Librarians Go Tapas! Bay Area Librarian Meet-up

Posted on by pcsweeney

This Saturday (July 30th) at 6:30PM is the fifth in the series of Librarian Meet-ups and the first to be on the Peninsula! For this meet-up we’ll gather at the Zambras Tapas Restaurant and Bar in Downtown Burlingame. This is one of my favorite Tapas bars in the bay area. They have a Grilled Dates dish that is Stuffed with blue cheese, walnuts and rosemary, wrapped with radicchio, port wine reduction and is one of the best tapas plates that I have ever eaten. There is also both red and white Sangria and many other amazing dishes to choose from!

So come down to Burlingame and go tapas with other bay area librarians. You can meet librarians from all over the bay area who are working on amazing projects, sit around and have a drink with some good library folks, or just relax and eat some good food while making plans for librarian world domination.

Let us know you’re coming on the Facebook Event Page

And don’t forget to like the Bay Area Librarians Page that makes these events happen!

Saturday Night July 30th at 6:30PM
Zambra Tapas Bar
http://www.zambratapasbar.​com/
248 Lorton Ave
Burlingame, CA 94010
Phone : 650-344-5655
fax : 650 344-5055

Will Google+ be Another Brick in the Tower of Babel?

Posted on by pcsweeney

So I had this random thought and posted it to Google+.  The conversation was one of those rare good conversations that occur on social media sites. So good in fact, that I thought I’d post it here for anyone not on Google+ yet or have no desire to make the switch.

PC Sweeney -Thought… With the significant fracturing of the social media that should be bringing us together, building communities, and having the potential to create a more perfect society and/or better social spaces are we recreating another tower of Babble? When we all join a different social media space will we be able to communicate with anyone?

PC Sweeney – I currently speak Google+, Facebook, myspace, twitter, youtube, flickr, vimeo, wordpress, goodreads, librarything, blogger, picassa, bucketlist, and a few others….

Eric Riley – This is why there needs to be real social media federation. You should be able to select the social site you prefer, for whatever reason and be able to connect with people from other sites with no barrier.

Unfortunately most websites prefer to see their users as a commodity rather than a person. Facebook is trying to pull some serious dick moves to prevent people from leaving, like not being able to export your data, closing ads for other sites, not allowing api access, and not allowing a user to delete their profile. It’s petty, childlike behavior.

As federation building protocols like xmpp becomes more ubiquitous we’ll see how certain social sites want to play. Google has said thy want to allow federation VIA G+ but its not in here yet. My guess is that this is a result of this still being trial phase, and that it will be implemented eventually.

Ellen Carey – I’m all for federation. I can (and usually will) learn to “speak” any social media you put in front of me. But trying to keep up with the content on all of them can hinder, rather than help, true communication as my attention gets stretched ever thinner – especially when we make a lot of noise contributing what amounts to the same content through multiple channels. At the same time, many of the people I want to connect with are disinclined toward the level and range of social media fluency that interests me, and are unlikely to leave their familiar Facebook for Google+ (for example). It would be great if we could prevent our communities from being splintered by what is a cool new tool to some, and yet another overwhelming thing to learn to others.

Jennifer Meyer – A great question for sure. It’s funny but I think we sort of lose sight of what the technology is – at least I’m guilty of this. But really it’s just a tool. It gets used as any other tool and is only as effective as its user. If as a human being I interact on social media with the same personal blind spots as I do in “real live” then I’ll limit my communication regardless of what platform I’m using. Despite the possibilities we are still “stuck” inside our own little sphere.

Would social media really be more productive at bringing others together for social change with a federation?? I don’t know; bet it would depend on the paradigm of the society when the federation formed. What is the goal of social interaction? To find differences and celebrate, or to find similarities and celebrate? Neither is wrong in fact I’ll bet we need both – but do we purposely go out and look for differences??

Ellen Carey – Great points. I agree: we need both. And I think many (most?) of us seek out and celebrate the similarities rather than the differences – through social media as well as F2F.

As far as tools go, I’m always thinking about the less tech savvy people I know who are overwhelmed by the learning curve for each new thing. Their inability to keep pace with the rapid introduction of new technologies can isolate them when fellow community members like me move on to newly-formed communities based on new tools. It can also disenchant them with social media in general, and I have very mixed feelings about that problem. On the one hand, I think we all need to take it upon ourselves to keep up with the pace of change. On the other, I don’t want to leave anyone behind, and I don’t think it’s reasonable for me to expect everyone to be as geeky about becoming fluent as I am. How do we consider the very real challenges of access to information and community, in such a rapidly changing landscape, for the significant number of people who are not digital natives? The idea of federation is on appealing solution in theory. I’m not sure how it would work in practice.

Jennifer Meyer – Ellen well thought! One phrase came to mind as I was reading that. Access points. And isn’t that awesome that librarians do that? Perhaps part of our future is going to be creating and disseminating access points for that social community – whatever that might be. It will become critical that we acknowledge those challenges in a similar way to ADA considerations. Particularly when it might be lack of digital access that prevents people from learning those new technologies.

Ellen Carey – Absolutely! I love the idea of librarians developing access points to communities. And I like the analogy to ADA considerations. I am still (always) wrestling with the question of what is reasonable to expect of those who have digital access, but lack the desire to develop a level of fluency in the digital world.

ALA Emerging Leaders; Eff the projects it’s about the people

Posted on by pcsweeney

ALA describes the Emerging Leaders Program as follows;

“A leadership development program which enables newer library workers from across the country to participate in problem-solving work groups, network with peers, gain an inside look into ALA structure, and have an opportunity to serve the profession in a leadership capacity. It puts participants on the fast track to ALA committee volunteerism as well as other professional library-related organizations.”

And while I believe it is all of this, there is so much more that it offers. Having gone through the whole program (I emerged in 2008), I’d like to give you my own review of this program.

EL is NOT about the Projects.
This is the most important thing you can know about it!  This is also the part of EL that I’ve heard the most complaining about.  I might seem like it is about the project at times and you’ll do a lot of work for it.  But, if you go into this program thinking that the whole thing is about the projects you’re going to be sorely disappointed.  I’ll admit, mine was ok at best, it definitely didn’t give me any new found leadership skills, I didn’t develop or learn anything from the project itself and I didn’t gain some remarkable problem solving skills or anything. My mentors were barely adequate and my project was never used by the sponsoring organization. But, it was very beneficial in that I met and worked with some great librarians on something meaningful and tangible and I did learn a lot about the ALA organization from the project. But EL is not about the projects anyway.

EL is about the people
What I did gain from my whole experience is an amazing “tribe” of people who I’ve grown to love and respect in many ways. Many of these people are a large part of my personal life, some are a part of my conference life, and some I only get to see occasionally. When I go to conferences I have a group of people to meet up with and learn from. When I have questions professionally, I have a group of people to ask. When I need some kind of support for a project or idea, I have a group of people to offer it. When I’m sitting around on my butt on a Tuesday night with nothing to do, I have someone to call and chat with for no particular reason.

EL changed my entire conference and ALA experience!
Because of the people that I’ve met through the EL program I have been able to run for ALA council, get involved in committees, and put together exciting and fun activities at conferences. Before EL, I was overwhelmed by the whole experience and it was originally through this program that I met JP and Justin who started the ALA Think Tank and moved me from just showing up to conferences to actually participating in them through their whole Partyhard and Makeithappen attitude. It is for the people that I owe my huge thanks to Emerging Leaders.

I highly recommend that you get involved in this program, do your project so you can makeithappen, and most importantly partyhard with your fellow Leaders!

Plus, it’ll look good on your resume.

New Orleans Annual, June 26, 2011: Flash Mob

Posted on by pcsweeney

ALA’s first ever Advocacy Flash Mob and Freeze took place in Jackson Square on Sunday at 5:50 pm amid a downpour that some participants dubbed a “Flash Flood Mob.” More than 50 library advocates gathered in front of Saint Louis Cathedral despite the rain to dance and sing “When the Saints Go Marching In” as a lead-up to the Freeze. Most wore t-shirts with library slogans on them to identify themselves as librarians supporting the New Orleans community, just as ALA did in 2006 when it was the first conference to return to NOLA after Hurricane Katrina. Libraries care about communities, and communities should care about libraries. The Freeze Mob was organized by the ALA Think Tank as a #makeithappen event.

Going to ALA Conferences? You’re Doing it Wrong!

Posted on by pcsweeney

I never used to enjoy going to the ALA Conferences and I’ve heard so many people say the same thing. They were always too big, too overwhelming, and just… too much. But, at the ALA Conference in Washington DC 2010 I was invited to stay at a vacation house with 11 other Librarians that was organized by Justin Hoenke and JP Porcaro. I was excited about this for a couple of reasons.

1) Justin and JP are awesome humans
2) It was way cheaper than the ALA hotels
3) It would be a totally new conference experience

So of course, I said yes. In the days coming up to the conference various emails were sent to introduce everyone to each other and to talk about anything that we might want to do as a group at the conference. Somewhere in these emails, someone, at some point, jokingly called the house the ALA Think Tank (because it rarely seems as if people are thinking at ALA) and the name stuck. This conference experience was amazing and I learned more than I could have ever hoped. By the end of the conference, I realized that this was the only way to go to ALA and the ALA Think Tank folks have done one Midwinter and two annuals like this. What follows is everything I learned about conference going from the awesome folks in this house.

Start a Think Tank.
I can’t stress this enough. The benefits of a house are HUGE! The full kitchen and communal living dramatically reduce the cost of conference housing and food. There will always be someone to do something with and you’ll be plugged into so many different things going on at ALA then you would be alone in your hotel room. It also makes a great space to have your own meetings and socials to meet even more people. You also get to hear about all the other things that your roommates learned at the conference and greatly increase the amount of take-away information you’ll get. I learned so much from my Think Tank folks that I’m still processing information from DC.

Get on Twitter, Facebook, tumblr, instagram
I know, everyone is saying this, you’re probably sick of hearing it. Why aren’t you on the social medias? By following the ALA conference hashtag or seeing what your friends are posting online about the conference you can find out about the best sessions, networking events, book signings, latest updates from ALA, where all the freebies are, blogs about what other people learned at the conference, tons of various tidbits of information from other librarians learning things, and you’ll get to find opportunities to meet more librarians. If you don’t know where to start:

1) Facebook – Join the ALA Think Tank
2) Tumblr – Browse the Tumblarians list
3) Twitter/instagram – Follow the hashtags (the official hashtag is #ala2013 but everyone is blowing up #ala13)

Meet Everyone
Meeting folks and networking with other awesombrarians is really one of the best things I get out of ALA. There are so many people doing rad projects at their libraries and meeting them at the socials and after parties gave me opportunities to find out what they are excited about. Of course, there are over 20 thousand people at ALA so meeting everyone is not at all possible but at least put yourself out there and talk to everyone you can! You would be surprised where a random conversation at a meeting or a networking event will take you.

Forget about the Sessions and Workshops
As a tie-in to the previous three tips, I think this has really helped me learn even more while at the conferences. I know it seems totally backwards but I learned so much more at everything else ALA has to offer that I stopped going to sessions and workshops. The problem is that the session proposals are written a year ahead of the conference and by the time you get to the conference (if you’re on FB and twitter) you’re going to be sick of hearing about whatever the session is because it will have been discussed and blogged about ad-nauseum all of the days to and following the conference. Instead, I recommend the following three tips;

Get involved… In something!
My own personal choice was Emerging Leaders. This was a great pre-Think Tank kind of group learning experience. Through Emerging Leaders I figured out how to navigate the ALA and first met many of the people that I currently work with in the ALA. While my experience in my EL project itself was less than stellar, I did meet a bunch of amazing librarians and got gently pushed into running for ALA Council. All of the committees and council stuff that I’m involved in keeps me learning and pushing me forward. If you don’t want to get involved in Emerging Leaders you should visit the ALA Office at the conference and they can explain how to get involved in ALA in many different ways.

#partyhard
Typically, I get up at 7-8am on conference days to get to the conference for my morning meetings and various obligations. This is rough considering I also typically spend most of the night out with librarians at various council forums, meetups, socials, and after-hours networking events. It’s during these times that I corner my professional heroes and talk to them about what they are working on right now. I’m interested in learning what the next big thing is that they are excited about. Also, I find that people are far more truthful about their previous projects over a beer then they are at the session they held. People are more open about their fails and how they overcame obstacles at these events then they are in the more professional conference setting. It’s also during these times that some of the best projects that I have been involved with in librarianship arose. Basically, by partying as much as I could with as many brilliant people as I can find, I have been able to learn more meaningful, current, and useful information in librarianship.

#makeithappen
ALA loves to say that they are your organization. This is a lie. You are ALA’s organization. You are the one who has the ability to make your conference experience as amazing as you want it to be. It is your duty and obligation to get out there and make whatever you think should happen at a conference happen at the conference. For example, JP Porcaro, Amanda Pilmer, Justin Hoenke, and Jenn Walker decided to make an ALA Dance Party happen so they organized it and it was epic. If you think your conference experience would be better if there was a QR code hunt, you can make that happen. If you would like to help other people make awesome stuff happen at the conference you can join the group on FB called the ALA Think Tank and see where you can help #makeithappen. Overall though, it’s your conference and if you don’t get everything you can out of it, you have no one else to blame. Don’t complain, #makeithappen.

Bonus tip – Friend JP Porcaro on Facebook and Twitter. (and google+)
Trust me on this one.

JP Porcaro Talks to Erin Dorney about Emerging Leaders at #ala11

Posted on by pcsweeney

JP and I met up with EL Alumni Erin Dorney at the Emerging Leaders poster session at #ala11 to talk about her EL Experience, how it prepared her to be a leader, and EL as a way to network with fantastic librarians.

Could Google+ Ruin Your Online Personal Brand?

Posted on by pcsweeney

So I got a google+ invite (just bragging)! While I was exploring this new social media and talking to friends and happily putting them all in all of their specifically labeled circles, I started thinking about the amount of metadata that we are creating for each other and about each other. I started thinking about twitter lists, facebook groups, and other classifications in the multitude of social media platforms that we, our company, or our brand, is being put into against our will and without our control.

I understand that people have had these concerns with FB already because they are already doing some of it in a way. But I think that Google is slightly different because people “like” a company on FB or “friend” me and its pretty much exclusive to FB, whereas people “Google” me to find all of my online persona or a company’s online presence. These groups and pages in FB don’t have an effect on people’s search results for me within FB. But, my friends’ classification of me could have a strong impact on what search terms are used to find me or have a strong impact on my public online identity.

Here is another difference, I think. FB uses my groups and likes data to send me more specific and better targeted ads and recommendations. I’m the only one who is really affected by this data because I see the ads and recommendations when I’m online. I see the results of people’s classifications of me. And, for the most part, I’m the only one who does. However, Google can more effectively use this “circle” data to influence the search results for me. Results that anyone can see, that influence how people find me, and that the public can associate with my online brand identity.

This is because these lists and groups generate a massive amount of metadata about our online persona. I originally thought about Google+’s collection of this data specifically because they are in the search, metadata, and ad business. My first thought was how my friends’ classification of me in circles would affect search results for my public online identity (PC Sweeney) that I spent a lot of time constructing. Would it be completely upended because people started putting me in the “douchebag” circle? Would it be possible that whenever someone searched for “assholes” I would rise to the top of the search results because that’s how people had classified me? Or, would I simply continue to be put in the “librarian” circle? Or even… dare I say it? That searches for “awesome” would bring me to the top of Google searches?

But, ok… Let’s just say that I’m put in the asshole circle, twitter list, and facebook list (because that’s more fun). How will that affect my job search or my career advancement? People potentially could see my online brand through search results, and people’s classification of me that I am branded as an asshole. My boss, or future boss could learn about this and it could ruin my career.

While, I think this would be mostly funny, I wonder about larger companies that have been branded by these lists such as BP, PG&E or Walmart. How can they control it? I don’t think they can either. They could try to avoid social media all together to try to limit their classifications. But then what about FB Places or Yelp that automatically generated a social media space for that company? Avoiding social media would be wrong too.

So what is the solution? In the future, starting now, it is going to be more and more important to not be an asshole and more important to just be awesome.

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Adam Block talks to JP Porcaro about “Off the Fence”

Posted on by pcsweeney

While in the “office,” Adam Block started talking to us about his company called Off The Block. We tried to get the interview in the “office,” but we decided to step out into the hallway instead.