Friends and other things

As a librarian, moderating appropriate behavior in the library is simply a facet of my job. Patrons, be they any walk of life: adults,teens,or pre-teens for example, may easily have what I will call a social networking obsession. Facebook is one of these social networking tools that may cause such an obsession.

As part of a different Web 2.0 class, we had several exercises including signing up for Facebook. I completed that exercise with great trepidation. I found my best friend from Library School. That was fun! I invited her to join Facebook and now she has tons of friends. See, I am only a teeny bit jealous. I also have been able to keep in touch with library cohorts who have had the audacity to move away from the Sunshine state.

Like many people, I lead a busy to very busy life. I also am not a good letter writer. Facebook allows me to touch base with family and friends as well as entertain myself with cool time-wasting applications with very little effort. This week, for example, I was reassured that Kristen arrived safely for her vacation and I was able to throw several purple octopi at my friends with great glee.

Sometimes I love Facebook. Sometimes I wish I had enough time for Facebook. Sometimes I have to repeatedly remind patrons about appropriate behavior while using a social networking site. Standing on the chair leg and leaning over your friend while breathing on the neck of the person at the next computer is not appropriate library behavior. Laughing even while covering your hands if your voices carry more than half-way across the library is not appropriate library behavior. And running across the library to tell your other friends something funny is also not appropriate library behavior. Finding a balance between moderating patron behavior and providing good customer service is also simply part of my job.

Facebook is wonderfully web 2.0 interactive. You can add all sorts of foolish and not-so-foolish applications to your facebook account like worldcat and superpoke.