PLA Blog

On Saturday, January 12, I attended the “Best Practices in Cooperative Reference: Reference and Social Networking” session presented by QuestionPoint, with panel speakers Stephen Francoeur (Baruch College), Beth Evans (Brooklyn College) and David Lankes (Syracuse University). While the panel seemed targeted at academic librarians, I actually found a great deal that would be of interest to public librarians. (more…)

American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) is pulling out all the stops with this year’s Banned Books Week, September 29–October 6, 2007, by taking the show on the digital road, so to speak, with events and official listings in Web 2.0 spaces like MySpace (no account required to view), Facebook (you need an account to view and join the Banned Books Week group), and Second Life.

For many, these spaces are still unexplored territory. The events of Banned Books Week are a good reason to get yourself oriented and try things out before things get really rockin’ at the kick-off party in Second Life on Saturday, September 29 at 6pm Second Life, which is the same as Pacific Standard Time. The links below are my recommendations for tutorials to help you get started.

Remember, you don’t want to wait until 5 minutes before the party next Saturday to log into Second Life for the first time, or to take advantage of the discussions and networking happening on Facebook, so give yourself ample time to set up accounts and explore!

MySpace:

• You won’t need an account on MySpace to view the information on the Banned Books Week MySpace page, but if you want to add comments to the page, you will need to log in as a member.
• eHow: How to Get Started Using MySpace: A basic step-by-step on how to sign up for an account and get started. You can see all of the how-to articles, which are a quick and easy read, in the eHow MySpace section.

Facebook:

• Take a quick tour: Created by Facebook, click on each of the aspects in the right-hand navigation to get your bearings before you create your account and jump on in.
• A beginner’s guide to Facebook for non-profits: A great basic overview of Facebook and how to get your network on *and* increase visibility in your community by understanding how people use it.
• How to use Facebook without Losing Your Job over it: Good, basic tips on security and use, with a good bit of an insight to just how open the information culture is on Facebook.
• 12 Ways to Use Facebook Professionally: It’s not just for kids!

Second Life:

• You will need to create a free account as well as download and install the free software on your computer before you can log into Second Life. This can take a little while, so give yourself time to get it up and running.
• Spend time on Orientation Island: Which is where you land after you log in the first time, and it’s really worth going through all the exercises. If you’re going into Second Life for a specific event, be sure to log in at an earlier date and time to get yourself oriented and play with your avatar.
• Natalia’s Getting Started in Second Life Guide: This list of tip guides helps you get your bearings, customize your avatar (the digital version of yourself in Second Life), move around, teleport (a quick and easy form of transportation to events), and more. It also gives you some cultural tips and etiquette bits to help you grow from n00b (newbie) to an advanced beginner.
• Top 10 Second Life Tutorial Videos on YouTube and Google: I like this collection of video tutorials because they give you practical tips and a real sense of the Second Life culture. Watch them in order, or pick and choose the ones you need, and they’ll help you explore the virtual world with greater understanding.

Have questions? Want help or a tour? Don’t hesitate to post in the comments here.