We've all been asked some form of the question, "why did you become a librarian," and with my 30th high school reunion looming I expect I'll be asked at least once by an old classmate. I have different answers depending upon whom I'm speaking to, but I think the best answer is simply because I'm curious about stuff. I just find it fun to look things up, help people and in the process learn something new.

Most of the stuff that I've learned about computers and technology was more by accident than by intent. I was simply curious enough to go poking around trying to figure things out. Lifelong learning is often used to describe this process, but it's a phrase that has never resonated with me. To me it sounds way too formal and planned for anything I've ever actually learned on my own. My process of learning is more like what Dorothea Salo calls the six magic words, than anything as stuffed shirt sounding as Lifelong Learning.

What are the magic words?

Ready? Okay the magic words are, "hmmm I wonder how that works."

When I first heard about the Learning 2.0 program, based upon the idea of learning about 2.0 tools through guided exploration (which I’m sure is trainerspeak for the magic words), I became an evangelist for the Learning 2.0 program.

A year has gone by since that day and now my library is in the midst of a Learning 2.0 program, for which I'm proud to be an administrator. When our program started I was naïve enough to be surprised at the negative feelings that some staff would have about it. I had been so involved in developing proposals; finding funding for incentives; determining tools for measuring progress; that I forgot that not everyone wants to learn this stuff. The magic words for these people are like the bell in the picture book The Polar Express; they have lost their power to enchant.

For these staff our 2.0 program is something that is added onto their workday, which makes their regular job harder. Most of these people are busy, and they feel that if they take time to play with these tools they’re letting their coworkers down because the regular work may not get done. As Kathryn Greenhill points out these people aren’t dumb grumps they’re merely expressing some very legitimate concerns. They’d like to know how these tools relate to their jobs, which ones are the most important, and they want a traditional training structure.

A Learning 2.0 program, I would argue, is as much about building a culture of dare I say it, lifelong learning amongst staff, as it is about any of the tools and applications we play with. Since technology is changing quickly and 2.0 applications are developing rapidly and then morphing into something new, the question of which tool is more important than another becomes rather moot. Knowing about these tools can improve the ability of staff to provide excellent customer service. One librarian in our system quickly located close captioned television shows on the internet, for a hearing impaired customer, because she had learned about Hulu the week before. These “aha!” moments are important to share with everyone in the program, because they enhance the power of the magic words.

It’s been a pleasure speaking to you this month, but now I’m going to go play with this thing called 280 Slides which seems like it could be helpful for my next presentation. 280 Slides, hmmm I wonder how that works?

Posted by: Jim McCluskey

I spend a lot of time on Flickr and every so often I come across something that just really bothers me. No, I’m not talking about someone’s tasteless photograph; I’m referring to mean library signs. Many of the worst ones target cell phone users. Of course, if your sign can be addressed to teen use of cell phones, well then you’ve hit the daily double of nasty. One library I came across the other day even threatens you with a hundred dollar fine if you’re caught talking on a cell phone in the library. Let’s set aside for a moment the fact that bad cell phone policies and unfriendly signs send a message to these customers that we don’t want you in our libraries. These practices are also out of step with the services libraries are already offering or moving towards in the near future.

Your phone is getting smarter.

Remarkably given the state of the economy, cell phone sales are booming, especially smart phones like the iPhone, and the Blackberry pearl. Formerly the domain of techies and executives, these smart phones are now coming into the mainstream, and that represents a great opportunity for libraries. In the past several years more and more libraries have begun offering downloadable content such as audio books, music, video and eBooks all of which are compatible with many smart phones.
One of the big hurdles for widespread acceptance of this downloadable content has been the issue of incompatibility with the iPod. Now that OverDrive has announced it will later this summer be releasing DRM free audio books that will work with iPods—look for more details at ALA—can the announcement that these same materials will also be compatible with the iPhone as well, be far off? Downloads still have some issues, notably the learning curve for first time users, but soon libraries will finally offer them to the vast majority of customers who have been up to now, shut out from these materials.

Kindle the new iPod?

I want to be a fan of eBooks, but I just can’t warm up to them. But like a lot of things I buy for the library whether I personally enjoy them or not is irrelevant, I buy them because our customers expect the library to have them. And the Kindle has the potential to do for eBooks what the iPod did for digital music. Should that happen, library customers are going to expect that the library offer the latest bestseller in eBook format as well. Two of the largest selling points of the Kindle seem to be convenience and an improved experience for the reader. You can already read an eBook on your smart phone and many are, as the success of Harlequin’s eBook program has shown, so the audience for eBooks is there, it’s the experience that has to improve and perhaps only slightly.

Forget about email, texting is where it’s at.

My library is considering moving to another ILS vendor. And as part of our conversation we’ve been asking about the possibility of offering texting of holds notices to patrons. So far none of them have promised anything other than it’s in the purgatory known as development. But all of them admit that they’re hearing this request from other library systems as well.

I love the idea of text message notifications because it reflects the fact that texting is the preferred method of communicating over email, and voice calls for many tech savvy users. Why Library Elf can handle texting me my holds and overdue notices so eloquently, but ILS vendors cannot is perhaps only explicable by the commitment of their resources to adding tags and reviews which seem to be the current innovations they’re all trying to offer in one form or another.
What I find very, very strange is that we’re still talking about cell phones in such negative terms when the technological trends are all moving these devices towards a much greater integration with current and emerging library services.  Yes, cell phone conversations can be annoying, and yes, libraries need to try and offer some spaces for quiet study. But cell phones can be used in a quiet manner, texting and soft phone conversations are no more disruptive to the library than any other patron conversation.

Libraries should separate the patron behavior that is disruptive away from these devices which are now ubiquitous. To allocate resources to collections like eBooks, downloadable music, video and audio books and to move towards developing services like texting hold notifications while at the same time treating cell phone users as pariahs is ridiculous in the short term and dangerous in the long term.

Posted by: Jim McCluskey