The 27th thing

So, 27 things, done and dusted.

I was most excited to see what libraries are doing to put their virtual collections out where people already are. When the Library of Congress shows up in your flickr photo search, you've accessed a public resource - maybe even by accident. I love that. And I'm thrilled to hear that, as part of an upcoming digitization project, the Sacramento Room will be exploring making images available via flickr.

Podcasts are another favorite of mine, and while I didn't take up the challenge to record a podcast, it was interesting to see what other libraries are doing with the technology. There's great potential for expanding our current dial-a-story programs into podcasts. I also think we should consider recording key author events and making them available via podcast. There are, of course, copyright issues involved with these sorts of activities, but it seems worth the hassle, given the potential for expanding our programming reach.

System-wide, I think 27-things has helped SPL staff to understand why it's important for us to have a presence in the online spaces inhabited by our public. The timing of bringing our (fabulous) digital services librarian on board could not have been better. Our facebook page has taken off, and has already yielded results in the form of customer feedback she's using to develop our mobile-accessible library pages. We're expanding our twitter presence. We're raising our profile in Sacramento area wikis, and we're looking to review sites like yelp to see what other folks are saying about us.

On a personal level, it's been fun to see what my colleagues at SPL are passionate about (and I really hope Natalie invites us all to her new house, once it's finished).

So, when do I get my flash drive?