Yankee in Canada.com

There is a very interesting discussion going on over at Creating Passionate Users that’s related to the Library 2.0 event held recently here in Toronto.  The bit that pulled me in is thus:

But to say [Web 2.0] means nothing (or WORSE–to say it’s just a marketing label) is to mistake jargon (good) for buzzwords (bad). Where buzzwords are used to impress or mislead, jargon is used to communicate more efficiently and interestingly with others who share a similar level of knowledge and skills in a specific area.

I have to admit that prior to the SLA Toronto event, I was skeptical about the Library 2.0 term…that it was just another buzzword.  But the recent discussion on Library Crunch about deleting Library 2.0 from Wikipedia, which got my hackles up (Wait just a second here, they can’t take this away from us!) and CPUs enlightening piece about the difference between jargon and buzzwords has changed me.  I now look forward to continuing this discussion about how Library 2.0 is here to stay and how as information professionals we have to continue to define what Library 2.0 means and developing our own jargon – as CUP points out – not to be elitist but efficient in our discussions with each other. How exciting!

Check out these temporary tattoos from Archie McPhee!

They are a MUST for your next library conference – or while sitting by the pool somewhere warm this winter.

SLA Toronto put on a tremendous program last night.  Amanda Etches-Johnson, Carolyne Sidey, Connie Crosby, and Dave Hook spoke to nearly 50 members of the Chapter on the latest tech tools they are using to deliver products and services to their clients.  Following the four presentations, the group broke into six (at times very lively and loud) round-table discussions.  Each table was asked to consider the following two questions:

1. What are you doing in your library with these tech tools?
2. If you aren’t using these tech tools now, what tools do you plan to start using and why?

From the discussion at my table, web 2.0 (and by extension library 2.0) is a very new concept for a lot of special librarians.  Interestingly, most of the folks at my table had already begun to experiment with social bookmarking, flickr, commenting on blog posts and news articles, etc. but hadn’t realized this was part of the 2.0 concept.

By far, RSS feeds, wikis and blogs were the tools mostly likely to be used in the workplace for delivering information and collaboration (when technology barriers are overcome).  Social bookmarking via furl or del.icio.us won out, however, as the "low hanging fruit" of the bunch, i.e. the easiest and quickest of the 2.0 tools to start using.

To prepare for their presentation, the speakers started a wiki.  In the spirit of 2.0 the wiki was opened to all participants to be used as the group sees fit, e.g. for posting further resources, discussion, as a sandbox to figure out how wiki’s work, etc.  I’m particularly interested in seeing if the group assembled last night will actually use the wiki – even if it’s only for a brief time.  Talk about being given the chance to get your feet wet!  Is anyone going to dip a toe in?

More classics from Angry Alien Productions:

Christmas Vacation	Fight Club
Office Space	Raiders of the Lost Ark

While fooling around with Google News this afternoon, I discovered a few additional Canadian newspapers that are currently being indexed.  In the interest of sharing, here is the full list of sources I have discovered to date.  If you have more, leave a comment with the source code and I’ll add it to the list.  If this sort of thing turns your crank, a good source for more data is the Google News Report.

Newspapers

News Release Distribution Sources