Thing 7.

Perhaps my place in life is to question everything. After all, I survived the turbulent 60s and smoke-filled 70s. But all of this warm fuzzy, social networking makes me wonder about things like security, identity theft, malicious content of innocuous looking files, etc. An excellent essay by Igor Pankov can be found on his site, which he describes as "Martial Art of Internet Security." We receive his newsletter because Agnitum is our firewall of choice at home.

http://www.securityteacher.com/2008/06/16/the-perils-of-social-networking/

This thing is one of the times my old style rebellion will show its face.

I no longer IM. I used to, but just kind of dropped off the face of the internet awhile ago. (remember, I'm the Internet addict who has unplugged and unwired) We do have Trillian installed on our home laptop, but we seldom use it.

I was intrigued by the idea of the IM'ing librarian, but I wonder if in our small library it is necessary. We work to know our patrons, and they seem to appreciate the personal service our library provides.

I don't text. I have a cell phone, but use it only when I have to. It is usually turned off, and only one person has the number. I choose not to be constantly available.

I looked at the Webinars listed. To use one of them, software had to be installed. Nope. Not doing that. Nothing was available that looked interesting, or interesting that was available. Maybe I can come back to it.

However, I did sign up for 14 free online classes from the UNT through WebJunction. Does that count? The first one I took, Managing Difficult Patrons, was fairly basic, but interesting enough.

One of my tasks at the library is to manage the staff email. I open it, quickly scan the inbox, and just as quickly move the junk to the junk mail folder without reading any of it. Then I open the few emails that need action. We have a few patrons who have asked questions via email, and I answer them immediately. At home, I do the same thing, but sometimes I don't check my home email daily.

I have accounts in yahoo and gmail; I let the hotmail account close. I have my home email account set up so I can access it through a second account. This lets me easily manage my home account from away; there is also a web based interface provided by our internet provider, but it's clunky.

At the library, we often help patrons begin to use email. We also often help them learn to send attachments. We also often help them use a web based portal to check their home accounts; all pretty basic, all useful, but sometimes a challenge to newbies. A link to email the library is available on our library web page, and a few patrons have used it. Most often, they pick up a phone and call.