Social Shopping April 8, 2008

I came across this article published last month in the Financial Times. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bc5487dc-f129-11dc-a91a-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

Amazon are jumping on the social networking bandwagon by introducing Facebook applications. “The Grapevine application will automatically update a participating Facebook users’ online friends if he or she adds items to their own Amazon wish list, or writes a product review on the Amazon site…A Facebook user who adds the “Giver” application to his or her online profile can then view other users’ Amazon wish lists, and link through them to make a purchase at Amazon’s site.”

Facebook have been blasted in the past (anyone remember the Beacon debacle?!) for sharing its users consumer habits without permission. On reading this article I was instantly on guard – was the same thing about to happen again? Would these sites never learn to respect our privacy? However an interview with Chris Kelly, chief privacy officer of Facebook was brought to my attention by The Social Librarian. It would seem that Facebook are becoming more clued up on this issue. http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3680649.ece

As The Social Librarian points out in her latest blog, education really is the key here. People who add this application must be aware that their information is being used in this way. It remains to be seen how this will pan out. Personally I would exercise caution.

However the article also made me think about how this could potentially be used by public libraries – couldn’t public libraries with Facebook pages have a similar application? I have noticed that you can be a ‘fan’ of some public libraries, or join a ‘group’, but from my experience people tend to just join and then forget about it – it’s not terribly interactive. If there was some way of linking ‘fans’ or ‘group members’ together with updates etc to create more of a localised community, or to enhance the ’social’ aspect of the online public library it might be beneficial. Just a thought…

As yet I’m undecided on the role Amazon has within Facebook – I can’t imagine wanting to add it as I don’t sign into Facebook to be relentlessly bombarded with advertisements – but I might change my mind coming up to Christmas when I’m scraping the barrel for pressie ideas!

Don’t you know who I am? April 7, 2008

As a fairly new graduate, I have found myself in a surprising job position – that of the Company Librarian. It’s a strange one. Public Librarians work in Libraries with other Librarians. Academic Librarians work in Libraries with other Librarians. Company Librarians work in…in my case a Facilities Dept and an abandoned basement with no other Librarians! It’s definitely a library job with a distinct lack of ‘libraryness’!

I certainly feel less like a librarian, which is part of the reason I’ve started this blog. It’s led me to consider the implications of working largely on your own, as many Librarians do, and the consequent importance of keeping in touch with other members of your profession via alternative means – like blogging. The Internet has been an invaluable tool for librarians in sharing knowledge and experience, pooling ideas, or even just having a moan to someone that understands!

It’s a unique challenge to the Company Librarian to retain her ‘libraryness’ (and her sanity!) when working alone in what is often a hostile environment. Funding and recognition has to be fought for – in terms of business sense, guarding archives is much more important than new toilets surely?! Why would your boss tell you you can use a room for an archive space if they knew the roof leaked?! A bunch of legal boxes narrowly missed being reduced to a pulpy mess just a few weeks ago. Having a virtual community of Librarians is of key importance as it allows the isolated Librarian to see how fellow professionals deal with problems – and to know that you’re not going mad when your colleagues are looking at you like you’re batty because you’re annoyed about a few boxes getting wet!