The MS Library 2.0 Summit is back! We’ve re-imagined it as the MSU Libraries Emerging Technologies Summit, and we are already starting to get great submissions for the Steal-This-Idea sessions. We are so excited to have Jason Griffey as the keynote this year!

This conference started in 2007 with Michael Stephens introducing about 100 folks from eight states in the region to new technologies that were poised to change the library world. Along the way, some have–and some have disappeared–but the culture of learning that took hold after his visit has changed the MSU Libraries. We had cutting (bleeding?) edge presentations that have echoed in the library community since (mind you, this in was 2007):

A report from Southeastern Louisiana’s SMS virtual reference project (an early report from the pioneers of text messaging reference)
A workshop on the impact of social media, and Facebook in particular, for marketing in academic libraries
A panel on the challenges of institutionalizing 2.0 technologies in libraries

Enthusiastic about our work in the area and wanting more, we invited Sarah Houghton-Jan to come in 2008 to give us a big-picture for the state of 2.0 in the library world. Her timely keynote, Sustainable Web 2.0 Services for Small and Underfunded Libraries, came just as we were all beginning to feel the pinch of the economic downturn. Other sessions were perfectly timed for this Wild West period of 2.0 development in libraries, including:

Managing Identity in Social Networks / Information Overload
Using Google Analytics in Libraries
How Viral Marketing Can Help Your Library

Though we weren’t able to host the Summit in 2009, it has given us time to reflect on what we would like to know about (and talk about) at this point–in particular issues around assessment, sustainability and the future of social media in a post-2.0 environment. Now that we are using these tools, doing this outreach, in a culture of learning and growing, what’s next?

As we’ve done in the past, we’ll be podcasting and archiving the Summit, but nothing beats actually being a part of the discussion. If you’ve got something you want to talk about, consider submitting a proposal.

Looks like we may be able to do the Summit again this year! Still thinking about assessment and writing up the proposal now. Any thoughts about what you’d like to see? I’m wondering about trying to do a virtual component, in case people can’t travel all the way to Starkville… How did the Handheld go this year? Glitch-free? Any tips from people on that? I wasn’t able to attend because of work conflicts, unfortunately.

So excited!!!

Most of my favorite restaurants from living in the Boston area are in Cambridge or Somerville. If you are going to MLA Midwinter, I suggest you get out of Boston proper and see the Squares anyway–and don’t just stop at Harvard Square…Kendall (mostly for MIT stuff), Central, Porter and Davis (great cafes) are all worth a look–just head north on the Red Line toward Alewife. Send me a message @AmandaClay or comment and let me know if you go to any of them. And I’m always looking for new places, so let me know what you find. I’m particularly interested in the new shabu shabu restaurant in Harvard Square… Yelp.com is amazing for this sort of thing, on the web or on your iPhone. I don’t have much use for yelp in Starkville, but it was invaluable in New York last month.

Some of these are off the beaten path–I’ve noted when they are near a subway stop or where to catch a cab/bus.

Afghan — Helmand is delicious and elegant. Anything they do with lamb is amazing, especially the Qabelee. Just across from the Cambridgeside Galleria Mall–you can get a shuttle bus from Kendall Square.
Brunch – Henrietta’s Table in Harvard Square has the Most Amazing Brunch of all-time. The restaurant does locally sourced, organic, etc., but the scope of this brunch is beyond belief. Delicious. Pricey–$45/plate. Another Very Special Meal.
Burgers — Miracle of Science has a straightforward menu broken down into a periodic table on a chalkboard in the restaurant. Very MIT. Great vegetarian options and big plank tables to sit. Gets busy at lunch during the week. Head toward MIT after you get off the red line at Central Square.
Chinese — Mary Chungs, Central Square. Order the Suan la Chow Chow or anything “dun dun”–esp the fried tofu. YUM!
Chocolate – Burdick’s. Period. Sit down. Have espresso and chocolate. Amazing. Harvard Square.
Deli — S&S Restaurant Deli Great old fashioned sit-down deli with the best Ruben and blintzes ever. Somerville, MA. Cab from Porter Square (it’s in Inman Square, but only buses go there).
Haitian – Highland Creole Cuisine in Somerville, MA (this is a drive, and the service is terrible, but the food is great–DM me @AmandaClay to find out more) Must haves: fresh squeezed (SWEET) lemonade, Tasso boeuf (sometimes I call first to see if they have this–they run out of dishes), griot (pork), cabrit (goat), plantain, conch, rice and peas. I like the white beans with rice, but again, sometimes they run out. The menus are in English and French. Careful of the “cole slaw” garnish–it’s made with habanero peppers. Cab from Porter Square.
Indian — India Samraat on Mass Ave near the Charles is my favorite. Great paratha, saag, and samosas.
Italian Pastries — Modern Pastry I find there is less of a line than at Mike’s (the other popular North End bakery), and great stuff. There’s also one in Medford, if you are around that area. Close to Haymarket on the Orange Line.
Mediterranean — Definitely upscale, Casablanca is where I have had some very memorable meals, including the first time I ever had skate–delicate, buttery, delicious. Harvard Square.
Micro-brewed beer and locally sourced food — Cambridge Brewing Company a short hike from Kendall Square on the Red Line (the best Porter in the world–called Charles River Porter after the formerly impenetrable river).
Mussels from Brussels (steamed mussels topped with perfect fries and garlic aioli) — Central Kitchen in Central Square (go for lunch and order apps–it’s overpriced for regular entrees and dinner).
Sandwiches – Darwin’s in Harvard Square is a little off the main Square on Mt. Auburn and is a neighborhoody (gourmet-ish) sandwich shop and cafe. Very inventive sandwiches and a nice place to read the paper.
Tapas — Dali. Hands down a wonderful experience. Have the shrimp in garlic and olive oil, fresh anchovy filets, white asparagus, “meaty” mushrooms, stuffed squid and garlicky chicken for sure. This is in Somerville, but it also has a sister restaurant on Newbury Street called Tapeo. I like Dali better, but Tapeo is easier to get to. Cab from Harvard Square to Dali. Tapeo is near the Hynes Convention Center stop on the Green Line.
Very Special Meal – Rialto in Harvard Square is amazing. Italian in sensibility, but it’s really just amazing gourmet food. Award-winning chef, Best of Boston, etc.

A month ago my best friend and roommate Kris started a blog and got onto Twitter. He is a procrastinating playwright, among other things (poet, cabaret artist, award-winning actor and director, teacher…), who is currently running away from a very fine play he has started called 10 Mile. He is a storyteller and general pontificator in the grandest Deep South tradition. Discovering a medium where it is permissable to not-edit and not-judge and not-worry about writing has been a watershed experience for him. He is committed to his blog with an energy and enthusiasm I have rarely seen, set free of the torment and conflict that accompanies other kinds of writing. And now he is linking to this blog on his site. Currently the link is titled “best librarian in the entire world (wide web),” and he is posting excerpts from my blog.

One of the things I struggle with is creating with and managing online identity, and subsequently privacy. I consider my online life to be largely a professional life, but as I said at CiL2009 on the Managing Identity on Social Networks panel, I believe it is not possible to truly separate the professional and personal. Generally my approach has been to use privacy settings and judicious boundaries to control my identity online. Perhaps it goes without saying that Kris has a vastly different idea of judicious.

So once again, I’m back at the drawing board. As his editor, I would never want to stifle his creativity. There isn’t really anything wrong at all with his blog or his right to mention me or our life in it. It’s just not what I expected. At the same time that Kris has come into his own online, my family has gained momentum on Facebook. I now have 18 people on my mother’s side alone on Facebook. That’s right. Eighteen people. It was one thing when my brother or sister-in-law made the occasional comment on my Facebook page. It’s an entirely different thing to have my mother, cousins, aunts and uncles omnipresent.

So I’m calling it a developmental challenge…and I’m testing out my theory that creating and managing identity online is a series of developmental challenges that are necessary for growth. I’m just not exactly certain what that involves.

One of the things I’ve learned is that there is a challenge to the real-life relationship that goes along with these online developments. I’ve had conversations with my mother about what I want people to see about me on my Facebook page. I helped calm her anxiety about the difference between her news feed and her Wall when unexpected things appeared. I even deleted a Wall comment from my aunt that I thought revealed too much information about my grandmother. Now we are all on a private family Facebook Group, where we can share pictures and stories without the world watching.

And Kris. The respect we have for each other in person extends to the online world. And why wouldn’t it? Protecting and nurturing his creativity is a mission I have taken on with joy and great relish. And he is inordinately proud of my work and would never ever want to embarrass me. So every day, just like with the rest of his work, he reads his blogs aloud to me when I get home. He looks for my reaction as his editor and his friend. But if he’s used my name or a story about me, he’s looking for something more. Really we are all working together to find our balance.

Granted, this is not on the topic that I intend to be on, but it’s something that has been preoccupying me this year. I’ve been working on a talk about Managing Identity in Social Networks. A big part of managing identity is managing privacy. From the NYTimes article yesterday, “You’re Leaving a Digital Trail. But What About Privacy?”:

For most of human history, people have lived in small tribes where everything they did was known by everyone they knew. In some sense we’re becoming a global village. Privacy may turn out to have become an anomaly. –Thomas W. Malone, the director of the M.I.T. Center for Collective Intelligence

First, I find this idea of the “tribe” fascinating and very tangible. Growing up in a Southern Gothic family, the idea of the tribe is everpresent. Moving to Boston for fifteen years stretched the bounds of the tribe. But then, of course, I’ve moved back to a small Southern town a half-hour from much of my family, working ten+ hours a week on a fairly public reference desk in the University that makes up more than half of the town’s population.

And now I find myself creating tribes of my own. Twitter is probably the simplest online example. A constant, comforting stream of information about people I find interesting. Today I found myself worrying about a tweep who cut his eye over the weekend but still was trying to do his live podcast tonight. And considering what kind of tea a colleague brought to work that made her so happy. Or following the disappointment of another tweep who had worked all weekend on pathfinders and a workshop, only to find they didn’t match expectations. I learned about Oscar Wilde Day and enjoyed the Wildean quotes that came across my Twitter feed. I even had a tiny stab of disappointment as someone whose tweets I enjoy decided to stop following mine today (via the tribe-management tool from http://useqwitter.com). And as much as I enjoy the tribe I’ve made (along with the news streams I’ve created), I also like feeling responsible for my own contribution.

Facebook is a broader, more complex example. A meta-tribe. (Oh how I love anything meta.) It contains my work tribe, my tribe of library colleagues from across the country, a tribe of friends from the community theater, even a tribe of folks from media and PR around Mississippi who are interested in Social Media. For me, Facebook is a whole world of tribes, and all of them becoming more tightly woven, and occasionally crossing borders. And then my original tribe, the Southern Gothic Family Tribe, is on Facebook in Full Force. In the last two months, I’ve found out via Facebook about three engagements, a birth, and a family reunion–and these are first cousins, aunts and uncles, not long lost relatives. My 3-yr-old nephew’s abominable-snowman-dance graced my Facebook Wall during Christmas.

To match this tribal power, Facebook has developed complex privacy tools. So complex that I’ve had a hard time figuring out what they actually do. And I’ve been teaching classes about how to use them. The first step is to identify your tribes (FB calls them “friend lists”). Then you use these lists to allow each group to have varying levels of access to your information. Without these controls, it is as though you are suddenly born into a world complete with all the normal complex social connections and relationships, and everyone is in one big auditorium. Now try to manage your identity.

So…that’s what I’ve been thinking about.