Thing 17: LibWorm

I like the idea of not having to open accounts. So far I have so many (I can't use the same user name on all of them--it beats me!!!) that even though I wrote almost all the user names and passwords I still have some problems! I totally forgot the password for my e-mail account and had to change it. Now I have it on paper. I guess I can't rely on my memory anymore!

Using the name of my library I found many entries... the last one from April 29 of this year but many are very old.

It also has older job postings for positions that have been already fulfilled and since we are on a freeze hiring I don't think we will be seeing anymore of those postings (at least for the time being...hopefully!).

I tried the Feed Categories... have you read the Art Librarian? All I can say is that I don't find it "interesting" but "boring". Please go and read it and tell me what you think. This is similar to Twitter but with more words.

By Subject Categories is more interesting since you can choose which subject you are interested in and read the latest news. Other thing I like is that you can save some articles to read them later, if you happen to find the time to do it, and save your own comments too!

By Tags is even better. I found an article about Texas Librarians raising money for damaged libraries by showing off their tattoos in a calendar! The comments are fun to read.

Could it be useful at our libraries?... perhaps, but in these times when libraries are short of staff and overloaded with work one has to ponder: Does librarians have enough time for all these Things?

Thing 16: LibraryThing

How to start explaining my tribulations? I thought I was doing fairly well, with some ups and downs, but I never thought LibraryThing would be the one to break me.

I have been very, very frustrated because I simply haven't been able to find the ThingLang, or MarcThing or ISBN check. I have tried looking on "search" with obviously no results.

On the positive side I was able to start cataloguing some of my favorite books but the process is slow since it doesn't recognize my lists: I for sure never wrote the ISBN numbers or saved an image of the cover and therefore I have to be doing it one by one (searching by author and selecting the books I have read from them). I would like to know if is possible to select several book to be added with just one key stroke. I haven't been able to find that either.

I also like the book recommendations and the possibility to write a review for new books.

I quit writing my advance on the 23 Things because of my frustration... now I am just going to continue with the next one hoping it won't be as frustrating as this one.

Thing 15: Digg

I went to Digg and digged and after lots of browsing came to the conclusion that it is not useful for me personally. For that case a prefer to read the online newspapers instead of relying on other peoples idea of which type of information is more viewed.

As for the use of this Thing at my library... perhaps patrons can rate the quality of the workshops or events they attend at their libraries?

I need to kepp asking my eternal question: Who has the time to keep up with so many Things and still be able to work and have a personal life?