Twitter Activity Thread

My Twitter Name: mlynnert (yes I know it’s bad, but all the combinations I tried were blocked).
After studying the Visual Guide to Twitter, I do see potential for developing my professional life as a librarian. I searched the lists for “young adult literature”, “librarians”, “library” and “reading”. While I found that I had to sift through some fluff, I was able to access some excellent resources. For example, the information below came from a post entitled “How Your Library May Not be Using Twitter but Should” by David Allen Kelley, a Palm Beach County Library system web developer.

Libraries have always been about books, but what is it about books that you’re there for? Essentially information and/or entertainment. The library does this while functioning as something of a community center. Twitter enables the library to reach people on all those levels and do so much easier, cheaper and more regularly than ever before.

I think it is important to remember the “community center” role and rather than fighting against teenager’s interest in technology, capitalize on that interest to make information more accessible, fun and immediate.

There were also posts concerning what people hate about libraries: from being given a map to find a book, censorship, limiting the use of library meeting space to ‘approved’ groups, and generally grumpy, unhelpful library staff. It is helpful to see how library patrons interpret librarian behavior and library atmosphere so that I can avoid those mistakes in my library.

I also found this excellent site: Storytelling with Children: http://storytellingwithchildren.ning.com/video

Twitter Etiquette: Most of the Twitter etiquette is common sense rules that protect the user: no impersonation, the respect of privacy and confidential information, no threats, no copyright infringement, no unlawful use of the site and no unverified accounts. In addition there are limits to how many accounts one can set up as a precaution against spam, squatters, and abuse. Avoidance of spam seems to be a serious concern, mainly users who deliberately gunk up the works with lots of junk posts, links or seem to be harassing other tweeters by repeated replies or inappropriate replies.