Flickr Fun in Cumberland Falls

I'm sitting in my room at Cumberland Falls State Park working on my EKU Libraries Learning 2.0 lesson for week #3. My afternoon was spent attending The Kentucky Academic Library Summit. Tommorow,we'll continue our discussion and prioritize the pressing issues for our state. Then, SAALCK (state assisted academic library council of Kentucky) will meet for their montly meeting. I am shocked to learn that our state has never before invited academic librarians to gather for a retreat or meeting like the one we're having today. I expect positive outcomes.

Back to flickr- I am having FUN! My experience with uploading photographs has been with shutterfly and kodak. While these tools have been helpful by allowing me to share photograhs with family and friends, I can see advantages to flickr. I like the idea of sharing my photographs outside of my usual confined group of contacts. I also love the tagging capabilities. Unknowingly, I jumped into an option that allows users to post photographs on a map. This would be a fun way to geographically organize images.

Next week Cindi Trainor will take the EKU Library staff on a visual fieldtrip of academic libraries. She had the unique opportunity to accompany her former Dean and a group of architects on a trip to Duke, Emory, Harvard, Rice and Dartmouth. Not many of us have the time or money to travel and see the creative ways institutions of higher learning are designing and recreating spaces for learning. However, flickr is a tool that makes it possible for the academic library community to post pictures of our facilities. The Studio for Academic Creativity promisses to be a flexible and inspiring space for EKU Students. I think it will help our staff to visualize some of the creative spaces we've been imagining and discussing for a very long time.

Elsie Pritchard, the Library Dean at Morehead State University, said something at today's summit that caused me to reconsider our audience for next week's presentation. Many people throughout higher education face similar challenges and discuss the same trends, regardless of the discipline. Student Affairs, Career Counseling and IT departments are all faced with the task of recreating old spaces and thoughtfully designing new ones. I know people across campus would benefit from the pictures that Cindi will share next week. Flickr will allow us to share best practices with our colleagues. Perhaps some will even join us in the library for the presentation.

Face Book and Libraries

As a library administrator, I always consider ways we utilize our human resources. The question is, "Is creating a library Facebook account time well-spent?" If the point of social software is connect people, then why would someone want to be friends with a library? I'd much rather add a librarian or person to my friend list. Obviously, there are people behind the library account, but you get my drift.

I also can't imagine all librarians wanting to define or expose themselves as the "Eastern Kentucky" network librarian. Perhaps this is the rational behind a library organization's presence instead of a personal presence? It seems to me that an organizational presence would limit the scope of the account and in some ways limit the human component that makes facebook appealing to so many.

Facebook can be considered just another strategy for outreach. Most people don't understand what we do. If we can put search boxes, book recommendations, and upcoming library events on our personal profiles, and it leads to increased exposure and use of our resources, why shouldn't we consider it a useful way to spend our time?

As you can see, I'm all over the place in my thinking. I will continue to contemplate the issue.

Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us

Watch and learn.

Web 2.0 Video Clip Response

Every time I watch this video clip I'm blown over by how well it communicates the concepts of web 2.0. Today I also paid particular attention to the upbeat music and how it contributed to what I was reading and learning. When I consider the creative ways to include web 2.0 technologies in the classroom, I am energized. I can't wait for faculty at Eastern to experiment with their course work. I believe EKU Libraries will play a role in educating campus about Web 2.0.

Keeping a Public Diary?

I'm not sure I like the idea of having my friends and colleagues read my random thoughts. It feels self promoting and uncomfortable. It makes the assumption that people care what I think. Maybe I just don't get it yet. Or, maybe the vulnerability will subside.

There must be many good reasons to share my ideas and perspectives: Could it improve communication? Would it provide an opportunity to focus the organization towards a vision that is shaped by a global community? Is it helpful to have the staff realize their leader sometimes feels vulnerable and awkward? These are questions I look forward to exploring in the web 2.0 lessons.

As Dean of Libraries at Eastern Kentucky University, I feel obligated to be informed about issues that impact academic libraries. Scholarly communication, learning technologies, higher education, content management- the list goes on. Will blogging overwhelm me or help me with my desire to know more? Time will tell.