So I haven’t blogged since June. It’s now October. I’ve been studiously ignoring this blog. I just found a wonderful comment that I missed from said studious ignorance (thank you Ellen). I am so immersed in MSU Libraries and our emerging technology efforts, Facebook, Twitter, and Virtual Reference. Honestly, I’m tired of it. Maybe even burnt out. We aren’t going to be able to do the MS Library 2.0 Summit this year because of the current economic climate–even though there has been passionate interest in doing it again. Maybe it’s because I didn’t make a more compelling argument?

Lately all I seem to be interested in is poetry and art. Fourth Fridays. The cre8tive warehouse. Launching a new graphic novels bookclub in Starkville. Housekeeping. I’ve even started writing poetry again when I get exhausted from writing academic papers on Virtual Reference.

I just found myself sitting at my desk, trying to figure out how I could push the information I’m gathering about these topics. I thought about Facebook, but I needed an RSS feed. I thought about Twitter, but I needed more than 140 characters. Then I remembered this long neglected blog. Could I really do it? Aren’t I supposed to be a professional/librarian online? Am I allowed to have a personal-ish blog? More struggling with Online Identity. Is it better to have a dead blog if I can’t think of anything to say anymore about 2.0 and Libraries? Should I just kill it altogether and make this site a CV?

But then I remembered that my goal is to experiment always. My job is to find new ways of using technology–sometimes they have applications for libraries and sometimes they don’t. I was reminded about Carol Greider, who had been conducting “irrelevent” basic science research–quietly studying an enzyme with no application in mind. An enzyme which eventually became critical in understanding cancer and aging.

So maybe everything I do doesn’t have to have an application. Maybe it’s okay to just do something to do it and let the cards fall.

Well, I haven’t blogged for an entire semester. I took the Graphic Novels class (excellent), did costumes and crewed our Community Theatre’s entry in the MS Theater Competition (won that competition, won the regional competition, and headed to nationals in June), and appeared on a panel at a national conference among other things. But I’m back to blogging, largely as a result of giving up on peer-reviewed publications on social networking topics. I’ve moved on to the much simpler Virtual Reference topics for which I have copious data. With that in full swing, I don’t have to feel like I’m cheating on my research by blogging. Or that is what I currently believe.

So I’ve been bottling up tons of ideas hoping to turn one magically into a paper, and now I need to get them out. So here they come…ready or not.

Today is the first day of school and we have lots of exciting things going on! We’ve just launch the Mississippi State University Libraries Facebook Group, and we already have 70 members. I just typed 708 and that number looked very exciting…but it’s just 70 right now.

We are also working on a Flickr project that isn’t up yet, but is on the way…and our Welcome Back day was today and I stood out front with Thomas passing out my business cards and pamphlets about the library. I’m so happy to have the students back–it’s really energizing.

The follow up website to the MS Library 2.0 Summit is slowly coming along. Or, rather, I got a message today that we are working on it again–that’s going to be a lot of fun to finally see up on the Libraries’ site. Then I can email all the attendees and tell them about our 2.0 progress and point them to the resource…which I hope they will find helpful. I’ve had several emails about it already, so I know at least some people are anticipating it…

I’m working on a paper right now for the Journal of Library Administration on social networking and ethics in libraries. I have a lot of trepedation about getting my ideas out on the page and sending them out into the library world. Nearly paralyzing trepedation. However, I am determined to push through. Publish or perish, as they say, and I have no intention of perishing. Plus it’s really a cool topic. I decided to look at how blogs have become a way for librarians to continue an ethical discourse as technology changes speed up the need to debate, consult and come to some sort of consensus with colleagues about how to proceed….or at least some sort of best practices. We’ve always been a very practical profession, anyway, and it makes sense that we are developing (forgive me) these utilitarian approaches to democratic deliberation on these topics. I just wish I had more people to discuss my ideas with…but I guess that’s what blogs are for in the end–or that’s what I’m saying they are for anyway…lol…it all gets very circular.

Kris is in the new SCT production of Noises Off, which apparently involves aerobic exercises during every rehearsal. It’s going to be a huge treat–they’ve had the stage built and shipped in and it flips completely twice during the show (the second act is “backstage”). Plus it’s a farce, which SCT (and Kris Lee) do very very well. I’m trying to focus on my research, so I’m not involved in SCT right now, except that Fourth Fridays (script-in-hand readings of local writers) is coming back starting the fourth Friday in September. I think we’re going to do a huge poetry night. It’s a bit easier to find poets than playwrights. Or, possibly, we’ve exhausted our playwrights. One of them moved to Indiana.

I’ve gotten a new digital camera. My old one broke and I haven’t taken any new pix since our beach vacation in May. So watch for new pictures.

I’ve officially been assigned to the Emerging Technologies operational assignment here at Mitchell Memorial (I sort of made it up, but now it’s part of my job). I maintain our VR CHAT program (IM proposal has been submitted–yay!), work on 2.0 projects, maintain our Facebook site, etc. It’s going to be fun to see how it evolves.

That’s it for now…

Amanda

I went ahead and made a facebook page for the event from my own page… I’ve invited all the attendees we have for the MS Library 2.0 Summit one way or another. It’s global, so you should be able to see it.

I’m still working on publicity for it–we’ve gotten such a great response, but I know there are more people out there who would love to be part of this.

More tk!

Amanda

(Oh yes–Fourth Fridays is tomorrow night…we’re reading a new play by MUW professor Brian Anderson. Actually there’s a facebook for that too! 7pm at the theater–come and support grassroots theater in Starkville!)

Well, I haven’t posted anything for a month and a half. During that time the play Aspirin & Elephants has come and gone (to great reviews), and the MS Library 2.0 Summit has been birthed. Born. Well, you get the point. We are now taking registrations and we are still open for “Steal this Idea” presenters and poster sessions. We have had a tremendous response so far. After only three days of registration, we are nearly at half of our capacity. We may need to find a larger venue. We have attendees coming from all over the Southeast and Mississippi. They represent public, academic, school and special librarians and library staff. Wow.

I’m trying to publicize it in the blogosphere, on wikis, on Facebook (not yet), on social networks (ning!) and calendars. If anyone has any ideas about where to put it, let me know. Feel free to blog it yourself! If you do, I’d love to know about it.

We’ve already got presenters working on blogs/Google Analytics, Second Life, and all things like LibraryThing. And more coming in every day. I’m thinking of doing a poster on agriculture departments and wikis–that’s been a killer app for me. They are so high-tech and distributed already. It’s almost as though they were waiting for a wiki!

I’d love to hear any feedback, ideas about publicity, etc. This is untrod territory for us (and especially me!), and we’re excited to see it happening.