's important to keep your name reserved everywhere, I just ditched Friendster and MySpace yesterday. What I should properly do is rejoin and redirect to my website, or at least Facebook until my website offer something more than a horrible bootlet of my band playing in the 90s. I also dumped about 100 people on Facebook who I felt faked caring about me. I didn't want to see so many pictures to parties I wasn't going to. Now that my PMS is over (whoops, hey that wasn't fair! Too much information, but it was two weeks early and the last reason/excuse on my mind for my feelings)...how to I integrate people I network with into my life when I enjoy most social networks as a personal space for family, old friends, goofing off and nothing professional? I want my website to incorporate my personal personal, which is about as pro as this blog, maybe more than those other sites. Enough overthinking, back to work.

Dear mysterious force in charge of the internet,
Please give Google more power so that Google Wave becomes VERY popular and forces our IT department to abandon Internet Explorer due to patron pressure. Right now I can't do anything in Wave, which sucks, because I'm sure that during the workday is when most of my pals are going to be on it. IE has crushed my dreams of using it to collaborate with my coworkers in the near future.
Oh wells.

POP3

Really. I know it's a security issue. But can we please enable POP3 so we can forward our mail to a service that has more than the tiny little limit we're allowed in Outlook? I'm always missing important stuff because I have to go through major mail purges, I don't have much flexibility in making folders and rules for things like holds lists that I don't need and it just feels restrictive that I have to use this stinky Microsoft mail product when I'd rather have everything (documents, calendar, maps, contacts etc.) integrated into a product I actually like (Google, I know, my answer to everything).

I'm either preaching to the choir or a voice in the wilderness here.

Duke: Why We're Not Digitizing Zines

Is there a proper way to format posts that you write as a comment on another blog? Here are some thoughts on Beth Wooten's post on the Duke University Digital Collection's blog about Why We're Not Digitizing Zines:

Thanks Beth. I’d like to add that there are zine sites that scan and archive zines without permission, although there are none I would endorse, and that I think it’s fine for a library to choose not to do so.

I do want to challenge the idea that digitized zines would have to be available online to everyone. I think that it would be great if a library could scan zines for on site research, including indexing and abstracting them. From my understanding of copyright law this would not be a legal problem. I also understand this would be a tremendous effort that is devalued because it would not be put on the web for free, and libraries simply don’t have the money to do that.

To personalize this, I founded a zine library in Olympia WA in 1997 and am now a young adult librarian. I have published over 50 zines and despite buying at least three scanners over the years, I have never gotten around to digitizing my own zines or even making copies for the library I started. I lean towards the idea of selling a cheap cd of all my content, indexed and annotated by me at 30, rather than making it available online for free. While this is probably a horrible idea, I’m more comfortable with the idea of people making copies than posting stuff online. It will probably always be that way.

Printing Improvements

Instead of making people sign up for computer time to print from their flash drives, why not just let them plug in the flash drives at another computer and send the print job to the printer? If a patron is technically savvy enough to be prepaired with their flash drive ready to print, they won't take any longer at those stations than a patron who needs coaching just to make a reservation.

Was A Me Meme, but is Now a Time Capsule and a Rocketship

This is the kind of draft I find that's over a year old and makes me say, wow, okay, yes, I still feel this way. Although now I've been through two Teen Tech Weeks, presented on Twitter twice, become a semi-official resume helper in our branch. I've angsted over the fact I'm not helping anyone with their website design or the UI on any of the systems we have here. What can I do now? Keep learning new things and keep looking for where I might fit in with my skillset.

I really should go to Computers in Libraries next year but am I just going to be cranky and depressed to be around people with real tech responsibilites?

Do I ask too many questions?

Do I want to make too many improvements?

Do I care too much about the users?

The fact is, I truly believe that successful IT companies (and libraries are companies that deal with information and technology) have those concepts at their core values.

Curiosity, innovation, the end user.

So with much ado, here is the bit of the "Me Meme" I started to answer in March of 2008 but put aside until I could think about it a bit more.

**********************************
How I became a librarian
* Wrote an article in my zine promoting stealing from libraries and was chastized by a friend so bad that I ended up finding out how awesome public libaries are and started volunteering.
* Accepted various paraprofessional jobs for 8 years after graduation and whined about the need for a library school education to do my job.
* Woke up alone in a hotel in SF, hungover and depressed and asked for a sign. The phone rang and Drexel was begging me to apply to their MSIS program.


Why I'm still a librarian
* I'm new to the title
* I love public libraries but am still hoping for something more IT related. To this end I've joined the Young Adult Social Web Committee, helped plan Teen Tech Week, and occasionally remind my trainer in HR that I'd like to be mentored by a librarian that is invovled in IT for the library.

******************'

A few more answers to Why I'm Still A Librarian
* I love the people I work with both at my branch and at the system
* It's way better than being unemployed
* I love organizing events for teenagers like arts and crafts and video game afternoons
* I'm really, really good at remembering book titles and authors
* I can remember a lot of online resources and find answers quickly
* I like that people appreciate what I do
* I love that the little kids appreciate what I do
* I like having a short commute
* I like the hours
* I like being part of the community and being a community resource center
* I like reading books
* I am entertained by the goings on in the branch

On due date cards....

Having recently procured an unopened package of date due cards for an as yet unrealized library art project, this story of petty theft dealing in such used items made me smile knowing that the object is not just of beauty to those of us who grew up with the card's utilitarian purpose, but that the cards continue to be valued and a source of delight and mystery for the young.