Thing 21 -- Other Social Networking

After reading the articles that you listed, I found myself somewhat curious about how I could use these social networks. I don’t live on line at home, and wouldn’t really want my elementary and middle school students contacting me that way anyhow. (Not that they would want to talk to the librarian outside of school—EWWW!) Anyway, I joined Ning for the 23 Things on a stick Group and the Teacher Librarian Ning. It was pretty interesting to look at and comment on some of the forum issues being discussed. The Teacher Librarian Ning had a forum on blogs, which I both subscribed to and added my own for some more traffic (I hope!).

I think the forum questions and responses might be useful to look at occasionally or to post to if I run into a professional question. But I find the feeds more useful because I can glance through those more easily in the morning when I get to work.

Again, given that I don’t live on line at home, I probably wouldn’t spend quite so much time looking at all this material if it weren’t for doing this program. But I am glad to get the exposure and to know that the opportunity is out there for when the time is available.

I will say that I found these options more useful for what I do and plan to do than Facebook. Being on Facebook simply makes me feel old. Sigh.

Thing 20 -- Social Networking

Whew! I never knew just how big a deal this whole issue is until I (perhaps naively) invited my 14 year old son to be my Facebook friend. He just said, "Mom, all my friends would see. I'm not really comfortable with that." After spending several days as the only person in the world with NO Facebook friends, I invited my 20 year old son who took pity on me. Ah, it sure makes me feel like I'm in the ostracizing land of middle or high school again.

I can, though, understand the appeal, given how my sons use this site. I have been able to view my older son's photos while he is studying abroad, my younger son has stayed in touch with former school mates, and they each use it to connect with friends near and far. When I think about how I fell out of touch with classmates in the various years of education I have gone through, I am glad that this newer generation at least has an easier technology to help them keep in touch, if they choose to.

I joined 2 groups, "Librarians and Web 2.0" and "Librarians and Facebook." I did like a video that I found on the first, which I posted below.

So, please "friend" me so that I don't feel like that sad 13 year old that lives inside all of us!

My Facebook status is:


Lydia Schultz
is learning how to be a true library geek.