This was by far the least comfortable of these exercises. I think the idea of social networking is interesting. It would be great to have a place to go to see all of the Vermont librarians and exchange ideas and tips, post pictures etc. It would also be very helpful at school. If our entire staff was part of a group, we could also exchange ideas, reminders etc. more easily than e-mail. On the other hand, I was hesitant to be a part of the whole MySpace community (I actually couldn’t bring myself to post my own picture and put up a picture of my card catalog) (??). I’m sure there’s years of therapy right there! I also know how much time the students in my college classes spend on MySpace and Facebook, and I know how distracting it can be. When I first started teaching college writing, computers were a miraculous timesaver. Now I’m afraid it takes a lot of willpower to turn on a laptop and buckle down to writing an essay without checking e-mail, MySpace etc. I’m sure as a student I would have had the same problem! I checked out the libraries that have MySpace and Facebook accounts. It seems like an interesting way to keep in touch with teen patrons - as an elementary school librarian, I’m not sure there is a small child social network (aside from Club Penguin!) out there. Again, it would be great to stay in touch with other librarians, but I would always have to balance the fun of networking with how much time it uses.
I know what you mean about the picture! I have not put my picture on anything. My teens, on the other hand, plaster them all over the internet.