Follow JFK’s 1960 campaign on Twitter (via JFK Library)

lindybr1 — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 04:40:35 +0000

I know I’m a bit late with this, but what a cool idea! The JFK Presidential Library created a twitter account where folks can follow JFK’s 1960 campaign trail. Check it out: kenedy1960

Saving Lives and Making Dreams Happen

lindybr1 — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 01:35:03 +0000

A colleague of mine had this on her computer in her office. While it is a joke, I wondered, what if folks in Student Affairs or Librarians had such a phrase on their business card? What would you say if someone gave you a business card with that written on it? Would you laugh? Would you think it a tad unprofessional? Or would you appreciate the thinking outside the box?

Missed ALA 2009? Flexyourinfo.com has updates

lindybr1 — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:44:47 +0000

I could not attend ALA, but I followed along via the tweets about the conference (#ala09, #ala2009), tweets about sub-meetings and presentations (i.e., #toptech, #unala2009, #acrl101, etc.), and watched ustream videos and cover-it-live events (i.e., lita’s top tech trends). I even heard about ALA on NPR (Librarians go wild for Gold Book Cart).

But just now — I just stumbled upon Heather Devine’s (Flexyourinfo) ala2009 page – a more comprehensive, all-in-one-place collage of tweets and conference photos. For the visual folk, please check this out! Want to see what was going on at the Unconference? Select that option. Want to know what happened on Tuesday? You can even see the tweets and photos by day! You even have the option to pick which tweets you’d like to see by hashtag.

Read more: Heather posted more about this at her blog.

Evan Williams discusses the unforeseen uses of Twitter at TED 2009

lindybr1 — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 16:15:05 +0000

Evan Williams, co-creator of Twitter, talks about the unforeseen uses of Twitter at TED 2009.

More on Twittering Libraries

lindybr1 — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 17:34:18 +0000

Earlier in January, I sent Michael Stephens a copy of my LIS 5313 web 2.0 article regarding Twittering Libraries. Since he wrote a lot about the value Twitter has for libraries, I thought the information I collected from my survey might be of some interest. He probably gets a million emails from other random folks all the time, but what the heck, I thought – it’s worth a shot, so I emailed it to him — and he responded back!

I can see why he is well-revered in the librarian community – even though he is probably one of the busiest guys in the profession, he took time to read what I put together and replied back with an offer to do a guest posting on his blog, Tame the Web. I am still so happy and grateful of that opportunity!

You can read the original post here, but I thought I’d go ahead and post it below as well.

More on Twittering Libraries…a TTW Guest Post by Lindy Brown

Lindy shared her project for LIS5313 with me via email and I asked her to share her study with TTW readers. Thanks Lindy! Michael

Recently, I read a post from Mashable.com about Twitter’s staggering growth in 2008: Twitter grew 752 percent in 2008 for a total of 4.43 million unique visitors in December! What does this mean for libraries? As Twittermania spreads, more and more of their patrons are will use it to communicate, socialize and make connections. As such, libraries should see the unlimited potential Twitter can have to connect them to their community and beyond.

Libraries must adjust to reflect the expanded use of social media by our youth (see the recent John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur report from the Digital Youth Project). Much has been debated and discussed about the library staying relevant; I believe we must meet our users “where they’re at.” One way to do this is through social media, and Twitter is part of that repertoire.

This past fall I wrote an article titled Twittering Libraries for my LIS 5313 (Design & Production of Media) graduate class at Florida State University. The article provides background information and a brief history of Twitter, notes the pros and cons reported by libraries using it, and shares findings on innovative ways libraries are using the service.

At the time, I found about 90 libraries on Twitter and I emailed the survey to all of them. Sixty-five libraries/librarians replied. From that information, I wrote my article. I found out that overall, most librarians said Twitter is easy, fun, free to use, is a great marketing and public relations tool, allows for collaboration amongst staff and community, provides opportunities for professional development and networking, has strength in its brevity, and allows libraries to, as one librarian put it, “build street cred.”

My article is just a little window into the endless possibilities that Twitter can provide for libraries/librarians. Since then, I have found many more libraries using Twitter. Furthermore, recent comments on blog posts by Jenny Levine (The Shifted Librarian) and the ACRL blog show continued expansion and ingenious uses of Twitter. (Definitely check out Brian Mathews’ paper, Twitter & the Library: Thoughts on the Syndicated Lifestyle, that is connected to the ACRL post).

Some may argue that Twitter is yet another web 2.0 fad, but I believe we’re only seeing the beginning of its utility. Even with a limited reach, Twitter is a free and not-so-time-intensive tool that libraries/librarians can use to improve their services, create relationships with their patrons and community, and use for assessment and promotion. I believe that with 752 percent growth in just the past year, Twitter is more than just a fad, and its reach currently has limitless potential.