Attending CIL 2008 was a stimulating, informative, and challenging experience. I’ve come away with some understanding of new concepts, inspiration from the activities and mindsets of other libraries, a list of resources to explore, several useful tidbits, and a very long list of things I want to learn.
My concept of tagging and folkonomies has broaden, and I’ve a new respect for this “democratic” development of descriptive subject terms. The librarian brain craves a system of classification and bibliographic control. The subject terms that emerge through tagging can be more representative of how people actual think, then what gotten laid down in stone by Dewey and the Library of Congress.
Speaking of the Library of Congress and community contributions to metadata, I found out about a great project that LC did in connection with Flickr http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/flickr_pilot.html . They posted 3,000+ photos from the depression and World War II. They said that they would “look forward to learning what kinds of tags and comments these images inspire” , and the results were far greater than they expected. People who viewed them on Flickr added updated information and photos on the people, buildings, and landscapes. This type of participation has given meaning to me to the term “social media”.
I was particularly inspired by the philosophy and services at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Library. Their main library offers a “Virtual Village Communication Center”. It offers customers a full range of resources to support their participation in the creation of high-tech media. Take a look! http://www.plcmc.lib.nc.us/Locations/mainVirtualVillage.asp
One resource I learned about that is of interest to all of us is www.LibWorm.com . It acts as a search engine for the content of 1400+ RSS feeds from sites that cover our library world. As more library folks have come to use the web for their professional communications, the more valuable LibWorm has become. I gave it a try and checked for info on building libraries. Got a great hit for an slide essay from Slate entitled “ Borrowed Time: How Do You Build a Public Library in the Age of Google” http://www.slate.com/id/2184927 .
As for my learning list, I’ve just set up Google Reader to view RSS feeds I’ve selected, and have been migrating over to http://del.icio.us/ for my bookmarks. Next on the list is Flickr!
For me, CIL is the best staff development experience I can think for stretching my mind. I give it 4 stars! Gail - Silver Spring Library
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