The Long Tail

Before I address the issue of the Long Tail and libraries, let me first say that I found the Chris Anderson article extremely interesting and illuminating. (Though I'm still glad we didn't have to read the book for class! I think I got the point quite nicely through the article.) I think he made a particularly interesting point in noting how we, as consumers, don't always know what we want and often equate popularity with quality but are now able, through companies like Netflix and Amazon, able to discover new things. I liked the idea of the Long Tail as something that facilitates discovery.

Which is an excellent segue to libraries, for what are they if not places that facilitate discovery? Perhaps my library is unique, but I already see the Long Tail at work in libraries every day. Similar to the Rhapsody/Britney Spears example in Anderson's article, readers advisory librarians are often leading patrons from a popular item they've enjoyed to a lesser known or less popular item that is similar. For example, you liked Twilight? Maybe you'll also enjoy the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris. If you enjoy those, maybe you'll enjoy a slightly different take on vampires in Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice. Still interested? Well, why not try the granddaddy of all vampire books, Bram Stoker's Dracula?

I also see my library as a repository for Long Tail items not available at Borders or Barnes & Noble. We carry issues of the local high school's yearbook back to the sixties. We also collect broadly in the area of documentary DVDs mentioned by Anderson because they fit two aspects of the library's mission statement in that they provide both entertainment and educational value. We have a large immigrant population in our area so we also collect more foreign films that you can find at the local Blockbuster. Both the documentaries and foreign films have high circulation rates (the yearbooks are non-circulating items).

Thing 16: Wiki Wiki Waa

Sometimes I try to remember what my life was like before Wikipedia and I can barely recall. I feel the same way about Google, Amazon, and IMDB. Remember when you used to recognize someone in a movie, but you couldn't think of what you'd seen them in before and you wracked your brain for days? Clearly, I digress. On to the topic at hand: library wikis.

I browsed several of the wikis suggested on the 23 Things blog and I have to say, I am extremely impressed with the ALA Annual 2008 Wiki. What an amazing resource for anyone attending the annual conference, but especially for first-time attendees! The 2009 one still needs a lot of work, but I have no doubt it will get there.

Thing 15: 2.0 Reflections

Because of my newfound enthusiasm for del.icio.us (and oldfound enthusiasm for the word "folksonomy"), I read the article "Tagging & Social Bookmarking" in the September/October 2007 edition of Library Technology Reports.

I love the collaborative nature of tagging, how it's something you can do at home in your PJs, yet it might help someone on the other side of the country find just what they were looking for. That said, I think a totally awesome use of tagging highlighted in the article is in readers advisory and how the tags you apply to a book might help someone else discover and enjoy that book.

I'm intrigued by the idea of integrating the RA function into a library's catalog, rather than having it as a seperate blog on the Web site. What if patrons were able to log in to their library accounts and tag items held by the library? Or even rate them, like people do on Amazon.com (possibly my favorite Web site and the standard I hold everything else to)? Yes, I realize that in application this could possibly open a very very large can of worms, but as I said, it's an intriguing idea. I already think a library catalog should basically look just like Amazon, complete with pictures of the book/DVD/CD/whatever, links to similar items, reviews, etc. Yes, I think that in part because I love Amazon so much, but it's also because that is what a lot of users are coming to expect from technology. If Amazon can offer them a full buffet of information, why can't the library?

Thing 5: Flickr

Here's a photo I found on Flickr when I searched "Pflugerville." (from: http://flickr.com/photos/txkimmers/3157796/) The whole "love written in grass" thing is a little contrived for me, but I like the style of the photograph and I love the bright orange flip-flops near the bright green grass on the concrete gray background.

I took a couple of pictures of the Pflugerville Community Library, but opted not to sign up for Flickr after all. I already share photos through Shutterfly (for sharing with family because it's what some of them were already using); Kodak (for sharing with friends for the same reason); and Facebook. I'm also wary of signing up for anything else online. Just for the heck of it, I recently made a list of all of the online tools I use and my username for each one (don't worry--I shredded it!). There were around 60 things and just while typing this paragraph I've thought of two more I forgot! I've got an Amazon account, a Facebook page, three e-mail addresses, a LiveJournal, etc. and so on and so forth. It's becoming unmanageable and I am a bit concerned about security.

Extra Credit: Compare Picasa and Flickr

Picasa and Flickr seem to have a lot of the same features: photo editing, sharing, organizing functions, etc. Flickr seems more user friendly and yet, if I were to use either, it would probably be Picasa because I already have a Google account and I wouldn't have to add anything to my list of usernames!