Adventuring!

I used Google Docs to make a poll/form for you all to fill out: Getting to Know You. The answers automatically get sorted in a Google Spreadsheet file, which can be found here: Responses. It's editable, and I created a new column for you to guess who answered what.

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I am a huge fan of delicious.com, and have been for years. (Since it was at del.icio.us, even.) I have over 3500 links organized with several hundred tags, which makes it very easy to find what I'm looking for. I can even look for items with multiple tags (tagged both knitting & blog, for example) to further refine my search. I also use it to easily share links with people - when I'm saving it, I add the tag for:email@address.com and it gets sent with description to that address. Super handy. We can also set it up so that our bookmarks either update in our sidebar or get automatically sent as a new post here.

I think this could be something that could be very useful to us, both for all the fun links we share (like the Guardian one JN posted about) or things like prize ideas for SRP. The key is remembering to use it. Sometimes a habit just needs to get developed, or sometimes, a lack of using it just means that it doesn't fill a need.

Technology can be great, but the key is finding things that make your life simpler, rather creating a complication or adding to your to-do list. Tumblr is my example - it's a neat idea, and several of my friends are devoted users. But it doesn't fill any needs for me and is just yet another place I have to try and remember to check for content from my friends. (Although When Parents Text is usually worth checking.) On the other hand, when I discovered Polyvore, I was instantly hooked and found it very useful and fun, something I was glad to add. Google Reader is somewhere in the middle - it's duplicating some things that I already do, which means I'm less likely to use it, but it is much easier to access on the go with my iTouch. I might keep it up to date with favorite blogs just for that.

Rory brought up some good questions that we need to consider as we move forward with our website redesigns. Do we need to be as interactive as the teen site is now, put that much effort into things? What needs do our patrons have, and how can we fill them? That's what Anne is going to be working on when she comes back. I'm also interested in seeing the results of Jen M's patron polls, to see what they look for at our website. The more we think and plan now, the easier it will be when we redesign.