It's winter in CNY - we might as well enjoy it!

Wise words...

"I cannot remember a time when I was not in love with them—with the books themselves, cover and binding and the paper they were printed on, with their smell and their weight and with their possession in my arms, captured and carried off to myself."
Eudora Welty

Friday, July 16, 2010

Ruminating on Twitter, LinkedIn and the like

I just revisited my twitter account and my LinkedIn account, in honor of The 23 Things project.  (When, oh when will someone solve the problem of dozens of user logons and passwords?)  These wonderful social networking tools make me wish that I were just starting out - I can see so many ways to use them in building a career.

In the past we counted on professional journals and conferences to learn about best practices and to connect with colleagues from other parts of the country.  Librarians who were lucky enough to work for organizations that supported continuous learning, or who had financial resources of their own could attend conferences, take courses, or go to workshops, but others were more isolated - limited to their own local libraries.  What a difference when you can have a skype conversation with someone like David Lee King, participate easily in webinars and virtual conferences, and ask questions and get ANSWERS from experts and from generous and experienced colleagues you may never meet in person!

Our working lives have been transformed.  Despite the stress of information overload, and the fact that we seem to be connected to work for 16 hours out of 24, the benefits are extraordinary.  Wonder what it will be like in 5 years, or 10 years?

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