Thing Fourteen: LibraryThing

In case y'all didn't notice: I added my LibraryThing widget a long time ago. There are few things more pleasurable than finding out what others have read. LibraryThing is a delightful site. I love the options of knowing what other people have read based on the similarities of their libraries to yours. I love the "more recommendations" and the(brilliant) "anti-recommendations." Seriously, choosing the hot links to either of these categories after you have found a particular book leads you to all sorts of intriguing titles. So many people are a part of LibraryThing that I think it works really well. Millions of books are represented.
And the tagging! I cannot tell you how many times I have used LibraryThing to find a book that I was unable to remember the title to. More often than not I have located seemingly un-locatable books. I think that alone is a good reason to be familiar with LibraryThing. I think it would be great to have LibraryThing integrated into our catalog. From what I gather it is a simple thing to do.
I also belong to Goodreads. Not so many people contribute, so I don't think it's as great as LibraryThing. But check it out, it has a nice feel to it also.

Thing Seven

I can't imagine not using email. It's just so great to have text-based way of sending information that's faster than writing letters, but not instant. Which brings me to IM; I don't want to say I'll never use IM for personal use, it's just that I can't even stand talking on the phone. I hate having to make small-talk, or trying to come up with a conversation for the sake of conversing unless I can see someone's face (in person). With that said, IM at work rocks because we don't have to pick up a phone. It is so much faster and easier to be able to identify who is where and contact them directly without the added interface of a phone, since all of us are pretty much staring at the computer screen constantly anyway.
I'm ashamed to admit, being the mover and shaker that I am, that I am slow on the uptake as far as texting is concerned. Part of my issue is, again, the frivolous nature of seemingly 95% of texts(basically to hook up, right?) . Then there is the problem of cost: until it's free, I'm not adding another charge onto any of my bills. Speaking of, check this out all you readers of my blog (har har): Japanese Bestsellers. It's astounding and unsettling to read about these books because the sentences are shorter and the plot lines are virtually non-existent, but what strikes me is that the writers are really, really young. This is what young people do, and whether I like it or not, that is how people will want to communicate. More evidence: "Digerati." Yuck. Maybe if I just start doing it and stop bitching about it I won't hate it so much. I think, for the library, if messages could be sent and received using a computer then it wouldn't be so sucky. And I love the idea of request and overdue notifications being sent through text if a patron desires.
BTW why are the article links from 23 Things On a Stick from 2005? Are they the original articles from the original program? I think they should be updated.
I attended a Minitex webinar about Google custom searches. I started watching a webinar on OPAL, but my browser didn't work correctly. I could have switched, but I just thought I would try them both anyway. I think webinars are a great idea, I just have a hard time staying focused when I'm watching in my livingroom. It's great though-I don't have to take time off work or at least drive anywhere to go to a class. Smart. I'm gonna spend a bit more time to find something really interesting.