Week 10 - This is the end

For months now I have avoided Twitter. I'm already on Facebook, writing a blog and sending smoke signals (provided the weather is nice) - how many more means of communication do I need?! Don't get me wrong, I do understand the appeal of Twitter. Lots of bite size nuggets of information (proof that my generation will no longer stand for chunks of writing larger than a paragraph) and pretty much like Facebook when all you could do on Facebook was write status updates and post on peoples walls.

Most of my friends don't have Twitter, which is another reason I stayed away for so long. In my social sphere, Twitter is used more often by companies/organizations/libraries to disseminate information to the masses, which makes sense. E-mail lists seem to be passe in the age of Twitter. Instead of compiling lots of information and sending it out all at once, companies/orgs/libs can send them out piecemeal but in a more timely manner. And as anyone who writes long winded emails knows, it's a lot less time consuming to write something with 140 characters. So long etiquette! Now you don't have to worry about subscriber lists or spam - I can simply follow you or not.

Obviously I did not start following friends, but groups I was already passively following on Twitter. And in minutes, I had no information I was unaware of (like my current branch would be opening till 8:30pm on Fridays in the near future). So I understand the point of Twitter, I just don't like to use it. To me, it is simply a 140 character Bloglines and I wish the two could be merged so I have one less website to check on a daily basis. This is why people get technostress!

By the by, my Twitter is @tplguybrarian.

23 Things Assignment #8

Here's our first video in our YouTube tour.

And video #2.

Ooh look, another! Who knew there were so many videos out there about the Toronto Public Library?

And I couldn't have this post without some beer related content. Here's an interesting look at Toronto's Mill Street Brewery, which includes some interesting facts about the Distillery District.

Well, that showed how easy it is to compile a bunch of YouTube videos, but how can we use this to expand customer service? Obviously the hard part is creating the content - YouTube merely makes it extremely easy to offer up video content without using TPL IT resources. For that reason, there is really nothing it can't do. Whatever video idea you have is possible (okay, maybe not 3D, but you get my hyperbole). Create promo videos before events and then record them to show off what a glorious success they were. Make how-to videos that aide patrons in navigating our new website. And then there is the class booktalk, which TPL already did for this years Keep Toronto Reading Campaign (personally, I loved that TPL patrons could send in their own videos. I already know what my colleagues think!). What about having Ready for Reading sessions available online? That way parents, caregivers and children could have access to them at any time. The possibilities are endless.