- about
- Age of Enlightenment
- apps
- architecture
- archives
- argyle
- Asimov
- Assyriology
- automobiles
- Banned Books Week
- biblioblogosphere
- bloggers
- blogging
- blogs
- bookmarking
- book review
- cal academy
- card catalogs
- Career
- CARL
- cataloging
- censorship
- cg
- chance encounters
- cocktails
- communication
- conferences
- delicious
- design
- digital
- digitizing
- diptych
- e-Portfolio
- Farkas
- film
- flâneur
- Foundation
- gaming
- Gilgamesh
- Google Reader
- graduation
- Greece
- history
- homer
- iPhone
- John Vance Cheney
- Lemony Snicket
- library ethics
- library instruction
- library science
- link
- magazines
- Meebo
- metaverse
- museums
- music
- OED
- Opera
- oral storytelling
- personal observations
- Photography
- photos
- pinakes
- podcast
- podcasting
- poetry
- printing press
- questions
- reference
- Ring Cycle
- Rome
- RSS
- San Francisco
- Science Fiction
- screencast
- screencasting
- Second Life
- self-publishing
- sharing
- social
- subscriptions
- theater
- third place
- thomas edison
- toothpaste for dinner
- video
- vimeo
- walking
- welcome
- wikis
- youtube
DIPTYCH(S): COLD AND BOLD
Due to a series of factors, our regularly appearing Diptych series has been a little irregular. Here are the past two to catch us up. Expect the next in the series (”Rough”) on Wednesday, and take a look at other entries for these categories via the links on Miss Grace’s blog: Cold and Bold. Thanks, of course, to @uncola for her continuing contributions.
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REVISITING LIBRARIES ON FACEBOOK
Last week David Lee King wrote an excellent blog post on academic libraries and Facebook, and it forced me to rethink some of the assumptions I made a year ago in a blog post on the same subject. At that time, I felt that Facebook was far more useful for networking with other professionals and staying in touch than it was for institutions, but some of the newer features on Facebook have really changed the landscape.
The single biggest change as far as institutions are concerned is that Fanpages can now post updates and have them automatically appear in the Newsfeed of their fans. This was implemented in the spring of 2009 and it allows libraries to create a far more active relationship with their fans. This simple but key difference means that instead of the user needing to visit and revisit the fan page in order to interact with the library, all they have to do is sign up as a fan and the news will come to them. Instead of fans having to post on the wall of the fanpage, they can post comments right on each update, creating a dialog.
That is, as long as the library remembers to post news. And that was the biggest element of King’s post. If libraries want to gain fans and have relevant fanpages, they can’t just set up a page and walk away. They need to keep a frequent stream of updates relevant to their institution, invite their fans to events using Facebook’s Event feature, and add photos and videos, much like an individual uses their personal Facebook page.
I can imagine a few groans now. Who has the time to keep posting these things on Facebook when the library is busy and (likely) understaffed? Well, it’s worth remembering that the library is already creating all this content. It already hosts events. It already publishes guides and pathfinders to its website. Perhaps it already has a blog. All of these things can be fed through Facebook updates with just a few clicks. If the library also has a Twitter feed, the tweets can be linked to the fanpage account and be posted simultaneously in both places.
I’d like to add one point to King’s. Ultimately, a library (or any institutional fanpage) will be most successful if they spread the responsibility between staffmembers. I heard this from two different colleagues in the last week — one my former Technology Tools professor, and the other a former SLIS classmate — and the reasons why are pretty obvious. If only one person is keeping the Facebook page going, any time they go on vacation or get too busy the Facebook page withers away. Instead, if several people are involved it is easier to maintain momentum and vary the content.
Does anyone know of any particularly good library Facebook pages to recommend?
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DIPTYCH: SAD
Normally, a photo should be able to stand on its own merits, without need for explanation. But I do think that this week’s diptych — or at least my half of it — benefits from a bit of explanation. I was reminded again this morning of the interesting things you see and the interesting encounters you have when you take the time to walk about the City.
First, the subject of my photograph (the second image below) was suggested to me by a transient man who noticed me taking “arty” pictures of a weathered signpost. He told me if I wanted a really good picture, I should go across the street and look up, look for a sign high on the wall of the crêpe place on the corner.
Now, I actually knew what he was talking about because I had grown up in that same neighborhood, back when The Other was in its late 70’s and 1980s heyday, when it was the greatest underground comedy club in America. But I had forgotten about it, just as the City did when the club died at the end of that decade. “Entertainment nightly” indeed. Once upon a time.
Once again my gratitude goes out to @uncola for her contribution. About it, she said, “Note that on top of the sort of slow-destruction-of-childhood-whimsy-in-the-harsh-realities-of-the-environment thing, ‘where’ is spelled wrong.” Indeed.
ON FEATHER CLOAKS AND CANNIBALS
I’ve made another contribution to the California Academy of Sciences library blog From the Stacks. It’s about pioneering ichthyologist and first Superintendent of the Steinhart Aquarium Alvin Seale and his adventure memoir Quest for the Golden Cloak. The book is the account of his turn of the century exploration of the South Seas in search of a feather cloak to rival King Kamehameha I’s, and to determine if cannibalism still held sway upon any remote or forgotten island.
To quote my post on From the Stacks, “in his adventures he also came across high cliffside caves strewn with ancestral bones, went diving on a forgotten island searching for oysters with golden pearls, and even had a chance to shoot the devil himself.”
If that whets your appetite, read more here.
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DIPTYCH: FRESH
As always, original credit for this project is due Kellee Pigeon and Miss Grace. Check out their rendition of “Fresh” yonder. Here is my collaboration with @uncola:
DIPTYCH: PLAY
Unfortunately the posting of last Wednesday’s “Diptych” was delayed due to some interminable computer hardware issues. But! Here it is in all of its playful(?) glory, thanks to some timely help from my partner in photography @uncola. Enjoy, and peruse other offerings on the subject via Miss Grace.
Hopefully our next offering, on the subject of “Fresh”, will be freshly posted this Wednesday.
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