MD 23 Things: Thing 23!

[your neighborhood librarian]

Holy mackerel, I've done 23 things with Web 2.0!

But I had a head start, sort of. I started using online resources to share photos and stories and videos because our family is spread so far and wide, and I really began enjoying expressing myself through the medium. Once I hooked SiteMeter up to my blog, I got kind of excited about how many people were coming to my blog, and from which directions. There have been months when over 250 people a day checked me out.

Your Neighborhood Librarian has been up for over a year now, and I have made actual in-the-flesh friends through it. I'm hooked in to a network of children's book reviewers all over the country - we share Best Of lists and take each other's recommendations, and in New York, they even get together for the KidLit drinks night! Wah! I miss New York!

I am optimistic about the future of these tools to streamline decision and learning processes. I fully believe that blogs are the new brands - look at all the blogs that contain sidebars of "products I like" or "books I like". I'll take recommendations from Fuse #8 any day, and until recently, I didn't even know if Fuse #8 was a man or a woman! I just liked her taste.

I think that's the first, easiest step for a library to take - the online, blog-based Reader Advisory. That's why I keep my reviews very brief: thumbs up, thumbs down, and here's why.

That's all you need.

Do what I say.

I have pink hair and I'm not afraid to use it.